NOTE: the opinions expressed in interviews are those of the guests, not necessarily those of shadomain.com.
Today we talk with Dr. Michael O’Sullivan from Palaeogames – a TTRPG company created by three Palaeontologists. You can find his work here:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/palaeogames/professor-primulas-portfolio-of-palaeontology
Hi Dr. O’Sullivan, thanks for talking with us. Your company, Palaeogames, is in the middle of a Kickstarter campaign for Professor Primula’s Portfolio of Palaeontology. Can you tell us about this TTRPG project?
Hi, thanks for having me. Professor Primula’s Portfolio of Palaeontology is the sequel to Palaeogames’ critically acclaimed first book, Dr. Dhrolin’s Dictionary of Dinosaurs. Dr. Dhrolin’s is a D&D 5E supplement we funded through Kickstarter in 2022 that was created to be a bridge between TTRPGs and science education. We built stat blocks for more than 50 dinosaurs and other Mesozoic reptiles that are directly inspired by the real science behind the animals. Each creature comes with a normal stat block with abilities that reference their real-life biology and ecology, and a magical set of optional rules to add
more fantasy to your game. We also wrote up lengthy bios that detail the features of each animal in depth. Other features in Dr. Dhrolin’s included 6 playable dinosaur species, taming and behaviour mechanics, 3 palaeo-themed subclasses, a table to give your creatures mutations and holistic interactable environments that let provide unique benefits and hazards. Professor Primula’s is following the same theme but this time we’ve expanded the roster to more than 80 creatures from throughout Earth’s history, not just dinosaurs. Our new playable species include saber-toothed cats, pterosaurs, Neanderthals and T. rexes. Each one will have fully developed cultures and thematic abilities. Plus, we’re going to have loads of unique mechanics including how to deal with the nasty effects of time travel, a new museum themed bastion ruleset and instructions on how to turn your favourite creatures into kaiju-sized demi-gods. We’ve 4 new subclasses like a Barbarian that uses unique maw weapons that lets them attack while keeping their hands free to grapple or wield secondary weapons. We’ve also got 5 new environments from throughout the Earth’s history from dinosaur age Australia to the mammal rich La Brea Tar Pirs. Basically, we want to take all the elements of Dr Dhrolin’s that were so loved by our readers and dial them up to 11.
Palaeogames is a group of professional palaeontology researchers. Could you tell us how you got together, and how you decided to make role playing games?
Well, I became friends with Nathan Barling, the company director and the one who originally came up with the idea for Dr. Dhrolin’s, when we were both studying for our undergraduate degrees in university. We even ended up doing our doctorates together in the same office. A few years ago, Nathan told me he’d been finding the way dinosaurs were portrayed in D&D frustrating. They’re these incredible animals with all these wild traits but the monster manual has them as bland beasts who mostly exist to give a small bit of variety or let druids have a kinda ok mid-game combat wild shape. He told me he’d started putting a project together and asked me to look over some of the stat blocks to see what I thought of them. I was pretty impressed with what he’d done, and after a few more meet-ups, I came on board the project fully as head researcher (I write a lot of the science surrounding the animals we use). We took our idea over to Kickstarter and the book ended up being hugely successful. It was officially published in 2023, and we haven’t looked back since. It’s been an amazing experience, particularly the reception we’ve had which has been so positive.
How did you get started playing RPGs?
I’m actually relatively new to RPGs outside of video games (I’m an old school FF7 fanboy). I always wanted to get into TTRPGs but didn’t really have a social circle round me for it. Eventually, my girlfriend encouraged me to join a D&D campaign she was playing in on Roll20. I was pretty nervous, but I made myself a gnome bard with an awful pun for a name (Gnominal D. Cision, she hates him so much) and instantly fell in love with the creativity of it all. I played in that campaign for more than a year and since it ended, I’ve almost always had something TTRPG-related on the go. It’s basically in my blood now.
Have you always had an interest in palaeontology?
Oh, I’ve literally been interested in palaeontology as far back as I can remember. The first movie I remember seeing was The Land Before Time and the first toys I remember owning were Dino Riders. I saw Jurassic Park in cinemas when I was 7. My dad drove me to the city with the excuse that we had to buy shoelaces. Gullible fool that I am, I believed him and nearly passed out with excitement when I spotted the cinema. I still remember how the home release was delayed about 8 months and how I tormented my poor local video store every week asking them if it was in yet. I think every child has their dino phase, but I was one of the handful that never grew out of it, and one of the even smaller lucky few who got to work in the field.
The previews look great. How did you go about finding the artists used in the book?
Professor Primula’s has an amazing art team including some of the best palaeoartists in the world. Picking an artist for a project like this is not easy. Nathan and I have been part of the palaeo world a long time and we’ve seen a lot of artists develop and stand out, so we definitely had some we were hoping to get. We were able to get advice from a friend of ours named Dr. Darren Naish, who has been a consultant on a lot of palaeo tv shows and is very good at spotting artistic talent. He helped us identify some key artists, including some we already had our eyes on. Thankfully, we were able to get them to come on board and we’ve ended up with a very special team including in my opinion some legendary talent like Gabriel Ugueto, Rudolf Hima, Corbin Rainbolt and Julianne Kiely. Their stuff is insanely good (just look at Rudolf’s woolly rhino cover piece), and I cannot wait for people to see what they’re cooking up in the background.
The book combines scientific information with interesting game mechanics. What’s your philosophy on the importance of realism within fantasy games?
Personally, realism is key to any good fantasy story. I’ve been a fantasy fan for decades from books to movies to games, and the thing that strikes me is that if a story lacks realism it’s usually not very engaging. I really love the novel Magician by Raymond E. Feist for example, I think it’s a great piece of fantasy storytelling that builds this amazing world with cool dragons and magic and interplanetary wars. But the bits of that book I remember most are the characters and the conversations, the bits that you could find in any genre. A good fantasy experience in my mind is one that balances relatable elements with imaginative ones. A fun TTRPG session is often a few hours of people just interacting, and it doesn’t matter if you’re in a fantasy or sci-fi or grounded setting, the interactions are usually most fun when they feel the most real. That’s the philosophy I think Palaeogames brings to the table. We’ve made our animals as real as we can by giving GMs advice on how they should behave, when predators should attack a party and when they should ignore them, we’ve highlighted just how dangerous herbivores can be, how animals might behave at different times of year or when breeding etc. We then have stat blocks where each ability is based in some way off the animal’s ecology or environment. And then, after all that real world grounding, we also give you the option to have a super intelligent T. rex hit your party with an AOE psychic roar or have a player jump onto the back of a horse only to realise it’s actually a glamoured stegosaur and they’ve just landed on a back covered in spikes. Realism provides a grounding for these creatures that then supports the fantasy elements a lot better than if you just threw in the magical aspects on their own and hoped for the best.
What’s your current favorite TTRPG?
I have to admit that I still really love D&D. I’ve tried a lot of other ones by now (although I still need to find a group to play Pathfinder with) and I keep coming back to it. The character options, combat speed etc. are something I really engage with. It helps that it’s the TTRPG with the most third-party content and, unsurprisingly, I’m a huge proponent of creating new material for a game like this. I’m slowly building a decent library of, and the game I’m GMing at the moment has content from I think 4 different 3P source books, including Dr Dhrolin’s.
Would you rather be a GM or player, and why?
I’m brand new to GMing, I only got into it in the last year or so. I was super nervous about trying it, but my girlfriend encouraged me so I’ve been running a game for a few months now. So far, I’m really enjoying it as I love how you can plan each session so so carefully only for it all to be thrown out based on one roll or one player’s unexpected request. My favourite memory involves a messenger crow, a chocolate coin and a sudden visit to a vet. The only part of that I planned for was them getting a message via a crow. The spontaneity is so fun. I do think I’m more of a player at heart though; I really enjoy the group aspect of working together with your friends to one-up the GM. Plus I’ve never been more satisfied than when I pull out an ability I’ve been saving and completely catching the GM off guard. Great feeling.
What haven’t we asked you that you’d like to let us know?
I’d just like to say thank you to everyone who has supported Palaeogames these last few years. Dr. Dhrolin’s would never have been made without such an enthusiastic community and they’re the reason why Professor Primula’s is looking to hit even bigger heights. We’ve still got nearly 3 weeks left in the campaign and I can’t wait to see how far this can go.
Thanks, Mike!
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