Crafting Worlds Interview Series: Stephen Radney-MacFarland

In the Crafting Worlds Interview Series; we are interviewing game designers to peek behind the curtain and discover how they create these wonderful worlds we get to experience and play in.

In this edition, we have the pleasure of chatting with Stephen Radney-MacFarland, a renowned game designer who has left an indelible mark on some of the most iconic tabletop roleplaying games in existence. His creative genius has graced titles such as Dungeons & Dragons, Pathfinder 2nd Edition, and even the beloved Star Wars universe.

Stephen’s contributions to the gaming world have been nothing short of legendary. From crafting intricate rule systems to weaving captivating narratives, he has shaped the way countless players experience their adventures. Whether you’re a seasoned dungeon master or a curious newcomer, Stephen’s work has likely touched your gaming journey in some way.

So, let’s pull up a virtual chair and dive into the mind of this master storyteller.

How did you end up in the wonderful world of RPG?

I moved from the US East Coast to San Francisco when I was a wee lad. Soon after, I was invited to a total stranger’s birthday party. I was expecting ice cream and cake (and they had that), but they also were playing this weird new game called Dungeons & Dragons. It had these crazy books and told insane stories, all mediated by the oddest dice I’d ever seen. I had no idea what I was doing, but I had the time of my life. I went home, stole all the dice from every board game I could find, destroyed my Battleship game to create a DM’s screen, and attempted to replicate what I experienced.

If you do that long enough, you’ll get good at it. I’ve been doing it for nearly half a century.

With that in mind, what keeps you making games?

I can’t stop. I guess I got the bug. Games are like every other artistic obsession/expression; they grab you and only let go via the oblivion of death.

You’ve recently returned from Garycon, where you took players into the world of Delve (more on that, ed) your own IP RPG. What do you like and/or dislike about cons?

I like the communities. I love pressing the flesh, sharing creations, and having fantastic philosophical debates at the bar or in the corner of some room party.

I hate working for a company where I’m branded (usually in crappy polyester) and hoisted as an ornament at a booth or some silly, ego-driven PR event. These days, the bigger the convention, the more I stay away. Gary Con and GameHole Con here in the States are my ideal size for a show. It’s just more personal, organic, and ultimately uncontrived. I’m also going to North Texas RPG Con this year. I hear it’s great, and it’s designed to say small. More of those, please.

What role do you see them playing in a world of online interactions and Twitch streams?

The pandemic taught us many lessons. One of them is that no matter how awesome technology becomes, face-to-face contact among friends, peers, and the like-minded fuels our well-being. That’s not to discount the wonderful commentary and games you can find online; it’s just a fact of being human. The most successful RPGs are games people want to live in. When not playing face-to-face, they often want to do something related to gaming; that’s why Discord, Twitch, and YouTube are full of gaming content. In the 90s, it was novels; now, it’s streams and social media.

I know from a couple of game designer groups here in Australia that connection and collaboration are important, especially for such a small industry here. How do you work with others? Do you collaborate with other designers and debate ideas or rules? How did collaboration work in larger organisations like Wizards of the Coast or Paizo?

Like most artistic endeavors, an aspect of game design begs for collaboration and debate. Progress in this field is a conversation of ideas and mechanics/mechanisms. I love delving into a new system for the joy of playing that game and seeing how it progresses that conversation. Sometimes, I get to talk with the designer and pick their brains. That’s always fun, and I’m always eager to share my part of the conversation. It’s stimulating when that evolves into a lively and respectful debate.

These days, I’ve been taking more of a lead design role. This means I produce the overall vision for other game makers, allow for any necessary questions and debate, and ensure the finished project aligns with that vision.

When I freelance for other companies, that relationship is turned around. I typically design to spec. I get a chance to ask questions and even challenge aspects of the specification, but at the end of the day, I have marching orders, and my job is to fulfill the publisher’s vision.

Working at large companies like Wizards of the Coast or Paizo often involves a strange hybrid of both paradigms. There is usually a brainstorming and outlining phase, during which a small group acts as the lead designers by developing the vision and specs before the work gets parceled off to individual designers.

The core design team for such projects will often tackle some of these parcels, typically the most essential or challenging bits. When producing that work, I’ll often seek the opinion of fellow designers.

The large company model has many advantages. First and foremost, it allows you to produce large and complicated works on a truncated timeline, utilizing the talents of scores of creators in a relatively short period of time. However, it also has disadvantages, such as the too-often clash of egos and stupidity of office politics.

The Glimmering is your most recent game that’s been published, can you explain a little about that and how the game uses technology to enhance the game play?

Sure. In many ways, The Glimmering is a 5e-based roleplaying game and setting with an organized play program. Unlike other such projects, it initially used blockchain technology to create and track characters, play, and treasure within its organized play system. The ticket to the system was a randomly generated character and hand-drawn artwork by a group of talented artists. With your character in hand, you could participate in adventures in a supporting game store or online, have fun, gain treasure (represented by their own digital objects), and repeat your heart’s desire.

The Glimmering also has a robust match-making service and its own community. I’m extremely proud of my work on that project, but it struggled and, to the best of my knowledge, still struggles to gain an audience. While I’m not naive about blockchain technology’s issues, I also see their benefit, especially in gaming. Still, both the people who are gun-ho on the technology and those who despise it grant it magical powers it just doesn’t have. This makes it a difficult space to create a legitimate and prosperous business within. It was a beautiful and interesting experiment, but my time with it is over.

Where do you see technology going in the RPG world? D&D Beyond is fast becoming the basis of at least some D&D campaigns but is there still a place for pen and paper? What’s the pros and cons?

I think technology creates great tools for RPGs. It has nearly from the start. From day one, smart and creative folks who played D&D and were messing around with computers worked to merge the two. From early MUDs and the Dragonbone digital dice roller on to further D&D game clones, D&D video games, RPG game aids, app dice rollers, early virtual tabletops, and dozens of cartography and other helper programs, tabletop RPGs have been enriched by digital tools.

While they are helpful, I disagree that any of them would serve as the basis of a campaign. Few of us use pen and paper as much anymore, but that was never the basis of these games either. The true basis is shared storytelling. Everything else is merely tools to accomplish that goal in the flavor you and your game group enjoy.

Last time we spoke it was just before the release of Pathfinder Second Ed. What are your thoughts on the system now you have had some time apart?

I’m very proud of the system and happy that many people enjoy playing it. That said, my main criticism of the system is the dangly cruft that hangs on many edges of the system. I don’t mind complexity where it’s necessary and aids the narration, but I believe some parts of the game embrace complexity for complexity’s sake. Still, Pathfinder has always been guilty of that sin. And I’m not blameless in that reflection.

You are back (mostly) full time on Delve your own RPG. How do you keep motivated when working in a small team?

It’s all about the routine and doing the work. Every week, I put together a to-do list. Over the course of the week, it expands and contracts. Each morning, I get up, make coffee and breakfast, and feed the cats. This comes after I go to the gym three times a week. Once that’s over, I catch up with the day’s news and start whittling away on the to-do list. The team is just me, not counting the two artists I’m working with (Rick Hershey and Brian Snoddy) but communicating with them is all about sending art directions, checking out their initial sketches, and letting them do their thing. Both are masters of their craft and produce wonderful work.

When I need a break, I read, walk, do chores, paint miniatures, or do my daily crossword puzzle—or two of those at once.

Of course, the main motivation is working toward putting out a game I think folks will enjoy, but the focus and constant progress forward is how that gets accomplished.

What do you miss about the larger organisations and what do you find is better doing your own thing?

I don’t miss meetings. Don’t get me wrong, a good meeting is worth its weight in gold. But larger organizations tend to have meetings because they have meetings on the schedule. I find those irritating. Larger organizations typically come with higher and more consistent salaries. That’s nice, but there is always a risk you are going to stay with a particular job for too long because of the comfort even when you’re miserable.

Salaries can be a trap.

Can you tell us about Delve, how the RPG works and when we will see more?

Sure. Delve RPG is my meditation on d20-based fantasy roleplaying games. The goal is to make it simple where it needs to be and robust where it counts. I love making games that people live in, are passionate about, and want to think about even when they are not sitting around the table.

When you play Delve RPG, a bunch of it will seem like games you’ve already played. You roll a 20-sided die for resolutions. High is good, low is bad. You are heroes solving problems for folks who can’t and facing terrible monsters and villains. It uses a variation of the three-act economy system I designed for Pathfinder Unchained and Pathfinder 2nd Edition but has its differences. It uses an initiative system iterated from Shadow of the Demon Lord. It shaves out things I think are pointless or antiquated in other roleplaying games. There are no numbers that mean other numbers; there are no experience points, no spell slots, and no convoluted skill system that would confuse an accountant. It focuses on fun, different aspects of shared storytelling, and a dynamic talent system that allows you to play the kind of hero you want to play.

I like to say it has an old-school feel with new game tech.

I’m pushing out the Proto PDFs and maybe a small print run of books (we are talking hundreds rather than thousands) later this year. Hopefully, around August. These are the full rules as they now stand, as well as the first four ancestries (dwarf, elf, halfling, and human) and the first four classes (priest, rogue, warrior, wizard). This will be followed by the compendium that’ll present the next four ancestries (gnome, jinnborn, orc, and wyrdwood) and classes (hunter, paladin, troubadour, and witch) either later in the year or in early 2025. The PDFs will be available on the Delve RPG website (www.delve-rpg.com) and Drive-Thru RPG, while physical products are available on the Delve RPG website. Depending on when this reaches your readers, the first physical product will either be on the website or soon to show up. These are the Surge Tokens (used for initiative), a Pre-Proto set of card aids for the game, and an accessory bag. These are very small print runs. I’ve given some out at Gary Con and other shows, but once they are gone, they may never appear in this exact form again.

After playing it at Garycon and I see you are heading to Norwescon soon. Are you thinking about coming to PAX AUS in 2024/2025 to demo? (mostly I’m asking if we can catch up for a beverage or two!)

I’m between panels at Norwescon at this moment. I’ll be going to a lot of shows this year and next, and which ones always depend on opportunity and budget. I would love to visit Australia again and share beverages with you, but it would be wildly irresponsible to commit to that right now.

This makes me sad because I do love being wildly irresponsible.

Recently we have seen huge growth in RPG games, from the stalwarts of Pathfinder Second Ed, Dungeons and Dragons 5th ed, Cyberpunk Red, ShadowRun to a plethora of independent and niche RPGs. Many people are saying we are living in the best days of the genre. Others harken back to the late 80’s and 90’s as the heyday. Where do you think we are and what is the future for RPGs?

I hope we are living in the best days for roleplaying games. In many ways, it feels so, but we also have some challenges. Certain corporations want to change their hobby drastically to fulfill their dreams of avarice. Higher-end business and finance is their own game with their own goals, and those types of gamers tend to look down on the creative dreamers who want to share stories of fantasy and adventure with a small cadre of friends, treating us as mere clueless commodities. They are only involved in this business to line their pockets and play the games they want to play. Frankly, they lack the passion and understanding of TTRPGs that seem necessary to continue the hobby, which is frightening. But this phenomenon doesn’t just plague this industry; the world is lousy with it. You see it in other forms of entertainment, politics, and aircraft construction. Hell, everything seems to be suffering from this dystopian aspect of late-stage capitalism.

But I’m happy to see an abundance of independent creators and smaller companies keeping the torch alive. Hopefully, they’ll keep the faith.

How can the readers follow you, find out where to play Delve?

The best way is probably the Delve RPG website (www.delve-rpg.com). There’s also a DelveRPG account on Twitter (I refuse to call it X), a Delve RPG Facebook page, and my personal Facebook page. Beware of that last one, though. I post all sorts of stuff, sometimes getting political, rambunctious, self-congratulatory, self-absorbed, or just downright odd. It may not be everyone’s cup of tea. There is a Delve Patron that is woefully out of date, but that’s about to spin up again with preview pages and maybe some special offers.

Technically, I have a Discord channel. And I will likely spark that up again, but I dislike Discord. Unfortunately, I seem to be in the minor with that view.

Thank you so much Stephen, I hope that one day we will get to share that beverage together and all the best with the release of Delve RPG – I for one am keen to give it a go.

**All images courtesy of Stephen and Delve RPG.**

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