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 This month, we cast our spotlight on RPG designer Bruce R. Cordell, who talks about his newly released Psionics Handbook, describes some of his upcoming projects, and tells us what makes a perfect gaming session.
Wizards of the Coast: In your introduction to The Psionics Handbook, you address some of the concerns players had about previous psionic rules, so it's obvious that you thought about the issue a lot. What goals did you have in mind when you started the project?
Bruce R. Cordell: One of the most basic goals, as you inferred, was that the new rules had to put game balance first. The new psionics rules had to start with the core D&D rules and go from there. Anything else, and we would have created yet another system that didn't speak to the basic tenets of the D&D game, like being able to make a saving throw to avoid a psionic effect.
Wizards: How did your ideas evolve as you wrote, playtested, and prepared to hand the book off to the editors?
Bruce: I originally envisioned psionic powers working in some ways like feats, with stronger powers being available only as prerequisite lesser powers were taken. I figured I would generate feats that in actuality had strengths equal to 0- to 9th-level spells, but then hide that fact in the feat structure. In order to claim balance with spellcasting, the powers had to be broken into 10 levels of power, even if "level" wasn't the terminology we would use. Ultimately, the realization was made that it was a lot of trouble to hide the 0-9 level power structure, all for the sake of being different. Plus, it was sneaky, and it seemed to go against the ethic of the new rules. So, the decision was eventually made to come right out and show the powers as being balanced 0-9. Hiding the fact wasn't going to help anyone in the long run.
Wizards: What part of the book was the most fun to write?
Bruce: The new classes were fun to write -- though the new items were also a kick. But I would be remiss if I didn't mention the feats and the prestige classes. Of course, the monsters had their place, too. (I'm especially happy that the web enhancement for The Psionics Handbook [coming March 23] introduces the gem dragons and a couple other past favorites that the manuscript had no room for.) So, really, the whole book was fun to write, and I can't point to one section that was "most" fun. The least fun to write were the NPC descriptions of psionic characters from levels 1 to 20. I did two, and [editor] Jennifer Clarke-Wilkes, bless her, took it on herself to do the other five psions.
Wizards: Were there any sticking points or tough design decisions?
Bruce: Sure, there were tough decisions and sticking points all over. The psionic combat system went through four full rewrites. The way power points and psionic powers originally worked together seemed straightforward enough, but in truth hid a terrible secret regarding ramping powers (powers that do damage/level); thankfully, both internal and external playtesters revealed that folly. The whole manner in which psionic power points are used to manifest a power started out more complicated, before it was simplified into "you pay the cost, you manifest the power."
Wizards: In your opinion, what makes a great gaming session? Can you give some tips to other players on engineering such a session?
Bruce: A great gaming session involves a fight, some conversation with NPCs (which could lead to an alliance, an uneasy stand-off, or heck, even just another fight), and the advancement of the overall plot, be it exploration of a dungeon or the discovery of new avenue of investigation. Verisimilitude is also important, as in "Hey, these runes on this dungeon wall are in the same style as those pottery shards we found on the surface," or "The Empty Face assassin's guild is known for using vapidleaf poison -- and after some investigation into a recent poisoning attempt, what do you know, vapidleaf residue. Now, is this a set-up, or is it really the Empty Face?"
Wizards: What's the campaign you reminisce about the most? In other words, tell me about your character (or NPCs if you were the DM)?
Bruce: Gosh, I've played in so many that it is hard to pick one and say it is my favorite. In high school, I played a character called Lord Eric Dessatysso in my friend Monte Cook's campaign (one of dozens). Guess what? Dessatysso had psionics. He was a magic-user (to use the old parlance), and he most assuredly had some demonic blood tainting his veins. Dessatysso and his companions lived on a five-world rosette where sorcery and technology both reigned. Another favorite character was Japheth Lifeleech, an evil fellow who was part of a Descent campaign that took on a very able life of his own in the hands of Dungeon Master J.D. Sparks -- my character and Monte's never really saw eye to eye. My own college campaign brings back loads of memories. One of its defining moments was when a fusion-powered cyborg named Abdimnas, wearing the Cloak of Anarchy (a physical embodiment of chaos . . . yes, an artifact), was slain in such a manner that his powerplant went critical, blasting a 60-mile-wide crater into the earth and changing the nature of the campaign multiverse forever.
Wizards: If you could write any roleplaying product you can imagine, whether it's already been produced or not, what would it be?
Bruce: Well, of course I'd write my college campaign into a sourcebook! Wouldn't everybody?
Wizards: What are the three best movies of all time?
Bruce: That's a mean question. How about, "What are the three best movies you've seen recently?" To that, I'll answer: Unbreakable, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, and X-Men.
Wizards: Your work on The Psionics Handbook was actually completed months ago. What have you finished since, what are you doing now, and what will you be working on in the future?
Bruce: Even after I was "done" with the manuscript, psionics remained part of my daily fare for months, because playtest comments continued to come in. I spent hours every week pow-wowing with editors Duane Maxwell and Jennifer Clarke-Wilkes and finally managing editor Kim Mohan.
Officially, after I turned over Psionics, I worked on a sourcebook for wizards and sorcerers called Tome and Blood (thematically tied to the recently released Sword and Fist) with Skip Williams, a 32-page module for 10th-level characters called Heart of Nightfang Spire, a section of a larger book detailing interesting NPCs, some research into what it might mean for characters to go beyond 20th-level, and until recently I served on an internal review council. It was my job for the month of February to look over any manuscript that comes out of editing for publication (be it a standard adventure or sourcebook, on the web or a D&D periodical) and point out any rules violations I discover. At first I dreaded this task, but now I find that the power has gone to my head!
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