Interviewing Kalum

By Alex White

- 5 minutes read - 959 words
Kalum is a Londoner with a broad range of TTRPG tastes and several projects on the go!

Please tell me a bit about yourself

Hello, I’m Kalum from The Rolistes. I’m a game designer from London. I was born and grew up in Wallonia (which is somewhat relevant to one of my games) but I identify as a Londoner. The capital is dear to me and I’m lucky to contribute to its evolution as part of my day job (I’ll keep it a mystery though).

My first TTRPG was the 2nd edition of Star Wars by West End Games published in French by Jeux Descartes. I must have been around 13 at the time. I had no clue what a TTRPG was. I just saw this publication mentioned in Spirou Magazine (might have been Journal de Mickey) and asked my father to get it for Christmas. I was already bad at reading TTRPGs and never managed to run a session on my own. It took me several years before finding a group to play with regularly.

It was in the window between the bankruptcy and WotC’s first. I think the time and place where I started playing shaped my 'polygamerous' (a term from Pandas Talking Games) TTRPG tastes.

What do you like best about designing games?

I enjoy hosting friends for dinner or a game, putting something together, and sharing it with them. I get a similar pleasure out of game design while engaging with people, anywhere and anytime, who I can’t hang out with. It’s really part of my design process to think of a person who will eventually read my game. As mentioned above, I’m bad at reading TTRPGs. This makes me careful to keep the amount of information reasonable and to convey it efficiently. I’m so proud and happy whenever someone posts pictures of themselves running my game (please do tag me). It’s also great to see my games click when I run them at conventions or on stream. It’s going full circle to game mastering in that case.

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

The short answer is “too many things but not enough”. I say “not enough” because I don’t work as much on my designs as I did when my employment was less stable. I’m privileged with my new day job but it means less time for game design, or podcasting, until further notice. The “too many” is because I have three live game projects running parallel. In increasing order of time, I currently dedicate to them, there’s Magic of Inventorying, Nameless Nightmares of Cthulhu, and a supplement for Rosewood Abbey.

Can you tell me more about these games you are working on?

Magic of Inventorying is the long-awaited improved edition of Paris Gondo - The Life-Saving Magic of Inventorying. The workload isn’t too heavy for me as its redesign, upcoming Kickstarter, and future fulfillment are led by the Italian publisher Grumpy Bear. They assembled a fantastic team that includes Bodie Hartley for the art. I’m very excited and can’t wait for the Kickstarter to go live in early 2025.

Nameless Nightmares of Cthulhu is still in its early draft stage. It’s an attempt at delivering a lean system, inspired by OSR/Borg games, compatible with Call of Cthulhu mysteries. I need to playtest it and write a first mystery for it. The latter is proving quite work-heavy compared to the mysteries I wrote for Rosewood Abbey.

This is a good segue into Codex Delictorum. Inspired by Brindlewood Bay’s Nephews in Danger, I’m writing a collection of new monastic mysteries for Rosewood Abbey. I have three mysteries in mind. Depending on how things go, I might involve fellow designers. I was especially happy with the one, Mocking Grotesquery, that Sean F. Smith wrote for Rosewood Abbey.

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

I don’t know. I guess I aim to give an original perspective, including things that are familiar otherwise: dungeon crawling, investigation… However, I don’t think very hard about the above. The initiative has always been a random idea for something I wanted to play and share. There’s an element of surprise players appear to enjoy in my designs. With Magic of Inventorying, many people told me they didn’t expect a comedy game to be so tightly designed. They’re surprised the game delivers complete story arcs despite the freedom, and chaotic nonsense.

For Rosewood Abbey, the surprise (spoiler alert) comes from the absence of any overarching conspiracy or antagonists. The Rumor Mill does the job of structuring an emergent crisis that has no mastermind. Locals just get caught up in their telltales, anxieties, and hopes.

Is there anything you would like to promote right now?

Rosewood Abbey is available via The Rolistes Big Cartel store, Itchio, DrivethruRPG, IPR, and many fantastic FLGS in the UK and US.

Magic of Inventorying’s Kickstarter is around the corner. While supported by the seasoned Grumpy Bear team, it’s still my first Kickstarter campaign. I need everyone’s help. Please hit the “Notify Me On Launch” button on Kickstarter and sign up for our newsletter. Once the campaign is live, even a 1$ pledge will meaningfully help the campaign get noticed. If you pledge for the game, I guarantee you’ll find it to be high value for money both in terms of product quality and replayability.

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