Visionaries Q&A

[Kurik Lein]

Visionaries Q&A: Ken Rolston (Part 1)

Internationally Celebrated Game Designer and Reckoning visionary Ken Rolston has answered some of your questions from the 'Ask the visionaries' thread. This is part 1 of a two-part community Q&A with Ken--we'll post part 2 in two weeks. Enjoy!

I would like to know what you visionaries have learned from each other during this collaboration. – By Cjail01

Ken: From Todd, I learned a little about art direction. When hunting for a distinctive look early on in the concept art creation, I remember we usually started with the weirdest fantasy creature we could imagine, thinking that would set the tone for the distinctive vision of our fantasy setting. But Todd suggested instead that we concentrate on making our human characters distinctive ... that crafting a distinctive human look was the most difficult task, and the most important. It IS hard to make a distinctive human figure ... but that's the sort of thing that Todd understands from instinct, experience, and gut.

From Bob, I learned that the player must love his or her setting in order to want to defend and protect it. I've always just assumed that the player would ALWAYS want to defend and protect their home (which is probably true, to some extent), but Bob appreciates the importance of establishing that player-love for the setting as an early and priority task.

It would interest me to know how big the visionaries’ influence was in the “making” process of the ideas, and if the visionaries just “work out stuff on their own” or if they sit down, brainstorm and discuss things or anything of the like. – By Wolfhorde

Ken: I work out stuff on my own ... and then document it for broader distribution. I don't sit down and discuss and brainstorm that much. I did have a very important, early meeting with Bob where we discovered that we had a lot of the same basic setting design impulses and references; after that, I felt very comfortable with Bob's work, knowing he shared my basic rules for building settings on sound foundations. And I relied mostly on the documentation of the Amalur setting that Bob and the 38 Studios design team developed. That was eloquent and detailed. I'll never know how much of that was Bob, and how much of it was the 38 Studios design team. And that's the way it should be. An RPG setting is a collaborative creation.

We know that new tech constantly pushes forward the games industry and changes how developers create RPGs. But aside from those kind of tangible improvements, where and how did the RPG genre improve, change, and mature? And what have been some of the more important reasons as to why the genre did move in the direction it has? – By Goatrek

Ken: I could probably write a couple doctoral theses on that topic.

Off the top of my head, I can think of four major developments in CRPGs (Computer Role Playing Games). About two of them—MMORPGs and BioWare narrative games—I can't speak as a developer.

About the other two—freeform-open-world RPGs and action-combat RPGs—I have some insight.

The freeform aspect of CRPGs was prefigured in tabletop and LARP gaming, and followed a logical evolution into CRPGs. The open-world aspect of CRPGs was the result of Bethsoft's [Bethesda Software] development of engines that could produce vast, procedural worlds, and the tools to make the titanic boatloads of content to fill those worlds (relatively) easily.

The long-neglected and somewhat underdeveloped state of RPG combat looked like an opportunity—in particular, on consoles, which already had lots of models of compelling action combat—which Reckoning was designed to exploit.

Why does the RPG genre move in certain directions? Because the genre moves in the direction of underserved player fantasies and desires. First, someone has to identify an underserved player fantasy or desire; then, someone has to figure out how to make systems, engines, and tools that can create the CRPGs. And then someone has to figure out how to get the message and product into the minds and hands of the gamers.

Which game has been the single most influential game in your life, and why? – By Goatrek

Ken: The most influential game in my life was the tabletop game, RuneQuest, and its game setting, Glorantha. And the primary author of the Glorantha setting, Greg Stafford, was the single most influential narrative game designer in my life. There's one computer game where you can explore the Gloranthan setting: King of Dragon Pass for the iPad, by David Dunham.

What is your favorite RPG besides Reckoning? – By TheTerror25

Ken: Morrowind would be my favorite ... if I hadn't ruined the experience for myself by developing it. Planescape: Torment is my favorite narrative RPG. Baldur's Gate is my favorite gameplay RPG.

How were the first few days when the visionaries came together and started working on Amalur? Was it serenity? Chaos? Confusion? – By TheTerror25

Ken: I was totally serene, then, and thereafter. Bob, Todd, and Curt are awesome. (And mostly quite mature.) Curt is bigger than I would like, but I have learned to live with being loomed over by a cheerful giant.

What feature do you like most in Reckoning? – By TheTerror25

Ken: Chakrams are awesome. I keep trying to build a character that doesn't use them ... but I'm always seduced back into using them as my Ultimate Weapon.

Many of us would like to know, what specific involvement has each of you had with Reckoning? (and Amalur as a world and MMO, if possible) We want details! – By iluspook

Ken: For Reckoning, I mostly served as a role model and lonely beacon of wisdom and restraint ... as living proof that vast narrative RPGs could be designed and implemented by mere human beings. I didn't do any honest work or writing or implementation. Heavens forefend! I did a lot of cheerleading and made Venerable Sage speeches. And sold the hell out of the basic concepts, internally and externally.

What was high school like for you? Hate it, love it, not memorable? – By Artificer

Ken: High school was a major trial for me. I was a total jackass. I failed my junior year, was in a junior homeroom in my senior year, and graduated in the bottom third of my class. And if you think it was bad for me, imagine how bad it was for my parents! But I survived, and lived to teach high school English and film for eight years before I became an Internationally Celebrated Game Designer. Because of my unhappy high school years, as a teacher, I always had a special sympathy for the Doomed.

Will you be playing the MMO together once it's launched? – By LeoX

Ken: Wow. I haven't even thought about that. I am a Less-Than-Enterprising MMO player, having been completely consumed by single-player RPGs most of my life (with brief sojourns in Guild Wars, WoW, Asheron's Call, and EverQuest). Certainly I will want to play Copernicus, if just to tour the entire world of Amalur. I am not sure how much I want to be mocked for my newbie gameplay. And I suspect I don't have the Right Stuff for exploring an entire MMO setting. But perhaps I'll be able to slipstream safely behind the majestic figures of Curt's characters.

—Muse, Reckoning Community Manager

[RingX55]

Always love Q&A from these guys. Can't wait for the others!

[FalkonSwiftblade]

just curious, does anyone know if and how Ken was involved in the MMO? I know RA was primarily involved with the MMO, and had very early meetings with the writers on Reckoning, but for Ken, I don't know if he would have had any input on the MMO side?

[Malikai]

Honestly not sure as he was brought out of retirement by BHG and only acquired by 38s through them. Really havent heard of any more involvement other than on Reckoning.

And, since it wasnt posted already here is part 2.

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Outside of Reckoning, what is your favorite game of all time, and why? – By BigWoopMagazine

Ken: Gosh. [It] must be Tunnels and Trolls because that was the first tabletop RPG I ever played. And nothing is ever as good as your first tabletop RPG experience.

When you create your character in Reckoning, or any game for that matter, do you try to make it look like yourself or something completely different? – By BigWoopMagazine

Ken: I've never tried to make a player character look like myself. Well ... except in City of Heroes when I made a character that looked like me, wearing shorts. I never played him ... just made him.

There is, however, a character based on me in the character generation section of Morrowind named Socucius Ergalla. I wish they had put glasses on him. He always looks like he's blind as a bat to me.


During your time creating pen and paper RPGs and then coming over to the games industry, how did your view on fantasy and RPGs change over the years? – By Goatrek

Ken: I originally thought CRPGs [Computer Role Playing Game] were crappy. Sandy Petersen said the worst tabletop experience was always better than the best CRPG experience. I think that was mostly true.

Except now, I feel that vast narrative single-player games like Reckoning and the [Elder Scrolls] games, and MMORPGs, are probably better experiences than most tabletop RPGs. I still find a tabletop RPG with a good GM and players to be FAR cooler than any CRPG. And the best LARPs [Live Action Role Playing] are far better than any tabletop or computer RPG.

I think the variety and subtlety of CRPGs will always be limited by the terrifying costs of design, labor, development, and marketing. You can do lots of cooler and experimental things with paper RPGs.

What are some of the more important/interesting things you have learned over the years, that you now were very aware of, going into Reckoning? – By Goatrek

Ken: Mostly I had learned over the years that CRPG combat wasn't much fun. I enjoyed turn-based, party-based CRPGs like Baldur's Gate, which were really just small-unit war-gaming. And I liked exploration in first- and third-person games, but the combat itself wasn't very satisfying. That's why Reckoning is such a delight for me. I can just load it up, ignore quests and dialog and stuff, and run around exploring and looting and beating on things ... the simple pleasures of the picaresque homicidal maniac.

While there is a lot of joy and accomplishment in your [involvement] in the Amalur universe, I want to change the register a bit. What is the "thing" that you never achieved but always wanted to? Also, what is the most frustrating part of on working on a game of this scale? – By fliviu

Ken: The one thing I never achieved ... failed three times in a row--in Morrowind, Oblivion, and Reckoning--was the introduction of a single, particular, unique role-playing game system I have always admired. It's something I felt would be the Next Great Thing in CRPGs ... the name of which must Remain a Secret, for now, because there is a Really Good Chance that I may successfully achieve it in a Future Product. 'Nuff said. I've got a secret, and I won't tell. Nyah, nyah.


Dear Mr. Rolston –

Everybody loves a gamer, but how do you personally deal with them when they criticize a game team's work? Sometimes I can see this being a case of "All of the people some of the time or some of the people all of the time" situation when you see criticisms--constructive or otherwise. Does criticism ever get you down or stop and make you think you had it wrong? – By Misanthrope

Ken: It is my policy to publically welcome and celebrate criticism. Privately, criticism, fair or unfair, can sometimes get me down. But not for long. The only kind of criticism that really makes an impression on me is self-criticism. That gets under my skin, and hounds me all the days of my life. That's a good thing, really. It keeps me humble, and always scrabbling towards the Light.

What attracted you to a career in game design over everything else in the world? – By Artificer

Ken: It was the one thing I thought I could be better at than anyone else in the world. Turns out, of course, that I couldn't REALLY be better at than anyone else in the world. But I can still be pretty good at it. And, of course, it is more fun than being a martial arts instructor, and I get to work with some truly amazing and Deeply Troubled individuals.

Do you see a way to implement a non-specific-class (or class-on-the-go) system, of the sort you have in Reckoning, in a pen-and-paper game? (I don't know of one that has anything like it.) – By LeoX

Ken: I no longer see classes as useful system constraints in tabletop games. I prefer the 'class' to be a narrative and/or roleplaying structure, and prefer my abilities on skill trees or a flat hierarchy of skills and abilities (like Call of Cthulhu). But I also am no longer attracted to tabletop RPG combat for its own sake and choose combat and advancement systems that just don't get in the way of roleplaying, narrative, and exploration progress.

Still, I can imagine a Reckoning-style hybrid class system being implemented in a tabletop game, perhaps using cards as a bookkeeping system for the mini-class modifier packages.

[eidos]

No, Ken has not been involved with the MMO unless he has been recently brought on board. Ken was brought into Amalur via Big Huge Games who had him on staff and he had only been working with the single player RPG.

[FalkonSwiftblade]

OK that's kinda what I thought, but I was curious as a cat with his response to the above Q when he replied

Ken: The one thing I never achieved ... failed three times in a row--in Morrowind, Oblivion, and Reckoning--was the introduction of a single, particular, unique role-playing game system I have always admired. It's something I felt would be the Next Great Thing in CRPGs ... the name of which must Remain a Secret, for now, because there is a Really Good Chance that I may successfully achieve it in a Future Product. 'Nuff said. I've got a secret, and I won't tell. Nyah, nyah.

[eidos]

OK that's kinda what I thought, but I was curious as a cat with his response to the above Q when he replied

I wouldn't be surprised if they brought Ken onto the MMO project.