In part two of our Dungeon Masters interview we ask Scott Corum the following questions.
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How did hear about The Dungeon Masters and what process did you go through to become one of the DMs featured?
I was running a game at a mini-convention called "Games University," and the director (Kevin McAlester) approached me and asked if he could film the game. He had asked the people who were coordinating Role Playing for the convention (Mandy and Jeff) if they knew anyone who was an "Interesting" GM, and they suggested me.
Kevin and the producers liked the footage that they got, so he did a couple of follow up interviews. Everything worked out to their satisfaction, and the next thing I know I’m being followed by cameras for a couple of years.
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How much time did the documentary crew spend filming you? Was there any part of the documentary process that you considered intrusive?
The crew was there for a few days a week for three or four months, at first. That was the most intensive part of my involvement, because those days were from morning to night. After that, it tapered off to a few days a month, as they came back to pursue other material.
Kevin and his crew were really excellent about keeping things to a minimum of intrusiveness. There were a few times when it was hard to move around my home because of the lights and wires, but for the most part, it was a very smooth process.
- Did you develop a relationship with the production crew? Did you develop a sense of trust with these people? How long did it take for you to get used to having cameras film your life?
I consider Kevin a good friend, and I got to know most of the regular crew he brought with them. There’s only so many times that someone can reach up your shirt to tape a microphone next to your neck without being comfortable with them.
The crew were all quite professional and quite personable all at the same time. With a very few exceptions, I did develop a sense of trust – and I’d have a beer with any of them.
I’ve spent time on stage, and I’m a glutton for attention – I got used to the cameras pretty fast. My son got used to them even faster. My wife? She took a while… I don’t think she ever really got comfortable with them.
- I have noticed from internet postings that Elizabeth wasn’t entirely pleased with her portrayal in the movie and felt the director edited her material to slant her portrayal. Do you think you were portrayed fairly in The Dungeon Masters?
I think I’m represented quite fairly in the film. For good or for bad, that’s me, and people who know me will watch the film and go "Yeah, that’s Scott all right."
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I got the idea from the film that you run supers gaming as much as D&D. What is your favorite genre of roleplaying and what percentage do you DM for D&D style games?
Actually, I’m a Space gamer from WAY back. I run a little bit of everything, genre-wise, and I’m very fond of mixing genres. My favorite genre at the moment is urban fantasy/near future; a "Shadowrun" or "Cyberpunk" genre with buckets of other elements thrown in. Still, I find myself running D&D three or four times a month, so I’m thinking maybe thirty percent D&D at the moment.
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Did "Uncle Drax" ever reach the air? If so, how many episodes made it to the air?
"Uncle Drac’s Magical Clubhouse" was aired (and continues to air) on Torrance City Cable Television. It won the 2008 Stanley award for Comedy (the Torrance City Cable Television awards for excellence in programming), and can be seen on YouTube.
I’m currently working on the second episode… production has become a bit more difficult, but that’s because we’re stretching a bit and trying to improve as many aspects of the show as we can.
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Are you still writing novels? Have you continued work on the novel from The Dungeon Masters?
The novel I was working on in The Dungeon Masters, "With a Single Wish Forever," is pretty much dead on my shelf. I’ve got a couple of non-fiction books on the back burner, but most of my writing time goes into writing Roleplaying Game material these days.
- I have seen your roleplaying game and its supplements on RpgNow.com. Explain to us the basic premise of "Hot Chicks".
In ‘Hot Chicks: The RPG," humanity has ended up on a platter. It’s the year 2015, and there are about to be ten billion people in the world. Corporate greed has exceeded all ethics and morality, and the corporations have figured that "there are so many people in the world, who’s going to miss a few?"
At the same time, secret societies of mages have accidentally broken the barriers between Earth and Hell, unleashing Demons into the world. The demons likewise think "there are so many people in the world, who’s going to miss a few?"
Attracted by all the despair beginning to take over the Earth, aliens from far stars have landed and begun processing people as products to ship off-world. "There are so many people in the world, who’s going to miss a few?"
Player Characters in the world of Hot Chicks are people who have realized that something is wrong with the world, and who use a broad variety of special abilities to fight for the future and destiny of all mankind.
- How rewarding has the process of getting your own roleplaying game published? Did the idea for "Hot Chicks" come only after filming for the documentary was finished?
It’s amazing. With the advent of E-publishing and the PDF Gaming market, the small-time publisher can really get a good start at getting their product out there, and with every product we produce, it’s another thrill of seeing something with our name on it presented for public consumption.
My friend and co-creator, Victor Gipson, and I have been throwing around the idea of a roleplaying game for years. It was in the back of our heads during filming; my novel had most of my other creative pursuits on the back burner. After the cable show was done and the novel had crashed and burned, which was just about the time that filming ended, we decided to go whole-hog into writing and producing the game.
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Which is more work: writing an rpg, writing the first draft of a novel or producing a cable-access tv show?
Wow. Each of those is a lot of work in its own way. I’ll have to say that writing the first draft of a novel is the absolute hardest of the three, although producing the cable-access show did put me in the hospital for an evening.
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Besides "Hot Chicks", what is your favorite role playing game out on the market today?
I’d have to go with Steve Jackson’s GURPS.
- Tell us about your first role-playing experience.
My father and I went to a Science Fiction themed game store when I was about 11, and he bought me the original black box edition of Traveller. I read it through a few times, then started running games for a couple of other kids in the neighborhood, since no one else had read the books or wanted to run. I ate through 76 Patrons and the published adventures in about a year.
- How long have you been a DM? Do you ever play as a character?
Since I was eleven, so that’s… what… thirty years. Dang. Nothing like three decades of doing ANYTHING to make you feel old…
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What is your favorite all-time D&D setting? What was your favorite campaign to DM and why?
Favorite setting? Of all time? "Lankhmar, City of Adventure!" Favorite campaign to DM? I’d have to go with some material I wrote myself way back in the day.
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Have you played 4th Edition D&D? If so, what do you think about it?
I’ve run 4th Edition, though I haven’t played in any games as yet. I’ve read through the rules and have a pretty solid grip on them. I think it’s fun… I’d just rather be playing D&D.
The game world as presented is pretty divorced from material that old time D&D players will remember as Dungeons and Dragons, and while it has interesting and fun elements, it’s just not the game that I’ve been playing for thirty years. As a fantasy RPG, it’s fine, it just isn’t D&D.
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Are you running any role-playing campaigns at the present? If so, what are you playing?
I’m in a couple of Hot Chicks games – our gaming groups tend to prefer them, and we’ve converted a couple of other game worlds to run in our system. I also run D&D 4th on Sundays at a gaming store in Burbank, but I also take requests on those days, so it might be anything..
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Do you prefer to write your own adventures or use published material?
Sometimes I will use published material as a jumping off point, but I much prefer writing my own adventures. That way, I can improvise a little bit when the players think outside the box and sidestep half of the planned encounters.
- Of the other two DMs in the movie, which one would you rather play a session with?
That’s a really hard choice. I like Richard’s solid grasp of rules and mechanics, and his enthusiasm for providing challenges. I also like Elizabeth’s grasp of social structure and deep interplay. I think I’d enjoy playing with either of them… or running a game for them both. That’d get interesting really quick…
- If you knew now what you knew then, would you have volunteered to be in The Dungeon Masters? After this experience, would you be in another documentary?
If I had it to do all over again, I’d do it in a heartbeat. Kevin was excellent to work with, and there’s nothing like a good dose of self-revelation for people with low self-esteem. Given the chance, I’d probably jump at the chance to be in another documentary.
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Tell us one thing that didn’t come across in the movie that you would want the public to know about you.
I have some truly wonderful friends without whom I’d get a hell of a lot less done in my life. Mandy appears prevalently in the movie, but there’s Victor Gipson, my co-creator and one of the best artists I’ve ever known, the guys from Anaheim, the excellent folk at Emerald Knights comics and games in Burbank, and others too numerous to mention. I’m blessed to know so many good people, and to have them as friends.
[...] all fairness, the interviews with the other two cast members, Richard Meeks and Scott Corum, are also online and they seemed to have a good time with the filming and enjoyed the outcome to [...]