Interviewing Martina
By Alex White
- 5 minutes read - 951 wordsPlease tell me a bit about yourself
Hi, I'm Martina, an RPG writer from Prague, Czechia. I started playing RPGs in the late 90s – my overly creative brain soon got me to GMing and writing bits, and my social nature got me into organizing gaming events. I published smaller creations on various Czech forums and e-zines, organized open-gamings, I also worked on translations (mainly Fate) and finally, I managed to have two big campaign modules set in my own fantasy setting published in 2017 and 2025. I also owned a local gaming store!
What do you like best about designing games?
When people tell me that my work makes their lives more joyful, that's the ultimate reward for me. I also enjoy it when other people are involved in general, both as cooperators/consultants, and as players or readers. I need to live RPGs as a social experience. The joy of discussing our favorite characters and game bits at 3AM at a convention, that’s what recharges my motivation.
What are you working on at the moment, and what excites you about it?
Last year I've written my latest book, a campaign + campaign setting called Kalusa, a postmodern fantasy/arcanepunk taking place in a wild magical city. It was already published in Czech, and now me and my friend, editor and publisher Jay, are working on an English version for the international audience. International market is brand new for me, so this is a huuuge thing and I've already learned a lot since we decided to go for it last summer. Also, this edition will operate on a MUCH bigger budget since the international audience is so much bigger, so it's incredibly cool to watch my vision go full color, with full-page illustrations, and bring in consultants that we could never afford when it was for the Czech market only.
Can you tell me more about how you make the NPCs compelling in a system neutral way?
I try to concentrate mainly on:
- Describing the NPC's personality so that it contains mysteries that the players could curiously explore. I try to make my NPCs like onions: with many layers that the players can gradually peel off in a social exploration process.
- Giving them some weaknesses that the players might use as leverage or as a topic to discuss with the NPC is useful to make them interactive, and it also makes them more human and relatable.
- A witty one-liner or quote that the NPC might say is also a great tool. While it might not get into the game, it will stick in the GM's brain and help them make the NPC come alive.
- Finally, it’s important to come up with situations where to show off the NPC's personality, appeal and also hint on some issues and layers beneath. The scene where each NPC enters the campaign is very important as it needs to hook the players so they become pro-active.
These things, along with cool core ideas and visuals, should do enough work for the GM to get their players interested and motivated to play out the social scenes in any ruleset they might want to use.
(Also, let me note that Kalusa will have rules implementations for different systems available as free supplements, so don’t despair if you don’t feel like writing stat-blocks on the fly!)
What experience(s) are you trying to give to players?
I love campaigns that are not afraid to tackle some hard problems, with both social and psychological issues, parallels to real-world problems etc., and I also like social content – negotiations, relationships, politicking… possibly romances, too!
I loved that in videogames like Dragon Age, Mass Effect, or Baldur's Gate 3, and I felt that most published tabletop campaigns were missing something. If they had deep relationships, it was because of the creativity of the GM and players rather than the module guiding to this. So I try to actively lead players to get entangled, invested, and rewarded in all those social endeavors.
The other thing I try to keep on my mind is that who really needs my help is the GM, because without their hard work, players won’t be able to interact with anything. So, for the GM, I try to write in a way that will really help them to have a good time, too – give them enough material to work with but also allow for tailoring the campaign to their own needs, because no plan ever survives the players’ entrance. Because GMs need to have their fun, too, and not to feel overwhelmed or frustrated, even if they are tired from work today or completely new to the other side of GM’s screen.
Is there anything you would like to promote right now?
Kalusa: the Enchanted City is coming to BackerKit!
It's a postmodern fantasy campaign somewhere between Discworld and the Arcane TV series, and is centered on social exploration and solving mysteries, with an occasional dungeon crawl, street fight and saving or destroying the world (as the players wish). And there are also smart magical cats!
The books will be full-color and contain the system-agnostic parts of the campaign and setting. Digital rules supplements for 5e, Forged in the Dark, and Savage Worlds will be part of the bundle.
Where should people go to follow you, and to find your products?
At this moment, the best place to find me would be Kalusa's Discord, and you can follow me on BlueSky: @sparklecz
My Czech stuff is on the web of my Czech publisher: https://www.imago.cz/neviditelna-kniha
And to get it in English, help us to fund our BackerKit 😊 - It is launching soon, and you can sign up to be notified!