Interviewing Sam Armstrong

By Alex White

- 3 minutes read - 487 words
Sam is working on a PBTA game of Sad Dead Sailors, and their struggle to grow and move on to the afterlife.

Please tell me a bit about yourself

I'm Sam. I'm a game designer from the UK who, like most game designers, realised that the work I was doing to run an RPG campaign was already game design and others might enjoy what I've written outside of my group. I tend to make small games that people can enjoy with as little work as possible.

What do you like best about designing games?

This is a cliché answer, but hearing stories about people enjoying my games. Very early on I was told someone used my dungeon generator to play D&D with his kids after school without having to do copious amounts of prep work, something he had absolutely no time for. This was the first time I was told something like that and it always feels great.

What are you working on at the moment, and what excites you about it?

My current game is Tales From The Spectral Sea, A Swashbuckling Saga Of Sad Dead Sailors. You play as sailors who died at sea but couldn't "pass on" because of unresolved trauma or baggage. Instead you sail across the Spectral Sea, an afterlife for sailors, adventurers, and heroes which warps to fit the people there. This means its full of swashbuckling adventures, dangerous monsters, and folkloric magic. It also means that people there are always being pushed towards resolving their baggage so they can properly move on.

Can you tell me more about that?

That duality between over the top adventure and meaningful emotions is spread throughout every part of the game. I used the "Roll with questions" version of PBTA from Pasión de Las Pasiones to make sure that every time you roll the dice, you're being asked how you feel about what you're doing and being pushed to act like a hero from stories. Even levelling up has a bittersweet feel to it, every time you do you get one step closer to moving on so you might try to delay it to keep your character for as long as possible.

What experience(s) are you trying to give to players?

I don't want either half of the game to get in the way of the other. You will be having larger than life adventures and making friends with weird and outlandish NPCs. You'll also be having touching moments as you share the last words with NPCs and other players before they depart. In fact, going back and forth between each makes them more impactful.

Is there anything you would like to promote right now?

Spectral Sea will be going on Kickstarter early next year. If you sign up to my mailing list you'll be the first to know when it goes out and I'll even add some freebies to your order.

Where should people go to follow you, and to find your products?