Watch Well Games: Issue #8
Interview with Luke Saunders of Murkdice about Void Above
In This Issue:
Void Above: Interview with Luke Saunders of Murkdice
Pocket Quest 2024 Progress: Week 1
Welcome to Issue #8. I'm K.J.
You can learn more about me here if you want.
Void Above: Interview with Luke Saunders of Murkdice
is the creative team behind Void Above. Comprised of Luke Saunders (the creator, developer, writer, graphic designer, and layout artist), Georgia Didcote (lead artist) and Jack Didcote (artist), and Lyndsay Didcote (editor and project manager), this team of four people aimed to "make a refined, skill-based system that was great for new players but also had longevity." (Source: Kickstarter campaign)For this interview, Luke answered my questions about Void Above, a Zine Quest entry on Kickstarter.
K.J.: What inspired you to create this?
Luke: PocketQuest 2023 had a space theme, which I really enjoyed. The game I put out, Restruct, I really enjoyed making, but it made me want to make something bigger within the sci-fi genre.
My background (and I guess maybe my inspiration?) is in theoretical physics. I wanted to make a game that kept some principles of science realism, whilst maintaining light rules. What I didn’t want was to calculate the acceleration properties of a Direct Fusion Drive based on a proposed output of a compact fusion reactor to play a game! It was about some basic things: space travel taking time, and to care at least a bit about gravity.
In terms of the game system itself, Into the Odd, Call of Cthulhu, and Blades in the Dark are the principal contributors to my approach. Thematics and aesthetics wise, Death in Space and Mothership have been influences.
K.J. For fun: Describe your creation in 10 words or less.
Luke: A colourful, rules light, hard-sci, problem solving focused RPG (the hypen gets me down to ten words right?).
K.J.: What was the most rewarding part of the creation process when making this?
Luke: That’s such a hard question! I think being able to work with my partner and her family.
Lyndsay (my partner and our project manager), has ensured a tight ship since she came into the project, and it has made working on Void Above a lot easier. Our Principle Artist, Georgia (who did the cover for Restruct), is not only producing stunning artwork but also has keen aesthetic advice to offer me on layout. Jack’s artwork is going to bring a new flavour as well, which I’m really excited about!
K.J.: If you could go back and do it all over again, what would you do differently in the creation process?
Luke: Start writing into layout from the beginning. It’s a lesson I really should have learned by now since I’ve done it for previous projects and it’s worked very well. This time, because of the increased page count, I began with plain text. It was the wrong decision!
I try to have a semblance of what Ben Milton would call ‘control panel layout’. Information from topics doesn’t stretch over more than two pages. Everything is ‘chunked’ where possible. Transferring information from plain text to that kind of layout takes a lot of time and editing. I’ve learned my lesson that even for my most basic playtest documents, I need to be putting it into layout.
K.J.: What advice or encouragement would you give new creators?
Luke: Get stuck in. People are going to push back against you. There are going to be comments that get you down. But if you have an inclination to create something, anything really, I think it’s always in a person’s best interests to try.
In terms of practical advice, start small. I see a lot of new designers (I am kind of new, so to be taken with a pinch of salt) starting with these vast projects, e.g. 200+ page rulesets. A barrier to people reading your stuff is time investment. If you make it a low time investment, people are more likely to read it. Make a one-page RPG, a pamphlet adventure, or a small game at least. Keep producing smaller projects because they enable you to iterate and learn faster.
The other thing is visuals. Visuals sell a product. You might have cash or contacts to get an artist, but you can learn to combine/manipulate stock art (free or low cost) or you can learn more graphic design style techniques to lift the aesthetics of your creations (both is best).
K.J.: Do you have a future creation you can give us any teasers or hints about?
Luke: Hmmm. I can say that if Void Above funds, I will produce more for it in the future. There are concrete ideas for scenarios and for expansions. I have a lot of ideas for new games, as most designers do! The one that my confidants are most excited about is a cyberpunk type game I’ve been working on for around a year. When the next ‘big’ project comes around, it may very well be that.
K.J.: How did you discover RPGs?
Luke: That goes to a university friend of mine. At the end of my Master’s, he told me they knew someone in our class was going to run this thing called Dungeons & Dragons. Funny enough, I was quite resistant to try it. But my friend convinced me so I went along to a session. I had a blast and caught the bug. I became friends with the GM and we still play to this day!
K.J.: What other hobbies do you enjoy aside from RPGs?
Luke: I play electric guitar and love music (metal/prog/jazz/classical), enjoy fiction writing, and open-water swimming. Right now I’m a digital nomad, so I must enjoy travel as well!
K.J.: Last question: Favorite RPG items?
Luke: I’m pretty minimalist because I have to travel with my stuff. Top of the list is a good notebook and pen when possible, which is boring, but it’s my primary tool at the table, so the nicer that is to use the better. I’ve been gifted two special sets of dice over the years as gifts. One is this clear set with metallic green four-leaf clovers in, the other is this vibrant purple set. I use them both on my travels!
PocketQuest 2024: Week 1
The theme for DriveThruRPG's third annual game jam (known as PocketQuest) is heist.
What is a heist? As a noun, it's an armed robbery. There's usually violence involved. A synonym is "holdup."
Interesting. For me, when I think of a show involving a heist, it's usually done in secret or discreetly (so no one sees the crooks do it) and a very elaborate scheme with loads of planning. A robbery or holdup seems to have a lot of witnesses (insert any bank robbery movie you've ever seen).
What's my point? It's anticipated that PocketQuest 2024 is going to have well over 200 participants, so there are sure to be several similar views on a heist game.
How can I be unique and stand out? I'm not sure that I can. That's what Week 1 has been all about - considering what perspective or angle I'll take on a heist pocket adventure. I've got 25 pages max to deliver.
