{"id":2689,"date":"2021-03-15T10:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-15T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/?p=2689"},"modified":"2021-11-16T00:38:23","modified_gmt":"2021-11-16T05:38:23","slug":"coyote-crow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/2021\/03\/coyote-crow\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview on Coyote & Crow"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Today I have an interview with Connor Alexander about Coyote & Crow, which is currently on Kickstarter!<\/a> This game sounds so incredible and is something I have hoped to see in games – a sci-fi fantasy game that’s about an America that was never colonized by white settlers. I feel like this is a really major project and I hope you enjoy learning about it, like I did!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

—<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m excited for the opportunity to interview you about Coyote & Crow! It has been very successful on Kickstarter thus far, but I’d love to know more about you and the project. Can you tell me a little about yourself and how you came to work on the game?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hi Beau! Really excited to chat with you. Thanks for taking the time. I\u2019ve been a gamer my whole life, but I only started working in the hobby game industry in 2014. Pretty quickly I began to notice the representation gap in both presentation and in creative teams. The gap in the game industry seemed to mirror most of the rest of media and pop culture, which surprised me a little at first. Doing something about it didn\u2019t occur to me until I was chatting with a Native representation consultant and they said something to the effect of, \u2018even when they do representation accurately, it\u2019s almost always through a colonial lens\u2019. That really stuck with me. Then I saw the trailer for the video game Greedfall and I knew I had to take some kind of action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I feel so very privileged that I have a steady job in the game industry and had access to many experienced voices who were willing to give me advice. I\u2019m just a working stiff so it was really tempting to create a proposal and try to just sell the idea off to another publisher and let them run with it. In the end though, I felt that there were too many ways that the project could lose integrity along the way. Once I decided to tackle it myself, it became about team building. And that\u2019s where the game began to become something much bigger and more important.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

It’s pretty clear there’s a lot that makes this game unique and intriguing. How would you approach a new player to pitch the idea of the game to them, and are there any things players should know starting out?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s actually been one of our biggest hurdles. There\u2019s almost no comparative media out there. When you talk about classic fantasy, even non-gamer audiences know Game of Thrones and Lord of the RIngs. Traditional sci-fi and cyberpunk also calls up a dozen properties and tropes. That cultural shorthand is embedded deeply in our collective conscience. On the one hand, you have to battle all of the negative stereotypes and assumptions non-Natives have. On the other, you have to create a world that\u2019s both exciting and challenging to Natives, but also speaks to an incredibly broad array of Native cultures and traditions in a way that\u2019s inclusive while not appropriative. It\u2019s an extremely narrow ledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So to answer your question, when speaking to someone about it for the first time, I try to put them in the mindset of when they first read about Wakanda in the Marvel Universe or when they first played Horizon Zero Dawn. Not the cultural specifics of those worlds, but the idea of shifting your perspective of what could be. Once they\u2019re in that headspace, I usually ask folks to picture what our continent would look like if Europeans or any other colonial forces had ever set foot here. And not at the point of contact 500 years ago, but in the future. From there, I usually can start filling their heads with all of the little details that make this world feel lived in. And while our game has a speculative future with fantasy elements to it, we made it a point to build a world that has a lot of potential grounded in reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for things players should know starting out, there\u2019s a big one that many folks have mentioned. I\u2019ve heard so many variations on \u2018I want to play but I\u2019m worried I\u2019ll do or say something insensitive\u2019. I love that so many have asked that. It means there\u2019s progress being made. But we are designing the game so that non-Natives can jump into this and play without worry. There\u2019s a section at the beginning on how to approach the book and what to avoid. And throughout the book we give explanations for words and phrases and additional context for certain concepts or rules. On the flip side, we have specific things we call out where we indicate that Natives can add on or tweak a rule to help it fit their tribal specific customs or context.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

That\u2019s all really useful to know! You have a great team with a lot of varied experiences. What is the process like for deciding which ideas for mechanics or content goes into the final product? How do you ensure the most voices are heard?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s actually one of the most rewarding portions of development for me. I created the broad parameters of the game and set the stage. Once we had an initial draft, I invited everyone on the team to comment on it and if they felt strongly about a section or a concept, invited them to have a chat with me about either doing edits or re-writes. Nothing in the book is so sacred it can\u2019t be changed. If someone on the team has a brilliant idea, I want it in. As long as the idea doesn\u2019t derail the core concepts or conceits of the game or cause internal inconsistencies, I\u2019m on board. It\u2019s led to some really vibrant discussions and concepts I never would have thought of on my own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re certainly in the \u2018kill your darlings\u2019 stage of development and with that comes the pain of seeing some of your initial ideas break in play testing. From a personal standpoint that stings, of course. As the game development progresses, it\u2019s like I built the framework of a house and I\u2019m seeing people add walls and paint and windows. The more work they do, the more mine becomes invisible. But that\u2019s fine. I never wanted this game to be some sort of statement about me personally. From the start I knew this project would be better thematically and mechanically if we had a chorus of voices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You\u2019ve shared a lot of cool stuff on the Kickstarter page, but I would love to know more! What are some of the exciting things we can expect from the game, the kind of things that really make you want to share with others? <\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For me, it\u2019s the little details that make a world feel lived in. A perfect example is the underground transit system of Cahokia. It was built originally as a system of tunnels to keep people warm and safe during the brutal winters. As we thought about it practically, we saw flaws. How would this be lit? Keeping fires going in enclosed tunnels would be difficult for so many reasons. Our answer was one that I think is equal parts inspired and reasonable. The people of this world eventually grew their light sources through cultivation of bioluminescent fungi along the walls and ceiling of the tunnels. The effect is that in this future the interior ceilings and walls of these tunnels and the magnetic levitation rail transit system all glow green and blue and purple. While having a living ceiling as a light source is a cool image, I like to also think that it represents a different way of problem solving. We\u2019re working hard to fit as many of those kinds of thoughtful ideas as we can into the book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve also got bigger ideas that we at least want to set up. I\u2019ve always been a fan of storylines in games that involve shadowy organizations or grand conspiracies. Mystery in TTRPGs is one of my favorite hooks. So we have lots of story prompts and adversaries that are based around those kinds of adventures. It also leaves lots of room for Story Guides to build out around their own concepts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

What led to the decision to make this a game that focused on sci-fi fantasy vibes and encourage the specific style of play (which seems unique) that you did?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s a great question. I don\u2019t think there\u2019s a way to answer that without addressing my own personal tastes, so I hope I don\u2019t come off as self-absorbed. I grew up on original Star Trek, Star Wars and authors like Ray Bradbury. Stories that were full of forward thinking and hope. In contrast, my Native heritage always felt grounded in now, in today. It was a very personal and not always a happy part of my relationship with my father and our family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But in the last decade, we\u2019ve seen some media that has started to meet somewhere in the middle of those two points. It\u2019s not all utopia and hope or escapist fantasy, but it\u2019s also not grim and dirty reality. Shows like the Expanse, newer Star Trek, video games like Horizon Zero Dawn and tabletop games like Android Netrunner were all able to put fresh spins and new perspectives on some of those old concepts, while also highlighting diversity and representation in a way that didn\u2019t feel obligatory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I knew I wanted that kind of feeling for Coyote and Crow, it just became a process of elimination. I didn\u2019t want just fantasy because too often non-Natives exoticize Native Americans and that setting is just too ripe for them to abuse, even if it was told well. And pure science fiction doesn\u2019t leave as much room for the subjective and the immaterial that I wanted to make sure spoke to so many Native beliefs across tribes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wanted it set in the future because I wanted Natives to see this as a hopeful view of what could have been and maybe some things that might still be, but it had to be built on  a different past because I wanted it very clear to everyone that this was a world that colonists and specifically Europeans, had no part in building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was also important that the core mechanics offer combat as an option and not the default. Most fantasy games are geared toward going somewhere unfamiliar, killing everything there and then measuring your success based on how much you looted. That sort of storytelling is really limited. For me, the best stories are about building bridges, righting wrongs, finding equilibrium in the middle of chaos and optimizing your gifts in ways that benefit as many as possible, not just yourself. I\u2019m really hoping that Coyote and Crow becomes the launching pad for those kinds of stories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Amazing! So much good stuff here. I just have one last question to finish this off. As you’ve worked on the design and playtesting for Coyote & Crow, what are some experiences that stand out and excite you for the game and for players to enjoy? What lasting impact do you hope for?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s actually a long list. The first time we did a playtest and one of the players got to experience the exploding dice mechanic and they were so thrilled. I knew I was on to something when I saw that look of joy and excitement. Another great moment was when my Native group of playtesters got to meet the supernatural entity that we were using in our adventure (and appears in the one shot that\u2019s in the book). That feeling like we were all playing something that was \u201cours\u201d was palpable and deeply gratifying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since I\u2019ve passed along some of the play testing to our team, I\u2019ve heard some incredible stories from our Story Guide. They said one group just decided to completely cozy up and become friends with a group we\u2019d originally written as sort of adversarial. That was great! As much as I love writing stories and being a Story Guide, having players take it down their own path is always such a treat. Most of my own personal favorite RPG stories over the years usually involve some amount of deviating from the gamemasters plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which leads me to the second part of your question. The lasting impact that I\u2019m hoping for is that people, Native and otherwise, find themselves exploring the world we\u2019ve built and feel inspired to tell new stories and new kinds of stories. I\u2019m a firm believer in storytelling and the power of it. It has the power to unify, to heal, to inspire. My greatest wish is that Coyote & Crow does what all of the best science fiction does, which is to bring some hope to our real lives by giving us a thought provoking world to temporarily escape to. If I can do that for some folks, especially my Native cousins out there, then I\u2019ve succeeded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

—<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you so much for the interview, Connor! Coyote & Crow sounds like a really amazing game<\/a> and I’m excited to see all that comes from it. Check it out on Kickstarter today!<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today I have an interview with Connor Alexander about Coyote & Crow, which is currently on Kickstarter! This game sounds so incredible and is something I have hoped to see in games – a sci-fi fantasy game that’s about an America that was never colonized by white settlers. I feel like this is a really major project and I hope you enjoy learning about it, like I did!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2691,"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":"Interview with Connor Alexander about Coyote & Crow, currently on Kickstarter! This game sounds so incredible and is something I have hoped to see in games - a sci-fi fantasy game that's about an America that was never colonized by white settlers!","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":[390,374],"tags":[126,30,221,16,10,4,17,25,67,8,15,12,216,217,33,26,41,23,18,56],"class_list":["post-2689","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive","category-interview","tag-actual-play","tag-diversity","tag-feature","tag-feminism","tag-game-design","tag-games","tag-gaming","tag-interviews","tag-players","tag-roleplaying-games","tag-rpg","tag-rpgs","tag-sci-fi","tag-scifi","tag-social-justice","tag-story-games","tag-storytelling","tag-tabletop-games","tag-tabletop-rpgs","tag-worldbuilding"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/CC1.jpg?fit=1500%2C2000&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paHOcG-Hn","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":80,"url":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/2018\/06\/five-or-so-questions-on-champions-now\/","url_meta":{"origin":2689,"position":0},"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! 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Tell your friends!To leave some cash in the tip jar, go to http:\/\/paypal.me\/thoughty.If you'd like to be interviewed for Thoughty, or have a project featured, email contactbriecs@gmail.com.","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":2979,"url":"https:\/\/briebeau.com\/thoughty\/2021\/08\/interview-on-crow-island-funeral\/","url_meta":{"origin":2689,"position":3},"title":"Interview on Crow Island Funeral \/\/ PROCESSION with Jan Martin","author":"Beau J\u00e1gr Sheldon","date":"August 13, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Hello all! Today I have an interview with Jan Martin, creator of Crow Island Funeral \/\/ PROCESSION! I'm so excited to share this interview, Jan is an amazing creator and Crow Island is SO cool! 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