{"id":1562,"date":"2019-10-03T11:00:34","date_gmt":"2019-10-03T15:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/?p=1562"},"modified":"2021-11-16T00:38:41","modified_gmt":"2021-11-16T05:38:41","slug":"five-or-so-questions-on-visigoths-vs-mall-goths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/2019\/10\/five-or-so-questions-on-visigoths-vs-mall-goths\/","title":{"rendered":"Five or So Questions on Visigoths vs. Mall Goths"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Hi all! I’ve got an awesome interview with Lucian Kahn today about Visigoths vs. Mall Goths, which is currently on Kickstarter<\/a>! It sounds super cool and I’m personally looking forward to playing it at Big Bad Con. Check out Lucian’s responses below!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

—<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tell\nme a little about Visigoths vs. Mall Goths. What excites you about it?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visigoths vs. Mall Goths is a tabletop\nroleplaying game and dating sim about the conflicts and romances among the\nwarriors who sacked ancient Rome and 20th<\/sup> century spooky teens, set\nin a shopping mall in a Los Angeles suburb in 1996. There are a lot of bisexuals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plot structure of Visigoths vs. Mall\nGoths resembles an open-world videogame RPG. Designed for either one-shot or\ncampaign play, each adventure episode offers several quests that you may choose\nto pursue (or ignore), and the mall setting is packed with many strange retro\nmarvels to discover. Or you can just replay the game over and over to kiss all\nthe kissable clerks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Imagine a surreal combo of The Craft<\/em>, Empire Records, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, <\/em>and Clueless<\/em>. In addition to all that, I’m thrilled to be working with an incredible array of artists and writers on this project. The famous, talented, and extremely nice Robin Eisenberg has done an incredible job on the cover. We’ve got illustrations by Lluis Abadias Garcia, who did all the art for the Retroverse D&D 5e expansion. Vee Hendro, the graphic designer for Good Society, is doing the graphic design. We’ve got guest adventure modules by a very cool bunch of game designers, including Liz Gorinsky from Goth Court, and Maja B\u00e4ckvall who was the runes expert on Civilization VI and God of War. I could go on. The artists on this project rule. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What are some of the challenges and more exciting aspects of combining ancient Visigoths and 90s mall goths?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The only real design challenge I faced in the\ngoth-on-goth arena was figuring out exactly how disoriented I wanted to make\nthese time-traveling Visigoths. This could have gone very Encino Man<\/em>,\nbut I didn\u2019t really want the game to be about ancient warriors staring in awe\nat escalators, so it took some work to get the narrative framing right, where\nthe Visigoths are historically displaced but we\u2019re assuming they\u2019ve somehow\nlearned English and know what a computer is. Fortunately, this game is\ncompletely surreal and absurd anyway, so this extremely fast learning process\ndoesn\u2019t have to be plausible to buy into the premise and have fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part of what\u2019s exciting for me about throwing\ntogether these 2 types of goths is that they\u2019re both outsiders. The Visigoths\nare outsiders for 2 reasons: first and most obviously because they\u2019ve been\ndisplaced from their original historical context and dumped into a \u201890s mall,\nbut they were also oppressed outsiders in Roman culture before the time travel.\nThe Mall Goths are also outsiders in 2 directions: they\u2019re too weird to fit\ninto mainstream teen culture, but they\u2019re also both too young to get into goth\nclubs and too commercial to be accepted by the avant garde. So the scenario\nI\u2019ve set up pits these 2 groups against each other, but both groups are\noutsiders within the context of the mall and the suburbs. This makes for a\nweird and fascinating array of potential social dynamics that the players can\nmess around with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s weird to think of it, but a 90s game is now a period piece! What\u2019s it like writing a near-history piece and how did you make the game feel totally 90s?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was a bisexual grunge-rock teen in Los Angeles in the 90s and started goth clubbing as soon as I turned 18, so the aesthetics of this game are very close to my heart and my personal experience. Honestly, this entire design process has been extremely heartwarming, partially because I\u2019ve gotten to indulge my nostalgia, but also because the past year of playtesting at cons and stuff has brought me into so many cute conversations with other people who still carry a torch for 90s counterculture. People who were there at the time will find a lot of Easter Eggs that refer to real stuff that was going on back then, and at the same time, I\u2019ve made the world vivid enough that it\u2019s still fun for younger players or people who weren\u2019t in the USA at the time, etc. I don\u2019t want to give too many spoilers, but the mall has a salon for humans and pets called Gerbil Essences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gerbil Essences is\namazing! It sounds like you had a lot of fun with the project. What was it like\nin playtesting \u2013 how did the design choices you made come to fruition with\ndifferent diverse groups?  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I playtested this game for over a\nyear, which is a long time for me, and it definitely evolved a lot over that\ntime. One constantly recurring theme was the balance between structure and\nfreedom in the game rules. I wanted this game to accommodate the needs of some\nvery different types of players, from Dungeons & Dragons fans, to indie\nstorygamers, to LARPers, to total newcomers. Based on player feedback in the\npast few months, I think I\u2019ve struck a fun balance that lets a lot of different\npeople enjoy the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How are the Visigoths and Mall Goths\nrepresented mechanically in the game, and how do their mechanics interact with\neach other?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are 3 types of Visigoths\n(Conqueror, Charlatan, and Runecaster) and 3 types of Mall Goths (Theatre Tech,\nWitch, and Cyber Pet). Each character type comes with 3 skills that get bonuses\non dice rolls. For example, the Theatre Tech has bonuses to costumes,\npyrotechnics, and rappelling. They also each have a special skill they can use\nonce per day without rolling dice. For example, the Cyber Pet can put on cute\nanimal ears for a half-price discount at any store. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the most important mechanic is\nprobably Embarrassing Traits. Each character has 1 or 2 of these, and the\noptions are different for Visigoths and Mall Goths. For example, one Visigoth\nembarrassing trait option is \u201cFear of Animals,\u201d which gets especially dicey if\nyou\u2019re a Conqueror with the \u201ccontrol animals\u201d skill, and another is \u201cAllergic\nto Metal,\u201d which sucks if you\u2019re wearing chainmail. The way these work is that\nyou can embarrass yourself to make your friend look cool in comparison or draw attention\naway from them, giving one of your fellow Visigoths or Mall Goths a bonus to\ntheir roll. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, while most games only track physical damage, Visigoths vs Mall Goths only tracks emotional damage. That\u2019s right, physical combat only has emo outcomes \u2014 and if you get too emotionally overwhelmed, you can\u2019t fight anymore until you talk about your feelings with a friend!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

—<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks so much to Lucian for the interview! I hope you all enjoyed it and that you’ll check out Visigoths vs. Mall Goths on Kickstarter today<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi all! I’ve got an awesome interview with Lucian Kahn today about Visigoths vs. Mall Goths, which is currently on Kickstarter! It sounds super cool and I’m personally looking forward to playing it at Big Bad Con. Check out Lucian’s responses below! — Tell me a little about Visigoths vs. Mall Goths. What excites you … Continue reading “Five or So Questions on Visigoths vs. Mall Goths”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1564,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[390],"tags":[106,104,20,10,4,17,57,25,46,8,24,15,12,23,18],"class_list":["post-1562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive","tag-90s","tag-fiction","tag-five-or-so","tag-game-design","tag-games","tag-gaming","tag-history","tag-interviews","tag-queer","tag-roleplaying-games","tag-romance","tag-rpg","tag-rpgs","tag-tabletop-games","tag-tabletop-rpgs"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/cover.png?fit=1020%2C1538&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paHOcG-pc","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":133,"url":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/2017\/11\/boy-band-the-game\/","url_meta":{"origin":1562,"position":0},"title":"Boy Band: The Game","author":"Beau J\u00e1gr Sheldon","date":"November 2, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Hi All! Got an idea today, so I wrote it down. Check out Boy Band: The Game, which will get a fancier version at some point, but until then, get ya grabby hands on it.Boy Band: The GameThis post was supported by the community on patreon.com\/briecs. Tell your friends! To\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Archive"","block_context":{"text":"Archive","link":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/category\/archive\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":382,"url":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/2014\/07\/hangout-with-brie-and-pulse-creators\/","url_meta":{"origin":1562,"position":1},"title":"Hangout with Brie and PULSE Creators","author":"Beau J\u00e1gr Sheldon","date":"July 30, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "Archive"","block_context":{"text":"Archive","link":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/category\/archive\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1435,"url":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/2019\/07\/friday-hi-day-youtube-post-live\/","url_meta":{"origin":1562,"position":2},"title":"Friday Hi-Day YouTube Post Live!","author":"Beau J\u00e1gr Sheldon","date":"July 12, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"https:\/\/youtu.be\/Tfn7OHqQ_HQ","rel":"","context":"In "Archive"","block_context":{"text":"Archive","link":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/category\/archive\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/Tfn7OHqQ_HQ\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":80,"url":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/2018\/06\/five-or-so-questions-on-champions-now\/","url_meta":{"origin":1562,"position":3},"title":"Five or So Questions on Champions Now","author":"Beau J\u00e1gr Sheldon","date":"June 2, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Hi all!I did an interview with Ron Edwards on his Kickstarter project, Champions Now! Ron prepared our audio recordings and edited everything into a video, so you get to hear the interview on the following video. I hope you enjoy it and that you'll check out Champions Now on Kickstarter\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Archive"","block_context":{"text":"Archive","link":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/category\/archive\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":170,"url":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/2017\/06\/game-design-insight-on-twitter\/","url_meta":{"origin":1562,"position":4},"title":"Game Design Insight on Twitter!","author":"Beau J\u00e1gr Sheldon","date":"June 13, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been participating in a meme on Twitter about game design insight!Check it out here!Also check out Ewen Cluney's thread with links to other designer's Twitter threads!This post was supported by the community on patreon.com\/briecs. Tell your friends! To leave some cash in the tip jar, go to http:\/\/paypal.me\/thoughty.If you'd\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Archive"","block_context":{"text":"Archive","link":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/category\/archive\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1862,"url":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/2020\/04\/script-change-now-has-discord-emojis\/","url_meta":{"origin":1562,"position":5},"title":"Script Change Now Has Discord Emojis!","author":"Beau J\u00e1gr Sheldon","date":"April 2, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Check it out! https:\/\/briebeau.itch.io\/script-change","rel":"","context":"In "Archive"","block_context":{"text":"Archive","link":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/category\/archive\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"the script change buttons on a sheet.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Script-Change_121118_BSheldon_Page_6-791x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Script-Change_121118_BSheldon_Page_6-791x1024.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Script-Change_121118_BSheldon_Page_6-791x1024.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Script-Change_121118_BSheldon_Page_6-791x1024.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}