James Haughton,Delta Green Shootgun Scenario Contest 2010's winner spent some mails with me about his future projects..Enjoy!
D:Hi James and welcome on Warpdriver. So,lets talk a bit about your background:can you tell us something about your life and your Delta Green first contact ?
J:I'm an Australian, born and raised in Melbourne
since primary school (about 8 years old) ever since coming across a
book at the local library called "What is Dungeons and Dragons?" - I
was hooked on fantasy and sci-fi well before that though! My early
roleplaying acquaintances were a bunch of munchkins straight out of
""The Elfish Gene"(if you haven't read it, get a copy, it's screamingly funny), but I
stuck with it for some reason, partly inspired by a great english
teacher who ran a Tolkien book discussion club (sadly he became
increasingly eccentric and got fired from the school for openly
fascist politics).
since primary school (about 8 years old) ever since coming across a
book at the local library called "What is Dungeons and Dragons?" - I
was hooked on fantasy and sci-fi well before that though! My early
roleplaying acquaintances were a bunch of munchkins straight out of
""The Elfish Gene"(if you haven't read it, get a copy, it's screamingly funny), but I
stuck with it for some reason, partly inspired by a great english
teacher who ran a Tolkien book discussion club (sadly he became
increasingly eccentric and got fired from the school for openly
fascist politics).
University was the first time I met people who were into roleplaying
who were also nice people.
I studied Anthropology and Physics at theUniversity of Melbourne
also ran the roleplaying club (Infinite Images) for a while and then
moved toCanberra
and quantum physics are enough to stretch any brain; and when one
mixes them with folklore, and tries to trace a strange background of
multi-dimensional reality behind the ghoulish hints of the Gothic
tales and the wild whispers of the chimney-corner, one can hardly
expect to be wholly free from mental tension.", as the man said.
who were also nice people.
I studied Anthropology and Physics at the
also ran the roleplaying club (Infinite Images) for a while and then
moved to
and quantum physics are enough to stretch any brain; and when one
mixes them with folklore, and tries to trace a strange background of
multi-dimensional reality behind the ghoulish hints of the Gothic
tales and the wild whispers of the chimney-corner, one can hardly
expect to be wholly free from mental tension.", as the man said.
I think I first came across Delta Green when it first came out (1997?
man, I'm getting old), and read through the manual in the game shop -
at the time though it was out of my price range, and my friends and I
were all very into White Wolf games. We did end up playing Conspiracy
X for a while, which is a terrible game by comparison.
man, I'm getting old), and read through the manual in the game shop -
at the time though it was out of my price range, and my friends and I
were all very into White Wolf games. We did end up playing Conspiracy
X for a while, which is a terrible game by comparison.
I rediscovered DG via the DG Mailing List about 2005 I think. At the
time I was inThailand
research wasn't going according to plan, and was looking for some
kindred spirits on line.
time I was in
research wasn't going according to plan, and was looking for some
kindred spirits on line.
D:Cool.Talking about your adventures..where do your insipartion come from?
J:The late great Douglas Adams, when asked where he got his ideas, used
to say "from a mail-order company inMexico
to say "from a mail-order company in
I read a lot. I enjoy the mental exercise of taking real world events,
things, etc and fitting them into a fictional or Cthulhoid universe.
I've been spending a lot of time recently digging into Lovecraft's own
sources and seeing what other descendants they had, which led to an
article in The Unspeakable Oath recently on the secret history of
Nephren-Ka (http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=86970&filters=0_0_0_0&manufacturers_id=521&affiliate_id=31059).
things, etc and fitting them into a fictional or Cthulhoid universe.
I've been spending a lot of time recently digging into Lovecraft's own
sources and seeing what other descendants they had, which led to an
article in The Unspeakable Oath recently on the secret history of
Nephren-Ka (http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=86970&filters=0_0_0_0&manufacturers_id=521&affiliate_id=31059).
There's a rule about the degeneration of fictional genres, where the
first generation in the genre have read widely, but the second
generation have only read the first generation. So Tolkien had read
just about every ancient legend, saga, lay, etc in Northern European
history. But the second generation fantasy writers after him, with a
few exceptions, had only read Tolkien. And the third generation only
read the AD&D manual. I think there's a lot to be said for going back
to the roots.
first generation in the genre have read widely, but the second
generation have only read the first generation. So Tolkien had read
just about every ancient legend, saga, lay, etc in Northern European
history. But the second generation fantasy writers after him, with a
few exceptions, had only read Tolkien. And the third generation only
read the AD&D manual. I think there's a lot to be said for going back
to the roots.
The shotgun scenario, I set out to make it as self-contained as
possible, and you can't get more self-contained than a closed time
loop where the cause and the effect are indistinguishable. I stole a
few ideas from the Wikipedia entry on closed timelike loops, The
Stainless Steel Rat, and Thomas Pynchon.
possible, and you can't get more self-contained than a closed time
loop where the cause and the effect are indistinguishable. I stole a
few ideas from the Wikipedia entry on closed timelike loops, The
Stainless Steel Rat, and Thomas Pynchon.
D: Talking about long Campaigns:many thinks that Cthulhu (and DG) aren't suited for long term investigations,due to the high insanity/dead evel and works better for single based missions..What are your thoughts about?You think that its possible run a 2-3 years D&D style campaign even in CoC:DG?
J:Well, the existence of campaigns like "Masks of Nyarlathotep" proves
that it can be done; whether it can be done with the same characters
throughout is another question.
Remember, the metagame purpose of the DG conspiracy is to provide
fresh bodies for the fight, and avoid the implausible "so we recruit
the bellhop from the hotel as my next character" problem that
traditional 20s games had. I haven't done it personally, but that's
more because I and my friends don't have time for regular game nights
anymore, we just do one-offs occasionally. Really, how lethal a
campaign is is up to the GM
D:Concluding ,what are your future objectives?We see that you became a Yog-sothoth.com Patron..
J:Currently I have a book manuscript on the history of Abdul Alhazred
and the Necronomicon mostly finished, and a tentative commitment to
publish from SixtyStone press. I'll also have an article in the next
Black Seal and hopefully some in future issues of The Unspeakable
Oath.
D:Thank you for your time James!And good luck with your works!
J:Cheers!
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