Aktion-abenteuer, a major German rpg forum/site has interviewed me.  The english version is available here.  
I don't know why the Germans like me so much, but they do.  "Forward... to Adventure!" was bigger there than anywhere else, and even had its own German-language forum.

RPGpundit

Quote from: RPGPundit;789461Aktion-abenteuer, a major German rpg forum/site has interviewed me.  The english version is available here.  
I don't know why the Germans like me so much, but they do.  "Forward... to Adventure!" was bigger there than anywhere else, and even had its own German-language forum.

RPGpundit

Nice, congratulations! That is indeed an interesting tidbit - especially since it could not be further in it's ideas from Germany's main RPG, DSA.

I'd bear the success based on the fact that Teutons have absolutely no taste for illustrations, but that'd be too mean.

I've been the one to conduct the interview (and the one who back in the day originally rallied for an FtA! forum, which worked out surprisingly well).

I wouldn't claim that FtA! had been a major RPG in Germany. But within German reception of the fledgling OSR around 2009 it had been one of the more noteable games (right after LL, which had the advantages of a translation, free distribution and a fairly constant stream of German-language adventures).
I guess not cloning old D&D, but starting from a clean slate with a more streamlined rules engine had for this time worked in its favour given the lackluster rooting of D&D in German RPG culture.

Quote from: Rincewind1;789462I'd bear the success based on the fact that Teutons have absolutely no taste for illustrations, but that'd be too mean.

We used to have Ugurcan Yüce, patron saint of stache-wearing warriors. If there ever was any issue with TDE, it was that it was too little like the illustrations.

This is my new favorite thing. One more guy and it could be a Manowar cover \m/

So you're saying you are the David Hasselhoff of RPGs?

Good for you!  

If FtA! is doing good in Germany, make sure you do something to help push the game even further.

Quote from: JeremyR;789508So you're saying you are the David Hasselhoff of RPGs?

Funny!

@raven: cousins of hugh heftblade

Quote from: RPGPundit;789461I don't know why the Germans like me so much, but they do.  "Forward... to Adventure!" was bigger there than anywhere else, and even had its own German-language forum.

Two words: Settembrini and Skyrock!

Settembrini modeled his own free speech forum(s) (Disputorium and O.R.K.) after your RPGsite. He made a big splash with his "crusade" for "ARS" ("Abenteuer Rollenspiel", "adventure role-playing"), the closest thing Germany had to the OSR movement. In some circles (especially the DSA/TDA scene) he was considered persona non grata.
Often when Settembrini was discussed on other forums his posting style was related to you, meaning that to most Germans your name equals "the American (sic!) Settembrini".

FtA! happened during Settembrini's most active phase. He posted playtest reports of FtA! on his blog long before the game was finished (and you wrote about it here).

Skyrock blogged about his FtA! campaign and was the most vocal supporter after the game was released (as can be seen in the German FtA! subforum you mentioned).

But I never saw FtA! on any shop shelf so while there might be a few copies circulating in the wider Disputorium/O.R.K./Skyrock/Glgnfz* community the game is all but unknown to the general DSA/Cthulhu/Pathfinder/WH40K gaming populace.

FTA!'s reminiscence to Tunnels & Trolls in the combat system could have been a draw for German gamers but even though T&T was the first commercially published RPG in Germany (two months before D&D and DSA) it was not widely played, and lost ground almost immediately to the two bigger games.

* Glgnfz has taken up the mantle as most vocal supporter of the OSR, being the force behind the translation of Labyrinth Lord, and writer of the Larm and Dolm River modules.

Quote from: JeremyR;789508So you're saying you are the David Hasselhoff of RPGs?

Or the Scheisse Porn...

Quote from: JeremyR;789508So you're saying you are the David Hasselhoff of RPGs?

The Pundit is metal.
Metal's big in Germany.

I rest my case.

Quote from: The Ent;789569The Pundit is metal.
Metal's big in Germany.

I rest my case.

Fuck yeah.

Quote from: Dirk Remmecke;789542Skyrock blogged about his FtA! campaign and was the most vocal supporter after the game was released (as can be seen in the German FtA! subforum you mentioned).

But I never saw FtA! on any shop shelf so while there might be a few copies circulating in the wider Disputorium/O.R.K./Skyrock/Glgnfz* community the game is all but unknown to the general DSA/Cthulhu/Pathfinder/WH40K gaming populace.

I'd agree with this assessment. FtA! is still somewhat known among those Germans with an interest in OSR games, though, maybe because my now defunct Kopikala blog was one of the earliest German-speaking examples of a sandbox. (My DCC GM asked me recently about it out of the blue, and has lent my FTA!GN! to crib material from it for his sandbox.)

I still consider the game to be a greatly underrated contribution to the early OSR, a game that purposefully works from a clean slate to provide a lean and mean rules engine, yet makes it easy enough to port monsters and traps from the "proper" OSR and d20 over.

If there ever was a 2nd edition with some clean-up (like a generic warrior-rogue class right in the MRB, rather than the specific monk class in FTA!GN!), sped up character creation (skill points and equipment being the major culprits, that could be dealt with with 5e-style background and equipment packages) and a magic system that is more compatible to D&D (especially for stealing single spells without the need to write up a new list, and the possibility to convert the D&D spell level directly to the FtA spell level), I think it could still garner interest for those who are sympathetic towards OSR play but want a neater and more "game-y" rules engine than the clones.

I appreciate that; but I think that my own design interests and techniques have moved on from FtA!; I doubt I'll ever be doing a second edition.

Quote from: RPGPundit;789461I don't know why the Germans like me so much, but they do.  "Forward... to Adventure!" was bigger there than anywhere else, and even had its own German-language forum.

Skyrock likes you. Skyrock is big on that one platform. That platform isn't big nowadays. (The community is openly discussing closing the thing down.) You are liked by a very big fish in a very little pond. Congrats.