11 Feb Alpha Blue and Girls Gone Rogue – An Interview with Venger Satanis
Venger Satanis has been featured here before, and now he’s back with a brand-new work recently released, called Alpha Blue, and its companion piece Girls Gone Rogue which is on Kickstarter now. I caught up with him for an interview – check it out!
~Oliver R. Shead
Hey Venger, good to have you back! I see that you’ve been busy – your new book Alpha Blue is out, and certainly looks interesting! What’s it all about?
It’s good to be back, Oliver.
Vintage science-fiction in a sex comedy type setting. If you’re familiar with Ice Pirates, that’s pretty much what I was going for. It’s a narrow sub-genre or niche, but it has legs… and tentacles. The 70’s and 80’s had a lot of sci-fi. Some of it darker or fantasy or titillating. I really wanted to play an RPG where you could knock over a space liquor store and then go to the red hologram district and pick up a sex-bot or alien hooker. So, I wrote one.
What was it that drew you to the idea of making a setting about a humorous space station brothel?
Every other book I write, it seems I get closer and closer to something… and I’m not quite sure what it is. Except to say, an aesthetic of decadence, a feeling like picking up an adult magazine before you’re “ready for it”. It’s a shock, an unexpected encounter that throws you for a loop. However, I didn’t write Alpha Blue (or any of my works) for mere shock value. I wanted to open up the roleplaying game experience to a Venereal influence.
It’s easier to take new and uncomfortable things while you’re laughing. So, the humor is not only for its own sake but as a buffer. It was also about time I went into a purely science-fiction realm. The 1980 porn film The Satisfiers of Alpha Blue just kind of called to me, and I went from there. That XXX film was also the perfect age. I wanted something that felt like it came from the 70’s or early 80’s.
Since publishing Alpha Blue, I’ve discovered quite a few unpolished gems in the same vein. Most are terrible, but that just makes them more fun. Star Babe is a prime example.
You also mention a lot of charts! I know some of my friends will love that. Could you give us some examples of what sort of a mess this could land players in?
I try to divide up the results of random tables into chunks – there’s stuff that’s good for the players, bad for the players, and in between, then there’s stuff one might see on semi-serious shows like Star Trek. But I also include stuff that’s primarily sexual and finally some gonzo stuff that’s utterly ridiculous. Plus, a lot of references to TV and movies thrown in for good measure.
Sex appeal, eh? I like it, but beneath the humour this topic for a book could be seen as a little controversial – have you had any problems with that, and how have you dealt with them?
There are some people who just back away from my works very slowly. I’m sure they try to pretend they don’t exist. I don’t hear from them much. However, there is a vocal minority who occasionally denounce one thing or another. What I write about or how I write about something actually bothers them and they don’t have a problem with letting me know how they feel.
I listen, but then go ahead and do whatever I want. Sure, I can see where people wouldn’t want their 13 year old kid thumbing through Alpha Blue. But when you think about it, it’s kind of sick that a picture of Greedo pointing a gun in Han Solo’s face is less objectionable than a scantily clad woman in the Empire’s employ. I mean, isn’t violence, like, 7 times worse for impressionable youth (and adults!) than eroticism?
You are a serial publicist by now – what are your tips for getting work completed and in print?
Yeah, it’s a bad habit. I can’t stop myself now that I’ve got this thing going. My advice: figure out what’s going to work best for you. Are you better at focusing on just one thing or working on several projects at once? Do you like to handle just the writing or are you good at illustration or making maps or layout? Is your effort sustainable? If so, you can tackle larger projects. If not, concentrate on a 5 page PDF and leave the mega-dungeons to those crazy enough to attempt them.
How to Game Master Like a Fucking Boss, The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence, Descent Into the Candy Crypts and much more. What’s next for Venger Satanis?
Occasionally, I’ll go in a different direction after a big project. Other times, I’ll follow a book up with something very similar. Now that Alpha Blue is out, I’m working on a companion piece to it – with more tables, scenarios, and some neat stuff I’m keeping under wraps. It’s called Girls Gone Rogue, and it’s on Kickstarter now!
What is Girls Gone Rogue all about then?
What’s old is new again. These days, that goes triple for science-fiction. The nostalgia of starships, space exploration, lasers, robots, and freaky aliens is all around, surrounding us, binding and penetrating… Wow, check that out! Not the girl with three boobs – the hot little blonde wearing a silver thong.
Sorry about that, I’m easily distracted. It’s why I became a pimp and not a bounty hunter.
Speaking of penetration, Kort’thalis Publishing is putting together a companion volume to Alpha Blue. What is Alpha Blue? Space station brothel roleplaying made easy, like Ice Pirates or Star Wars/Trek meets Deep Throat. You know, for when you want sleaze in your sci-fi. 😉
This follow-up book is called Girls Gone Rogue. It will contain even more tables, fantastic artwork, and fleshed out adventures / campaign setting for use with Alpha Blue or any old school, sexy, and humorous RPG. So, please travel on over to my Kickstarter page for Girls Gone Rogue: https://www.kickstarter.com/
Readers can also keep up with my comings and goings on my RPG blog here: http://vengersatanis.
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