ninja blows the dust off the microphone then settles in
Ninja: The great and powerful Oz...erm...PJ. First question, what brought you to Avlis?
PlasmaJohn: Ah... I was involved in porting NWNX v2 to Linux and wanted to go to the source. Early in 2004 Orl made an appeal on nwn.bioware.com for scripters. And I told him I was interested. He, Silk and I met at a Chili's and discussed the various projects they were looking to get coded. They were very interested in an implementation of a persistent merchant. I started doing some small stuff for Sylvan Phoenix who was their Crafting Director and DB guru at the time. At his urging I started playing. I was a bit backwards, Team first then Player. Anyway... Becoming a Player was the best thing really. Besides being fun, it gave me a lot of insights how things really worked.My original ideas for p-merchants were completely wrong *faceplalms*
Ninja: wow, an in person job interview with Silk & Orl. I met Orl 5 years ago when I applied for the team. There were a few of us in town, and we ate at Fogo de Chao. Once he was in a meat coma, I asked to join
What type of characters do you like to play?PlasmaJohn: I <3 Fogo de Chao. In my PnP days I'd stick mostly to Wizards and Fighters. In Avlis I'm all over the map. Raine's a Rogue/AA. Bella's a Barbarian/Druid. Went back to my roots with Jenny who's a pure Wizard. I haven't tried Cleric yet, Bella's sorta me dipping my toe into divine casters and a few dozen alts that didn't go much of anywhere.
Ninja: You have been on the team for a long time now...scripting, coding, garageing, more techie stuff, garage part deux, and now a DM. why have you taken on all that teamside stuff?
PlasmaJohn: Because I can. I love to create and sometimes that urge gets too much to bear and I have to crawl into my cave and churn stuff out. Mostly I do this for me (eg, the Sewing Machine), the amazing part is that others seem to like what I come up with.
Ninja: a sign of a good artist.
what is the favorite thing you have done as a builder?PlasmaJohn: Area wise or codewise?
Ninja: Both!
PlasmaJohn: Ha. Codewise it's pretty much the original Sewing Machine, but p-merchants are a close second. Areawise, the shop area of Seemlah Sekor Kootzet and some player housing I'm working on for somebody else.
Ninja: What about plots? What are some fun ones you have been a part of, as a DM or player?
PlasmaJohn: Sunny's recent Aevaelan/Aevaedon plot was just full of some really neat events. I also remember an event where we got to see a rather frightening future where Drotid won. Sapperken's Lord Kale plot with the Shadesteel golems was pretty much a defining one for Jenny. As a DM I was priviledged to watch Nob work during a recent pyromancer event
Ninja: Nob is badass! Have you run any large plots of your own?
PlasmaJohn: Haha... I only recently got a wand. The longest so far was a one-shot I ran where a rogue branch of a gnomish golem guild was harassing Zvidureth. That ran a few hours, heh. Golems destroyed, Zvid saved again!
Ninja: Stupid golems, always trying to ruin the fun for those poor elves! What do you like about being on the team?
PlasmaJohn: It's an awesome collaborative environment where I can add my stories and help guide the direction of events (in the historical sense).
Ninja: What type of stuff inspires your character?
PlasmaJohn: Hm... Raine's motivations are to help people improve their life. My original goal for her was to join one of the thieve's guilds and become a shadowdance. Somewhere along the way she was befriended by Dru'Elite's and was redeemed and she wants to help others along that path. Bella's a Verossan. If she can blow something up or trigger an earthquake she'd be happier than sin. Jenny just had a life altering experience, still trying to work out where that's going
As far as how I come up with my character concepts, my most successful characters are the ones I sit down with and say: I want to try doing X. I need goals, otherwise they're pretty much cardboard. Of course they will be influenced by their IG experiences. When I get the urge to create a new character I tend to think about what I haven't done yet and see if I'm up to the challenge. I'm rather surpised how well Bella worked out since I've never managed a workable evil character before.Ninja: Don't look now PJ, you are turning into CoEMF! What advice would you give to a player thinking about joining the team?
PlasmaJohn: Dooo eeet!
Ninja: Good advice! Dooo eeet now! Stop reading and submit your application. Who was your mentor, and what was the most important thing you learned from them?
PlasmaJohn: Mentored by Sunscream and the most important thing was to not rebuild the servers without making sure all the DM's stored NPC's were copied beforehand.
Ninja: If there was no Avlis (Forian forbid), what game would you be playing?
PlasmaJohn: That's a surprisingly difficult question to answer. I've been playing Avlis almost exclusively since I've joined, which has been slightly more than seven years now. Probably some other PW or even one of the MMO's. I have friends involved in Guild Wars and LOTRO.
Ninja: I'm Avlis' Chris Matthews, and I ask the hard questions! What songs are on your current 5 song playlist?
PlasmaJohn: Ha! I don't have a playllist, I listen to whatever station I'm in the mood for. I tend to bounce between classical, rock and house/dance. Beethoven's 5th, Vivalidi's four seasons (all), Dragula off the Matrix soundtrack, and take your pick from http://www.fusionradio.fm oh right Dragula is by Rob Zombi
Ninja: Where does the plasma part of Plasma John come from?
PlasmaJohn: Back in the day my PnP group occasionally played Starfleet Battles. One of the weapons were plasmas and the guy who used them most often would yell "LAUNCH PLASMAS" as his battlecry. When I was trying to think of a name for my personal Internet domain I used that and created projectplasma.com and since then I've used PlasmaJohn as a messageboard handle.
Ninja: What kind of work do you do?
PlasmaJohn: Systems Architecture, Software Design and oh yeh, I write code.
Ninja: Ye ole ubernerde
PlasmaJohn: Yep, pretty much
Ninja: Finally, what is something people would love to know about you that isn't gaming or IT related?
PlasmaJohn: There's more to life than games or computers? I was able to reverse-engineer a dish at one of my favorite resturants and make it every week (my wife would kill me if I didn't): Chicken, sweet Italian sausage and sundried tomatoes in a brandy cream sauce over penne. Yum!
Ninja: Nice! Well thanks for taking the time to do this interview, and thanks for doing so much for Avlis!
PlasmaJohn: Avlis is an utter blast, I can't imagine doing anything else
Leave a note for PJ, or even ask him a question!
*bows to the 'stache*
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