Interview with Kevin Melka of Digital Adventures
MB When did you first play an RPG and what was it?
KM Like many, my first RPG was D&D Basic which goes all the way back to the KEEP ON THE BORDERLANDS and
the ISLE OF DREAD, back in the summer of 1981 with a small group of friends. Over the years we "graduated" to AD&D
and the TSR campaigns that came along with it.
MB What's your favorite RPG system and setting?
KM When you've been around gaming as many years as I have, it is hard to narrow it down to just one. Over the
years I've run and played in long-standing campaigns such as Oriental Adventures, Dark Sun, Deadlands, Legend of the
Five Rings, and Oathbound. My most recent campaign/system is Conan from Mongoose Publishing, which is a blast. If I
had to pick a favorite over the years it would have to be Dark Sun. Those were some of the most memorable gaming
sessions I've ever played in.
MB How long have you been involved in the RPG business?
KM In the early 1980's my gaming group began running local conventions, and drew the attention of some people at
TSR. By 1985 we were running the main role playing hall at Gen Con, and did so for the next 11 years. During those
years we also wrote and coordinated dozens of tournaments for the Role Playing Game Association Network (at TSR),
and during that time I had won several writing contests sponsored by the RPGA. In 1993 I received a phone call from
Jean Rabe with the RPGA asking me if I wanted to come work for her at TSR as the Network's Tournament Coordinator. I
worked in the RPGA for two years, and eventually moved on to TSR's design department. When the company crumbled
in the winter of 1996 I was laid off along with 50% of the company, and although I was asked if I wanted to go to Renton a
year later I opted to stay in Wisconsin where my family is from. Between then and now I've done several freelance
projects for a variety of publishers, and in recent years was the Creative Director for Bastion Press.
MB What made you decide to work with VTs?
KM During my years at Bastion Press I took an interest in gaming online. Several of my friends who I grew up with
gaming moved across the country, and it was easy to see the value gaming online might become one day. We tried
OpenRPG, and even though it did work and we had great fun, it seemed to me that time that VTs had a ways to go yet if
they were going to compete with things like MMOs and computer games. When I saw what Fantasy Grounds could do, I
made the decision to form Digital Adventures and try and use my industry contacts to bring quality published material to
the online gaming community. That was in the spring of 2005, and the rest is history.
MB Your products are mainly geared towards Fantasy Grounds, will you be providing specific products/support for
other VTs?
KM I've never been "against" developing products for other VTs; however, there are a few things that have kept me
in the FG market exclusively:
First and foremost, in my opinion there are few that come close to the versatility of Fantasy Grounds when it comes to a
complete RPG environment - especially with the release of FGv2. When it comes to converting existing publisher material
to be played online it is tough to beat Fantasy Grounds. You can roll dice for heavens sake!
Second, Fantasy Grounds is the most "graphic" VT I've found where you can actually customize things like the desktop
environment and character sheet. When dealing with publishers, who are very much married to the graphical
representation of their products, this is a high selling point when trying to sell the "online gaming" idea to the RPG
industry.
Third, when Digital Adventures looks at potential projects, be they original or product conversions, we have to decide if
there is a market for this product in the industry. In addition to the RPG aspects of this decision there is also a decision
as to the platform to be converted to and freelance (if any) to be paid for the project; which is all based on what the
conversion entails and the expectations of the project. In all cases to date Fantasy Grounds comes out on top. On the
flip side, remember that Digital Adventures has put out "generic" projects keyed to all VTs, which include our generic
maps and online gaming token conversions from Fiery Dragon.
The forth issue to be considered is manpower. Right now every single developer on our team has their time spoken for
up until the end of this year. Were we to add another VT to our list, not only would this would require additional
developers, but ones with interest and knowledge of other VTs. If someone representing another VT said they would say
convert over our existing adventures, I would in fact be very open to the idea - but right now Digital Adventures doesn't
have the resources to add another VT effectively.
Lastly, when I was looking to start Digital Adventures I had emailed all of the existing (in spring 2005) VT companies out
there in an effort to work out an arrangement to moved publisher material to their format, and (believe it or not) the
gentlemen with Smiteworks were the only ones to reply. In the end, I've been extremely happy with the working
relationship between DA and SW.
In conclusion, am I against other VTs ... absolutely not. However, all of the above must be considered before Digital
Adventures can divert resources to other VT projects.
MB What are you most excited about (with VTs) at the moment?
KM Probably the addition of LUA scripting to Fantasy Grounds v2. This addition opens up innumerable options when
creating online gaming content in what can and cannot be done with online gaming. If done right, there are few other
customizable VTs out there that can compare.
MB What products are on the horizon and when do you expect them to be ready?
KM Last month I posted the goals of Digital Adventures to the FG forums, which can be read here. Currently we're
working to convert our existing products to Fantasy Grounds II, which we hope to have done in ready for Gen Con this
summer. Our COMPLETE SRD and SAVAGE WORLDS products will be out sooner, as well as other new adventure
products and tokens.
KM Like many, my first RPG was D&D Basic which goes all the way back to the KEEP ON THE BORDERLANDS and
the ISLE OF DREAD, back in the summer of 1981 with a small group of friends. Over the years we "graduated" to AD&D
and the TSR campaigns that came along with it.
MB What's your favorite RPG system and setting?
KM When you've been around gaming as many years as I have, it is hard to narrow it down to just one. Over the
years I've run and played in long-standing campaigns such as Oriental Adventures, Dark Sun, Deadlands, Legend of the
Five Rings, and Oathbound. My most recent campaign/system is Conan from Mongoose Publishing, which is a blast. If I
had to pick a favorite over the years it would have to be Dark Sun. Those were some of the most memorable gaming
sessions I've ever played in.
MB How long have you been involved in the RPG business?
KM In the early 1980's my gaming group began running local conventions, and drew the attention of some people at
TSR. By 1985 we were running the main role playing hall at Gen Con, and did so for the next 11 years. During those
years we also wrote and coordinated dozens of tournaments for the Role Playing Game Association Network (at TSR),
and during that time I had won several writing contests sponsored by the RPGA. In 1993 I received a phone call from
Jean Rabe with the RPGA asking me if I wanted to come work for her at TSR as the Network's Tournament Coordinator. I
worked in the RPGA for two years, and eventually moved on to TSR's design department. When the company crumbled
in the winter of 1996 I was laid off along with 50% of the company, and although I was asked if I wanted to go to Renton a
year later I opted to stay in Wisconsin where my family is from. Between then and now I've done several freelance
projects for a variety of publishers, and in recent years was the Creative Director for Bastion Press.
MB What made you decide to work with VTs?
KM During my years at Bastion Press I took an interest in gaming online. Several of my friends who I grew up with
gaming moved across the country, and it was easy to see the value gaming online might become one day. We tried
OpenRPG, and even though it did work and we had great fun, it seemed to me that time that VTs had a ways to go yet if
they were going to compete with things like MMOs and computer games. When I saw what Fantasy Grounds could do, I
made the decision to form Digital Adventures and try and use my industry contacts to bring quality published material to
the online gaming community. That was in the spring of 2005, and the rest is history.
MB Your products are mainly geared towards Fantasy Grounds, will you be providing specific products/support for
other VTs?
KM I've never been "against" developing products for other VTs; however, there are a few things that have kept me
in the FG market exclusively:
First and foremost, in my opinion there are few that come close to the versatility of Fantasy Grounds when it comes to a
complete RPG environment - especially with the release of FGv2. When it comes to converting existing publisher material
to be played online it is tough to beat Fantasy Grounds. You can roll dice for heavens sake!
Second, Fantasy Grounds is the most "graphic" VT I've found where you can actually customize things like the desktop
environment and character sheet. When dealing with publishers, who are very much married to the graphical
representation of their products, this is a high selling point when trying to sell the "online gaming" idea to the RPG
industry.
Third, when Digital Adventures looks at potential projects, be they original or product conversions, we have to decide if
there is a market for this product in the industry. In addition to the RPG aspects of this decision there is also a decision
as to the platform to be converted to and freelance (if any) to be paid for the project; which is all based on what the
conversion entails and the expectations of the project. In all cases to date Fantasy Grounds comes out on top. On the
flip side, remember that Digital Adventures has put out "generic" projects keyed to all VTs, which include our generic
maps and online gaming token conversions from Fiery Dragon.
The forth issue to be considered is manpower. Right now every single developer on our team has their time spoken for
up until the end of this year. Were we to add another VT to our list, not only would this would require additional
developers, but ones with interest and knowledge of other VTs. If someone representing another VT said they would say
convert over our existing adventures, I would in fact be very open to the idea - but right now Digital Adventures doesn't
have the resources to add another VT effectively.
Lastly, when I was looking to start Digital Adventures I had emailed all of the existing (in spring 2005) VT companies out
there in an effort to work out an arrangement to moved publisher material to their format, and (believe it or not) the
gentlemen with Smiteworks were the only ones to reply. In the end, I've been extremely happy with the working
relationship between DA and SW.
In conclusion, am I against other VTs ... absolutely not. However, all of the above must be considered before Digital
Adventures can divert resources to other VT projects.
MB What are you most excited about (with VTs) at the moment?
KM Probably the addition of LUA scripting to Fantasy Grounds v2. This addition opens up innumerable options when
creating online gaming content in what can and cannot be done with online gaming. If done right, there are few other
customizable VTs out there that can compare.
MB What products are on the horizon and when do you expect them to be ready?
KM Last month I posted the goals of Digital Adventures to the FG forums, which can be read here. Currently we're
working to convert our existing products to Fantasy Grounds II, which we hope to have done in ready for Gen Con this
summer. Our COMPLETE SRD and SAVAGE WORLDS products will be out sooner, as well as other new adventure
products and tokens.
Thanks to Kevin for taking time out for this interview.
Murgh Bpurn 01/06/07
RPG Virtual Tabletop
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