With UK Games Expo (UKGE) only a week away, we were lucky enough to be able to grab some time with one of the independent teams attending, Converge Games (Stand 3A-116) , who are bringing their brand new game "The Mad Kings Ire" to the event with live demo's on the stand.Phill Glennpott kindly took some time out to chat to us about Shattered Destinies (their lead TTRPG that has a live play Shattered Destinies: Starfall available for you to watch here), the development of the world and what he's love to do with infinite resources...
Totally Pawsome: As a creator of Shattered Destinies, what inspired you to design it and with The Mad Kings Ire soon to be added to Kickstarter what do you feel it brings to a table that will have people falling in love with the setting?
Glenn Phillpott: Shattered Destinies really came about over a number of years in a number of stages, none of it was really planned, it just all sort of happened!
First the setting, which has been built over 20 years collaboratively over countless home games with a great number of players, we built Kintsor (the world in which Shatteries Destinies is set) together and played through many of the ages of the world. I never repeated campaigns or storylines within Kintsor, every game became canon, every character added to the games lore.
Next, the mechanics, I’ve always been a game designer at heart, and was never truly satisfied with the systems we played (and I’ve played a lot), each had things I liked and things I didn’t, and I never really found a system that worked well for my table. Over the years I developed a number of homebrews for different systems to try and fix things I didn't like, and much of Shattered Destinies evolved from those homebrew hacks!
Finally it was the want to have a system that blended narrative and mechanics in such a way that felt intuitive and allowed cohesive and natural storytelling. The mechanics needed to make sense within the story and not be too jarring as to bring players out of the moment when the game started to get tense. The need to also make every result matter, if dice were rolled, there should always be an outcome that could go beyond just pass/fail with easy to apply rules to support it. Luckily I have a close circle of very talented and enthusiastic people that would help Shattered Destinies develop into the system it has become.
But as creation process began, I also began thinking about my other passion, board games, the creative juices were flowing and I realised we could offer a lot more of the world of Kintsor, so I also began working on a number of board game ideas with the same underlying concept, that blending of gameplay and narrative.
The Mad King’s Ire came about from my love of the old school dungeon crawlers, from my youth playing massive campaigns of the original Warhammer Quest, and other games like hero quest and space crusade. I wanted to evoke the same feelings of exploration and adventure, but go beyond it. The Mad King is one of the first Antagonists in the world of Kintsor and has been a constant threat in various stories over the past 20 years, so it seemed like the perfect focus for a game where you would be thrown into a dangerous dungeon by an unpredictable overlord. I wanted a stand alone experience that anyone could play needing no prior knowledge of Shatter Destinies that would pit you against unpredictable threats and foes, and have some similar mechanics and concepts to the Shatter Destinies TTRPG, I’m very happy with the results!
TP: What would you say is the best selling point of your TTRPG's?
GP: It’s very accessible and easy to pick up, the base mechanics can be explained in 5 minutes, but there’s depth to find within the mechanics and as you advance your character.
I’m very proud of the character builder. We’ve designed a system where every choice you make when generating your character not only gives you mechanical benefit, but adds to your character's backstory. By the end of character creation you’ll have a fairly good idea of where your character comes from and what their motivations are, it goes beyond numbers on a page and breathes life into something you’ve created.
The attrition system allows you to spend your Vigour (a form of HP), and even take wounds to modify your die rolls and push for a greater level of success, but the cost there is these resources are not available to you later, there is the narrative element of the adventuring party slowly succumbing to their ordeals as they push themselves further and further. Resting and downtime is important, there are a number of useful activities you can perform to develop your character while they rest from their adventuring ordeals and replenish their resources.
Combat flows smoothly, there is very little break in narrative flow when combat begins, and no jarring change of rules during combat, initiative is fluid, turns are fast paced your actions can be split to allow you to combo up with others, there are easy rules for doing more than just an attack or casting a spell, using the environment to your advantage is easy to do and feels intuitive.
The magic system is flexible, allowing you to modify a spell as you cast it, using additional successes to increase damage, targets or add other effects.
We also have a full crafting and harvesting system for those that like to dig in to seeking out the best materials and building the most powerful gear.
TP: With so many characters to design and play, which is your favourite and why?
GP: That’s a difficult one! I’m fond of all of the Paths (classes) in Shattered Destinies, but I think my favourites are the ones that do things a bit different from what I’ve seen in other game systems.
The Troubadour - allows a bard to be a bard, changing the course of events with their music and song, it’s really fun to have a character that could be a full non combatant playing their music to buff the party and distract foes in tense situations.
The Juggernaut - All about wearing big armour and being unstoppable, feeling powerful in combat and intimidating out of it. There’s something about being able to charge around the environment, sending foes and obstacles flying that is really satisfying and a lot of fun when using elaborate battle maps.
The Inquisitor - A pure investigator that gains bonuses every time they glean information which can then be applied to later tests. I’m currently playing this path in a home game and it’s really fun to be able to apply all your gathered bonuses in one go to find important information that would have been missed.
TP: Where do you see Shattered Destinies developing and can you tell us anything about future products?
GP: We’ll continue to expand upon the world of Kintsor, developing our TTRPG with new paths, backgrounds and adventures and providing more detail about the world itself.
We have a number of other board and card games being developed, all add to the lore of the world in some way.
We also have a few D&D related projects, taking some of our favourite aspects of the Shattered Destinies system and converting it to be 5th edition compatible. Enhanced Origins is our first of these projects, taking our advanced character creator from the Shatter Destinies TTRPG to allow anyone playing 5th edition to easily create a character with a better idea of backstory elements, with rules to support it, a slew of species options, origin feats and an advanced background system will allow you to create a 5th edition character that feels unique, with over 3 million combinations available!
Enhanced Origins will also serve as an introduction to Kintsor, and would be a good resource for anyone interested in running games in our world.
TP: When you designed your world, what were the key things you wanted to include and why?
GP: The world of Kintsor has evolved naturally over the years, the main concept of the world was to make something that felt big, but also make it very obvious that the stories you took part in mattered.
Much like the rules we write, I wanted the world to be fairly easy to jump into, but with history and depth once you begin to scratch the surface.
It’s a jumping off point for groups to naturally evolve their version of Kintsor as they play their games. I’ll be very excited to hear about how the various realities of Kintsor change from table to table as more groups play in the world.
I also wanted the world to make sense!
The rules of the game needed to match the rules of the world, for example the need to explain why powerful mages don’t rule Kintsor, and more serve in the shadows led to magic being heavily policed, along with emerging technology. It creates a kind of tension when a character might want to bust out a powerful spell or weapon to deal with a threat, should they do it? What will the repercussions be?
TP: Who do you think would love to play your TTRPG's and why?
GP: Anyone that wants a blend of narrative and gameplay in equal measures.
We don’t make purely crunchy games, nor do we take a rules-lite narrative only approach. We sit somewhere in the middle. Anyone that wants to tell a story with friends with clear rules to support the story telling, and level of risk/reward and push your luck with a little character building on the side will enjoy our games. Theme and feel is very important to us, as is that feeling of a satisfying gameplay loop.
TP: Where do you see your TTRPG writing career taking you in 5 years?
GP: The dream would be to do this full time, there’s so many ideas to develop and test, Kintsor is constantly evolving and growing, I would love to add more to the system, we have a lot planned for the future!
TP: If budget was not a problem and you had an infinite fund to call upon, what do you think you'd like to develop and bring to the fore?
GP: Firstly, more art! We are slowly building up an amazing art bank with our very talented artist, but I would love to be able to get more artists involved in bringing Kintsor to life. Being able to afford to bring everyone in the Converge Games team on board full time would be a big plus with infinite funds.
Upgrading our live stream would be one here, providing a dedicated space for shooting actual plays and gameplay previews in an environment that feels immersive.
TP: Who do you admire in the Independent TTRPG writing space and why?
GP: Anyone that had an idea and a passion and made it a reality. I’ve picked up a number of games from independent writers who either had an idea to fill space that they felt was missing in the space, or had a passion for the world they were writing that comes through in their work.
As someone that enjoys character stories, world building and interesting gameplay loops, anyone that has a system that blends these in new ways will always get my attention.
Honestly anyone that gives it a go, not for money but because they love what they are doing! I can relate!
I just wish I had time to play and run more games, there is so much out there to discover!
TP: What got you into TTRPG's in the first place?
GP: Ever since I was young, I was telling stories and making games for my friends and family, I did more board gaming and wargaming when I was young, the closest I got at a young age was playing sprawling Warhammer Quest campaigns and making my own TTRPGs based off of JRPGs and Warhammer (an interesting mix!). I didn’t really get into the TTRPG space until later, I actually started LARPing first, from doing Performing Arts in sixth form I was introduced to the concept of LARP (which I still enjoy to this day), the friends I made there introduced me to the TTRPG space, and everything just clicked from there, 25 years later, here we are!
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