Owen K.C. Stephens: Star Wars and Beyond
In part two of our interview with game designer Owen K.C. Stephens, he discusses what it’s like to design games based on pre-existing intellectual properties and delves into the connections between D&D 3.5, Star Wars Saga system, and D&D 4E.
Read part one here.
Robot Viking: You wrote and designed Star Wars RPGs under a few different systems. To me, Saga feels like the definitive Star Wars RPG, but I didn’t spend a lot of time with the D20 version. Which of those systems do you think suited Star Wars the best?
Owen K.C. Stephens: Back in 2000 I was hired to work in-house on the Star Wars RPG by Wizards of the Coast, and after I left to become a full-time freelancer I still wrote a lot of Star Wars game material, so I can honestly say I enjoy all of those systems. I also played a lot of the old West End games d6 version, and I know it has its fans as well. But for me, Saga d20 does the best job balancing the needs of game design, and the needs of the Star Wars universe. I think a good Star Wars game needs to allow people to play Jedi, but it also has to make non-Jedi characters viable, balanced options. I also think the talent tree systems we built both for Force powers and things like tactical starship combat and droid design do a great job of creating a flexible system, able to describe a huge range of characters from a galaxy far, far away.
RV: When the Star Wars Saga system was being developed, was there a conscious decision to use it as a test bed for some of the ideas that later found their way into 4E? Or was it a more organic evolution from D&D 3.5?
OKCS: Saga had three main writers—myself, Chris Perkins, and Rodney Thompson—and one prime editor, Gary Sarli. Of those four people, only Chris was an employee of Wizards of the Coast when we wrote it (though Rodney has since been hired, and ran the Saga line for years). While 4E design was going on, those of us working as freelancers weren’t aware of that fact. I had my suspicions, in part because we were allowed to make any change we wanted for Saga, but in no way were we designing a testbed. Our only goal was to make the best d20 Star Wars game we could. 
That said, I’m sure Chris was watching what we did, and may have made suggestions based on 4E thoughts he was privy to and we weren’t. The game designers at WotC are sharp folks, and if Chris saw anything in Saga he thought was a good idea, he’d have brought it to the 4E R&D team for consideration. But I think one of the reasons I like Saga so much for Star Wars is that we had no shackles in our outline. The end game isn’t fully compatible with either 3.5 or 4E D&D, and I think it’s stronger for that freedom.
RV: You’ve designed several games based on pre-existing properties, including The Wheel of Time, Thieves’ World, Everquest, the Song of Fire and Ice and of course Star Wars. How does designing for something like that differ from a situation where you start with more of a blank slate? How do you get to the point where the rules and the theme and setting all mesh together?
OKCS: Wow that’s a big, loaded question. In fact, one of the seminars I’m doing for Gen Con is “Adapting Games from Intellectual Properties,” which will tackle a lot of the same questions. At its core, designing a game for an existing property is about trying to let players do the things they like from the stories you draw from. Even if you get to design the game engine from scratch (which is rarely the case, even WEG’s d6 Star Wars was using the engine from the Ghostbusters RPG), you probably can’t make your game act exactly like the stories. There are just too many variables, and games are bad simulations of reality. But you want to make sure the important things major characters do can be emulated, and that takes a lot of research.
After that you decide what’s a sacred cow you can’t change, and what is a background element. For example, in the Wheel of Time we joked about having rules so all characters felt they didn’t understand the opposite gender, and believed their friends all understood them better. That comes up a lot in those books. But it was, in fact, a joke. That’s a background element, and players can decide to have their characters think that way, or not. On the other hand, we needed rules for the One Power that could do the things we see characters do, and that was a lot less optional.
Even so, some things either get relegated to background, or get missed. For example, in most versions of Star Wars RPGs, there’s no rule for cutting off someone’s hand with a lightsaber. But it happens a lot in the movies. Obi Wan cuts off an assailant’s hand in the cantina. Luke Cuts off the wampa’s hand. Darth Vader cuts off Luke’s hand on Cloud City. Luke returns the favor on the second Death Star. That’s four limb removals in three movies, and it’s rarely something a game allows for.
RV: Your writing and rules design are a major influence on game designers. What were some of your influences throughout your career?
OKCS: First, I have my doubts about how much I influence any current game designers, and I formally apologize to anyone I influenced with Bastards & Bloodlines, the book in which I created half-beholder hill giants.
My influences are broad, and a lot of them helped shape me as a person, as well as a game designer. Long before I was a professional designer, I was reading things written by Steve Jackson, and since I live not too far from Austin often got to hear him at conventions. A local convention also resulted in a lunch with Aaron Allston, which clarified for me some of how the game industry actually works. I also took creative writing classes from novelist Mel Odom, who did a lot to hone my overall dedication and creative style. And I can’t underestimate the effect the early works of Gary Gygax, Dave Arneson and Jeff Grubb had on me. 
I got my professional start writing for Dragon magazine and its editor (Dave Gross) took the time to polish off a lot of rough edges. I credit him for a chunk of my career every chance I get. (Thanks, Dave.) After that I went to the TSR RPG Writer’s Conference in Seattle, and got a week of professional advice from Julia Martin, Stan!, Ed Stark, Thomas M. Reid, and Jonathan Tweet. I still have the notebooks I wrote in for that conference, and refer to them occasionally. It’s as close to a professional “how to be an RPG designer” course I’ve ever had access to.
When I has hired by Wizards of the Coast, my desk sat next to Jonathan Tweet and Monte Cook. Behind me were Rich Baker, Mike Selinker, and Thomas Reid. I worked on projects with Bill Slavicsek, Andy Collins, Steve Miller, JD Wiker, and Jeff Grubb. I was in games with, playtested with, edited by, or took design direction from Erik Mona, Stan!, Skip Williams, Sean K Reynolds, Jon Pickens, Kim Mohan, Chris Pramas, John D. Rateliff, Jennifer Clarke Wilkes, James Wyatt, Brian Campbell, Cory Herndon, Jeff Quick and Rob Heinsoo. And I was involved in discussions with lots more people, not all of which I consciously remember. But it was an environment that can’t help but influence you, and the fact I spent 14 months there is likely the strongest reason I still write RPG material today.
Which is why when people ask me how to learn to write RPGs today, my answer always boils down to 1: Write for the print and electronic RPG magazines and 2: Get very, very lucky, and be surrounded by gods for a year.
RV: Do you have any interesting projects coming up in the next few months (SGG related or not)? Any grandiose plans for world domination?
OKCS: Well, I hope at least one of the weekly Super Genius Games pdfs I create every week will count as interesting for gamers. I also wrote a small piece of Paizo’s Advanced Player’s Guide, due out at Gen Con I believe. And in addition to SGG’s own Adventurer’s Handbook, we should soon have a print version of our Loot 4 Less game line, which is nothing but lots of non-consumable magic treasures each costing less than 2,500 gp (for Pathfinder).
As for world domination… I haven’t decided to settle for this world yet. I’m keeping my options open.
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July 16th, 2010 6:22 PM
YAY! Print version of Loot 4 Less! Is there any sort of a release date for this?
July 18th, 2010 5:19 AM
The L4L book won’t be at Gen Con, but it should drop not too long after that. And I’m sure to talk about it on my twitter account (@owen_stephens) once I have a firm release date.
And of course the Adventurer’s Handbook *will* be at Gen Con, so there’s some print goodness to go around yet.