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Bloodshadows 3E
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Q&A: Scott Palter (formerly of West End Games)Feb 05, 2016 | 1:59 am
I recently interviewed Scott Palter via a list of questions. Scott was the force behind the original incarnation of West End Games back in the day. He is responsible for publishing the original Star Wars D6 roleplaying game, Ghostbusters, Hercules/Xena RPG, Paranoia, etc. -- some amazing games. He was kind enough to oblige me. This should put a few rumors to rest.



1. What was the first RPG you published through WEG?

Paranoia



2. What was your favorite WEG RPG?

Paranoia



3. Did you scream or jump up and down when you scored the Star Wars RPG license? Be honest.

Actually it was mostly shock. I never expected I could beat out MUCH bigger companies.



4. Is the rumor true that Torg stands for "The Other Roleplaying Game?" I've only just heard this one a few months ago.

Yes. Name was a placeholder only we could never agree on a better one.



5. Is the rumor true that Shatterzone resulted from having a lot of rejected ideas by Lucasfilm? I don't see it, but lots of people seem to believe that.

No. It was supposed to be a darker space opera more to my taste than Star Wars. My favorite series is Cherryh’s Company Wars. Not an unlicensed steal but more the way I would have done such a military space opera. I had a template. Sadly I didn’t supervise it well enough [one of the running stories of my life] and it drifted from my vision.



6. Who came up with the idea of the value scale for Torg, Shatterzone, and MasterBook? I believe that Mayfair's DC Heroes game was the first to use such a scale. Was that an influence or something that came about independently?

Honestly don’t remember.



7. How did MasterBook come about? Was it specifically intended to be a generic version of Torg's or Shatterzone's rules?

Making the TORG rules generic was my idea. In retrospect one of my stupidest. The default house system should have been D6. The rest of the Masterbook project was Rich Hawran.



8. Did you have a favorite MasterBook worldbook?

Tharkold. I was into dark, spiky. ::: Brett's Note: I believe this was a Torg sourcebook, rather than for MasterBook.



9. WEG had a number of hugely popular licenses, including Ghostbusters, MIB, and Hercules & Xena (not to mention Star Wars). Were there any licenses than you were not able to secure that you still think about or regret?

Regret not getting – Star Trek and we tried multiple times. Regretted getting – MiB and Xena. I was chasing those rainbows when I should have been shrinking the company to survive the MTG tsunami. Instead I bankrupted the company.



10. WEG also produced several Star Trek board games. This was about the time that FASA was licensed for the RPG. Was a license to publish an RPG for this property something you tried to acquire?

Didn’t try before the success of Ghostbusters. Never was able to land it after.
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