Ludography

Operation Dauntless – Developer – P500

Pax Romana 2nd Edition – Developer – P500

Infidel – Developer

Blood & Roses – Developer

Red Winter – Rules Proofreader/Editor

Desert Falcons (GDW) – Playtester

Pax Romana 1st Edition – Playtester

Prussia’s Glory II – Playtester

Ralph, tell me a little about yourself?

I’m a data base architect for a consulting company.  It pays the bills and gives me the option to game.  I grew up in New Mexico and that’s where I met my wife Robin.  We moved to Seattle 15 years ago.

I’ve been gaming since I was around 12 so, back in 1980 or 1981.  I used to play a lot of Starfleet Battles with my buddies.  We played that and a lot of multi player games.

At the time there weren’t a lot of multi player options.

It used to be very hard to find a good multi player game.  My buddies and I would find one and we would play it to death.

Is there a vibrant gaming community there in Seattle?

Yes, there are a lot of gamers in the Seattle metropolitan area.   There are also a number of Designers like Mark Mokszycki who did Red Winter and there is Terry Doherty who did La Bataille de la Moscowa for Clash of Arms.   I have face to face opponents for Musket & Pike, GBoH, and Men of Iron – great stuff like that – the games that I want to play.

 

What is on your table now?

I have the Pax Romana Box on my table since I am Developing the second edition of that.  I am playtesting some of the C3i #19 scenarios that will be included in the reprint.  Hoplite is there because I am playing using Vassal.  I am also play some Musket & Pike.  And of course I play Men of Iron. I play it because I love the game and end up playing it a lot at conventions. It only feels like work when I am playtesting, because I have to take detailed notes of what is occurring.  This allows me to go look over the playtest later and see what needs to be changed with that battle.

How did you get started with GMT?

I loved the first Men of Iron game and there were rumors going around that there was another in the works.  I had been on ConSimWorld and answered questions for people if I could find it in the rules.  I emailed Andy Lewis because I heard he was in charge of playtest.   He responded that he would consider it assuming Jack Polonka didn’t want to do it.  Well Jack couldn’t and I think I was what was left.  That game was Infidel.

So how do you work with Richard Berg?

I communicate by email with Richard.   Richard sends me the hand drawn playtest maps, the rules, and battles. I create the counters in Excel, get them printed out, copy the maps, and send them out to the playtesters. I also edit the rules and playbook. I run most changes by Richard and he is generally fine with my changes, as long as it didn’t change the intent of the rule or I can justify the change.

You are also working on Operation Dauntless which is on the P500.  WWII is a long way from Men of Iron.

I love ancients and medieval up to about the thirty years war – Musket & Pike and a little after.  I also like modern warfare, but am not a fan of gaming any of the history in between. I generally make an exception for air and naval games of any time period. I helped out with Red Winter for Mark Mokszycki because he didn’t have a Developer and GMT asked me to give him a hand.  We got along well and he asked if I would be the Developer for Operation Dauntless which is going very well.

Tell me about your views on the Development Process and where it gets tough?

The hardest part is actually the production cycle.  You are working with artists to get the counters, rules and the map into its final form.  I made a few mistakes in Infidel as my first project; I underestimated the amount of work it was going to be.  I was working ten hours a day, spending time with my family, and then proofing game components between 11:00 and midnight.  Not when you do your finest work.  When reading rules you have written and know very well, it is hard to pick up on issues.

So what do you do to address that challenge on your current projects?

For Infidel I tried to do it all myself.  For Blood & Roses I got with the playtesters and asked them for help.  I had one great playtester, Beresford Dickens, and a number of really good guys that pitched in and helped out and that is the key.  To find someone who will really dig in and help out that isn’t you; a second or a third or fourth set of eyes on the components.

How has the playtesting process been for you on these games. 

I do a lot of it myself.  It has been very rare that I have found playtesters who will play the 6 battles once much less multiple times.  Half the people who ask to playtest don’t play at all.  You send them a playtest kit and you never hear from them again.  So eventually I drop them from the email list and make note of the fact that they were a no show.  It’s not like they say “hey I had a life event get in the way or had to work and I am not going to be able to playtest after all.”  I’m cool with that and I would happily let someone who let me know they couldn’t participate this time try again.  But if they disappear I don’t want to include them in the future, because I have to make a physical playtest kit and mail it to them, all of which costs GMT money.

Mike Bertucelli says only about 2 in 10 playtesters come through.

I would suspect that number is high.  I was really lucky on Blood & Roses when I got a number of playtesters who dug in.  One was awesome, he had just retired from his job writing requirements for software (or something like that), and has a very critical eye.  I very much enjoyed him harassing me on how he thought the rules should read.  In my day job I have testers who keep my mistakes from going to the users.  Some Designers take that feed back personally, but I believe the debate and testing process is very necessary.

When I disagree with the playtesters I try to be diplomatic and that generally works out well.  In other cases you just have to be direct and say that Richard and I have discussed this and he believes it should work this way.  In the end it has to be that way because it is the Designers vision that drives the game.  It’s his game.

I am still looking for playtesters to test the Pax Romana scenarios from C3i #19 for inclusion in the reprint.  I’ve got one group but they are going to be a month or two before they start.  I hit the Pax Romana folder at ConSimWorld but could use more help.   If anyone is interested they can e mail me at revnye@yahoo.com .

Have you thought about designing something yourself?

I am so busy now I’m not sure when I would have the time.  If I designed a game it would be a detailed medieval battle game.  I’ve got some ideas and it’s a niche that hasn’t been gamed over and over.  I would like to make a very detailed combat simulation.  This will have to be right after I retire.  And at the rate I manage to save money, retirement will be one to two years after I die.

What’s next for you and Richard?

Richard does so many games and I have little insight into all of them. I will see something come out and I didn’t even know he was working on it!  Richard is working on the next installment in the Men of Iron series, it is set in the Italian Renaissance.  It will have battles like Fornovo and maybe Pavia in it.  The core rules will change to fit the time period so it will be interesting to see the changes and battles.  He has tentatively titled it Arquebus.   Every time I do a game with Richard I get a couple of the books on the subject so I can understand the history to help make the game play feel more like battles from the period.

What do you like to watch or read?

I don’t have a lot of time for TV but when I do read I like to read history.   I also like hard science fiction.  Specifically I like David Drake.  A lot of things happen in his books.

My wife will pull me into a British murder mystery on TV from time to time.  My favorite movie of all time is Evil Dead 2.

Whats your favorite line from Evil Dead 2?

Yes – of course.  There is the one where Bruce Campbell has to cut off his hand because it got possessed attacked him. While it was beating him up, you could hear it laughing.  As he grabs the chainsaw to cut it off he yells at his hand “Who’s laughing now!”