Over the next several weeks, I will be posting my actual play of the rules ultra-lite classic-style fantasy RPG One Shot in the Dark. This game was created by Jon, the creator and storymaster of the Tale of the Manticore podcast. I want to thank Jon for taking the time to answer my questions and for creating amazing content!
I discovered Tale of the Manticore by chance several months ago, about a month before the beginning of the show’s second season. I binged the entire first season (70ish episodes) in about a month and a half. If you’ve not listened to it, I wholeheartedly suggest it to you now. If you like the dark fantasy genre and old school roleplaying games, you’re absolutely sure to love TotM.
Before we get into the interview, a bit about the game. One Shot in the Dark is a very easy to pick up, and immensely fun to play, dungeon crawling TTRPG for 1-4 players. For the sake of this mini-series, I played all four characters myself. You can choose from one of four of the classic TTRPG archetypes: Warrior, Magic-User, Thief and Cleric. Each has their own feel, and plays differently, to the others.
The basic gameplay loop of OSitD involves drawing a card from a pre-sorted and shuffled pile (typically the Hearts suite) and consulting the table for the level you are on. The value of the card indicates what your characters discover or encounter as they explore the dungeon. This means that the dungeon itself is fairly randomly generated from the list provided in the game. Combat is fast paced, and if you’re unlucky, brutal. It's everything you’d hope for in a one-shot style game.
You can pick up One Shot in the Dark on DriveThruRPG. You can find Jon on Twitter @manticoretale, at the show’s blog and on Podbean. Be sure to pick up your copy today and, if you’re not listening, give Tale of the Manticore a shot. I promise you won’t be disappointed. Now, let’s get into these interview questions.
1. Most of my readers will at least be aware of Tale of the Manticore. What have you enjoyed most about making the podcast?
So much. So, so much. It brought me back to my favorite thing: rpgs, & I had been away for decades. Additionally, it allowed me to make friends who are into the same stuff I like. None of my friends, pre TOTM, had any interest at all in D&D, so I was always enjoying the genre alone (maybe that's why solo rpgs didn't completely turn me off when I started?)
Finally, The campaign I completed in Season 1 is the best D&D game I ever played, too, so I'm grateful to have discovered something - largely by accident - which not only brought me back to gaming, but to the best gaming I ever had.
2. What motivated you to develop and produce One Shot in the Dark?
I'd heard about this game called The Quiet Year at some point and listened to a couple of actual plays for it. It was so wildly creative, I bought a copy and played it with some friends, then more friends, then loads of students (I teach high school) and just became a big, big fan of their system of story building through prompts. As a solo D&D player, I'd toyed with dungeon tile type random dungeon generation and it never felt very satisfying to me, so I applied the principle behind The Quiet Year to a dungeon crawl and the idea for OSitD started with that. That basic premise didn't leave me and just kind of took up residence in my brain, so I eventually wrote it down, then hammered out a full game. Who would have thought it would find any kind of audience at all? But it has exceeded my expectations many times over. I'm really pleased it has found a home with so many players!
3. Do you have any advice for people who'd like to do something like this (either D&D podcast or make a game) themselves?
You bet. I say: do it. If you have an idea for a fresh, new or better way to do a podcast or YouTube or Switch channel, do it. Make it the best thing you can. Put your heart into it. Keep the audience in mind and don't waste their time. If it's a podcast, reach out and get some help from experienced people - that can save you loads of time and effort. Finally, keep your expectations reasonable. 99.99999% of podcasters don't make real money, so don't make that your aim or expectation. You know, I used to work in the music biz (as a bass player) and my A&R guy would always say that: fanbases are built one person at a time. It's still good advice.
4. Do you have any new projects in the pipe for the new year?
I do (but I'd have more if I didn't have a regular job, too!). My goals for this year include: putting out the best show I can, 3x per month; making good quality maps and updating Encyclopedia Manticorica, posting a few bonus tables for Pendulum, and hopefully, this coming summer I will start the novelization of Season 1 of ToTM. I told myself that I would do that if I ever reached a quarter million downloads and that looks likely to happen by Christmas of this year. I also have a couple of collabs on the backburner. There's lots to do... not so much free time though!
I'd like to thank Jon once again for answering my questions. You can find him on twitter @manticoretale, on Blogspot, and Podbean. You can purchase One Shot in the Dark on DriveThruRPG. You can also check out the Prologue & Character Introduction here.
