'Scaper of the Month - March 2018
Posted March 8th, 2018 at 06:00 AM by HS Codex
’Scaper of the Month
japes
Author: The Grim Reaper’s Friend
The previous ’Scaper of the Month, lonewolf, selected Cavalier as the next candidate. Unfortunately, Cavalier never responded to my invitation. Tornado, our C3G interview contributor, suggested that I interview japes, and the result you see before you. Enjoy!
Profile
Who are you really?
James.
How old are you?
Lower 40-something.
What is your occupation?
Sr. Project Manager for a structural engineering company.
What’s another board game/RPG you enjoy and why?
I discovered modern board games much later in life and mostly due to this site. I have a non-gamer wife and a 10-year-old son, so we play a lot of Ticket to Ride games (USA, Europe, Switzerland, India, Nordic Countries), Forbidden Desert, Splendor, and Catan. I enjoy them because my family plays them together.
What other interests do you have besides HeroScape?
Movies, sports, home theater PCs, and woodworking.
HeroScape
When and how did you get into HeroScape?
When my son was really young he started watching a silly TV show called Super Hero Squad and he was collecting tiny squinkies of superheroes. He started using them as player pieces for his kids games (Candy Land, etc.). He wanted something more and I hated all the games he played, so I started trying to create a fun super hero game that we could play. So I searched the web for help after getting a base idea and discovered C3G and Heroscape simultaneously ... it was exactly what I wanted. It had superheroes, was fairly simple in mechanics, and could be balanced so I could feel like I was actually playing and trying to win, even against my young son. I could just give him a huge army to offset the skill differences and there was a touch of luck there too so he had a chance. He actually learned to read at a young age by reading cards.
I noticed you’re fairly involved in C3G. What got you started there?
Well I was pretty much into C3G from the start of my Heroscape discovery. I was custom making everything since we didn’t have any Heroscape at the time. I created some buildings and such and ended up getting invited into the Terrain Sanctum and A3n and IAmBatman kind of brought me into the fold from there starting with bringing me into the Art Department due to the stuff I was creating for terrain.
What is your favorite C3G unit?
Well my favorite unit hasn’t been released yet, but of the released units I really like Mysterio and his Holographs and Batman II.
Describe your favorite HeroScape moment.
My favorite moment ... I’m sure I’ve shared this before but it’s still a good one. One year for Christmas we had a five player game where we had Fantastic 4 vs X-Men vs Avengers vs Justice League Trinity vs Teen Titans. It took most of the day since there were a lot of new players, but we had fun.
Is there anything you would change about the game (unit, rule, mechanic, etc.)?
The only rule I don’t really like is the way the height advantage works. I get the idea of simplifying it, but when a 5 high mutant figure on level 2 attacks a 12 high Sentinel on level one and gets an advantage, it seems off. When most of the figures are between 4 and 6 I’m sure it’s fine, but I wish it took into account the height of the figure.
What is your favorite aspect of HeroScape?
The variety the game offers. Just within C3G, we have 800ish cards and they can be mixed and matched into really cool armies. My son and I spend more time creating new armies than we do actually playing. The uniqueness map building brings in also adds to the variety. We’ve even expanded into Star Wars. It seems to be a nearly limitless game.
Community
Can you tell us how you’ve gotten to where you are now in the community?
I wish I knew. I guess I play well with others and I really enjoy the collaboration. I really try hard not to intentionally provoke any negative feelings in anyone. This place should be a sanctuary from real life, and stress and hostility have no place. I guess that is how I got here.
What’s your favorite experience involving C3G?
This is tough because I have so many great experiences with C3G. I love when we work together and create something great from a collection of good stuff. There is a figure finishing up testing currently that, by strange circumstances, had a write-up by three different Heroes. All different but all good. Once it became time to LD the design, Yodaking ended up with it. Even though we all had different ideas there was never any ego or ownership issues and, after solid work, we ended up with a design that was (in my opinion) greater than any of the three write-ups we started with—to me ... that is C3G. We have passionate discussions sometimes but, in the end, we all get along and greatness happens.
What do you enjoy most about Heroscapers.com?
Community and collaboration. There seems to be a strange (for the Internet) respect that exists here that isn’t really present in many places.
Is there any member of Heroscapers.com you’d really like to play against?
Not really against as much as with. Something I’ve had the opportunity to do in the past was sit in a room with a professional athlete and watch their sport and have them tell me what is actually happening that regular fans don’t even see. I’ve been able to do this with a few sports and it was an amazing insight. I’d really like to have that opportunity with Heroscape. I think I’d really enjoy having someone like dok narrate a match and discuss the nuances of what he thinks they are planning and why they do certain things. I’m probably odd there but I’d enjoy it.
Lie Detector
Three truths and a lie
- I have been paid to play baseball.
- I have been paid to coach baseball.
- I have two full months of my adult life that I don’t remember.
- I remember every Christmas gift I’ve ever received.
Last Month’s Lie (lonewolf)
- My wife had Jordan Sparks in her Chemistry class.
- I started college when I was 30, but now have a Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering and a MBA.
- My parents met at NASA.
- I was the General Manager of a Jack in the Box.
Three Fun Favorites
Favorite Movie Genre and Movie
Action, mystery, and spies ...
Usual Suspects has long been my answer for favorite movie. I think it still is.
Favorite Book Genre and Book
I really like science fiction. I don’t think I have a favorite, but I really enjoyed the first six books of the Expanse series and look forward to reading the next one.
Confession: I don’t read much, but I do Audiobooks like crazy.
Favorite Song Genre and Song
This is impossible to answer. I like lots of different types of music and my favorite changes a lot depending on mood and circumstance. Today it’s probably a song called “Your Love Never Fails.”
Closing
What message do you have for the ’Scaper community?
Just keep punching, Apollo.
Whom do you pick for the next ’Scaper of the Month?
Soundwarp SG-1.
Comments 2
Total Comments 2
Comments
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Great interview. Not too much in there I did not know but there were some gems.
japes is a pretty incredible individual and we are lucky to have him as an Administrator for Heroscapers. It was a real honor to rise through the ranks with him in C3G land. |
Posted March 8th, 2018 at 11:31 PM by Tornado
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You seem like a great guy japes, but I can’t believe you can recall every Christmas present you’ve received!
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Posted March 11th, 2018 at 08:28 PM by flameslayer93
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