Over the past few years, Dragonmeet has become one of the most essential tabletop game conventions in the UK. Mostly focused on tabletop roleplaying but also including war games and similarly-styled games, the one-day convention at Novotel Hammersmith is one of the coziest and most interesting, fairly compact gaming fairs around. We sit down with Cubicle 7’s CEO/game designer Dom McDowall to get into the nitty gritty of things.
LifeBytes Magazine: Let's talk about The Enemy Within campaign for Warhammer Fantasy Role Play Fourth Edition! I've run the previous edition and it is one of the best campaigns ever written.
Dom: Oh, definitely. When I was putting Fourth Edition together, the first plan was making sure that the rules were a little bit tighter. The second was that we should do another version of The Enemy Within. It had been a while since the campaign was published, and the prices for the old books were going through the roof.
It's one of those essential campaigns, and I wanted to bring it to a new generation of gamers.
I think my four favorite campaigns are the great Pendragon campaign, Masks of Nyarlathotep, The Dracula Dossier, and The Enemy Within. It’s great to see an expanded and more complete version out now, but you’re also offering quite a lot of options within the Warhammer settings as a whole.
Yes: Wrath & Glory, Soulbound… there are quite a few things out for it now. It's lovely to see the full range of options. I think the Mortal Realms are such a different setting. Everything is very grand in scale and sort of desperate, so it's been great to work with. As for Soulbound: It's great fun to do a game where you are capable heroes straight out of the gate.
Like superheroes?
Yes, definitely. It's really satisfying at that power level. Then there’s Wrath & Glory, which is the action-adventure of Warhammer 40K games, with an isolated and cut-off system where you're a ragtag band of survivors from the Imperium and other species.
And now there’s also Imperium Maledictum, a Warhammer 40K investigative political game, with a lot of intrigue. That's very cool.
Do you feel like all of these Warhammer games appeal to the same crowd, or do they cater to different kinds of fans?
I think there are variations, but we see people moving through them. When they want a more street-level struggle for survival, they play the grimmer settings. Soulbound starts with smiting things with a mighty hammer. There's a different feel to each game. The action-adventure feel of Wrath and Glory is different from the investigative, political game of Imperium Maledictum.
Do you think there's a big overlap between Warhammer miniature battle gamers and those playing the role-playing games?
Yes, definitely. The different types of games bring their own strengths to exploring the setting. The battle games are often where people start.
On the Warhammer channel, I miss TTRPG content. Is there anything coming?
That's a good question. We did a promotional thing with Creative Assembly, where we had a streamed game combining Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay and Warhammer Total War for larger fights. That was really cool.
I love switching from TTRPG to wargame when the characters get involved in a big battle.
Yes, exactly.
How do you handle a player getting a critical hit to the head? Do you fudge that or is it just bad luck?
It's bad luck, yeah.
Ha ha, that's brutal! I know people who run TTRPGs like that and don't fudge anything. They say, 'I know you're attached to your character, but I spent like three hours on my backstory.' Those GMs don't care; they just rip up the character sheets and throw them in the bin.
You know, it's definitely one of the things that attract me to role-playing games. I like the idea of starting adventures a little bleak but being able to break up small battles and then just run space operas.
I like to play games that cater to different kinds of players, but also get into a different kind of gaming because the storyline prompts them to do so.
Certainly with our games, we always try to allow for street-level, personal exploration of the lore. You explore the lore differently in a battle game than you do in Age of Sigmar. We were working very closely with Games Workshop to develop what everything looks like in the roleplaying game.
Do you feel that now, with Warhammer Old World coming back, it's going to help the Warhammer role-playing scene?
Yes, I think so. It does align with Age of Sigmar, I would guess. It's really lovely to see. The developments with the Old World will definitely bring people back.
Now, you're not only publishing Warhammer TTRPGs, you're also doing Doctor Who. Tell me a little bit about your plans for the other games.
For Doctor Who, we've got two kinds of rules sets now: our own and one based on Dungeons & Dragons 5E. It's one of the first games we published, so we'll always have a soft spot for it. With the huge number of people playing 5th Edition, and the understandable reluctance from some groups to learn new rules, we decided to bring some of our cool stuff to the 5E system.
Doctor Who famously doesn't follow the 'kill monsters, take their stuff' approach. So, it’s been great to create a non-violent 5E version.
The initiative system really drives that home.
Yes, if you're trying to resolve the situation by talking, doing something cool, or running away, you go first. If you're trying anything violent, you go last. It really puts the focus on brains over brawn.
Did you manage to keep that concept intact in 5E or did you have to change it?
There's not a direct equivalent, but we created a system where you don't need to fight everything. We've got loads of Doctor Who creatures adapted for 5E. If you want to drop Daleks into your own campaign, go for it. We also have a plot point system rather than defeating creatures by killing them. It's a way for lower-level characters to face high-level threats without having to kill them. They just need to defeat them within the context of the scenario.
If you encounter a powerful creature, you might not stand a chance head-to-head, but if you can stall them by talking or by hacking a system to isolate them, you've won the scenario. It allows for different kinds of victory.
That's smart.
And then you can keep the recognisable 5E terminology, so it still feels like you're playing that game at the table. We also have systems for emotional damage and logic damage, which work well at the table.
Let's talk about your other books…
We’ve got Uncharted Journeys, which gives you cool stuff to implement in your games. It's not just random encounters or time management; it’s about making the whole experience better. Even someone who doesn’t like tables will find something useful in it.
And with more information than just one short line.
Exactly. It’s all additive and enhancing. We also have the A Life Well Lived book coming out next. It helps build up your character and integrate them into the campaign world. It's not just things written on a piece of paper. Your character is more enmeshed in the setting.
It makes everything feel more meaningful, and you have a place in the campaign world. It’s not something that takes a huge amount of time; there’s such a variety. Some people love delving into their character background, while others just want to get on with the game.
Sometimes there's synergy, like rolling up a background that fits perfectly with someone else's character.
Yes, that’s definitely possible. And there are things we wanted to bring to enhance the experience at the table.
Let's end by reflecting on Broken Weave, your first setting design for 5E. How is that going?
Broken Weave is coming along nicely. The backers of the Kickstarter have most of the content, and we’re wrapping up the final chapters. It will soon be moving to print.
So you’ve finished the design and artwork?
Yes, Broken Weave is amazing. It’s lovely. The process involved a lot of back-and-forth between the writers and artists, which was something I’d been dying to do for ages. The setting is one where things have gone terribly wrong, and magic has corrupted the world. It's not straight post-apocalypse because we're generations past that. It's about rebuilding and establishing a new reality after everything has fallen apart.
The havens are communities that stand together for survival, solidifying their immediate surroundings. It's about how thoughts shape reality. The more you travel a path, the more real it becomes.
Like creating a Shadow in Roger Zelazny’s Amber?
Yes, the more you tread that path, the more real it becomes. It's like the more you travel to one settlement and another, the more solidified and tangible the route gets. You can place markers and create shrines to make it more permanent. Part of the magical unraveling affects people's memories. It's really cool, with a mix of hope and horror.
There are horrible creatures, like the decayed, which are like the remnants of magic gone wrong. It ties back to the laws of thermodynamics. Games like this are about exploring such concepts. It’s really cool, and we do a lot with the setting. It’s a fun system and something different.
One of my favorite parts is the remains of gods in the landscape. My favorite city is built around the remains of a god with a stag-like form, where the skull is the gateway, and the city is built around the antlers.
Let's talk about the hobby as a whole. Even though more games are being released, some companies have taken a hit after the pandemic. Maybe the recent pandemic or other economic threats have made things difficult. It seems like many companies are overestimating sales and facing challenges due to paper shortages and other issues.
I think for us, we're fortunate to be growing quite fast. Earlier this year, we were listed in The Financial Times' fastest-growing companies.
That's impressive.
Thank you. It was a big achievement for us, and I'm very proud of it. It shows how far the industry has come.
The pandemic had mixed effects. Direct interactions with customers increased, which was good, but many shops closed, impacting our distribution channels. In some cases, it took 9 months to get back to normal.
The global container system was a mess, with containers stuck in America and not being shipped back empty. This caused huge delays in getting products out of China. Some shipments took over a year to arrive.
I remember similar issues when I was doing PR for ecological straws and cutlery.
Yes, it's been a challenge. Some companies have horror stories about shipments stuck for months. We had delays, but fortunately, nothing that bad. It did impact business, but we managed.
Some big companies are shifting focus to digital content and reducing print. How do you see the industry evolving? You don’t seem to focus much on PDFs despite having a presence there.
Yes, we've definitely been focusing more on physical products, but we are expanding our digital offerings. We have coverage on platforms like Roll20, and that's growing. I think there's room for both physical and digital formats. Personally, I love the physicality of books. There's something special about holding and reading a book that isn’t replicated by digital formats.
That said, we’re aware of the potential and importance of digital content. We’re working on it, but I think it will always be a hybrid model. Some types of content suit PDFs, while others benefit from the tactile experience of a book.
Do you think that people will still buy physical books as much as before?
Yes, I do. There's a desire for both. Some people love having the physical reference and the feel of a book. It's like with music – some fans still buy physical albums. There's a place for both, and I think it's going to be a hybrid model going forward.
What about AI? A lot of companies are now saying they'll never use AI artwork. How do you feel about that? Would you integrate AI into your work?
That's an interesting topic. Personally, I value the human touch in creation. When I work with artists, I want to see their vision, their craftsmanship. AI might be able to replicate some aspects, but I don't think it can replace the creativity and personal touch of a human artist.
However, I'm open to AI in other areas, like scheduling and organization. If it can learn from my behavior and help me be more efficient, that’s valuable. But for creative work, I want the human element.
So, you'd use AI for administrative tasks but not for creative ones?
Exactly. AI can assist with the workflow, like helping with research or managing schedules. But when it comes to the creative process, I think the human element is crucial. I might use AI to gather information or generate ideas, but the final creation should be done by people.
I use AI for adding emoticons to social media posts. It can be helpful, but I don’t change the text itself.
Yes, that’s a good use of AI-enhancing and automating tasks without taking over the creative process. If AI can help us be more productive and efficient, that’s great. But I think it’s important to keep the human touch in creative work.
Do you feel AI could eventually take over creative roles?
It’s possible, but I hope not. I think there’s something unique about human creativity that AI can’t replicate. AI might get better at mimicking human creativity, but there’s an intrinsic value in the human touch. We’ll have to see how it evolves, but for now, I prefer human-created art.
Let's talk about the future. What are your plans for Cubicle 7 Games?
We’re continuing to develop our existing lines and explore new opportunities. We have some exciting projects in the pipeline. We’re always looking to innovate and bring new experiences to our players. The goal is to keep growing and adapting to the changing landscape of the industry.
Any final thoughts on the state of the hobby?
The hobby is in a good place, despite the challenges. People are passionate about tabletop games, and there’s a strong community. We’ve faced some tough times, but we’re resilient. The future looks bright, and I’m excited to see where we go from here.
Thank you, Dom, for sharing your insights. It’s been great talking to you.
Thank you, Dirk. It’s been a pleasure.
Dirk Vandereyken
留言