Though not as regular a feature as Pulp Fantasy Library or Retrospective, my interviews with notable figures in the world of roleplaying games have nevertheless been an important — and surprisingly early — part of Grognardia. As of this writing, there are nearly 100 posts bearing the “interview” tag. That doesn’t mean 100 separate conversations, of course, since some are stretched over two or three installments, but it does add up to a remarkable number of voices from across the hobby nonetheless. Looking back, I’m pleased with how many people I’ve been able to talk with, from industry legends to quieter contributors who’ve each left his or her mark on our shared pastime.
What surprised me, as I combed through older posts while preparing the Grognardia anthologies, was, as I said, just how early I began conducting interviews. I’d always thought the first one appeared in 2009, but I was wrong — very wrong. In fact, the very first interview ran on September 18, 2008: the first part of a three-part conversation with former Dragon magazine editor Tim Kask. To be fair, I didn’t return to interviews again until April 25, 2009 (a two-parter with Liz Danforth), and the series didn’t truly find its momentum until the summer of the same year. Even so, that first talk with Mr. Kask set the tone for everything that followed. I really should have remembered it more clearly, but perhaps that’s just age creeping up on me!
When I first started conducting these interviews, I’ll be honest: I had no idea what I was doing. I didn’t have a master plan or even much of a sense of what I wanted to ask. All I knew was that these were people whose work had meant a great deal to me, whose names I had seen on rulebooks and magazines as a younger man and I wanted to hear their thoughts in their own words. The chance to do so felt like an impossible dream come true, the kind of thing I would have killed for back in my teenage years, when the only “voices” of the hobby came through Dragon magazine columns or the occasional designer’s note in a rulebook.
What made it possible, of course, was the Internet. For all its many, many faults, the Web remains a miraculous tool for making connections. People who once seemed impossibly distant in my youth suddenly became reachable with nothing more than a polite email. The first time I wrote to someone like David “Zeb” Cook or Jeff Grubb or Ed Greenwood, I half-expected no response at all or perhaps a brusque dismissal. Instead, they replied graciously, even enthusiastically, willing to share their time and memories with me, a complete stranger. I don’t think I’ll ever stop being amazed or grateful that this medium has given ordinary gamers like myself the chance to hear directly from the men and women who helped create the hobby we love.
This amazement carried me through those early conversations, even if I was still fumbling with how to conduct them. Over time, I found more of a rhythm, but the spirit never changed. I wasn’t chasing “scoops,” let alone “gotchas,” nor was I trying to write definitive histories. I simply wanted to listen, to give these creators a space where they could talk freely about their experiences, triumphs, regrets, and reflections. In doing so, I realized I was helping to preserve not just information but authentic, first-hand accounts that future players and historians might otherwise never have heard. The fact that so many of my interviews are now linked widely across the Internet, including Wikipedia, is proof, I suppose, that I’ve done something valuable with these interviews.
That, I think, is where the interviews find their place in Grognardia’s broader “mission.” Alongside the Retrospective and Pulp Fantasy Library posts, they help round out the tapestry of our hobby’s history. The games, the books, and the inspirations are important, but so too are the human beings behind them, as well as the fact that, thanks to the Internet, we can still talk to so many of them, ask questions, and record their stories, is nothing short of extraordinary.
I still regret never having the chance to interview Gary Gygax or Dave Arneson. I did correspond with both of them briefly a couple of years before their deaths, but that’s not quite the same. Looking back over the interviews I have done, I also see some glaring omissions — Marc Miller, creator of Traveller, being the most obvious — and I’m determined to correct that in the future. With Gamehole Con only a couple of weeks away, and so many of the hobby’s luminaries gathering there, I plan to take the opportunity to approach people I’ve not yet spoken with and ask if they’d be open to a conversation. And if you have any suggestions for interview subjects you’d like to see featured, I’d be delighted to hear them.