I’ve personally known Malcolm Harris for at least over 5 years or more. He would run demonstrations out at A-Kon of his roleplaying game Nemesis, which was a Super Hero influenced game. He’s always an energetic and upbeat sort of guy which always made him a great salesman when talking about his game. His creativity is always on and is a consummate storyteller. He has a new game that he has coming out which is called Witch Girls Adventures. Witch Girls Adventures is set in a world where magic is real and teenagers have to go to school for magic. It draws on influences from manga and anime, but Witch Girls Adventures does bring something new and isn’t just an imitator.

You can find out more about Witch Girls Adventures at http://www.channelmlive.com/Witchgirlsadventures/wga1frame.html

1. What is it about the Magical Girl Shojo genre that interested you in making it into a game and a comic? Do you have any inspirations you'd like to mention?

Off the top of my Head Kiki’s Deliver Service and thinking about it all of Hayao Miyazaki magical worlds and witches. I know it’s not technically Shojo but I have to give credit where credit is due. As for traditional Shojo I would have to go back to some of the older titles like Mahōtsukai Sarī.

3. Do you feel that the book RPG market is too heavily geared toward males, especially for a book like yours?

Yes it is geared towards males almost exclusively. Your question is the reason why I made the “Witch Girls RPG”. American media tend to want to categorize people into little groups. From years in the biz and con-going I know there are tons of girl-table top gamers out there and even more potential table top gamers. Every girl who’s ever written fan fiction, made a fan character is a potential gamer. They are just being ignored. My company isn’t ignoring them; in fact we’re making a game for them.

That may sound selfish on our part but by trying to opening up gaming to a new demographic we’re actually trying to give table top gaming a leg up for all.

4. What is the idea or plan to make Witch Girls Adventures into an RPG and a Comic? Some would say it's enough work to make just one item but to make several different types of formats? Do you have plans to put Witch Girls Adventures into other formats?

“Aim big make it big, aim small make it small,” That’s my motto. We’re really trying new things here combining the RPG and the comic. The first new Witch Girls comic will be premiering at AKON and free, full color its also a character creation guide for Witch Girls Adventures.

The Actual Rule book has a 12 page color comic in front and the actual 28 page comic coming out later this year will have supplemental info for the game. You can also go online and download for free once the core rulebook comes out 13 Magazine free supplemental information with you guessed it a free comic.

So Game, Comic, online content game and comic content. I’m looking into online flash games too for Witch Girls.

4. Explain Witch Girls Adventures for someone who's never heard of it. Why should they spend their precious hard earned money on it?

“In the world of Witch girl’s power comes in all shapes and sizes. So be nice…. or be a toad”

In the game world of Witch Girls Adventures™ Players of all ages can create a unique character and take them on amazing adventures. They can fly through the air on brooms, turn people into frogs and learn to control time and space at one of the many schools of magic around the world.

Witch Girls Adventures™ is an interactive game like no other. It requires No game boards or expensive video game system... Just some friends, paper, dice and your imagination!

5. What does it take to make Witch Girls Adventures? Are the comic and RPG creative teams the same and they just move back and forth? Or do you have to change gears a lot of each format to make each item suited for that medium?

A lot of hard work. The comics are the easiest I write up a script send it to one of our many talented artists. I get the pages back, add in the words on my computer and we’re ready to go.

The game is harder. I come up with the concept. Write out the basic rules. Test those rules, go back make changes, test some more and do that for a while. Then I head to Conventions play test some more, make changes.

Once I have a first draft completely written I do the layout and I figure out how much art I need and what I need it of. Then its off to find artist have the art created. During this time I’m hitting cons, doing promotions and still tweaking. Once All the art is in I do one last tweak send the text off for proofing. When the text comes back, we stick it into the design with art, tweak the design then off to the printer.

That’s the basics.

6. Part of the appeal of the Magical Girl Shojo genre is the character development and interactions between said characters. How does Witch Girls Adventures help promote a story about friendship?

Table top RPG’s is all about friendships and telling a story together as friends. The one thing I wanted to do while writing the game is to stress that it’s not just one person’s game it’s everyone’s game.

The current crop of witch girls in the comics is working on a friendship. When you meet them some are friends some are not but all of them are going to the Willow-Mistt school of magic in Maine. There’s Amber the fashionista witch and expert Conjurer (Making something out of nothing). Monica the brain she’s into Cybermancy (Magic with computers). Lillian the goth witch with a smart mouth. Lillian is brutally honest and an expert at Necromancy (The magic of Ghosts and the dead). Lastly (but far from least) there’s Lucinda, An evil-princess exiled to earth after her family is dethroned by the forces of good. She’s an imperious brat and an undisputed expert in alteration magic (Changing one thing into another). Those four get in trouble together and is forced by the schools Headmistress to work together and end up discovering a new friend in Rosa, a street-smart witch who started had no idea magic existed and is starting her training a little late at age 12.

Later they meet Amy who’s sort of a jock witch from a small town and into Elementalism (The magic of Nature). With characters all so different their friendship is still solidifying and will go through some rough patches. But they stick with it despite the fact Amber is shallow, Monica a shy little geek, Lillian abrasive, Lucinda pure evil, Rosa would rather use her fist then a wand and Amy is ultra-competitive. But that’s like any friendship really, its work.