M
Malenfant
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As if the Ancients ever did things for a reason
. Or at least, a reason that made sense... 
10 questions to ask Joe Fugate
- Thread starter kafka47
- Start date
. Or at least, a reason that made sense... 
GypsyComet
SOC-14 1K
It's all in the context, which no one in the Imperial age comprehends fully...
Next question ...
5. How much were you still able to play Traveller once you made the leap from fan to publisher?
a) Did you ever play Traveller (or have the urge to play Traveller) after DGP closed?
b) Do you ever feel the urge to play Traveller today, even if only for nostalgia's sake?
I actually played Traveller *more* during the DGP days because we were firm believers in playtesting. We took turns refereeing, and we got to see each other's style and learn from each other.
Plus we referee'd a few games at RPG conventions, which was always a treat for the gamers -- to have one of the "biggies" ref your game!
Let me digress a moment and say all the fame is okay, but it at times could be embarrassing ... the hero worship. I put on my pants one leg at a time just like you do. We were fortunate to be at a time and place and to have enough gall to ask some of the right questions, but that's it.
Did I have the urge to play Traveller after DGP closed? Not really. One reason I got out of the biz was burnout. We all held regular jobs and worked DGP on the side, often many long hours.
Unfortunately, I let workaholism get the best of me and really gave my wife and kids the short end of the stick during those years. They know the DGP years as the "dark times" in our family.
At the end of the day, my family comes first and were I to do it all over again, I probably would not start DGP. While I enjoyed the gaming side of things immensely during those years and the am still very thankful for all the nice people I got to know (Marc Miller, the Keiths, Tom Peters, all the DGP staff, and many others ...), I just about wrecked my home life doing it.
Sure, I'm proud of what we accomplished, but were I to get back into writing for Traveller again these days, I would probably get disowned by my family.
Plus my views on Science Fiction in general have changed. I have come to like the idealistic space opera style of SF, with clear good guys and bad guys, and basically a good yarn story. A fantasy where I can escape for a few hours and come back feeling good.
Star Trek, for example, has gotten too sophisticated for my tastes and I've lost interest, to be honest with you.
And we were adding so much detail to the Traveller universe that it was getting harder and harder to keep it all straight without contridicting ourselves somewhere.
So I just grew tired of it all. I still have a few trinkets from those days, and I proudly own Craig Farley's original cover painting for World Builder's Handbook, our all-time best selling product. But that's it. Roger has *everything* else.
Would I play Traveller again today? Again, probably not. The DGP years fufilled my urge to find out about the Traveller universe in great detail. I had my personal druthers of what I would have liked to see done with the genre, and then there was what made the best marketing sense.
My heart of hearts is still in Classic Traveller. The Rebellion seemed prudent to inject lots of new adventure possiblities into the mix, but my favorite adventures came from the pre-Rebellion era, running one of Marc's early adventures or one of the Keith's adventures.
5. How much were you still able to play Traveller once you made the leap from fan to publisher?
a) Did you ever play Traveller (or have the urge to play Traveller) after DGP closed?
b) Do you ever feel the urge to play Traveller today, even if only for nostalgia's sake?
I actually played Traveller *more* during the DGP days because we were firm believers in playtesting. We took turns refereeing, and we got to see each other's style and learn from each other.
Plus we referee'd a few games at RPG conventions, which was always a treat for the gamers -- to have one of the "biggies" ref your game!
Let me digress a moment and say all the fame is okay, but it at times could be embarrassing ... the hero worship. I put on my pants one leg at a time just like you do. We were fortunate to be at a time and place and to have enough gall to ask some of the right questions, but that's it.
Did I have the urge to play Traveller after DGP closed? Not really. One reason I got out of the biz was burnout. We all held regular jobs and worked DGP on the side, often many long hours.
Unfortunately, I let workaholism get the best of me and really gave my wife and kids the short end of the stick during those years. They know the DGP years as the "dark times" in our family.
At the end of the day, my family comes first and were I to do it all over again, I probably would not start DGP. While I enjoyed the gaming side of things immensely during those years and the am still very thankful for all the nice people I got to know (Marc Miller, the Keiths, Tom Peters, all the DGP staff, and many others ...), I just about wrecked my home life doing it.
Sure, I'm proud of what we accomplished, but were I to get back into writing for Traveller again these days, I would probably get disowned by my family.
Plus my views on Science Fiction in general have changed. I have come to like the idealistic space opera style of SF, with clear good guys and bad guys, and basically a good yarn story. A fantasy where I can escape for a few hours and come back feeling good.
Star Trek, for example, has gotten too sophisticated for my tastes and I've lost interest, to be honest with you.
And we were adding so much detail to the Traveller universe that it was getting harder and harder to keep it all straight without contridicting ourselves somewhere.
So I just grew tired of it all. I still have a few trinkets from those days, and I proudly own Craig Farley's original cover painting for World Builder's Handbook, our all-time best selling product. But that's it. Roger has *everything* else.
Would I play Traveller again today? Again, probably not. The DGP years fufilled my urge to find out about the Traveller universe in great detail. I had my personal druthers of what I would have liked to see done with the genre, and then there was what made the best marketing sense.
My heart of hearts is still in Classic Traveller. The Rebellion seemed prudent to inject lots of new adventure possiblities into the mix, but my favorite adventures came from the pre-Rebellion era, running one of Marc's early adventures or one of the Keith's adventures.
The ancients made actions in re the vargr, humans, and possibly (definitely, IMTU) others are perfectly sensible. Here's the thing: The anchients themselves seem to me to be a pack of competing academics, with Grandfather being the Publishing Comittee...
"Here, take a colonial group, and go find things worth reporting back to me..."
Humans were probably one of those... when found malleable, useful, tool-using; once tinkered with a bit, high enough initiative to start conversations for fun, EVERYBODY wanted some, simply to prevent the intellectual boredom... Sure, they weren't exactly the brightest ones out there, but they were willing to accept inter-species leadership, were both creative AND self-aware in the same way the ancients were. Intellectual stimulation, even if a bit dull.
Vargr, however, were chosen, probably by someone not chozen for the Humans project, and designed to become far more sentient, possibly by borrowing a few hominid genes... and where humans go, so go packs of wild canids, since we always have middens and/or waste, and theft from human waste is valuable... The poor sod watching probably thought this was true self-awwareness, got permission to follow the research, and then realized he had a LOT more work to do, and shared his experiments around... as grunt labor with some modest conversation skills...
Now, IMTU, HSS replaces Neaderthal because they were from a nearby world, found an ancient ship, lovingly maintained by the local droyne, hid in it to escape a fire, and it returned to local base: Earth... It recieves the final order, to return to the homeworld, leaving all experiments in-situ... So it projects scary versions of Droyne as means to manipulate the humans off... somewhere in north africa.
"Here, take a colonial group, and go find things worth reporting back to me..."
Humans were probably one of those... when found malleable, useful, tool-using; once tinkered with a bit, high enough initiative to start conversations for fun, EVERYBODY wanted some, simply to prevent the intellectual boredom... Sure, they weren't exactly the brightest ones out there, but they were willing to accept inter-species leadership, were both creative AND self-aware in the same way the ancients were. Intellectual stimulation, even if a bit dull.
Vargr, however, were chosen, probably by someone not chozen for the Humans project, and designed to become far more sentient, possibly by borrowing a few hominid genes... and where humans go, so go packs of wild canids, since we always have middens and/or waste, and theft from human waste is valuable... The poor sod watching probably thought this was true self-awwareness, got permission to follow the research, and then realized he had a LOT more work to do, and shared his experiments around... as grunt labor with some modest conversation skills...
Now, IMTU, HSS replaces Neaderthal because they were from a nearby world, found an ancient ship, lovingly maintained by the local droyne, hid in it to escape a fire, and it returned to local base: Earth... It recieves the final order, to return to the homeworld, leaving all experiments in-situ... So it projects scary versions of Droyne as means to manipulate the humans off... somewhere in north africa.
Reg Redblade
SOC-8
Mr Fugate,
Let me add to the avalanche of thanks you have received over the last few days - both for the DGP work and your input here recently.
I think your appearance dovetails nicely with the coming release of the MT materials on CD-ROM. As a huge MT fan I think the future is relatively bright for a game that hasn't seen a dedicated product in years. I have purchased the T20 materials, I really like it, ran my players through a few adventures and run T20 demos at conventions here in Ireland but for me MT and the Rebellion is where it's at and DGP was at the centre of this.
I think the reason why DGP material made such a lasting impression with me is due to the professional 'feel' of the products - the presentation was as important as the ideas and the crisp writing - I thought the equipment hand outs in the WBH and GM screen were fantastic - my players still use pristine scanned copies on glossy paper.
As a lawyer I understand the implications of Intellectual Property etc. but it does sadden me somewhat that the DGP materials are not available. On a more selfish level I find it hugely frustrating that I am unlikely ever to get my hands on the full Travellers Digest - of which I only have about three issues - and believe me i have looked - on the net, at conventions etc. It also annoys me when I see the inevitable decline of the DGP 'core ideas' as they are sidelined for newer material ( and I do see the necessity for this - I buy most of what SJG produce and all of the T20 products ).
Thanks for yours and your team's huge contribution over those years. There are thousands of players across the world who still utilise those materials. Even if you never write or play Traveller again new generations of players will be digging in the SOM or WBH for some time to come.
Kind regards,
Des.
P.S. Thank you for the Primordials revelation - have wondered about that since MTJ4.
Let me add to the avalanche of thanks you have received over the last few days - both for the DGP work and your input here recently.
I think your appearance dovetails nicely with the coming release of the MT materials on CD-ROM. As a huge MT fan I think the future is relatively bright for a game that hasn't seen a dedicated product in years. I have purchased the T20 materials, I really like it, ran my players through a few adventures and run T20 demos at conventions here in Ireland but for me MT and the Rebellion is where it's at and DGP was at the centre of this.
I think the reason why DGP material made such a lasting impression with me is due to the professional 'feel' of the products - the presentation was as important as the ideas and the crisp writing - I thought the equipment hand outs in the WBH and GM screen were fantastic - my players still use pristine scanned copies on glossy paper.
As a lawyer I understand the implications of Intellectual Property etc. but it does sadden me somewhat that the DGP materials are not available. On a more selfish level I find it hugely frustrating that I am unlikely ever to get my hands on the full Travellers Digest - of which I only have about three issues - and believe me i have looked - on the net, at conventions etc. It also annoys me when I see the inevitable decline of the DGP 'core ideas' as they are sidelined for newer material ( and I do see the necessity for this - I buy most of what SJG produce and all of the T20 products ).
Thanks for yours and your team's huge contribution over those years. There are thousands of players across the world who still utilise those materials. Even if you never write or play Traveller again new generations of players will be digging in the SOM or WBH for some time to come.
Kind regards,
Des.
P.S. Thank you for the Primordials revelation - have wondered about that since MTJ4.
Next question ...
6. What do you think the best product that DGP produced was and why particularly?
Oh boy, a tough one. They were all fun products to produce, but if I had to single out one of them it was the one internally we called SOPM (saup' - em).
The Starship Operator's Manual. For the first time, all the technology of a starship was described in great detail. I could envision working on a jump drive or the thrusters and I now understood and could actually picture what I was doing! What fun!
The Old Timer's sidebars were a real kick to write, and helped take what could have been a really dry subject and inject it with some real life. Many people told us their favorite part of SOPM was the Old Timer's remarks.
One of the things I think made all our products work well is how we illustrated them. Many game companies saw their products as mainly text, with holes for images to break up the text. But the images could be just about anything as long as they looked like they fit the genre. Different styles of art were okay, even conflicting details, as long as the image sort of fit.
But that's not how we saw it. The art was as much a part of the presentation as the text, if not more so. It all had to hang together. And we worked on upgrading our art quality as we went. My favorite cover artist was Craig Farley. The guy is an artistic genius.
One of his clever keys was to take great pains in the face, and especially the eyes. Lots of detail and expression in the face of his subject. As you drew away from the subject, the detail level dropped substantially, but that did not matter. The rest of the image was balanced and well proportioned, and had lighting that supported the mood very well.
You were immediately impacted by the quality of the subject's face and expression, and it spoke volumes to you. The rest of the image just played a supporting role to the subject, but because the face was so well detailed you were tricked into thinking the whole painting was very detailed. Clever, and very effective.
Rob Caswell was an excellent art director, and for him the art had to tell the story too, as accurately as possible. He carefully corregraphed every image in the products he art directed, only working with artists he knew could deliver exactly what he wanted in an image. Rob would write several paragraphs to the artists on each image, leaving no detail out as to how the image needed to look.
As to art, some of our later Traveller's Digests and the MTJ's were under Rob's guideance, and it shows. Some of the best art we ever published is in those later issues.
BTW, anyone looking for TD19 or TD20, I still have some left and will sell them at cover price (4.95) + $1 for postage. And I also have MTJ3 and MTJ4 at cover prices (12.95) + $1.50 postage.
Throw in two bucks more and I'll even autograph it for you if you like.
6. What do you think the best product that DGP produced was and why particularly?
Oh boy, a tough one. They were all fun products to produce, but if I had to single out one of them it was the one internally we called SOPM (saup' - em).
The Starship Operator's Manual. For the first time, all the technology of a starship was described in great detail. I could envision working on a jump drive or the thrusters and I now understood and could actually picture what I was doing! What fun!
The Old Timer's sidebars were a real kick to write, and helped take what could have been a really dry subject and inject it with some real life. Many people told us their favorite part of SOPM was the Old Timer's remarks.
One of the things I think made all our products work well is how we illustrated them. Many game companies saw their products as mainly text, with holes for images to break up the text. But the images could be just about anything as long as they looked like they fit the genre. Different styles of art were okay, even conflicting details, as long as the image sort of fit.
But that's not how we saw it. The art was as much a part of the presentation as the text, if not more so. It all had to hang together. And we worked on upgrading our art quality as we went. My favorite cover artist was Craig Farley. The guy is an artistic genius.
One of his clever keys was to take great pains in the face, and especially the eyes. Lots of detail and expression in the face of his subject. As you drew away from the subject, the detail level dropped substantially, but that did not matter. The rest of the image was balanced and well proportioned, and had lighting that supported the mood very well.
You were immediately impacted by the quality of the subject's face and expression, and it spoke volumes to you. The rest of the image just played a supporting role to the subject, but because the face was so well detailed you were tricked into thinking the whole painting was very detailed. Clever, and very effective.
Rob Caswell was an excellent art director, and for him the art had to tell the story too, as accurately as possible. He carefully corregraphed every image in the products he art directed, only working with artists he knew could deliver exactly what he wanted in an image. Rob would write several paragraphs to the artists on each image, leaving no detail out as to how the image needed to look.
As to art, some of our later Traveller's Digests and the MTJ's were under Rob's guideance, and it shows. Some of the best art we ever published is in those later issues.
BTW, anyone looking for TD19 or TD20, I still have some left and will sell them at cover price (4.95) + $1 for postage. And I also have MTJ3 and MTJ4 at cover prices (12.95) + $1.50 postage.
Throw in two bucks more and I'll even autograph it for you if you like.
Let me say again that any of our really popular products like the two Alien books, Starship Operator's Manual, or World Builder's Handbook all sold out and I don't have any left, nor does Roger.
The only thing I still have a few copies of are the last few magazines, and *that's it*. TD19, TD20, MTJ3 and MTJ4. I doubt if those are hard to find since they were not near as popular as the above listed products.
The only thing I still have a few copies of are the last few magazines, and *that's it*. TD19, TD20, MTJ3 and MTJ4. I doubt if those are hard to find since they were not near as popular as the above listed products.
This was one of my favourite supplements too. It went directly to the heart of what we do in Traveller, by helping people roleplay their way through the world. It was also a fun sci-fi book in general, and a good introduction to anyone unfamiliar with Traveller (the selection of images was a key to that).
The equipment cards helped in the same way, they provided tangible evidence of this other world we were imagining ourselves in.
FlightCommanderSolitude
SOC-13
I'd love to get one of each ... how best to contact you?
If you want to get any of the magazines, email me at jfugatesr@yahoo.com.
hunter
Ancient - Absent Friend
Joe I don't know how many you have, but we have a Duty Free Shop where you can list these and it will probably be seen more.
Hunter
Hunter
Wow! I'd been away from this site (and Traveller in general) for the last year or so, and just happened to stop by this thread to see none other than Joe Fugate himself here answering our questions! Thank you very much for taking the time to satisfy all of our curiosity and for putting up with our sometimes obsessive overzealousness. Speaking of which...
If you can stand the embarrassment of a little more hero worship, I'd like to mention that I only got into Traveller with the release of MegaTraveller (prior to that the game was spread among so many little black books that I didn't know where to begin) and I can definitively state that your company's products are what pushed me over the edge from idle curiosity into full-on obsession. I was regularly attending GenCon at the time when DGP was at its peak (88-90) and your and Gary's presence at the exhibit booth (set up right next to GDW's booth, waxing enthusiastic about Traveller -- not just your own stuff but GDW's, FASA's, and Gamelords' as well -- you guys convinced me to spend a lot of money!), in seminar (I still have a notebook with feverishly scrawled notes from a seminar co-moderated by you, Gary, and Marc Miller -- there was so much valuable insight and info being given that I was desperate to get as much of it down as possible), and at the table (I was a player in one of your tournament games, and in fact just name-dropped you in another thread -- mentioning that "when I played MT with Joe Fugate at GenCon he never rolled durations for tasks") combined to make me a lifelong fan. I still own and treasure all of your products (which, IMO, were far superior to the bulk of what GDW was releasing at the time -- Starship Operator's Manual vs. Fighting Ships of the Shattered Imperium? No contest!) and if I may be so bold IMO "Lords of Thunder" (which, admittedly, you guys didn't write, but you did publish it) is among the 3 or 4 best products ever released for Traveller in any version by any company.
Now, if you're not too embarrassed by my shameless fanboy gushing, I'll let you get back to answering questions (noting that a couple of those you've already answered were mine, and thank you again for your very thoughtful and thorough answers).
That's it, enough gushing. Now I'm even starting to embarrass myself...
If you can stand the embarrassment of a little more hero worship, I'd like to mention that I only got into Traveller with the release of MegaTraveller (prior to that the game was spread among so many little black books that I didn't know where to begin) and I can definitively state that your company's products are what pushed me over the edge from idle curiosity into full-on obsession. I was regularly attending GenCon at the time when DGP was at its peak (88-90) and your and Gary's presence at the exhibit booth (set up right next to GDW's booth, waxing enthusiastic about Traveller -- not just your own stuff but GDW's, FASA's, and Gamelords' as well -- you guys convinced me to spend a lot of money!), in seminar (I still have a notebook with feverishly scrawled notes from a seminar co-moderated by you, Gary, and Marc Miller -- there was so much valuable insight and info being given that I was desperate to get as much of it down as possible), and at the table (I was a player in one of your tournament games, and in fact just name-dropped you in another thread -- mentioning that "when I played MT with Joe Fugate at GenCon he never rolled durations for tasks") combined to make me a lifelong fan. I still own and treasure all of your products (which, IMO, were far superior to the bulk of what GDW was releasing at the time -- Starship Operator's Manual vs. Fighting Ships of the Shattered Imperium? No contest!) and if I may be so bold IMO "Lords of Thunder" (which, admittedly, you guys didn't write, but you did publish it) is among the 3 or 4 best products ever released for Traveller in any version by any company.
Now, if you're not too embarrassed by my shameless fanboy gushing, I'll let you get back to answering questions (noting that a couple of those you've already answered were mine, and thank you again for your very thoughtful and thorough answers).
That's it, enough gushing. Now I'm even starting to embarrass myself...
Mr. Fugate,
SOPM is truly one of the crown jewels of Traveller. However, I like even more for another reason...
How many of us here realize that the 'model' the Old Timer was drawn from is Vice Admiral John S. McCain of WW2 fame? That's right, Senator John McCain's grandfather is the Old Timer!
When I first saw the sketch of the Old Timer, I nearly fell out of my chair laughing. Old 'Popeye' McCain was the perfect choice for the crusty, no nonsense, straight shooting Old Timer.
Sincerely,
Larsen
P.S. BTW, the 'Primordials' are the name of my next fantasy baseball team. Go Sox!!!!!!!!!!
SOPM is truly one of the crown jewels of Traveller. However, I like even more for another reason...
How many of us here realize that the 'model' the Old Timer was drawn from is Vice Admiral John S. McCain of WW2 fame? That's right, Senator John McCain's grandfather is the Old Timer!
When I first saw the sketch of the Old Timer, I nearly fell out of my chair laughing. Old 'Popeye' McCain was the perfect choice for the crusty, no nonsense, straight shooting Old Timer.
Sincerely,
Larsen
P.S. BTW, the 'Primordials' are the name of my next fantasy baseball team. Go Sox!!!!!!!!!!
You are absolutely right! I never thought anyone would notice, but I'm a WW2 Naval History buff, and when we were looking for someone to model the Old Timer, I pulled out my Naval History books and told my wife (who did the sketch, by the way) ... here, do *him*.
And so it was. Glad you agree with my choice. I thought he looked the part perfectly.
Great stuff here--
I really liked the character portraites in the 'post dot matrix' TD's and SOPM... if that was Mrs. Fugate's work please convey my compliments. I also enjoyed Rob Caswell's stuff immensly, especially his equipment illustrations - clean, futuristic and believable.
Anyone that does NOT have MTJ#4 should run, not walk, to Mr. Fugate's doorstep and take him up on that offer. It's that good!
It's do-able if you're willing and able to part with a little coin. It took me six months checking e-bay on just about a daily basis and probably around $250 to $300 US when all was said and done. Issues 1, 2 and 4 were the hardest to find (and most expensive) and I had to buy/sell/trade through a few package deals to get at what I wanted. I probably could have done it cheaper if I'd been just a bit more patient.
I got some really good deals on some of the MT era issues and Swordy from the Traveller Trader and some fellow citizens here (thx Dan!) helped out a lot as well.
Now High Passage issue #1- that's hard to get....
--michael
I really liked the character portraites in the 'post dot matrix' TD's and SOPM... if that was Mrs. Fugate's work please convey my compliments. I also enjoyed Rob Caswell's stuff immensly, especially his equipment illustrations - clean, futuristic and believable.
Anyone that does NOT have MTJ#4 should run, not walk, to Mr. Fugate's doorstep and take him up on that offer. It's that good!
Reg--
It's do-able if you're willing and able to part with a little coin. It took me six months checking e-bay on just about a daily basis and probably around $250 to $300 US when all was said and done. Issues 1, 2 and 4 were the hardest to find (and most expensive) and I had to buy/sell/trade through a few package deals to get at what I wanted. I probably could have done it cheaper if I'd been just a bit more patient.
I got some really good deals on some of the MT era issues and Swordy from the Traveller Trader and some fellow citizens here (thx Dan!) helped out a lot as well.
Now High Passage issue #1- that's hard to get....
--michael
Next!
7. How surprised were you it when GDW granted your company de facto stewardship over the Traveller rules and setting from roughly 1987 to 1990?
a) Was this a specific decision made between you and Marc Miller or was it more of a gradual evolutionary process?
b) Considering how small in personnel and resources your company was, how overwhelmed or intimidated did you feel at being the head of something with such a large legacy and following, or was this a concern at all?
==================================================
Gary was flabbergasted that Marc Miller would even give us the time of day, much less a sweet license deal like he did. He just offered it to us, with a contingency that we needed to publish a certain volume of product for it to go into full effect.
We were all over 25, and we sent Marc some samples of our work with our proposal, so that seemed to say to him we were "reliable". From day one, we used Macs and the latest desktop publishing software we could get our hands on. And my wife's career was in the typesetting and printing business, so we had "connections" as they say.
And we went for it! When I look at all the products we produced, it's quite a stack of stuff.
During the time, I was too inexperienced in the ways of the gaming biz to know whether or not I should be "overwhelmed". With what I know today, I should have been more overwhelmed than I was.
But we just took it a day at a time. Excitement carried us a long ways. Then fleshing out the details and our frequent talks with Marc were a delight. Of course we got to learn about lots of inside skinny on Traveller and GDW's plans for it, as well as weigh in with our own plans.
As we developed a reputation for good work, we even had the like of Steve Jackson ( the man himself ) coming to us and offering us proposals to do work for them. Our heart was in Traveller, so we weren't interested in things outside that game system.
However, I am happy to say that we did help several people go on to great careers by publishing some of their work first in a DGP product.
Bill Connors went on to work for TSR. Tom Peters got on at NASA. And one of the kids who illustrated for us (his name escapes me at the moment) went on to do special effects work in Hollywood.
As I've mentioned, the greatest burden for me, it turned out, was the difficulty my family went through in those years never seeing me day or night because I was always working on some DGP product or business issue.
I had hoped that it would turn into a full-time venture but it never did. We lost money every year of business except 2, so it was truly a labor of love. My last ditch hope was AI and the thought that it might put us over the top, but as I looked at the amount of money and time that would have taken to produce and market the game properly, I suddenly came to a realization.
I originally got into the gaming business with the hopes that it would someday become my full time profession so I could set my own hours and be with my family more.
The end result was just the opposite. If I ditched the gaming business and went back to an 8-5 job only, I could be a normal human being again with my family on evenings and weekends.
And I was just plain burned out. 10 years of almost no free time was just too much for me. I grew tired of the gaming business and saw the internet on the horizon and that looked like it was going to change everything anyway.
So we shut down operations, tallied up the debt (into 5 digits at this point), and made a plan to pay back as much of the debt as possible.
A year or so later after this decision, I was happily enjoying being a normal human being again, when this "fan" shows up on my doorstep and wanted to know if he could buy some Traveller stuff. Roger was his name ... Roger Sanger.
7. How surprised were you it when GDW granted your company de facto stewardship over the Traveller rules and setting from roughly 1987 to 1990?
a) Was this a specific decision made between you and Marc Miller or was it more of a gradual evolutionary process?
b) Considering how small in personnel and resources your company was, how overwhelmed or intimidated did you feel at being the head of something with such a large legacy and following, or was this a concern at all?
==================================================
Gary was flabbergasted that Marc Miller would even give us the time of day, much less a sweet license deal like he did. He just offered it to us, with a contingency that we needed to publish a certain volume of product for it to go into full effect.
We were all over 25, and we sent Marc some samples of our work with our proposal, so that seemed to say to him we were "reliable". From day one, we used Macs and the latest desktop publishing software we could get our hands on. And my wife's career was in the typesetting and printing business, so we had "connections" as they say.
And we went for it! When I look at all the products we produced, it's quite a stack of stuff.
During the time, I was too inexperienced in the ways of the gaming biz to know whether or not I should be "overwhelmed". With what I know today, I should have been more overwhelmed than I was.
But we just took it a day at a time. Excitement carried us a long ways. Then fleshing out the details and our frequent talks with Marc were a delight. Of course we got to learn about lots of inside skinny on Traveller and GDW's plans for it, as well as weigh in with our own plans.
As we developed a reputation for good work, we even had the like of Steve Jackson ( the man himself ) coming to us and offering us proposals to do work for them. Our heart was in Traveller, so we weren't interested in things outside that game system.
However, I am happy to say that we did help several people go on to great careers by publishing some of their work first in a DGP product.
Bill Connors went on to work for TSR. Tom Peters got on at NASA. And one of the kids who illustrated for us (his name escapes me at the moment) went on to do special effects work in Hollywood.
As I've mentioned, the greatest burden for me, it turned out, was the difficulty my family went through in those years never seeing me day or night because I was always working on some DGP product or business issue.
I had hoped that it would turn into a full-time venture but it never did. We lost money every year of business except 2, so it was truly a labor of love. My last ditch hope was AI and the thought that it might put us over the top, but as I looked at the amount of money and time that would have taken to produce and market the game properly, I suddenly came to a realization.
I originally got into the gaming business with the hopes that it would someday become my full time profession so I could set my own hours and be with my family more.
The end result was just the opposite. If I ditched the gaming business and went back to an 8-5 job only, I could be a normal human being again with my family on evenings and weekends.
And I was just plain burned out. 10 years of almost no free time was just too much for me. I grew tired of the gaming business and saw the internet on the horizon and that looked like it was going to change everything anyway.
So we shut down operations, tallied up the debt (into 5 digits at this point), and made a plan to pay back as much of the debt as possible.
A year or so later after this decision, I was happily enjoying being a normal human being again, when this "fan" shows up on my doorstep and wanted to know if he could buy some Traveller stuff. Roger was his name ... Roger Sanger.
As we all sit huddled around the campfire, Mr. Fugate leans close and tells us;
"...when this "fan" shows up on my doorstep and wanted to know if he could buy some Traveller stuff. Roger was his name ... Roger Sanger."
Cue the evil organ music!
Just in time for Halloween too!
"...when this "fan" shows up on my doorstep and wanted to know if he could buy some Traveller stuff. Roger was his name ... Roger Sanger."
Cue the evil organ music!
Just in time for Halloween too!
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