Introduction: Sean Reynolds, TSR Online Coordinator has agreed to be interviewed after failing a few saving rolls and the success of my own saving rolls. He can be reached by email at TSRinc@aol.com. His work and efforts on the offical TSR WWW site can be seen at http://www.tsrinc.com. I hope that this interview will enlighten people to what exactly Sean does and how he does it. Sean has been on a rocky road from the start of his career at TSR, I hope this interview will ease his journey in the future. Craig Janssen ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Q: Can you tell about about your personal background? Sean: I went to a junior college in my home town in southern California. That's where I started using computers professionally - helping students in our campus computer lab, and tutoring gifted junior-high kids. I transferred to the University of California, Riverside campus in order to finish my chemistry degree, and in my first year of grad school I started getting online, mainly focusing on RPG activities (since there weren't many interesting RP'ers at my college). I'm familiar with Macintosh, PC-Compatibles (DOS, Windows and Windows 95), NeXT, Apple ][e, PET, and Commodore computers. I'm single (as are many men my age in this part of Wisconsin) and have no children. Q: Can you tell us about your Gaming industry background? How you got started at TSR? Sean: Right out of college I started working at a software company called Time Warner Interactive, which made educational and entertainment CD-ROMs for PCs and Macs (another division of TWI made cartridge and coin-op games, the most famous of which is Primal Rage). I was responsible for creating and maintaining their AOL forum and web site. After working there for a year, I was becoming bored with the CRPG industry (TWI didn't put out many products each year, which left me with little to do). At about that time, TSR's Digital Projects Coordinator (Rob Repp) sent a want-ad to the ADND mailing list, seeking applicants for the Online Coordinator position at TSR. I fired off an ASCII resume, not expecting to hear anything (as they were in Wisconsin and I was in California), but two weeks later I got a call from Rob, who wanted to conduct a phone interview. I flew me out to Lake Geneva for an interview. After the interview, Rob offered me the job on the spot. In fact, his exact words were, "Well, I have a few other applicants to look over, but that's pretty much a formality - you have the position if you want it." I told him I'd consider it (I had a serious girlfriend that had a year of grad school to finish, and I had never lived outside of California before), and flew back home. After a few days of discussion, I accepted the position and put in my two weeks' notice at TWI. Two weeks later I drove cross-country and ended up in Lake Geneva, WI, where I promptly found a roomy and inexpensive apartment. My second day at TSR was an unusual one. My boss (Rob Repp) put in his two weeks' notice that morning and was told that he could leave right away, so he did. Suddenly, I was completely in charge of our online presence. Later that day was TSR's 20th aniversary banquet, so I wandered around and met people I didn't know. I have been at TSR ever since, and have expanded our AOL forum,started a web site, and (somewhat) clarified TSR's stance on the permissable use of TSR's intellectual property. As for my background in _gaming_, rather than employment by gaming companies, started with "basic" Dungeons & Dragons in 1980, adventuring through The Keep On The Borderlands, eventually graduating to "Expert" D&D and The Isle Of Dread. Not long after, I started playing AD&D. My group of friends had a brief stint with Gamma World, and a couple of us played Star Frontiers and Marvel Super Heroes for quite some time, but we always came back to AD&D. In high school, we hooked up with some older gamers from Colorado who introduced us to Traveler and Tunnels & Trolls. Recently I have picked up The End by Scapegoat Games and In Nomine by Steve Jackson Games, and have tinkered a bit with those. Q: Can you go into some detail about the some of the projects you have developed or worked on? Sean: Well, when I first started here, our AOL forum had only one chat room (which was hosted by a group of 6 TSR Online volunteers, a.k.a. TSROs) and no areas for gaming online. Since then, the forum has been revised and expanded to add five rooms for gaming, another message board for newsgroup-style discussion, a room for seminars with TSR staff, and an RPGA area (with its own file libraries, message board, and chat room). After over a year of fighting tooth-and-nail, we now also have a full web site, with catalog information, FAQ, product previews, contests, and scanned out-of-print or never-before published products (the biggest draw for most gamers). Eventually the site will have upload access for the net-community so they can share their material with a wider audience. I'm also involved in an unofficial "digital products group" at TSR, which coordinates our efforts at promoting online games. With much help from Rob Miracle at the Multi-Player Games Network (MPGN), we set up a permanent home for many of the AD&D-related mailing lists (Forgotten Realms, Dark Sun, DragonLance, Birthright, Planescape, Ravenloft, and Spelljammer), which were being bounced from server to server as each host figured out just how much of a drain on resources the lists were. We've also set up an Alternity mailing list, with plans for a Dragon Dice list, too. As far as offline projects go, I was a playtester for the Gates Of Firestorm Peak AD&D module as well as the upcoming Shadow Rift AD&D module. I designed one of the entries in the Children Of The Night: Ghosts compilation for Ravenloft this year, and I'm "chief playtester" (a title I made up for myself) for TSR's new Alternity game and STAR*DRIVE, Alternity's first official campaign setting. I also created the 3-D computer-generated dice models that show up on the boxes of Dragon Dice. Q: Where do you think the Gaming industry will go in 1997? Sean: I don't often think of the industry as a whole (I don't go to conventions, and so I don't see what or how other companies are doing). However, I think that last year was a time for RPG companies' to do some belt-tightening, and we'll see a stronger focus on quality products instead of fluff. I think that CCGs will continue to level off, if not fall, as more and more of them are created and little that is truly new and/or innovative will appear. Q: What role does the Internet play in your work? Sean: Well, I generally split my time equally between our AOL and web sites. Often it is a duplication of effort, as the same files (such as classic modules) need to be uploaded to both sites. I also get around 200 pieces of email a day from AOL and the internet, not including mail from mailing lists (I am subscribed to all of the TSR-related mailing lists, plus the GMAST and ALARUMS lists). My goal turnaround time for answering email is 24 hours or less ... quite often it's less than an hour, if I have the answer handy, but often it takes longer than that, mainly when I have to forward a question to another department and wait for a reply. I also read the rec.games.frp.dnd and .misc newsgroups for relevant issues (I don't _have_ to, but I do ... I find it helps people who otherwise wouldn't know where to ask). Sometimes I am called upon to forward messages or files to or licensees or foreign distributors. Basically, I am online about 7 hours out of my 8-hour work day, with about half of that being devoted directly to our web site or to answering questions from the net. Of course, I also sign on from home in the mornings, evenings, and weekends to check my mail and fix problems should they occur (many a time have I gotten a surprised - yet pleased - response to a reply I made at one in the morning on a Sunday night). Q: What impact do you feel the Internet had had on the RPG industry? Sean: I think it has made it easier for customers to have their voices heard both in regard to telling the RPG companies their concerns, but also for sharing opinions and expectations abotu current and upcomign products. If a product is bad, and two or three people post that it is bad, enough people are going to assume that it is a bad product, which directly affects sales. Thus, companies have to work harder to produce good product, as not only is each product under a lot of scrutiny, but there's immediate feedback about each purchase. However, I also think that it has helped companies relate information about their product that otherwise would be a very expensive or slow procedure. For example, the online release of Exile by Rein*Hagen, or the FUDGE RPG - advertising a free product on the internet is free and welcomed (as opposed to annoying sorts of spam, free games are generally looked upon as a good thing, IMO). Other examples of this are the Savage Coast Campaign setting from TSR (which was placed online when a last-minute decision was made not to print it) and a number of "classic" AD&D modules that are being placed online at TSR's web site (since it would be too expensive to reprint them, and they are highly in demand in some circles). Furthermore, I think the internet has helped small, less-known or less popular games remain active. Take Mythus, for example - there is an active list of Mythus players on that list, sharing ideas and enjoying the game. They're scattered all over the USA and the world, and if it wasn't for the net, they'd have a hard time keeping their pocket-groups of Mythus alive. Q: What current or future projects are you involved with? Craig: I know you are working hard on the TSR Web site. I think you are doing a great job. I know you were given a lot of flack when you first started your job, I hope your efforts have changed people's opinions. Sean: Well, my biggest current project is to get these out-of-print modules and such online. I scan all of the covers, maps, and interior artwork, and have net-people send me the scanned & OCR'd copy; a TSR staffer proofreads the text for errors, and then it goes online. The biggest delays come from proofreading and from scanning the interior art. Long-term goals for the web site are a chat room (or rooms) of some sort, online ordering of products, and more interesting uploads. The primary goal is to get the anon-ftp access running, so netters can upload their works. Oh, and more online gaming, of course. :) Basically, people like what we have on the site, and want to see more of it. Q: A lot of people think that the gaming industry is in trouble, possibly due to CCG's and declining sales. Do you agree? Craig: I personally do not think CCGs are downfall of the industry. I think it might help begin more people into the industry. Of course, some companies did and will get hurt by trying to make a fast buck.. Sean: No, I don't think that the RPG industry is in trouble because of CCG's. While some RPGers have been spending some of their money on CCG's, the CCG industry has brought a lot of new and younger players into the world of fantasy- and sf-based gaming. When those players get a little older, they'll want to do more than just slam cards at each other - they'll want to role-play their wizard, or their data pirate, or whatever. Of course, if you only have 10 minutes during lunch, a CCG is a good alternative to an RPG session.... Of course, a lot of companies saw the success of Magic: The Gathering, and sought to cash in on that part of the market. The result was quite a few mediocre card games based on a popular license, or badly edited games that made little sense or were easy to break. New CCG's keep coming out, however, as people think that their game might be the next M:TG. Q. Do you feel that the Internet will play a bigger part in the Gaming industry in the future? If so, how? Sean: Yes! The net is the future of role-playing. The net makes it so easy to find other gamers and so easy to game when it's convenient that traditional gaming is almost a hassle to deal with by comparison. For example, with live gaming, you have to pack up all of your dice and books, leave your house, be somewhat presentable to the public, be on time, etc. Online, you can game with just your computer, in your own house, in your boxer shorts and a t-shirt, and do it when it's convenient for you. Right now I'm running a play-by-email (PBEM) game and playing in three others. I would never have time to play in four simultaneous campaigns if they were all done live. Craig: I totally agree. I am currently running a Gamma World PBEM game, myself. Sean: Yet email allows me to participate in four different gaming styles, when it's convenient for me - I can take ten minutes during lunch and reply to one of my GMs, or take an hour after dinner and send a move out to my players. And that's just PBEM. With the advent (and success) of net-playable head-to-head games such as Warcraft II and Quake, we're sure to be seeing more online RPGs in which you can team up with people all over the world and go adventuring, whether it's moderated by a host computer or by a GM running special software. Companies need to look to the net to find ways for people to play their games online. Smart companies will find ways to do it that allow them to make money at the same time. I see an increasing trend away from paper products and toward electronic ones. I don't think paper products will disappear entirely (as not everyone is going to be able to get online, despite what many of the net-gurus think), and avenues like conventions, where it is far easier to coordinate a thousand simultaneous players in a tournament if you can push them down on tables and time them, will always be around. And the very tactile nature of live RPGing (the books, the dice, the company) will always be more satisfying to a lot of people. Craig: Thank you again Sean for your comments, and time.