Interviewing Theo Young
By Alex White
- 3 minutes read - 438 wordsPlease tell me a bit about yourselves
I'm Theo from Devon but living in London now. I've been playing roleplaying games since the early 90s when I inherited my older brother's ADND collection. When I'm not writing or thinking about roleplaying I'm either making ice cream or playing Eating Robot with my kids.
What do you like best about designing games?
The best moments have been when I have sat back and watched a group of players bringing the world I've created to life. When I haven't said anything at all for several minutes whilst they have discussed in depth their characters and the world around then.
What are you working on at the moment, and what excites you about it?
I'm playtesting Constantinople a TTRPG about hunting monsters in 7th century Byzantine Constantinople. What excites me most about it are the mechanics that encourage player driven narrative. If you have the burglar skill nefarius you can use it to create an underworld informant, the militus skill can be used to conjure a military veteran, armoury or parade ground. The setting also seems to be quite unique and inspiring. Slaves, eunuchs and sandals are quite unusual elements of most roleplaying games.
Can you tell me more about the player driven narrative idea?
The theory is that once the game is finished you will be able to pick up a monster sheet and jump straight into playing without any prep. The narrator sets the first screen, knows what the monster is and has a list of clues about the monster the players need to discover. How the players come by those clues and the trajectory of the narrative is mostly up to the players. They create places, people and scenes to interact with and gain clues from.
What experience(s) are you trying to give to players?
The experience I'm trying to give is one of being given the creative freedom to invent the world and the story as you go along whilst also playing a slightly sinister but bad ass supernaturally empowered monster hunter. The fun is found in being inventive, descriptive and being able to do cool stuff but with a dark edge.
Is there anything you would like to promote right now?
The game is at a stage where I want to expand the playtest as much as possible so anyone who likes the idea feel free to contact me and I'll send you a pack of information to run the game yourself.
Where should people go to follow you, and to find your products?
I'm mostly on WhatsApp https://chat.whatsapp.com/IlXHjXi848PClacdn2ai1V
You can see my website here https://sites.google.com/view/constantinople-ttrpg/home