Q: How do you get your inspiration to create RPGs that leave such lasting impressions?

CA: Aside from caffeine, I get inspiration from playing games of multiple genres. Equally important, I also dive into other forms of media entertainment for ideas – novels, board games, movies, comics, and writing. If you can get the cross-pollination going, you can use the techniques from other forms of entertainment to help improve the games you’re working on.

I also like to start the design process from the story and character first, and then weave the mechanics of the game around that, which I have found to be the reverse of how most games are designed.

A number of games design a system first, and then design a story and characters around it – and you can feel the “disconnect” between the two. I think it’s possible to come up with a theme for a world or game experience, and then design a fun system that helps reinforce that theme. But at the end of the day, I think the two needs to complement each other more than they normally do.