INTERVIEW WITH L. SCOTT JOHNSON (August 10th, 2005)
  >L. Scott Johnson (most of us know him simply as LSJ) has been playing VTES since it first began in 1994. He started out his career as VTES net.rep on the Jyhad Newsgoup (rec.games.trading-cards.jyhad) as the unofficial archiver of rulings and a self-proclaimed 'Rulemonger', filling in the void of the often absent WotC rules team. He officially took over as the VTES net.rep in 1997 and became official rules authority in early 1998. As Lead Designer he has lead the team that developed every expansion since White Wolf took over the reigns from WotC and he's been their voice for VTES ever since. We had the chance to pick his brain for a few questions in order to learn a little bit more about him as a player, developer and fellow human being.

As a player, you’ve undoubtedly played tons of various decks over the years and you’ve said in the past that you have lots of favorites. Is there a clan, a discipline, or style that you shy away from, decline to play, or simply don’t care for? If so, why?

No. As a developer, I have to be investigating everything. I don't have enough "extra hours" of VTES-game-time to put down the developer hat (unless you count the time I waste working on variants, which I would classify as research/development).

How much do you think about the current meta-game in your area before building a deck? Does it affect your decision on what you play?

Not much. My decks are usually made for "general play" and I'll play them more or less in isolation. If I play in a real tournament, though, I'll try to outguess the meta[game] for the tournament. But I judge more than I play at the tournament level.

What style of deck (i.e. Bleed, Vote, Combat Rush, etc.) do you think has the strongest grip on the game right now?

Weenie/mid Aus[pex] is pretty strong, but I wouldn't paint it as a grip.

How do you build your decks? Crypt-first or Library-first?

Crypt first.

Are you a Master-card heavy player? Typically, what percentage of your deck is Masters?

Typically it varies. I tend to have more than I can play, but that's by design -- toolboxing requires the use of the discard phase action.

I usually have Blood Dolls and .44 Magnums in most of my decks. Are there any cards that seem to find themselves in nearly all of your decks?

Blood Doll probably finds its way into every deck (mine or anyone else’s).

In your opinion, what (is/are) the biggest mistake(s) made by new players?

Play-wise (not rules-wise), I'd say failure to look ahead at least to one's next untap phase -- seeing the table balance. Tunnel vision on the prey and being too easily manipulated by cross-table cries of weakness are right up there (probably mixed in with that).

Who are your favorite people to play VTES with?

The people I don't get to play often.

You’ve conversed with players from all over the world and played with more than a few, I’m sure. Are there any players, in particular, that you haven’t yet had a chance to play with, who you’d love to sit down at a table with?

Not at that level of conscious drive or selection, no.

Do you own any VTES art? If so, what? Also, what VTES artwork would you love to have a print of?

Yes: Bruce de Guy by Ken Meyer, Jr.

Also, what VTES artwork would you love to have a print of?

Disarm by L.A. Williams.

Recent changes have happened at White Wolf, such as Stewart Wieck replacing Steve Weick as the VTES Product manager. How do you think this new dynamic will affect your job as Lead Designer/Rulesmonger? Has it already?

Not much change. The Wiecks sound alike on the phone, to me, so I may occasionally forget that there's even been a change. :-)

Is being a VTES Designer/Rulesmonger still your second job? How much time do you devote each day to VTES?

It's still one of two jobs I have. I spend at least an hour every day on
VTES, somewhat more right after a set comes out, much more during development and play-testing of a new set, and 12-20 hours a day at the cons.

You always seem to be online answering questions. Do you have dreams/nightmares of answering VTES questions?

Nah.

What’s your favorite card that you’ve designed?

There are a few that were too complex to see print. Of the ones that have been printed, Life in the City is right up there.

Okay, what were you ‘smoking’ when you came up with Sonja Blue?

Is there something wrong with her?

A lot of players make suggestions for new cards. Do their suggestions have any influence, positive or negative, on the cards you design?

Some. Some give a sense of direction as to what a clan or Discipline could use, sure.

As the saying goes, “Hind sight is 20-20”. Now that you’ve had a chance to look back over the last few expansions, is there anything that you would have changed, omitted or wished you could have added or done differently?

Some other problems (both in uniformity and/or balance) could have been corrected back in [the] 7/7 [rulings] or in [Sabbat War]. But those were both big steps already. Adding grouping back with [Final Nights] would have been helpful to the current state (assuming the game would've survived it being added at that earlier point).

Note: The "7/7 rulings” were a set of far-reaching rules revisions made by LSJ not long after he was became Net.rep for Jyhad/VTES. They are so named because they were made official on July 7, 1998 IIRC.

How far ahead do you plan an expansion? Do you know what’s coming next after Legacies of Blood? What about after that?

We've been looking a little farther ahead now than, say, when we were making Anarchs. I've got themes for the next several expansions laid out. The next two (after Legacies of Blood) are set in stone. They get less certain as you go out from there, of course.

In Bloodlines you introduced Multi-Discipline cards; in Gehenna, Event cards; and in KMW, Redlist and Trophy rules. Are you planning to continue expanding the rules of the game with each new expansion?

Not necessarily. [Camarilla Edition] had grouping. Anarchs had anarchs. But Black Hand didn't really add any new rules, for example.

It depends on what the theme is and what the current rules offer. It would have been tedious to do Trophy Rules and Red List using only card text, for example, in any fashion. But if things can be done with just card text, like with Black Hand's "Black Hand", "Archetype", "Seraph", etc., then they should be.

Speaking of expansions…. is there anything that you are at liberty to say about Legacies of Blood? Any tidbits you can tease us with? Number of cards?

It's got quite a few.

Can you tell us when the Legacies of Blood teaser webpage will be going up?

Should be about the same lead time as previous sets have had.

Note: This should be then be sometime in September, given previous experience.

So, in an effort to get to know a little more about you on a semi-personal level….. what books are you currently reading, if any?

Besides WW fiction, George RR Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series.

What’s new and interesting on your iPod and/or TiVo?

I have neither iPod nor TiVo.

Greatest music band/artist of all time?

Led Zeppelin.

Who’s better, DC Comics or Marvel? Or other?

Marvel. Or Dark Horse.

PS2 or Xbox?

Neither.

Tea or Coffee? And how do you take it?

Coffee. Black (and decaffeinated).

Favorite Alcoholic beverage?

Cabernet.

Destination in the world that you’ve always wanted to visit?

Greece.

Sorry, I hate to get all ‘Actor’s Studio’ on you, but “what’s your favorite curse word”?

F#%K!

Who’d win in a celebrity death match, Bill Gates or Steve Jobs?

Bill.

Alien visitations on earth, fact or fiction?

Intelligent life visitations: fiction.

Any last comments?

Thanks for having me on the show.