Interviews – Episode 3 – Ross Payton

Oct 262012

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The CarpeGM Interview Series – Episode 3 – Ross Payton

Notes – I sat down with writer, game designer, and Ennie award winning podcaster, Ross Payton for a nice discussion about the ins and outs, and tips and tricks of running horror RPGs.

We also spend some time discussing Ross’s past and present projects, including, Base Raiders – a game of super hero dungeon crawling that, at the time of this recording, is a live Kickstarter project.

(:20) What’s on your geek card?

(13:54) How do you run a horror game?

(18:48) What do you do to promote player buy-in?

(23:25) How do you determine what style of pacing to use?

(25:07) How much control do you have over the game?

(28:18) How do you keep mechanics out of the way of immersion?

(32:52)What game systems work best for horror?

(39:35) What are some of your inspirations from pop culture?

(45:13) What’s your favorite locale for a horror game?

Media –

Role Playing Public Radio
RPPR Actual Play
The Unspeakable! Podcast
Base Raiders (Kickstarter)
Call of Cthulhu (RPG)
Eclipse Phase (RPG)
Wild Talents (Arc Dream Publishing)
Curriculum of Conspiracy
Road Trip
Zombies of the World
Delta Green
Killsplosion!
Unknown Armies (RPG)
Ian MacLean (artist)
Concept Art.org
Invasive Procedures (RPG)
Gum Shoe System (RPG)
Fate (RPG)
World of Darkness
The King in Yellow (Archive.org)
Night Floors
Tokyo G-Cans Project (Wikipedia)
BLDGBLOG
Project Ice Worm (BLDGBLOG)
Monsters and Other Childish Things (RPG)
Little Fears (RPG)
Grimm (RPG)
Costume Quest (Steam)