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Josh Bazin
Canada
Edmonton
Alberta
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Earlier this month, I discovered the Streets of Bedlam: A Savage World of Crime + Corruption kickstarter and was immediately enthralled with the ideas presented by Jason L. Blair.
Jason has been working in the games industry for over a decade. He's currently a Writer and Narrative Designer at Human Head Studios in Madison, WI. Jason has numerous tabletop RPG credits, but is probably most well known for his game, Little Fears (and Little Fears Nightmare Edition).
How did you get into the hobby? Are there any other gamers in your family?
My brother introduced me to tabletop gaming through the old Justifiers game. From there, I played Marvel FASERIP and Palladium before branching off into my own group who was into AD&D, Vampire, and Cyberpunk. This all started about 1992 or thereabouts so I've been gaming for a while now.
Which came first, your work on designing RPGs, or Video Games? Did your work in that industry help you with the other?
RPGs came first. I released the original Little Fears back in 2001. I did a little more for that line before releasing my urban myth and magic roleplaying game Wyrd is Bond in 2004. Both got the attention of a guy named Tim Gerritsen who was CEO of Human Head Studios. They had an adventure game division at the time and I came on board as the Adventure Games Director in January 2005.
I helped with the script for their game PREY and then went on to do some more video game work from there.
My work in tabletop games definitely helped make contacts and connections within the video game industry. I was surprised how many people in video games are avid tabletop players as well.
What was the first project you worked on? What was that like? What did you learn?
Heh. EVERYTHING. My first project was Little Fears and I knew nothing about publishing or printing, only the basics about games distribution, and was still pretty green as a writer and designer.
It was crazy. For the last two months, I came home from the day job, went to work on the game, and didn't stop until two in the morning. Then I'd go to bed, get up at 7, work the day job, come home, work on Little Fears, and so on. I'd spend entire weekends working on the game. I had little interaction with friends, my wife, my family. If you weren't on one of my IM services or an email contact, you didn't hear much from me during that time.
Some of it was the writing, designing, and playtesting but I also had to find illustrators, find/review/alter contracts, do art direction, learn how to do layout, learn Photoshop, get the website up, and all that stuff. It was manic.
Your most recent project, Streets of Bedlam seems to be very well received by the Kickstarter community. How does that make you feel?
Humbled and amazed. I did not expect such a strongly positive reaction to the Kickstarter.
Did you expect the support to be this positive?
I hoped Streets of Bedlam would have an audience but I thought it'd be more of a slow growth. It was great to see I wasn't the only one itching for a gritty crime setting for Savage Worlds. It's a great system with a really supportive community. I can't express my thanks enough to everyone who has pledged and helped spread the word.
What made you decide to use Kickstarter for SoB?
When I decided to do a new edition of Little Fears back in 2009, I had a bit of a built-in audience. The original had become a cult game with a very supportive audience so I had a bit of confidence that Little Fears Nightmare Edition would make back whatever investment I put into it. It did, and the line has been going great since then.
But launching a new setting, in a new arena, I wasn't sure how folks would react to it. Other games had great success with Kickstarter so it seemed like a good place to test the water. On top of that, I could offer early adopters some nice perks as a thank you for their support.
How do you view the relationship between Kickstarter and small-medium sized game companies?
I think Kickstarter is a great option for anyone who has an idea they'd like to share without breaking the bank to do it. Putting anything you make out there is nerve-wracking without the potential for losing money. Programs like Kickstarter are win-win situations for both the game creators and game players, in my opinion.
What games influenced you?
Over the past twenty years, the ones that stick with me and influence me in pretty much everything I do are Cyberpunk 2020 for its language and atmosphere, Mayfair's version of Chill for its color and identity, and Vampire for its structure.
As far as games that directly influence Streets of Bedlam, on top of those three, I'd add Over the Edge by Atlas Games for its absolute fearlessness.
What are you playing right now or most recently?
Right now, I'm focusing on Streets of Bedlam. Prior to that, I was playing Esoterrorists, Fiasco, and a friend's homebrew Savage Worlds settings.
Who is one of your favorite RPG Designers?
I've had the good fortune to meet a lot of game designers in my time, and the even greater fortune to call a good number of them friends. One of my favorites is Shane Hensley, the designer behind Savage Worlds. Not just because I'm a fan of his work in Deadlands and such, but because he's a genuinely nice guy with a level of integrity and professionalism that sets a very high standard.
What RPG do you wish you had designed?
That's tough. I have a lot of favorites but I'm not sure which one I'd want to have been mine. Honestly, I can't think of one. The ones I like a lot I'm glad were done by someone else, for their own success, and the ones I think maybe I could have done better I know better than to call out.
A couple I'd love to be involved in reimagining are Dark*Matter and Over the Edge.
What non-RPG (either card, board, or video) games do you play?
Working in the video game industry, I play a lot of video games. I also play a lot of board and card games, especially with my kids. Sleeping Queens is one of my favorite card games right now. An older favorite is On the Edge, the card game based on the Over the Edge RPG. For video games, I have a long back catalog of games I'd like to play, given enough time.
If you had to point someone to an overlooked RPG product, what would that be?
Great question. Honestly, the answer is another Savage Worlds product, one from years ago, called Low Life. Andy Hopp took this strange mixture of gross-out humor, talking Twinkies, and mounds of trash and turned it all into this great fantasy world full of adventure, magic, and humor. It's bizarre but also really good stuff.
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