Hello friends and welcome to an interview with our friend Michael Addison from Nerdy Pup Games! They have a Kickstarter coming up November 5th and we sat down to talk to them about the campaign, their company and a few other topics. Let’s jump right in!
Tell us a little about yourself and your company:
Sure. I’m a board game and rpg designer, I have been playing games as a hobby for over 30 years. I designed games as a hobby for about 15 years, and have been designing professionally for about 2 years. My first game was Space Princess, a two-player strategy game, which was published by my company, Nerdy Pup Games. We make small, thoughtful games, and try to include an element of social good into each release as a way of supporting causes we believe in. The Curse of the House of Rookwood will be our first roleplaying game, and we have a second board game release planned for next year.
What inspired you to get into game publishing?
Designing games is something I have enjoyed for a very long time. I’d do it regardless whether there was any hope of publication. Some people bake, some people make furniture in their garage. But for me it’s games — expressing concepts I am passionate about in a framework that can be experienced actively over and over again. Adding on the role of publisher was just a matter of barriers of entry. Crowdfunding, print-on-demand, and social media make it possible to connect with an audience and manufacture a product without needing to risk your life savings. With Space Princess, we had a game that was simple to produce, had very obvious appeal, and a concise, attainable goal. It was a great project to learn a lot the skills needed to publish, and we were able to put some good into the world — both in the form of a great game in the hands of our backers and by making a charitable donation to a good cause.
What are your goals and hopes with Nerdy Pup?
I design both large and small board games, and I have a few RPG designs kicking around as well. Larger games are something I am hoping to one day take to bigger publishers. But smaller designs are a great fit for self-publishing. For the time being, I would like to release a small game with a charitable component every two years or so. Most of my aspirations for roleplaying games are fairly niche, and make sense as small releases where we can fit them. Ideally, my hope is that Nerdy Pup Games will be seen by the board game community as a source of good for both the hobby and for the world we live in, and one that invites others to participate in that goal.
What do you think sets you apart in the industry?
I try very hard to wear my values on my sleeve. I hire artists who are women or non-binary. I look for artists and contributors who have different backgrounds and identities from myself. I look for talent in marginalized communities. I believe game artwork should include characters from a wide variety of backgrounds and identities, so everyone that plays can find a portrayal they identify with. Success for me isn’t just a successful game, it is creating opportunities for others in the industry.
What was the first game you remember playing as a kid?
Pay Day from Parker Bros. was one of the first games I really connected with as a kid! You advanced through a monthly calendar, earning income, buying investments like boats or jalopies, and selling to buyers when you were lucky enough to land on one. It was a lot like playing a roleplaying game about being an adult with a job. There was something about the emergent narrative of earning a living and paying bills that kept my sister and l engrossed for entire afternoons at a time.
What is your ideal game night? (Games, group size, snacks, etc):
A roleplaying game with 4 or 5 people, plenty of Lifesaver gummies and maybe a bottle of wine or two on hand, lots of laughter and earnest character moments. I am really lucky to currently have a weekly game night that is exactly this!
What do you look for in a good role-playing game?
I look for specificity in a roleplaying game. Tell me what type of story I can tell with this game, and how that experience will be unique or different from similar stories I could tell with similar games. Honestly, that’s what I look for in board games too. The ones I am usually most excited about are the stories that it never occurred for me to tell before.
What inspired you to start working on an RPG?
Rookwood started out as a game to play with a group of college friends. We played a lot of rpgs in school, and were looking for a way to play something that felt connected even though we only saw each other once a year. For about as long as I have played rpgs, I have hacked rpgs, adding new rules or options to whatever game I am playing. There is something about the combination of rules and creative play in rpgs that invites experimentation with the rules, I think. So Rookwood was the answer to having a connected game that we would play once a year. Each session was a standalone adventure with a new generation of the same family, and the fallout from one generation would carry over to the next from year to year. My co-designer, Brian, was the catalyst for the game I was playing with friends becoming a complete rulebook that other people could read and enjoy. He crafted my notes into a coherent text and revised a bunch of ideas that didn’t quite work into a better whole.
So you’ve got a Kickstarter coming up soon- What are the details?
Yes, after a year of playtesting and feedback, Brian and I are taking The Curse of the House of Rookwood to Kickstarter in order to produce a hardcover edition of the rules. We are launching on November 5th, and backers can pledge for either a digital version with beautiful artwork and layout, or a nice hardcover version. If we meet our goal, additional funds will help us add content written by a bevy of talented guest designers.
I understand there is a charitable component to your campaigns in the past, is there something like that this time around also?
Yes. Kickstarter’s rules prohibit funds collected on the site from being used directly for charity. However, if we reach our funding goal, Nerdy Pup Games will make a separate charitable donation to The Cocoon, a shelter for survivors of domestic violence in Northwest Ohio, based on the level of success of the campaign.
Thank you for your time and good luck Nerdy Pup on your Kickstarter starting on November 5th! Check out the preview page and sign up to be notified when it goes live HERE!
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