Tony Spengler/February 2023
In the world of tabletop roleplaying games, many people have used their experiences in-game to bring entertainment to others. That has come in the form of professional Game Masters, actual play podcasts and streams, content creation, and more. This week I focus on one of my most enjoyed actual play streamers who goes by the handle Azuloth. A brilliant writer, creator of ingenious and fun modifications to the d20 system to make it his own, a great player and amazing GM, Azuloth has been one of my favorite people to make content with. Azuloth and his Val’ghast World doesn’t get enough recognition, so I reached out to him to learn more about himself, his works, and where to find him.
Homeland: Originally from Maryland, USA.
Age: 33
Handle: Goes by Azuloth. Friends call him CJ.
Experience: Has been a game master or dungeon master since about 2007 - 2008, so roughly 15 years.
Favored Class: Quite fond of bards.
Q) I've seen on your Discord that you are working on a new ttrpg system based on the d100. By the end, do you think it will be heavy combat oriented, RP oriented, or a balance of both?
A) It's largely a contingency plan in case this OGL stuff goes way worse than expected. It's the seventh version of a system I built for my setting Val'Ghast. The prior versions were largely combat oriented because that was all we needed a system for in the earlier days of playing in the setting.
This one aims to be a bit more balanced than prior versions.
Q) Speaking of Val'Ghast, you have created and run many worlds. Could you tell me how many worlds you've created, and what ttrpg systems you used?
A) Val'Ghast went through about 2 early test worlds before I settled on the current world. That one has always been considered a fantasy setting completely unrelated to any TTRPG system first. It's why as a setting it is probably 90%-95% incompatible with Dungeons and Dragons. Outside of that I've made exactly two D&D worlds. One for my girl scouts, and one for my home game.
Q) You also ran a Warhammer game as well, didn't you?
A) I've run 2 Dark Heresy campaigns, which are based in Warhammer 40k.
Q) Val'Ghast seems to be your flagship/pride and joy. How many years have you put into it?
A) About fifteen years.
Q) Have you always streamed your actual plays on Twitch? Or was there another outlet for your media in the beginning?
A) In the beginning it was a forum based game. I started streaming with my first Dark Heresy game.
Q) When you GM, do you make all of your own content? Or do you use content made by other creators?
A) I would say aside from whatever is provided by the system, I make all my own stuff.
Q) When you're getting crafty, do you have a muse to look to? Where do you draw your inspiration?
A) Like any good art, the influences for Val'Ghast are varied when it comes to the development of the lore and stories. As for mechanical stuff, it depends on what game system we're talking about.
Q) For game mechanics, let's look at your new, fail-safe system.
A) The Cruinthe Combat System Version 7 is heavily based on prior versions. They were developed over a series of updates and versions that added additional crunch. In the first version, players had four stats. Strength, Agility, Vitality, and Intelligence. These built out a couple of derived stats, but that was about it. The gear system was mainly based on Diablo II's robust gear system, with weapons and armor taken from historical references, rather than catch-alls in D&D. Falchions functioned differently than Longswords. But primarily in the early versions it was just a means to convey narrative and to be able to ballpark who wins a combat encounter. Remember, Val'Ghast wasn't developed as a world for a game, it was developed as a world first, the game came after.
This was expanded in later versions to be a d100 system to provide luck, we expanded on the system completely in a vacuum after taking the baseline mechanical function of rolling a d100 from Dark Heresy. Some stuff was also inspired by Dark Heresy and Warhammer 40k at large, but outside of that the system was made without outside influence.
Currently we're having trouble balancing the hardcore crunch of Version 6 with what newcomers or people coming over from D&D 5e's mechanics light system in Version 7. It might be back to the drawing board for what dice to use.
Q) Circling back to the girl scouts, could you elaborate on that? You run a game specifically for a troupe?
A) I do. They're on a biweekly schedule.
They're learning a lot while they play, and are enjoying themselves at the same time. TTRPGs can provide good experience and practice for things you wouldn't otherwise get.
Q) How did this come about? Is this a charity type game, or did they approach you to run them in a game?
A) I was approached by a troop leader who shares a mutual friend.
I don't charge children to play.
Q) Aside from when you played in my podcast, have you played in any other podcasts?
A) Nope, haven't had the pleasure.
Q) Have you done other actual play collaboratives with other streamers?
A) Unfortunately I haven't had the pleasure. I would like to do both of these things though.
Q) If people want to find your content or get in touch with you for collaborations, where should they go?
A) Discord is honestly the easiest. I don't do twitter very often. As for content, you can find me on Youtube under my handle name. Currently everything is in archive, but that might change soon.
Click the links below to follow Azuloth and show support!
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