Indy Spotlight: Alien Dungeon Interview
Pimpcron takes you to Nowhere this week as he interviews Alien Dungeon, the makers of Fanticide and All Quiet on the Martian Front!
If you haven’t heard about Fanticide, it is a game that gives you the rules for making your own armies, units, stats, artifacts, weapons, vehicles etc. You can use the models from their officially sanctioned armies, OR USE MODELS FROM ANY COMPANY! You can find out more via my overview of it here as well as a few pictures of my custom Thundercats army and Smurfs army! (Nerd!)
So without further ado, here is my interview with the creative side of Alien Dungeon and the author of the awesome fluff in the rulebook, Skye:
Hi Skye. Thanks for taking the time to let me interview you. I am a huge fan of Fanticide as well as being an All Quiet on the Martian Front backer. I’m really excited to be talking to you, so let’s get started.
How are you doing today? I’m doing great! Thanks for the interview! I am so happy to hear you are a Fanticide fan.
But how are you really doing today? I’m really great. But cold! Its freezing and snowy and just gross in my neck of the woods.
How did you get started in the Miniatures Industry and what spurred you into it? I grew up surrounded by miniature games- my Dad, Grandpa, Uncle, boyfriends always played. I remember going to Ral Partha with my Grandpa. My dad was always painting minis and hosting immense, elaborate wargames with lights and soundtracks. So when I was asked to write some fiction for a miniature game, it felt like a natural fit. Most kids grow up with their families following sports- I knew nothing about football teams but could tell you all about building an army.
What was your first official product and what was the biggest lesson you learned in making it? The first product I wrote for was Fanticide. The biggest lesson I learned was to be persistent. Creatively, if you have a vision, hold on to it for dear life and the rest will follow.
Being a younger company in the industry, what were your major hurdles starting out? All the usual stuff for a start-up company- funding, building credibility. Being the new kid on the block and nobody knowing who you are- getting your name out there. Finding the time and resources to get ideas going when you still have to tend to other life responsibilities.
Boxers (the athlete) or Briefs (the business report)? I’m going to go with boxers.
One of my favorite things about Fanticide is the setting and backstory. What was your inspiration for Fanticide’s setting and game play? We wanted to do something very different. We got to talking one evening about how the fantasy genre is just a constant re-hashing of the same ideas. Elves, dwarves, orcs, etc. The very ancient ideas of fantasy appeal to me immensely- the mythos that sprung up around deep, dark woods and man’s very primal fear of what lurks in those woods. We talked about how cool it would be to have a game that dropped all the current fantasy “trends” and do something with fairies, mushrooms, trees- a world that would pay homage to the mythos that the fantasy genre evolved from. I am obsessed with this idea of innocuous, beautiful things being capable of great harm. Taking a stereotype and challenging people on it- such as rainbows and unicorns. What if that unicorn wanted to EAT you? It all started with the Unicorn poem. It was the very first thing I wrote for Fanticide before we even had a plan. From there, we just started building this world. We wanted to create something extremely different and extremely accessible.
The setting of Fanticide is set in the place called Nowhere, and your rulebook includes some very well written fluff based around individual encounters people have had when waking up there. Will we ever get a chance to read more about the stories of some of the survivors living there? Such as novels, another book, etc? I would love to write more for NoWhere. I think there are so many more stories to be told and I have many ideas floating around in my brain. As of right this moment, I am not writing anything new for Fanticide. But its a real possibility down the road.
Do these pants make my butt look big? Maybe just a little?
Which is your personal favorite Warband from the Fanticide book? The Fae! I love the Fae. They are so similar to us but also terrifyingly, coldy alien from us. I think the Fae mythos came about from man trying to explain some of their most primal and ancient fears- fears of ourselves and what evil we are capable of. I love this simple idea of getting lost in the woods and coming out changed with the mystery of these horrible things that could have happened in the woods. And what if the foliage itself posed a deadly threat? Thats fun too.
The ability to create your own stats for you custom armies (and use any model you want from any company) is clearly the biggest difference between Fanticide and every other wargame. What inspired you to do that? Wargaming- like any hobby- can be very costly. We didn’t want people to shy away because they can’t afford to buy a whole new army. Most gamers have piles of minis laying around that don’t get used- why not build a goblin warband with what you already have? Wargaming is an extremely creative hobby and we want to encourage creativity, always. Another thing that can hold a gamer back is time and convenience. Setting up this huge game, finding hours and hours to play- thats fantastic, but what if you just have an hour or so and not much space? We wanted to do something easy to pick up, easy to set up, and easy to dive in to. But if you have the time, money, and space, you can still do something bigger.
Do you have any advice for people thinking about breaking into the gaming industry? Have a thick skin and be tenacious as hell. Putting your ideas out there- no matter what industry- is scary as hell. You will get criticism, and lots of it. Be able to take the criticism, be stronger for it, and keep pushing forward.
Paper (Mache) or Plastic (Utensils)? Plastic would be more useful in a fight.
The free Behemoth Supplement to Fanticide added a whole new size of models to the board, allowing one giant model to be an entire army. Do you have any other supplements or projects in the works for Fanticide? We do not have any new supplements or projects in the works for Fanticide. However! Fanticide is very near and dear to our hearts and we have not turned our backs to it. I have atleast four ideas for new warbands that I hope to one day create. I have been dying to inject some “girly” stuff in- girl gamers are on the rise! I want to do a mermaid warband- mermaids that eat your soul.
Now for the burning question: Would you like fries with that? I will always say yes to inappropriate starches.
If you’d like to find out more about Alien Dungeon and their products you can find the rulebook, official miniatures, online warband creator, and everything you need to play here.
These winged monkeys just scream Oz!
Do any of you play Fanticide? Does making your own stats appeal to you?
Want to witness my slow descent into madness first-hand? Check out my blog at www.diceforthedicegod.com
