Chuck Yeager Interviews Mark Buchignani

The Wizards of the Coast website has posted an interview with Mark Buchignani, lead designer of Pool of Radiance: Ruins of Myth Drannor, conducted by none other than Chuck Yeager. Mark talks about his role years ago in creating some of the old Gold Box games and how things have changed to create Ruins of Myth Drannor today. Here’s a taste:

Chuck: What is the coolest feature in Ruins of Myth Drannor?

Mark: The first thing that anyone notices is the artwork. It is top-quality, both the backgrounds and the animations. The game is wonderful to look at. But I also like what goes on under the hood. There is a strong storyline and interesting set of characters whose personalities comes across the more you talk to them, and who tend to do more than just answer questions. In addition, the play method itself encourages exploration and discovery because the player rarely gets into an untenable position. And with the DM’s role played up, the game comes across in a tabletop D&D sort of way really well. That’s what I like most about it, because we set out to make a CRPG that is more like the paper game than others before it have been, and I think we succeeded.