Meet the gamer, designer, and total LotR fanboy
behind The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game! Bryan Bornmueller is a US-based designer who also works as Office Dog’s Creative Sourcing and Development Manager, helping fellow designers publish great games. Check out this short Q&A we had with Bryan about his game, his relationship to the fandom, and a little in between:
Q: Starting with the hard hitter – second breakfast, or no?
A: Yes, always. Though I wonder what Tolkien would think of the word brunch.
Q: What is it about The Lord of the Rings that is most compelling to you as a fan?
A: For me it’s the unexplained mysteries in Middle-earth and the textual ruins that hint to a larger world beyond the story
Q: Is there a character you most identify with, and does it change for you between the book and the movies?
A: Gandalf has been my favorite since my father read me The Hobbit when I was small. I love to see lots of different versions of the character.
Q: When in the designing process did you know this game was meant to be based on The Lord of the Rings?
A: The game was always built around The Lord of the Rings. A big challenge of the design was to make a trick-taking game (which are often a bit abstract) feel thematic and really capture some of the details of the story.
Q: Are there any Easter eggs in the game that are really exciting to you as a fan?
A: As a big fan, it makes me really happy that this game goes through the story in more detail and lets us feature some characters that don’t always make it into adaptations like Gildor Inglorion, Fatty Bolger, Tom Bombadil, and Goldberry. It’s also so fun to see them brought to life with Elaine Ryan’s wonderful art.
Q: The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game is based on the first novel, does this mean players can expect the sequels?
A: The first game covers all of the events of the first novel and we are hard at work on adaptations of The Two Towers and The Return of the King.
Q: When designing a game, how much thought it put into other games in the marketplace? What other considerations do you make?
A: Something that is exciting about trick-taking games is that the genre is both hundreds of years old and still very much alive and full of innovation. For this game we get to draw from centuries of classic games and mechanics and also be inspired by the story. This two-way street has led to a lot of creative rules that make for a fun, challenging puzzle and also evoke the characters and story.
Q: Do you have any advice for other designers out there that are trying to get their games published?
A: Get your idea out of your head and onto a table as fast as you can. Playing with other humans is the most important part of the process. When anyone is playing your game pay attention to how they act not what they say when looking for feedback.
Thanks again to Bryan for lending us his time and thoughts! For more on his process and the path The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game took, look out for the Designer Diary coming to BGG later this year. Until then, you can stay up to date on all things #Fellowship TTG by following @OfficeDogGames on Instagram and Facebook
