INDEPENDENT TTRPG MODULE/SYSTEM CREATOR: Spes Magma Games

Discovering TTRPG's is always a magical moment, almost like you've found your own personal holy grail.  For Mark, it was the discovery of the D&D Basic Rulebook accompanied with a graphed dungeon in ballpoint pen.  Hooked from the beginning and sharing his treasure with Fred Hawkins (his longest term gaming partner) he went on to become a writer of TTRPG's and is still mixing it up on the maths rocks battlefield.

Here we had a chance to chat to Mark, of Spes Magna Games, about modules for multiple systems as well as about his love the genre...

Totally Pawsome:  As a creator of modules/systems for TTRPG's, what inspired you to write the one you're most proud of?

Mark L Chance:  Hmm. The one I’m most proud of is hard to pin down. I guess because it’s the only one, I’ll go with The Four Color Hack, which my only print-on-demand title. I wanted to see if I could take a base game (specifically David Black’s The Black Hack) and turn it into a super-hero RPG that would be the sort of super-hero RPG that I’d like to play.

There are a lot of super-hero RPGs out there, and many of them are excellent. I love TSR’s Marvel Super Heroes, especially how loosey-goosey is the character creation. It really boils down to “just write down whatever the GM will let you get away with” and have fun with it. I love the crunchiness of Champions and Mutants & Masterminds hero creation, but, ye gods!, do those games really bog down once combat starts (especially Champions). Fate Accelerated works great for super-heroics. Et cetera.

So, I glommed bits and pieces from different systems and mashed into a workable game built on a core of The Black Hack. I think works pretty well.

TP:  What would you say is the best selling point of your TTRPG's?

MC:  They’re cheap. No, seriously. Writing game stuff is not my day job, and it’s never going to be my day job. I’m a one-man show, and I’m not worried about turning a profit. So, I write things that I think are fun or clever or whatever, and then put them out there for people to buy. Or not. I’m easy.

TP:  Why the TTRPG space?

MC:  I’ve been gaming since 1977-1978. I’m not likely to stop anytime soon. I’ve introduced dozens of people to RPGs, including my own children and many of my students, one of whom I still game with. My son Christopher is a regular player in games run at my house, and he usually accompanies me to conventions. TTRPG is my thing, along with B-movies, post-punk music, and bourbon.

TP:  What is your favourite product that you produce and why?

MC:  I don’t produce much nowadays. I have the attention span of a spider monkey on crack. So, in terms of product, I guess it would be whatever I’ve recently posted on the Spes Magna Games site. Lately, I’ve been statting up B-movie monsters for Dungeon Crawl Classics.

TP:  What is your current work in progress and what can you tell us about it?

MC:  I’m gong to North Texas RPG Con a second time at the end of May, beginning of June. I’m running two events, one a mash-up of Dungeon Crawl Classics and Mutant Crawl Classics, the other TSR’s Marvel Super Heroes. I can’t publish the latter, but I might clean up the former and release it for free via my website as a PDF download.

I also started the #Dungeon23 challenge, but that’s fallen into disrepair. The last month or so has been rough health-wise, plus the end of the teaching year. Busy, busy, and often unusually tired. Once summer hits, I’m aiming to get back on track with that.

Oh yeah! I’m also gearing up to run two summer “camps” for 5th-8th graders. Each “camp” is one week long, three hours a day. We’ll be playing Castles & Crusades, and I’ll continue with that system when I my Ludi Fabularum gaming club kicks off for the 2023-2024 school year.

TP:  Who do you think would love to play your TTRPG's and why?

MC:  Looking at this from the point of view of me as GM and the other person as a player in one my games: Anyone who likes cutting up with a group of guys mostly in their late 30s to mid 50s would probably at least enjoy my gaming group. We don’t game to be serious gamers. It’s not about system mastery or whatever. We’re friends. We’re gamers. It’s what we do. Our big unwritten rule is this: Don’t game with anyone you’d not invite into your home if you weren’t gaming.

TP:  Where do you see your TTRPG writing career taking you in 5 years?

MC:  Nowhere, really. I mean, it’s not ever going to be main gig. I’m happy that a few people know my name. I’m pleased that one of my earlier products – Making Craft Work for 1E Pathfinder – was several times lauded as being the way Craft skill in the d20 System should’ve been written to begin with.

TP:  If you were given the time and opportunity to develop something unique, what would it be and why?

MC:  I’d love to finally finish up my take on a J. R. R. Tolkien slash C. S. Lewis slash G. K. Chesterton inspired fantasy world that starts with a monotheistic, neo-Platonic metaphysics. There are bits and pieces of it on the Spes Magna Games site. I’ve also toyed around with doing a re-edit/revision to The Four Color Hack, cleaning up a bit of the system that I think proved too clunky to be fun.

And then there’s The Boogie Knights of the Round Table, a little RPG I wrote a very rough draft of several years ago. In Boogie Knights, the heroes use their kung fu, singing, and dancing skills to fight and groove for life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in a world dominated by the Man. I playtested it once, and everyone agreed it was an amazing gaming experience.

TP:  Who do you admire in the Independent TTRPG writing space and why?

MC:  Gosh, that’s a tough one. There are quite a few, starting with Gavin Norman’s Old-School Essentials. It's an amazing game. Top notch all the way. Then there's James M. Spahn. Every game he's written is aces, especially The Hero's Journey. Or, maybe, the correct answer is Kevin Crawford of Sine Nomine Publishing. And, of course, we cannot forget Matt Finch. Oh yeah! How could I forget everyone involved with Dungeon Crawl Classics by Goodman Games. Absolute genius stuff there. I also just love the guys at Troll Lord Games. They’re class acts all around, and Castles & Crusades is the true inheritor of the spirit of TSR’s Advanced Dungeons & Dragons.

TP:  What got you into TTRPG's in the first place?

MC:  Funny story. Circa 1977-1978, when I was in the 7th grade, I found a Basic D&D boxed set in a desk shortly after entering math class one day. Rather than turn the boxed set in to the teacher, I kept it. A friend and I read and re-read and puzzled over the rules, the numbered chits, the B1 module, and the hand-drawn dungeon. We made up characters. Mine was a dwarf. His was an elf. That juvenile act of theft kicked off a love of TTRPGs that has lasted more than four decades.

Also, I still have the boxed set, the rulebook, the B1 module, and that hand-drawn map.