Interview: David Blandy of ECO MOFOS!!
ECO MOFOS Islands of Weirdhope Now Live on BackerKit!
A few weeks back I got a surprise message from David about cross-collaborating on our upcoming BackerKit projects. I was happy to hear from him, and he was quick to note how similar in some ways our projects were - procgen mechanics, diving into weird scenarios, and generally just trying to break out of the traditional fantasy genre already widespread across the hobby (no shade, love me some orcs and elves and dwarves!).
Well, David held up his end of the bargain and posted my interview right around when Certain Fathoms launched (check the links on my home page), and now that his new project—Islands of Weirdhope—is live, it’s time for me to return the favor. We did something a little fun with our interviews in that we decided to ask each other the same questions.
If you want to compare and contrast, here’s David’s interview of me about Certain Fathoms:
Let’s dive in!
Well David, it’s your turn: what attracts you to the Weird?
I think weird is something that RPGs do really well. You can set up a situation that feels very normal, pedestrian, an then inject just a little twist into it, like a cloud that looks a bit like a leering skull, and suddenly the atmosphere at the table changes.
It’s why Call of Cthulhu and games around the Cthulhu mythos endure, alongside horror like Mothership. It’s a balancing act, because if everything is weird, suddenly nothing is and you have a gonzo situation, but if you get it right it’s a total sweet spot for me.
We live in uncanny times. I think the increasing fascination with the weird reflects that.
That sweet spot between gonzo and comprehensible weirdness is a good spot to be. But coming up with weird stuff that’s consistent and, well, good, is also pretty hard. Is that what draws you to procedural generation in your designs?
I came to procedural generation from two directions at once.
One direction was GM burnout.
I was running a long running D&D campaign and just doing so much prep, and when I brought it to the table it started feeling dissatisfying because either I’d know how it would all pan out, or, more likely, the players would do something completely unexpected and I’d end up essentially improvising.
The other direction was wanting to be surprised as a GM, to become more of a player at the table, and interpreting prompts to create the next moment felt intriguing. I’d been playing about with Chris Bissette’s Wretched & Alone system, a solo game system where you get prompts from playing cards, and thought why not see how that could work for generating scenarios in a group game?
I tried it for my game Lost Eons, and a solo iteration called Lone Eons, and really refined it in Eco Mofos. It’s an incredible way of sneaking lore and setting onto the table, as players and GM just find out about the world through experiencing it.
You’ve mentioned a few systems here so far; DND, Call of Cthulhu, Wretched & Alone… what are a couple of your favourite modules?
One of my favourites is Wet Grandpa by Evey Lockheart.
It was the first module I’d read that made me realise you could imply an entire setting in a module. It’s so literary and strange, with lots of NPC narrative that the players may not even get engaged in, and a truly weird dungeon that takes a strange 1800’s American South setting and takes it into the mythological realm. I’ve heard criticism of the mechanics of the module but for pure atmosphere and ideas, it’s excellent.
Another is Luke Gearing’s Gradient Descent, but I’m not sure it really counts as a module, it’s absolutely immense! The way it seeps lore to the players through random events, and undermines ideas of humanity and agency is so interesting. This obviously can be problematic, but with a table that is open to exploring heavy themes I think there’s nothing like it.
For the folks at home, nothing you mentioned fits in the trad fantasy genre. It’s safe to say that medieval fantasy dominates the hobby. What is there to gain by stepping out of that genre for RPGs?
Fantasy is so all-pervasive, working in sci-fi or sci-fantasy opens up the potential for real surprise and wonder again.
Fantasy has become such a hotch-potch of influences, it can become like a bland soup. I think there’s still loads to explore there if you really lean into a particular vision of fantasy, like the folklore of Cairn 2e, but I feel like there’s so much left to explore in near-future settings.
I think the familiarity of the future world can also add to immersion, and the reality of the space, like seeing the fallen Statue of Liberty at the end of Planet of The Apes.
I’ve found the same. There’s something very grounding about seeing things in game that you as an IRL human understand. On the other end of the spectrum, though, what’s been your biggest surprise in writing/playtesting?
My favourite moments so far have been in the creative process with Daniel Locke, my partner at Copy/Paste Co-op, how things emerge that would never have been thought of if each of us was working separately.
For me that’s when things get interesting, mashing up ideas from Akira, Moebius and Fist of the North Star with Dan’s beautiful Saturday Morning Cartoon sensibility. It feels like this image came from a weird other place haha!
For sure! Thanks, David, for your time.
It’s been great talking to David through the success of both our projects—mine coming to and end and his just beginning. If you haven’t, please go check out Islands of Weirdhope. It’s a trip—you already know it is! The art in this article comes from it!
I have no doubt in my mind that David and the entire Copy / Paste Co-Op team have a hit on their hands. Thanks for reading!🟦
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