Spire addresses this from the ground up, with everything from character creation through to in-game mechanics re-enforcing the drive to revolt. When you play around with it, the combined game and setting feel like an elegant engine where every aspect feeds this central principle. I wanted a part of that.

Secondly I had this idea that fit the setting, that I thought would be fun and which I hadn’t seen done anywhere else either …  

The Sulphurous Press is focused around newspaper distribution. Normally we deal in riots and black magic: what made you want to write about the perils of journalism?  

It certainly seems relevant at the moment– the role of propaganda in shaping public discourse is top-of-mind. In history, at least as it was taught to me here in Ireland in the 80’s, newspapers have long played a role in revolutionary movements, with each generations’ rebellious moment supported by their own publication … “The Young Irelanders” who wrote and rallied around “The Nation” in the 1840’s or “An Claidheamh Soluis” ("The Sword of Light”) edited by Pádraig Pearse, one of the leaders of the 1916 rising are good examples. We learned these names like you learn the names of the wives of Henry the VIII (which is to say “not super interested but it could come up in the exam”, unless you have a thing for Anne of Cleves, in which case I apologise for my presumption).  

Viewing things through the lens of a newspaper allows any player group to drill deep into a core conspiracy anywhere in the Spire in the style of “All the President’s Men”, but it also provides a platform where just noodling around in Spire is not off-topic. It is perfectly reasonable to spend a session looking at Fashion, or Sport, or Science or Housing or Food, etc. etc. in search of that catchy headline. It feels good, as the writer, to get out of the way and let players engage with the setting, given how compelling it is.

Also, in the context of Spire – all characters are reality editors, folding the world around them to suit their narrative needs. “Who Shot Liberty Valence?” has a great quote that speaks to how newspapers are reality editors as well: “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend”. So for me the fit between the two was too good to resist. Frankly, if Hunter S. Thompson isn’t a min-maxed PC character concept, then I don’t know what is.  

Besides there will still be riots and black magic. Lots of riots. And lots of goats. In at least one instance there will be lots of both.  

Please tell us more about Stairway Luge and Kaibidyell, the two sports you've invented for this scenario.  

Ah. Well. Outside of the core conspiratorial framework, I set myself a challenge to bring three hooks to the table for each department of a Sunday newspaper. I don’t know how many of these will make the final cut but writing the Crime ones came pretty easy, the Weather ones less so. The ones for Sport were probably the most fun to write (and certainly the most pun driven).  

Luge is traditionally an Aelfair sport originating in their frozen northern homelands. Some time ago however some bright spark had the idea to import this activity to Spire. Here some of the ice engines, normally used to cool Amaranth, are redirected to freeze one of the extensive (and lethal) stairwells of the mile-high tower. This has been so successful that the Spire version of the sport has become the preeminent version in Aelfair culture. It is an exclusively Aelfair affair, with the winners of a race season in the city being crowned “World Champions”. The scenario hook here is that someone would like to enter a Drow team into the next competition. Team name “Cruel Railings”. There is also a related one-Aelf sport called the “Skellington” but that is a conversation for another day.  

Kaibidyell is a sport with ancient roots, the word from a long forgotten Drow tongue translates as “negotiation”. Traditionally it was used to “non-violently” settle disputes between tribes. This is for Drow levels of non-violence. Teams with 4 or so unarmoured players on each side compete in a long pit, with a tanned heart for a ball, which is propelled across the court using billhooks as clubs. All of this happens with teams that are drugged to the gills (thus drawing on the influence of the divine to ensure that only the righteous will prevail). Referees perform a drug test before each match to ensure that players are appropriately intoxicated. It works like a combination of Hurley & Squash. If you don’t know what hurling is … well check out YouTube and buckle in.  

What plans have you got for additional rules? We're interested to see what you've got for the newspaper itself.  

I want to keep the additional rules to a minimum if possible. The Resistance system already services the central theme brilliantly so I am not sure what value I could add here. However the paper needs attention – this is how the players are transforming Spire. They should be able to see it grow and develop. That could be handled purely subjectively by the GM but it is probably more satisfying for the players if they can see how pulling a story lever impacts the paper. Right now my intention is to treat the paper as a character in its own right, with resistances and skills (the members of staff they recruit: editor, cartoonist, puzzle writer, newspaper boys, etc.) and domains (the type of stories they are running). Then every time the players release a new edition they roll for success. They are competing against some established papers with bigger circulations (difficulty 0, 1 or 2) and will experience fallout if they accrue enough stress (someone firebombs their offices, their ink is adulterated, their paperboys get shot, officially banned for sedition). Advances are acquired as the paper increases in influence. giving the group some once per session cherries.  

Finally, if you could be asked any question, by us, in an interview, what would that question be?  

Damn. A Columbo question. I guess it would be “are you working on anything else right now?” To which my answer would be “I could be given half a chance.” I’ve certainly got my brain primed as a result of this project. My writing warm-ups alone have generated two fiction ideas, a Dickensian short story (“The Quite-Gone Djinn” which is objectively terrible) and a Noir piece (“The Big Leap” which shows promise). These exercises are really just to help me get something on paper, to work out the tone for the Sulphurous Press and to give me a place to put all these dumb puns that keep cropping up but it means I have a few more stories to tell. I have been gestating a comic book for a while and I’m going to take my first full run at that once my commitments to this Kickstarter are completed.

Okay, that's all for now! Thanks for all your support so far.

- Grant, Chris and Mary