I was asked to write the epilogue to our next D20 book EVIL. In that epilogue I talked about my original gaming campaign. The world that the Warlord game is set in. I feel very close to the Warlord game because of this. It is nice to finally be able to work with my great creative team as an equal. If you didn't already know, my partner Dave Seay and I are credited with the original concept for the Legend of the Five Rings game. Basically we were the guys who said, "Hey let's do a game about Samurai." We all know what that suggestion turned into. I consider myself the luckiest gamer on the planet. How many GM's would kill to have Ree Soesbee write about their world and their characters? The best part is that the characters I tell Ree about are only playing a small part, and Ree and the writing team are opening my eyes to places in the Accord Lands I never knew existed.
There are going to be lots of questions about the Medusan lords. Now, I won't divulge any secrets without Ree's permission, but I can tell you about the surprise my original D&D campaign players ran into the first time they were introduced. First some history. My old friends spent a reckless summer playing and building up very evil characters. I was never a fan of these characters, but played along occasionally because it was the summer of Evil. One day I contacted the guys and told them that we would be playing the bad guys. Show up at Ken's house at 10:00 as usual, and I would have a full weekend of gaming for them. They showed up ready for anything I could throw at them. I gathered up all of their characters ( I always do this before a game with characters that have seen more than 1 GM) and then went back to work behind my screens. After a few minutes the guys asked for their characters back. I smiled and politely told them that they were not getting their characters back, The plan for the weekend had changed. The characters I now held in my hands had formed an evil alliance and were calling themselves the Medusan Lords. My friends needed to roll up new first level GOOD characters and it was going to be the player's job to stop the Medusan Lords who already had a big head start. After a moment shock the dice and character sheets came out and for the next 4 years my friends battled an evil they had helped to create.
It has been my dream since starting AEG to share the experiences that ultimately landed me at the helm of AEG. Warlord is the culmination of that dream. In case you were wondering, a few of the Medusan Lords were characters of my own design including the one you have already been introduced to. With Ree's permission and a good editor, hopefully I will be able to tell you about him very soon.
John Zinser
President, Alderact Entertainment Group