
Well I know it’s been a long time coming but I finally have the interview with Keith Baker and what a great guy he was! I was at the opening of Kingdom of Adventure, Darth Vader and some of his Storm Troopers were in attendance. There were card games and RPG’s galore, it was a great day, if you want a full low-down and a look at the pictures then get on over to
http://www.kingdomofadventure.co.uk/.
Just after 12, a pretty normal looking guy, except for the odd coloured eyes, one green, one blue, came into the shop and slapped down a board game. “Anybody wanna try my new game?” his accent gave him away immediately. Mr Baker had arrived.
A bunch of us sat down and played it with him. I would give you the name but I’m not allowed! His mind works in some seriously strange ways so the game was a riot. He is touting it around at the looking for a publisher but it is based around the Cthulhu stories and monopoly… like I said seriously strange.
After the game finished he went to set-up the Eberron D&D game he was going to run and I cornered him for a few minutes. Sitting opposite from him and looking at those mismatched eyes, I wondered what it must be like in his head. I’ve read a couple of his fantasy novels and played Gloom so I couldn’t help but wonder where all that stuff comes from, here was my chance to ask!
HGC: “Thanks for this time Keith, I know you’ve got a pretty tight schedule today so we'll get right into it! I just wanted to start by asking when you got into gaming and what you played?”
Keith Baker: “Well I started around 8 or 9 playing Advanced D&D but the choice of games at that time was pretty limited and I was so young that I wasn’t using the full rules anyway. As I got older I started to make up my own games for my friends to play so things like Star Wars and Historical games.”
HGC: “So you started designing at a young age then??”
KB: “Yeah, I was easily bored so I always wanted to try new things and I was the guy who like to run the games as opposed to play them.”
HGC: “ Were you into comics as a kid?”
KB: “Oh yeah, mainly Marvel and I loved stuff by John Carter and Grant Morrison. Especially the Zenith stuff in 2000AD.”
HGC: “That’s pretty cool. Not a lot of Americans paid much attention to the early 200AD stuff, other than Dredd!”
KB: “You’d be surprised!”
HGC: “You worked in Computer games from 1996, first with Magnet and then VR1. What made you decide to give that up for writing and game design?”
KB: “Well like I said, I was designing RPG’s for fun when I was younger so I guess I’ve always wanted to do design work. I worked with Atlas games at first, I started with them by contributing to 'Over the Edge'.
HGC: “When you entered the Wizards of the Coast 2002 Fantasy game setting search with 'Eberron' Did you have any idea that you'd end up part of an Origins award winning team with your own idea.”
KB: “None!!”
HGC: “Thats not the only Origins award you have on the mantle is it?”
KB: “Ha ha, no, I won one for Gloom”
HGC: “Now there is a unique game. Make your family as depressed as possible and then kill them off! Along with the transparent cards the game-play is pretty unique. Where did you come up with the idea?”
KB: “Well Gloom was inspired by my ex-wife! Let's just say she had a thing for picking on me so I made it for her to take her frustrations out on. Ha ha.
In all seriousness a lot of things inspired Gloom. Most people look at Gloom and assume that the only inspiration was Ed Gorey. I will admit he was a big part of it but I realised that it it would really appeal to a modern audience when I saw the popularity of Lemony Snicket.”
HGC: “What about the whole Transparent Card thing then?”
KB: “Well I first saw the transparent cards used as a gimmick in a poker deck but never as an actual function in a game and I really wanted to use it in a way that added to the game-play.”
HGC: “Who are your hero's in game design at the moment?”
KB: “Well I don't know about Heroes but I love the stuff Steve Jackson does.”
HGC “What about gaming? I know your designing your own stuff but are you playing much at the moment.”
KB: “Well I'm doing this whole 'around the world' D&D thing so I'm D.Ming a lot of D&D 4th edition right now. I also like 'Champions' although I don't have much time for it just now.”
HGC “Have you had time to see any movies recently?”
KB “I actually have. I went to see Star Trek and Transformers 2. I was really surprised with how much I liked Star Trek. Although as a writer there were a few things I would have done differently.”
HGC: “Like what?”
KB: “With the Romulans, I wish they had explained about Nero's (Eric Bana) Tattoos. If you read the comics they explain that they are mourning designs which are normally painted and as they fade over time so does the grief. Nero's are tattooed on because he has lost so much that his grief will never fade.”
HGC “How would you have dealt with that?”
KB “Well after they captured Spock, I would have put a scene there with him and Nero. This would have allowed them to explain so much.”
HGC: “What did you think of Revenge of the Fallen?”
KB: “It was a lot of fun. He only thing that bothered me was the use of the Rail-Gun. They introduced it then used it for one shot! I would have used it WAY more. I'm really into my sci-fi at the moment.
I saw the new Terminator film and I was kinda disappointed with the whole thing. I've watched the T.V series and felt that it really came into it's own. Especially in the second series, the treatment of the characters is excellent and I would recommend it to anybody.”
HGC ”What's your favourite film of all time then?”
KB “There's a hard one, I don't think I could pick one but for sci-fi, I love things like Blade Runner, when it comes to story telling The Usual Suspects has to be right up there and for just plain good fun I like 'The Mummy', the new one with Brendan Frazer, it doesn't take it's self too serious but it's just pulpy good fun!!
When it came to Eberron I took a lot of things from 'The Maltese Falcon' and 'The Big Sleep'. More recently I loved 'Pan's Labyrinth' the whole look and feel of that film was awesome.”
HGC “Well it's been a pleasure Keith. Where can people find you online?”
HGC: “Well thanks again for your time and I've got a seat booked at your Eberron game today so let's get cracking!”