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Kate Flack, Deputy Content Director

"'oo is yer?" My name is Kate Flack, and I'm Deputy Content Director. This fancy sounding title basically means that I'm part of the fun police. It's my job to make sure the game is a good fun Warhammer experience. By that I mean full of mud, mayhem and murderous humor. I also act as a sort of 'IP Tzar'- advising folks on the background and coaching the team on things like writing style. We're always trying to find ways to homage other Warhammer games so that people who know the world will get an extra kick out of playing W.A.R\] "Woss yer job like?" On any given day I get asked all sorts of strange and unlikely questions. These can range from what sort of hat you might wear in Altdorf during pie week (a pig shaped one, obviously) to what sorts of fonts are the most Warhammery (caslon antique) to settling arguments over the true meaning of 'Chuff' (it's far too complicated to explain here. There are diagrams). My job involves lots of research- from existing Warhammer books and games, to ancient half forgotten words to bizarre episodes in history that are just too outlandish to ignore. (Hartlepool monkeys anyone?). I then take that strange brew and feed it into the minds of the writers and designers. This sloshes around their creative process and eventually spews forth as quests, encounters, public quest designs and all the other bits and pieces that make up the game. Then, once they've worn their fingers to stumps typing deep into the night, I turn up with a big red pen and make them cry. Well, I would if they weren't so irritatingly good. Essentially I make sure you only get to read the cream of the questing crop. I also spend a lot of time in beta experiencing the game from your point of view, coming up with what we call 'polish'- also known as the dreaded "wouldn't it be cool if..." These are basically the small moments during play that make you laugh, smile or say "ugh!". Consistency, quality and attention to detail are my watchwords- and hopefully this will show from the moment you log in. "Where youse from den?" As you may have spotted from all the rogue 'u's I've joined EA Mythic from the UK. I've spent the last couple of years working for Games Workshop as a Games Designer, Developer and most recently Brand Manager for their roleplaying imprint 'Black Industries'. If you've got any of the plethora of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition books, they you already own something I've worked on. If you're planning on buying Warhammer 40,000 Roleplay when it comes out, you'll also be sampling more of my handy work. Prior to Workshop, my background in gaming goes back further than I care to mention- I remember when all this online gaming lark was text! I've written, designed and coded lots of content for MUD's and dabbled in all manner of other fields, from novel writing to DJ'ing. While I'm on the subject of where I'm from I suppose this is the place to give a big shout out to anyone from Norwich, England- including Mum, Ed, Matt and Jen. It's a fine city! "'ow d'yer get inter War'ammer den?" I blame my brother, Ed. Not only did he bring home lots of 'Fighting Fantasy' adventure books, and a copy of 'Space Hulk' he also bought the utterly seminal 'Realms of Chaos' books. If you haven't read these, track them down. They're full of crazy daemons, chaos swords, dark gods and horrific mutations. Then Dad took us to a gaming shop called 'The Orc's Nest' in London and Ed bought some figures. A bit after that, after much pestering, he let me paint one of his goblin miniatures, and after that…well, I was hooked. I'm between armies at the moment- my beastmen- Gorr-dunn's Goatboys- are back in the UK. I'm lining up some Sisters of Sigmar as a nice painting project until I choose the perfect army to utterly destroy my colleagues. Those 'Realm of Chaos' books are still in my life- In fact they sit next to my desk. They get referenced all the time, so I suppose they were worth the allowance money. "Why is dis W.A.R lark good den?" Well, if you like Warhammer it's simple- you can run and fight and be in the Old World. You don't have to do it in your head any more, via a novel or an RPG or a table top game. You can switch on, log in and take part. You don't need to find people who'll come over and game at your house- which if you're like me gets increasingly harder as you get older and you have to do life stuff like work and family. I suppose that's one of the key reasons I'm so excited to be working on this game- it's taking the Warhammer world to a new format, and hopefully reconnecting lots of older gamers with a world they love. From a design point of view there are some great things in W.A.R- public quests and the tome of knowledge to name but two. These are really exiting, and its enormous fun trying to push these ideas even further with each new one we write. It reminds me very much of my work with Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (WFRP). Just as we took the rules of the first edition and evolved them into the second edition, so too is W.A.R taking some of the 'bog standard' ideas of MMO's and pushing them to the next level. I'm really looking forward to launch, and seeing how these new designs influence players, play styles and other designers out there. "Wot is da best way ter get reddy fer W.A.R?" If I was going to recommend seven ways to prepare for W.A.R... it would be the following: 1. Get onto beta. (yeah, I know, easier said than done) 2. Watch the movie Jabberwocky. It's very Warhammer. 3. Play Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 2nd Edition (shameless plug over) 4. Listen to the Conan the Barbarian soundtrack. (works well with 3) 5. Read the 'Trollslayer' series of novels 6. Paint up an Empire Spearman. Then smash him to bits while shouting 'Noob! Destruction Rulez!'. Or an Orc if that's your preference. 7. Eat pies. Drink Beer.

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