An interview to Joe Prince, our guest at EtrusCon Winter Edition 2015

Coyote press, the Italian publisher of the works of Joe Prince, has posted an interview in which Joe answers a few question about him, his personal life and tastes. He speaks about the time we'll have in Montecatini, attending our Convention.

Source: http://www.coyote-press.it/ti-presento-joe-prince/

Who the hell is Joe Prince?

That would be me. I’m an Englishman living in Scotland. I’m an avid gamer and indie game designer. I run my own lone wolf imprint – Prince of Darkness Games. I’m blessed with an amazingwife and batman obsessed wee lad. In real life I am a counsellor.

The games we should already know…

My best known role-playing game is Contenders: a GMless boxing game of blood and sweat, hope and pain – surely you know the wonderful version by Coyote Press?!

Eternal Contenders is the fantastical fighters follow up.

Tarot cards appear in many of my designs like Swansong and the revenge 1 shot Hell 4 Leather.

.. and the ones we are craving to play – although we still don’t know of their existence.

At the moment my major design project is Warpack – an awesome fantasy wargame.

I’ve also got my first Kickstarter about to launch for Pro-Wrasslin’ Battle Royale, my wrestling card game. Please check it out, I need all the help I can get!

On the old role-playing design front I’ve got Dragon vs Gun, an epic tarot based game of chaos vs order. This has been in development a loong time and I’m really excited about the latest version.

My latest game is the zombie apocalypse Hell 4 Leather spinoff, Hell 4 Zed. This one is an EtrusCon exclusive – get it while you can. You can catch up with what I’m writing and playing on the Dicing with Design podcast (www.dicingwithdesign.com).

What does it mean being an “indie author” in UK?

It means I can write what I want, when I want, how I want. I just need to have a proper job too…

Being an indie author is great, it means I control of all my creations, I don’t have to please anyone else.

I was a member of the now defunct Collective Endeavour – a group of UK indie games designers, ’twas fun while it lasted but had no real direction.

An Italian roleplay gamer in London. Could you tell us something about the british roleplaying game background?

I’m probably the wrong person to ask – since the arrival of my wee one I’ve have very little time to check out the UK scene. I try to get to Conpulsion in Edinburgh every year as that’s the nearest con, but other than that I don’t have a clue what’s going on! I haven’t been to a convention in the UK that compares to Lucca.

Do you know something about Italian indie authors? And about their games?

I had the good fortune to be invited to Lucca a few years ago by Iacopo Frigerio from Coyote Press. Iacopo has done amazing work on the translations of my games and even completed a second edition of Swansong – which sounds much improved! I know his own game Ravendeath – a dark exploration of vengeance. But on the wider Italian RPG scene – I must confess my ignorance. Sorry!

I bet the notoriety of the EtrusCon arrived beyond the Wall. What do you think is going to happen in Montecatini?

I’m imagining basking in the warm spring time sun whilst waiting for another groundbreaking game session! I’m looking forward to the local wine and the beautiful Italian cuisine. And mostly a whole lot of crazy gaming spinning wierd and wonderful stories with like minded people.