Q&A with Andrew Meredith

With MYTH fans everywhere looking for every tidbit of information available, we are always looking for more sources with knowledge about the game.   I can’t tell you how ecstatic I was to have an “insider” not only join the forums here at Lands of Myth, but also to agree to answer a few questions (with the blessing of the designers.)

LoM: Many of the Myth backers are now very familiar with Brian, Kenny, and Keith, they haven’t really gotten to know any of the rest of the team working with MERCS.  Could you tell us a little about yourself and what you do with MERCS?

Andrew: My name is Andrew Meredith, and I met Brian about two years ago when I was working for Fantasy Flight Games. He came up to freelance for them to a few months. When my time at FFG ended, we stayed in contact, and I came to him with an idea for a Dice Building game (this was shortly before Quarriors had come out.) We worked over the premise for a few months, and by March of 2012 MERCS: Conflict was born. Since then I’ve worked with the team at GenCon, I help out as a playtester for MERCS (the minis game) and help out in any other way I can.

LoM: For future MYTH players, I think what interests them the most is your experience playtesting early versions of MYTH before the kickstarter even started.  Could you give us your general thoughts on the game?

Andrew: Let me first say that I am not normally a fan of dungeon-crawl style games. I’ve played them in the past (watched dozens of Descent 1 games, and even had a bit of input into Descent 2 while at FFG.) Overall, they have never scratched the itch I wanted them too, and I disliked that where in RPGs a good GM works with you, in most Dungeon Crawls they are encouraged to try to destroy you at al costs. I won’t go into details of all I want them to be, because MYTH is exactly what I was looking for. We got done playing the early version, and I knew Brian and Kenny had a hit on their hands. The dungeons aren’t insanely small like Descent, and the mobs of baddies coming at you gives you the feel of Diablo, but with the great interaction of live play with other players. I also really appreciate the “Bridge-Night” feel of discussing your combos, what cards to play and what to keep for later. It takes the Dungeon Crawl and turns it on its head to make a truly cooperative game-night with friends.

LoM: I know you’ve already had the privilege (or curse) of seeing skeletons in action during playtesting.  What races did you get to see overall, and could you give 1 sentence about each enemy race that made them unique to play against?

Andrew: Skellies: They just won’t stay down! This can really steal away your treasure dropping combos.
Spiders: Their webs slow the heroes down, which makes sneaking around as a Brigand even slower.
Orcs: Didn’t get a chance to play against them.
Rats: I didn’t get to play them either, but I can’t wait! I love Rat-men!

LoM: I also know you are partial to the brigand when you got to play.  What was it that really stood out about him from the other characters?

Andrew: I chose to play the Brigand because he’s a Rat. Skaven were my first models and army I ever bought way back in 1997. I’ve never even finished the army, but I still have them. The Brigand is fun because he’s sneaky. While “in shadow” he moves slower, but is nigh impossible to hit him. So I was able to sneak around and take out the spiders in the rear without too much rebuttal. And while we didn’t face a boss, it’s rumored that the Brigand can really coup d’gras Captains, Mini-Bosses and Bosses, so his Teammates want him alive for those showdowns.

LoM: What was the most interesting fight or trap you experienced during your tests?

Andrew: While facing the Skellies, we were having an awful time getting treasures to drop. We’d combo hit 3 Minions at a time, only to have one of them stand up (thus keeping a treasure from dropping.) But this changed when the darkness charged up and made several Captains appear (Who I believe will avoid the heroes and keep their distance, making them harder to take down.) The whole fight escalated until we got our bearing and began hewing bones left and right. I think I walked away with a much nicer dagger than the butter knife I started with.

LoM: Any final comments or messages you’d like to share with everyone while you have the podium?

Andrew: If you haven’t checked out MERCS miniatures game, do! Get a MegaCon and start practicing, because you might as well take everything you can in at GenCon this year, including playing in the MERCS tournament, and checking out all of the awesome stuff at the booth. I know we’ll have production copies of MERCS: Conflict, I believe there will be another game there for demo (A very cool Space Exploration game called Emergent Event, by Kenny Sims) and unless I’m mistaken, demo copies of MYTH itself.
Oh, and one last thing: SLAUGHTERFIELD!!!!

I want to extend my thanks to Andrew for taking the time to answer some questions.  I hope we’ll have the chance to catch up more both in the forums and in a future Q&A to get an update on MERC: Conflict, as well as new experiences around MYTH as both games develop further.  I hope a lot of you will get a chance to see him and others from the MERCS team at GenCon, which is approaching at an unbelievable rate.

Q&A with Brian Shotton

With the MYTH kickstarter over and the excitement dying down at least a little bit, I decided to see if I could get Brian Shotton, one of the two game designers of MYTH to take some time from his wife, kids, and of course Conner to answer a few questions.  The fact that I’ve already given MERCS all my money, and he’s still answering questions is a testament to his commitment to fans of the game, especially given that he was inundated by questions (much more serious ones I’m sure) from many others at the same time.

100k) Now that the chaos of the last couple of days of the kickstarter is over, how is everyone feeling?

Brian: We were wasted yesterday. I found myself extremely exhausted (lack of sleep will do that). I also wanted to spend some time with the wife and kids. I had missed them. Finally, I couldn’t stop smiling. It is a greater success than I had ever hoped.

200k) Should a Myth fan run into you somewhere (say GenCon), what would be the proper libations to purchase for you to toast the successful start to this new venture?

Brian: I am a fan of Shock Tops Lemon Shandy. Almost any Hefeweizen will do the trick though.

300k) Should you remember all you now have to deliver for January during the interaction in #2, what stronger libation might be needed to quell any signs of panic?

Brian: Scotch

400k) Obviously there is a ton of production and design work that needs to be done with this game, but what % of the game content do you feel comfortable with at this point? (Rules, card text, etc.)

Brian: Base game 100%. Stretch goals 75%. Add-ons 80%. Writing and text 50% It was higher but we added a lot of written content and we have translations to facilitate.

500k) Has there been, or will there be much focus on the backstory behind the game before it’s release? Stories of the races? Development of the world behind the game, etc?

Brian: We wanted to create a world that players would be able to come and create their own world. To that end we purposefully stay away from big world concepts like name of place and such. However, we have quite a bit of lore (like the rats and rat tails, the cyclops versus the elementals).

600k) How many years of supplements do you feel you had to tap into for all of those stretch goals?

Brian: We feel we have at least a year of releases, possibly 1.5 AFTER the base game is released. We also already have a couple expansions themes that we are comfortable with for the larger expansions this game will need to deliver Journeyman Heroes and such.

700k) On the other hand, how many stretch goals had to be “invented” during the kickstarter?

Brian: 650 (though the idea was always there) 800, and 900k were all on the fly. The Slaughterfield Supplement pack was/is also still in development but we felt strong enough about it we could add it as an add-on.

800k) The game as currently designed is based around stories, that basically take 3 game sessions to complete. Are there any thoughts of expanding the game beyond that with “epics” or “chronicles” with bigger stories, or even being made up of multiple stories?

Brian: Yes. We’ll call these Myth Quests.

900k) What game mechanic are you most looking forward to introducing, that we either haven’t seen much of or haven’t seen at all throughout the kickstarter?

Brian: All the upgraded Heroes. Just in our initial testing the mechanics really come alive when you can alter your deck to create the Hero you want.

No million dollar question…but we came oh so close.

Thanks again to Brian for taking the time to answer.  Congratulations on the success kicking off this game, and I hope that success continues into the future.