Interview: Colin Le Sueur of By Odin's Beard Games

 

I have had the honor to sit down and interview Colin Le Sueur of By Odin's Beard Games. It was a great conversation. 

Me: Go ahead and introduce yourself.

Colin: I’m Colin Le Sueur, @byodinsbeardrpg most places on the internet. I’m a TTRPG designer, writer, and artist and I make games like Runecairn and We Deal in Lead.

Me: What got you interested in gaming?

Colin: When I was a teenager, my neighbour and friend introduced me to roleplaying games like AD&D 2^nd Edition and TMNT. I was pretty much instantly hooked.

Me: Oh, I remember the AD&D 2nd days and I wish I got to play TMNT. I had the book for a long time and I read through it a few times. What drew you to TMNT besides being a turtle that is also a ninja?

Colin: I was a massive fan of TMNT because of the cartoon and toys; eventually found my way to the original comics and TTRPG. 

Me: Can you explain some of your early game experiences?

Colin: I vividly remember playing in a TMNT game; my character was a mutant wolf with a motorcycle and we were facing off against Shredder. My gun ran out of ammo so I threw it at Shredder, knocking him out.

Me: What is one of your favorite games you have played in?

Colin: I was in a long-term Pathfinder game where I played a badass storm cleric on his way to becoming a God. That was loads of fun!

Me: That campaign had to create some memorable moments for you and your character. Long term campaigns tend to be my favorite play style as a lot of character development happens along with some great interactions with the world. I always walk away from those not remembering the end goal but more of role play focused moments. Does anything stand out with your Storm Cleric?

Colin: I was playing with a new group and I remember the first time I stepped up to lead an interaction. We were trying to get into a barricaded town in a region where worship of the old gods was forbidden. I called upon the storm to try and intimidate our way into the town and that led me down a path to becoming the herald for one of the old gods.

Me: What is one of your favorite games you have ran? 

Colin: I ran a group of We Deal in Lead gunslingers through my Runecairn adventure Beneath the Broken Sword and that was a blast. WDIL was designed to work with other Into the Odd games and there was something amazing about seeing gunslingers fighting undead Vikings.

Me: I have never thought about crossing genres like that but the setting of We Deal in Lead works pretty well for things like that because of the doors. When you wrote We Deal in Lead, did you design it to be cross compatible on purpose?

Colin: I did, yeah. One of my favourite things about The Dark Tower (the biggest influence on We Deal in Lead) was the mixture of genres and even settings. Something about seeing a grizzled gunslinger taking on modern New York thugs left an indelible mark on me, along with the film Army of Darkness, where a modern schlub falls through time to fight medieval undead.

 

Me: What are your favorite genres or game in or run? 

Colin: I’m a sucker for standard fantasy: elves, dwarves, dragons. So far I haven’t gotten bored! I also love cyberpunk, though I haven’t actually played in many cyberpunk games.

Me: Cyberpunk is one of my favorite genres as well. What are your favorite things about the setting? What Cyberpunk gamers have you got to experience?

Colin: How close it is to our reality. Most cyberpunk is near future (or 20 minutes into the future, as Max Headroom would say) and typically dystopian, so it gives a glimpse into what could happen to our world. I ran a quick one-shot of Cyberpunk Red for my co-workers and that was a lot of fun, and I loved reading through the early Shadowrun books back in the 90s. I have a soft spot for fantasy cyberpunk.

Me: Do you have any favorite books, and if so why?

Colin: Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series had a massive impact on me. I loved the characters and the world, filled my head with strange and terrifying ideas. I’m also a big fan of Neil Gaiman’s work; American Gods absolutely fuelled my love of mythology and folklore.

Me: I am glad you mentioned Neil Gaiman, he is one of my favorite author's and his works continue to inspire me. What got you started into game design?

Colin: I took a long break from roleplaying games after high school but got the itch again after moving to the UK. I started playing D&D 3.5 and Pathfinder and running my own games. For me, the next logical step was to turn some of my campaigns into adventures. I started off making 5e modules but soon moved to making my own systems hacked from Cairn.

Me: Speaking of that, your two big games appear to be Runecairn and We Deal on Lead. Can you explain where the inspiration came from for each one? 

Colin: Runecairn was my version of a Dark Souls roleplaying game (before there was an official one in English). I’m a massive fan of the Dark Souls video games (along with FromSoftware’s other soulslike games) and wanted to try my hand at a TTRPG adaptation. I’ve loved folklore and mythology all my life, so it made sense to combine Norse myth and Soulslike mechanics, resulting in Runecairn.

Similarly, We Deal in Lead is my version of a Dark Tower roleplaying game. As I mentioned earlier, The Dark Tower was massively influential on me and I loved the idea of playing as gunslingers in a world that’s moved on, combining weird west and fantasy and sci-fi.

Me: How does Runecairn differ from Cairn and Into the Odd? What are some of your favorite features?

Colin: Runecairn changes the standard ability scores, since I wanted to have one ability mapped to each of the 4 classic archetypal classes (warrior, thief, cleric, and magic user). Runecairn also introduces reactions in combat, which changes how players engage when fighting monsters; this emulates the risk/reward, push and pull mechanics in Soulslike games. Primarily, the biggest difference is bonfires and character death. Since Runecairn is a Soulslike, PCs respawn when killed (as enemies respawn when you rest at a bonfire), meaning you can try different approaches in exploration and combat. Both the dynamic combat and respawn mechanics mean that Runecairn was designed as a two player game (1 Warden and 1 Adventurer), though playing with larger groups also works well.

Me: How does We Deal in Lead differ from Into the Odd? What are some your favorite features?

Colin: We Deal in Lead differs the most in its gunslinging mechanics. Into the Odd famously has no to-hit roll (you hit automatically and just roll damage) and I sacrilegiously changed this by adding a 2d6 shoot table, which determines the success of your shot, from max damage to a gun misfire. I wanted the gunslinger mechanics to feel different from other Into the Odd games, as well as keeping the drama and intensity of your gun misfiring at exactly the wrong moment.

Me: Are you currently working on any projects? If so, what are they? 

Colin: I’ve just published HOWL, a conversion of my first published adventure from 5e to Cairn, and I plan on converting the next one as well. I’m also editing a new We Deal in Lead adventure and planning a funnel adventure called The Iron Draw. I hope to have 3 new We Deal in Lead adventures published this year, but we’ll see if that actually happens!

Me: That is great news. I am looking forward to more We Deal in Lead Material. Are these adventures going to expand on the setting such as locations/hex crawls/and the like?

Colin: Two of them are set in new worlds but I do plan on releasing my Dungeon23 work which is a city megadungeon called Omega City and I also plan on making a collection of worlds to explore.

Me: What advice can you give our readers? As a player, as a game master, and as a creator? 

Colin: As a player: take notes and engage with the world; share the spotlight with the other players and remember to work collaboratively. As a GM: let the players guide the world and don’t be too prescriptive; make sure to give everyone a chance to contribute and make meaningful choices. As a creator: once your game or adventure’s in the world, it belongs to the players and there’s no wrong way for them to play.

Me: I think that is some of the best advice I have heard about gaming in general. It is important to remember that ttrpg's are a team sport and to allow whatever projects that you put into the universe to flow, grow, and expand organically.