Wasted Lands is an RPG of Mythic Aspirations

Jason Vey will be launching a new role playing game that explores a Lovecraftian explanation of how mythic gods came to be.

Jason Vey has been working in the role playing game market for close to twenty years and has a long list of design credits. One of the first game supplements by him that I remember reading is the Dungeons & Zombies supplement for Eden Studios’ All Flesh Must Be Eaten (link is to the 2nd edition) role playing game back in 2003. Dungeons & Zombies was one of a long list of genre expansion supplements for that game of zombie apocalyptic horror, a list that included Pulp Zombies and the Zombie Pro-Wrestling themed Zombie Smackdown . Dungeons & Zombies, like all the entries in the series, was a well written supplement and contained tons of ideas that could be used with any games system. Since the game pre-dated much of the modern zombie fiction obsession, there weren’t many in my group who wanted to play a zombie apocalypse rpg but that didn’t stop me from borrowing liberally from the book for a couple of adventure arcs.

From his early zombie days at Eden Studios, Jason has gone on to work on a number of different product lines including the Doctor Who role playing game, Amazing Adventures, and Castles & Crusades. He has been a key participant in various OSR communities. I use the term communities here, rather than just community, because the OSR market contains many different communities. One key community that Jason has participated in are the research community (at sites like the ODD74 message boards) and I’ve long been a fan of his research on how to use Chainmail when running Original D&D. Additionally, he’s put his research and game design theories into action via his company, Elf Lair Games. The games he publishes range from modern horror (nicely linking up with his early days at Eden Games Studio) to Sword & Sorcery games inspired by Chainmail mechanics (Spellcraft & Swordplay).

When I heard that Jason was designing a new Sword & Sorcery game called Wasted Lands: The Dreaming Age that combined the Weird Tales of authors like H.P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, and Robert E. Howard with ancient mythology, I knew two things. First, that I would be lining up to buy the game. Second, that I really wanted to chat with him about the project to help him get the word out.

I interviewed him last Thursday and on Monday, I edited and uploaded the interview as my latest Geekerati Video interview to YouTube. Give it a watch and let me know what you think. I’ll be uploading an audio only version later this month, but if you’ve got the time I’d love you to check out my video channel and like and subscribe (and all of that shilly stuff).