2001-12-20: Tales of a Traveller: Interview of Ongoing Content Designer Gromm

Tales of a Traveller: Interview of Ongoing Content Designer Gromm

Videric	How did you get involved in UO and what is your experience/background as a role-player?
Gromm	A few years ago, I was job hunting and a friend of mine told me about her roommate that worked at a magical place where people played videogames all day. Later, I found out she worked at Origin, and I got excited remembering that some of my favorite games like Ultima and Wing Commander came out of that place. So, after meeting her, I filled out an application. After a few months of pestering the snot out of her, I was hired on as a GM for UO. Over the past 2 years, I've moved on from the GM dept. to the IGMs, and now I'm a member of the ongoing content team.
Gromm	Growing up, RPGs were always one of my favorite genres. Although I'm a big fighting/adventure/action console gamer, I could always lose hours and hours of sleep with a good RPG. If any RPG came along with a gripping story, I could feel my grades start to slip immediately. I spent a good chunk of my life believing I was going to make it as a struggling actor, so story and make-believe were the bread and butter of my childhood. Some of the early games that influenced me were on the old NES. The first Final Fantasy, Zelda, Dragon Warrior -- those were really some of the first games to start showing me that you could do more with a game than shoot spaceships or punch people. You could tell a story, and that hooked me instantly.
Videric	Factions and Fiction. The factions were created with specific fiction in mind, and closely involved characters like Minax. The problem is that the faction war seems to not have much fiction going for it, and its story does not seem to have the slightest hope of coming to any kind of conclusion or advancing further. Isn't this a problem when telling a story, and do you see any changes coming up - perhaps the long talked diplomatic side of the factions?
Gromm	The Faction system is one of those elements of the game that is hard to have ongoing fiction for. On every shard, the battle can be leaning in favor of any side at any given time. Also, I think most people tend to play in factions for game play more than story. Factions is, first and foremost, a game system and not a fiction vehicle, and any changes made to it would probably always be based on game play reasons and not characters or fictional events. Not that we would never create a story for factions; I think if we got the chance to, it could be a lot of fun.
Gromm	For the last scenario, I tried to involve factions in a minor way through the fiction. In the story on BNN for the finale, I had the characters mention that factions could be fighting for possession of the hidden towers in Felucca; Minax and Shadowlords to assist Exodus, and the True Britannians and Council of Mages to fight him. I know it wasn't much, but I was hoping to inspire some battles for the towers. From what I hear, a few took place, which made it worth it to add it into the story.
Gromm	Right now, we don't have anything in the cards for factions as far as major fiction goes, but it's always a possibility for the future. I'd enjoy a chance to talk about what Minax has been doing, who exactly the Shadowlords are, etc.
Videric	World and Fiction. Currently, many towns have double/bugged decorations. The deep woods have "forest" cows spawning, and there are no books in the libraries of Trammel, etc. These are relatively small issues, but they hinder the illusion of a world, so the question really is: Is there any sort of "clean up Britannia" from the developer's side planned?
Gromm	At the moment, no, nothing is being planned. I do agree that those little details can really add or detract from the realism of a world and someday, if we get the chance to really fine-tune them, I think that would be fantastic. Right now, bigger fish need to be fried, so unfortunately, those things have to sit on the back burner.
Videric	Felucca to Trammel fiction is still confusing to many. There are questions like: "Was the facet entirely empty when we moved into it?", "Were the cities rebuilt or copied by magic?", and "Why is Felucca barren?" Some are explained by the story; some parts are left by guessing. Could you explain, in your own words, what is the fiction behind Felucca and Trammel?
Gromm	Oh, but I love it when people need to guess! :)
Gromm	The fictional nature of the facets has never been completely air tight, mainly because they were created as game add-ons, which then needed fictional explanations to justify them. That's one of the things I like about the Lord Blackthorn's Revenge expansion. In the past, a new expansion has always been new features with a story slapped on top of it for explanation. For the first time, with LBR, the expansion is built around the story.
Gromm	In future stories, I want to work in some explanations of the facets and how they work, but saying any more than that could give away some plot elements we're not ready to reveal.
Videric	Do the two identical Britannias (Trammel and Felucca) present a challenge in story telling? Surely, having two of everything is not ideal? Khaldun and Haven are certainly different, but are there plans for something more radical to perhaps happen?
Gromm	Plans? Nothing specific yet. Hopes? Oh, good gravy yes. With the technology of UO ever changing and evolving, we get the ability to create more change within the game. The more toys they give us, the more chaos we want to create. So, nothing specific planned exactly, but we have some ideas we're kicking around that could mean some big noticeable changes.
Videric	Ilshenar has a lot of strange things, like Ethereal warriors floating in a strange city. Gypsies and Zog Cabal/FOA followers do not strike me as natives. Also, there is a strange dungeon that is full of silver serpent banners near the desert outposts. Do you have any explanations, or is this something we should wait to get an answer on?
Gromm	By all means, wait. :)
Gromm	Anything that hasn't been explained fully in fiction yet, I'd much rather explain in fleshed-out scenario stories that have some impact on the world as a whole.
Videric	Conclusions. The scenario stories have no conclusion story written, why is this? Certainly, we know that the Gargoyle city is now free, but we know nothing of what sort of pact they perhaps made with Britannia, or what Nystul's feelings were after the spell was cast.
Gromm	So far, we've decided to end scenarios with in-game events and then explain some of the aftermath at the beginning of the fiction of the next one. That could change in the future as the need arises.
Gromm	You will get fiction pertaining to the end of the Gargoyle scenario when the next one starts.
Videric	People ask for things from the possible to the impossible to be craftable, and it is clear you cannot ever please everyone. What do you personally feel would be the most interesting/needed/useful craftables to add in scenarios?
Gromm	Frankly, whatever is fun to the players. Our main goal when thinking up new items, besides balance issues, of course, is to not create anything that won't stay useful or fun when the scenario is over. And that's a lot harder than it sounds.
Gromm	Personally, I'd like to see more craftables that take more than one skill to create. A blacksmith makes something that is then passed on to a tinker, who then needs to pass it to a tailor, that kind of thing. That's just an example, but I really like the things that need more than one player to complete them.
Videric	Do you think the book-skill type system could advance to full skill trees over time? Also, could these new skills display in the skill list?
Gromm	Right now, there are no plans to integrate the books fully into the skills system. As it stands right now, making the books a full part of the skills system would probably take a lot of time to implement and have very little change on the actual game play as it is at the moment. We still may add some similar skill enhancements in future scenarios, but they will probably function very much like the Gargoyle crafting books do now and not result in a major system change. Part of the goal of the content team is to add these new features without having to greatly impact existing parts of the game.
Videric	Technology is a new element introduced to UO. Mixing technology and magic seems to be popular in many fantasy games such as the Thief series, Arcanum and partly in Baldur's Gate II as well. What influenced you and the team to go this way in the design?
Gromm	Mainly, it was the introduction of Exodus. When we started the whole scenario project, we figured it would be a good time to bring in a major world-threatening villain again. Unfortunately, Minax's dance card was full with factions, so we didn't feel right pulling her out of an established role in a game system that was specifically not being connected with the scenarios. We interviewed some important villains, and many of them gave some great interviews, but no one had the astounding power or presence that Minax had. We looked back into Ultima prime fiction and decided the time was right to bring in the 3rd member of the Triad of Evil, Exodus.
Gromm	So really, the decision to use Exodus led to the use of technology. Once we felt that he was the villain we wanted to use, it gave us the opportunity to threaten Britannia with something new that it had never seen before: mechanicals.
Gromm	Many people are worried that we're going to try and take UO, kicking and screaming, into a more technological world much like what UO2 was going to be, but that isn't the case. Exodus started the whole golem invasion without Blackthorn's help. Now that Blackthorn is in league with him and the golems have failed, they're going to take a new approach. Don't expect to see new clockwork monsters attacking in each new scenario from now on.
Videric	The same art tiles seem to be used over and over again to represent everything from human towns to the Gargoyle city and the mechanical pyramid. Will we get new art tiles added sometime with the art team working with you on the scenarios?
Gromm	Actually, that almost happened in the Gargoyle scenario, but had to be cut for time. Whether or not that will happen in the future is anyone's guess, but I'm always up for new art that allows us to build something completely new and exotic. Although, it is a lot of fun to try and use the art we have now in new ways no one has seen before.
Videric	Story telling in UO. How do you feel UO story telling is doing compared to the other Massive Role-playing games? How is it better, and where do you feel there is room for improvement?
Gromm	I don't think it is very professional to comment on any other game and its fiction or interface, but I do have some thoughts on UO.
Gromm	Right now, we've only introduced 2 scenarios so far, so we still have a lot of a learning curve to go through. I'm sure someday, in the distant future, the job of creating fiction for an entire online world will be a more common one, but right now, the whole idea is still very young and there aren't a lot of precedents set of what works and what doesn't.
Gromm	One of the things I'd like to see happen in the future is a blurring of the line between the web fiction and the in-game fiction. Right now, it's very difficult to become completely immersed in the story unless you read the BNN stories on the website and then see them played out in some fashion in the game. Of course, the game client has limitations of what we are able to present and all of it takes time to produce, so we do have to make sacrifices due to time or technology.
Gromm	There's also the "not-in-my-backyard" stance that some players have. Some see the scenarios as something that interferes with their game play. I'd like to someday see the scenarios become advanced enough that people stop seeing them as something interfering with the game, and start seeing them as a seamless part of the game, which is what they're meant to be. These aren't like the smaller personal quests of old that only affected a few people, they're meant to be world events that affect everyone in some way, just like major real world events do. As the games evolve, the worlds within them are going to become more and more dynamic, and change will be so common that it won't seem like change. Ultimately, I'd like to see that happen in some way with the scenarios.
Videric	Player-races have been mentioned more than once, years back to Raph Koster's time, but have never come true. Obviously, you cannot give any promises of future projects, but what are your feelings of their potential, and what races would you use?
Gromm	I think races would add a ton to the game - not only from a roleplay aspect, but just in general. I think anytime a player has the chance to customize their character more, that's a good thing. And I don't want to even start drooling over the fiction that could go along with the introduction of new races. :)
Gromm	Although we don't have any current player race plans, if I had to personally pick new races… I'd have to go with Gargoyles and Orcs. So many people already play orcs, plus I've always thought orcs had a lot of personality (See the BNN Audio wacky orc commercials). Gargoyles just scream of old school UO to me, and since we've re-introduced them to the Ultima world again as a civilized race, it would be a great opportunity to flesh them out even more.
Videric	What do you think of Ultima related books (Forge of Virtue by Lynn Abbey, Technocrat wars by Austen Andrews) and will the future books of Austen Andrews be set in the UO universe instead of Ultima Worlds: Origin. Also, who will write the script for the upcoming comic books?
Gromm	I haven't had a chance to read any of the Ultima novels yet! Too many books, not enough time. As far as I know, there are no plans for any UO novels right now; although, I think there are some more Austen Andrews Technocrat books on the way.
Gromm	It's hard to assign just one writing credit to the comic book that's coming with LBR. It all started with the content team deciding what should be covered in the book. After that, Calandryll and I made an outline of the story. From there, we had to write a normal text story, the majority of which I authored. That finished text story was then sent off to the comic people, who then turned that into more of a screenplay-like script, making small cuts here and there for space.
Gromm	Technically, I'm getting the top writer credit, but credit must be given to the folks that adapted the story to fit into the comic book medium. They did a great job adapting what we sent them and were very patient with us since we had to review and approve their script and artwork of our characters. On the other hand, they've done such brilliant work that we've hardly had to correct anything. We've seen every page of the book in color as of now and I'm very, very happy with the results.
Videric	The sea: unused future resource of fiction for the world, or…?
Gromm	Big, blue, wobbly thing that mermaids live in.
Gromm	And no, we're not adding mermaids! :P
Gromm	We don't have any plans, as of yet, to use the sea in a major way in a scenario. Doing anything complex on the open water would be tricky, but I'm not ruling it out completely.
Videric	Some very quick questions to clarify matters. Simple, short answers are enough, so please do not count these all as separate questions if you choose to answer:
Videric	a) Is Julia dead in all shards in UO fiction, or only on Atlantic shard?
Videric	b) What happened to the "FOA leader" who was at Yew prison, was he sentenced?
Videric	c) Wasn't CrawWorth (founder of Lost Lands) suppose to have a monument, after he died discovering the lost lands?
Videric	d) Does Haven have fiction behind it?
Videric	e) What happened to Relvinian?
Videric	f) What exactly Controllers are?
Videric	g) Will UO:LBR have a cloth map?
Videric	h) Will Britannians learn soon that king is missing (in fiction)?
Gromm	Ok, blanket answer for a - e… Honestly, I wouldn't want to answer any unanswered questions because any unanswered question is possible scenario material. Also, I'm not the creator of any of that fiction, so I wouldn't feel right creating an ending for it unless it was needed to explain scenario details.
Gromm	Controllers are the lackey servants of Exodus. He's kept them around mainly because they make good assistants and aren't powerful enough to defy him. He doesn't consider the Controllers numerous enough or powerful enough to form an attack force, which is why he attempted the golem invasion. I don't want to explain anymore about them because I'd like to reveal more about their origins through the fiction as we go.
Gromm	I think LBR is coming with a paper map.
Gromm	Finally, the big king issue. As much as we want to blatantly write a story about the king and where he's gone, there are a ton of real world issues involved. We don't own the character, so anything we do with him has to be approved. Eventually, we do want the fiction to reach a point where the missing king is no longer an issue. I'm not saying we're going to put the crown on someone else's head, but there will be heroes to rally behind. In the last story written for the scenarios, "Answers", Nystul does mention that the king has been missing, so fictionally I think it would makes sense that players' characters could at least know that the king has not been seen in a long time.
Videric	Ultima specific holidays, like celebration over Mondain's death, Yew wine feast, season of compassion with Lord Nicholson and such… couldn't these be made a part of scenarios or one-time events?
Gromm	Frankly, I love the in-game holidays and would love it if we could make them more prevalent. I've never been a big fan of bringing real world holidays into the game, not that I have anything against holidays, I just think they detract a little from the atmosphere of a world outside of our own.
Gromm	If the scenarios could help promote the fictional holidays, I think that would be great; although, I think they would focus more on the evil folk and their doings. We could always do "A Very Blackthorn Christmas", but I'm not sure how he'd look in the hat. I bet the soundtrack album would sell.
Gromm	I do see online games reaching that point someday where fictional events are celebrated across the entire artificial world like an actual holiday. Players are always throwing some great in game festivals and faires, so I think a worldwide celebration will be the next step someday soon.
Videric	The Traditional question we at the Tales of a Traveller ask all: What have been your most remarkable moments in UO as a player and as an IGM/designer?
Gromm	I think my favorite moments ever were the days the first new weeks of content debuted. I spent way too much time running around in game invisible, watching people interact with the new monsters and items we had created. That was really exciting. A few weeks ago, these things had been mere ideas one of us had blurted out in the office and now here they were running around in game.
Gromm	As an IGM… this is sort of out of game, but still one of my favorite funny moments as a result of UO. One night, I had a date after work and I was running right on time, but just as I was shutting down the computer to walk out the door an interest volunteer messaged me with an emergency. They had accidentally created a big orange dragon and couldn't get rid of it. So, I had to sit down for a few minutes, log in and track the beastie down to kill it and delete it. As a result, I was a little late for the date. When I arrived and she asked me why I was late, I had to answer, "I had to slay a dragon." That didn't go over very well. :)
Videric	The Bonus Trivia Question: Because we have taken a tradition of asking fiction makers hard questions (IGM Talos about ethereal llamas fur), I feel it is our responsibility to ask you one as well. This will require your best knowledge of science and magic, and best of all, there is no right answer as we have no clue of it*grins*
Videric	The question is:
Videric	Who created ethereal creatures (In fiction) and how did this amazing discovery of science and magic come to light?
Gromm	Why, a wizard did it, of course! :)
Videric	Thank you for the interview.
Gromm	It was my pleasure. :)

References:

• http://web.archive.org/web/20030513132759/http://traveller.rper.org/interviews/gromm.shtml