BeamdogAmber

We usually don't comment about games in development, but we have said that we've been building up the capabilities of our team and we love the Forgotten Realms. We'd have to get a concept and bring people on board, but it's something we would love to do in the future.

I like Branwen and Mazzy -- I guess I like characters who take themselves seriously but aren't jerks about it. Of course Minsc's dialogue is always a treat.

For short sidequests, in BG I like the Take of Captain Brage. It's short but has some complexity to it and a sympathetic character. Poor Brage. In BG2 I like helping the little ghost boy find his teddy bear. Ghost stories are awesome, and I get to mete out some justice too.

Speaking as a writer and not someone who makes those high-level design decisions, I've played in the Forgotten Realms pretty much for as long as I've been a gamer. I love the setting and would be happy to make FR games forever.

If I was going to look at another D&D world, I have a soft spot for an older setting called Birthright. It would be cool to see a tactical army-controlling yet roleplaying type game where your avatar manages their lands and does diplomatic things in between clearing out dungeons.

I started tabletop gaming many, many, many years ago and after a short stint in Greyhawk I settle into the Forgotten Realms. I played in a long-running Waterdeep game and many shorter games over the years—I even set Monte Cook's Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil in FR (Hommlet is now in Aglarond, for the curious) and ran it there. I played BG and subsequent games when they first came out and they remain on my top ten list. So definitely all my creativity springs from a place of affection.

I also freelanced for Wizards of the Coast when I started writing tabletop RPGs (a million Dragon and Dungeon magazine articles, Secrets of Xen'drik, and Dragons of Eberron were my contributions). So I have some familiarity with WotC's standards and worlds. I take inspiration from everything around me. I love going to art galleries, the ballet, live music shows, reading comic books, fantasy, sci fi, mystery, contemporary...anything can give me ideas.

Recently in the office Phil and I were talking about the book “Pillars of the Earth” and I mentioned that master architects would teach their children their skills because buildings like cathedrals took multiple generations to complete. He proposed a sidequest where an angry ghost is miffed that his grandkids aren't building a structure “the way they did it back in my day” and complains about the shoddy work they're doing. That hasn't gone into a game yet but that's the sort of way we work.

I have so many favorite fantasy books I'm not sure where to start. My favorite classic series are the Prydain Chronicles (Alexander), the Earthsea books (LeGuin), “So You Want to Be A Wizard” and sequels (Duane), and the Dark is Rising books (Cooper).

Recently some of my favorite books have been the Miriam Black books (Wendig), the Percy Jackson series (Riordan), “The Girl With All the Gifts” (Carey, though that's more like horror I guess), and Dave Gross's Radovan and Jeggare novels (“Prince of Wolves” and sequels). I just picked up “Outlander” (Gabaldon) because I'm behind the times and haven't read it yet because I'm always working.