The One on One series is a collection of comprehensive interviews with people influential in the Diablo I/II community.  This interview's subject is , founder of Diablo's variants and webmaster of Woody's Diablo Asylum.  A variant is a character which is limited in various ways to add challenge and longevity to the game.

Greetings, Woody. Can you tell us a little about yourself for starters?

Sure thing. My real name is Dan, and I live in Louisville, Kentucky with my wife and our two boys (ages 2 and 6). I went to the University of Wisconsin and I'm an Account Executive with a telcom company. It's all good. I do the golf thing, but I'm really just a hack, and I like to play tennis too. I've had a computer of some sort or another for about 8 years and I've been playing games the whole time.

What's the etymology behind your screen name, "Woody?"

Not too many people know it, but "Woody" is actually the name of my dog. 'Sir Woodrow Grabowski', to be exact. When the whole BNM thing started, I wracked my brains trying to come up with a name that fit the whole idea. I knew at the time that if the thing took off I'd be stuck with whatever name I chose, so I didn't take the decision lightly. The one day it just sorta hit me. I had been trying to think up clever names that fit the concept, and Woody just seemed a no-brainer.

So, how'd the Beyond Naked Mage get started? What was your original purpose/reason for playing that way?

Stop me if I start to ramble...Ok, while I had bought Diablo the day it came out, I really didn't get into multiplayer until around April or May. By June of '97 I was a regular at the Diablo Strategy Forum under the handle 'Imajica' and later 'Imajica the Meek' (I wonder how many people remember those days?). I was a fairly nice person then. I helped out newbies, posted strategy, and threw out a lot of comic relief to lighten the mood. Well, I found a kindred spirit that shared my sense of humor, and we would get into these back and forth threads that were pretty damn funny if I can say so myself. His name was Saint Michael. I've seen at least two or three Saint Michaels on the DSF since those days, but none of them are the same guy. Anyways, one day Saint Michael and I are in one of our moods and the topic under fire is 'cheaters' (some things never change, eh?). We're going back and forth when I make the suggestion that we take our Sorcerers on B.Net and PK as many cheaters as we can find to teach them a lesson. St. Michael returns with the idea that we do it without any gear (i.e. 'naked'), and I follow that up with the idea to wear cursed gear (hence 'beyond naked'). The whole point was to embarrass cheaters into giving it up, which is a lot like howling at the wind. Really though, we were just joking around and the thread was one big goof. Then, later that day, I thought 'what if'? What if I went ahead and started a web page that encouraged the PK'ing of cheaters? What if I created rules of engagement? What if I created goals? What if, what if, what if, the possibilities were getting me fired up. So I bounce it off Saint Michael and he's pretty much luke warm to the idea. I don't think he ever really wanted to be involved, but he helped me hammer out the rules and basic page layout. Essentially, he was a great sounding board. At the time, I would have done it anyways, but he deserves half the credit for the BNM rules. Still with me? So, on August 4th 1997, the Beyond Naked Mage rules and homepage was unveiled, proudly brought to you by Woody (yours truly) and Hairy (Saint Michael).

Well, can you describe any funny moments from those early games with you and St. Michael? I know it was a while back...

Believe it or not, we never had a game. After the rules went online, he sent me an email saying that he had reached 8th level as a BNM. I tried to set something up, but he had little to no interest in what I was doing with the page. He unplugged, went off to college, and I carried on. But, I have lots of good memories of other early games. Mostly the best ones were with Wormwood (who appeared in a few of my stories), Shepa_Lopez, Lok, Shaft and St.Ides. Those were the players I teamed up with most in the early days. Nothing specific comes to mind 'funny-story' wise, but I remember a lot of red screens of death. Especially in multiplayer games.

When did the variant begin to evolve and gain in popularity?

Probably within a few months of the page going online. I'd say by December '97, I can recall getting a kick out of seeing players sporting the (BNM) tag in the Sorcerers Tower. It was just such a novel idea. Tons of players put some sort of tag or another after their names to signify some guild/clan allegiance, but a tag that symbolized a distinct playing style hadn't been done before. What I thought was the coolest thing was that I never advertised the site. It was all word of mouth. The closest I got to advertising was where I'd add a link to the page as a part of my signature on the DSF. People just began going to my posts to get the URL. Another huge factor in the first wave of Variant popularity was the fact that I had a section on my web page dedicated to the players that had reached certain milestones. It was called the "Hall of Heroes" and at one point in January '98, I was getting around 10-20 submissions a day. Some new, some updates. For the most part I think people were fairly honest, and I also think that some people took pride in having their characters on that page. Taking it a step further, I pretty much opened up the page for Authors of Variants. The rule was: Got an idea? Go get a dot and I'll post your rules. Yet another way for a player to gain a little recognition for their work. The idea was, if it's posted at the DSF, in a day it's off the front page and forgotten. Email it to me and I'll put it in a central location and give out full credit to the Author.

Boy, that concept sounds familiar (grin). But the Asylum is a great resource for encouraging people to write great variants. Without it, I don't think variants would have ever been as popular.

Absolutely. Initially, after the BNM, there were two quick Variants...The Barbarian by Lok and the Archer by Maya. Really, these two variants opened the door for all the Variants that followed. Lok had posted the Barbarian rules on the DSF, and it was such a great idea that I asked him if he'd mind if I put it on my site so it didn't get lost. Maya followed shortly after and those rules made the page too. There was a bit of a dry spell where I wrote a few cheesy Variants and then the Immortal Hero rules and the Snob rules came out. Then it sort of exploded; people were writing up new rules all the time and I didn't turn any down. There were some very good ones and some kinda lame ones, but I resisted the idea of actually 'grading' any of them. I figured that I'd let people make up their own minds as to what was good and what stunk up the joint. All this just illustrates your point that hosting Variants by other authors 'made' the site, no question about it. I think that there was another lull in the activity until Charis came out with the Amazon rules. Charis went on to pen more and more Variants, and the community moreso than my page really, REALLY took off. I couldn't be happier that it's grown into what it has considering my backing off of updating my page.

Did you have any idea when the craze started that it would get to the level it is today?

No way. But, to be fair, the current level of interest in Variants is something that I don't deserve a whole lot of credit for. Once I got burned out, there have been players such as Charis and KingOfPain who have pretty much kept the thing alive. Charis especially has created more Variant Classes than I could have ever thought up. Really taken it to an unhealthy, obsessive level if you know what I mean... (just kidding, Charis :). Aside from those two, there have been DOZENS of players that have had a hand in the growth of the Variant Community. I've got a special page that lists their names which I'm sure it's horribly out of date, and I hope that I don't hurt any feelings by not listing everyone.

When (and why) did you start the Asylum? What are your future plans for the Asylum (if any)?

Well, the 'Asylum' was really just an evolution of the original web site. In the beginning, it was simply "The Beyond Naked Mage Homepage". As more and more people began to submit ideas for Variant Classes, I felt a facelift was in order and the whole "theme" of the page should reflect the vast array of Classes that had been created. The old theme was 'Welcome to my page, celebrating my rules, highlighting my class, boosting my ego and oh yeah, there's more stuff if you dig for it.' :) I knew that I was a part of something bigger, and I felt that people would like the site more if it was non-specific.

As for future plans, dunno. Several months ago, I started giving the Asylum a major overhaul complete with Shockwave, Java, CGI programming, and some cool graphics. I had fully intended to return the Asylum to 100% active status. Then reality set in and I realized that I didn't think that I'd be able to deliver the time commitment that the site would require. If I can come up with a good situation, I'll probably finish the new site. I had an offer from Gamespy to put the Asylum on a site they were building in the 'planet' vein, but nothing ever became of it. Frankly, I didn't pursue it all that hard.

It's funny how many bugs in the game are revealed by variants, as players wind up doing things the creators of the game never expected. Do you recall your first reaction to dying in town (or hearing about it)?

This is common knowledge now, but at the time it was a jaw-dropper. One thing I remember is complete invulnerability without a trainer. Here's how it worked: When you die, you're at 1 point of life. If you put on a cursed item that would take away from your life total, your total would now be zero. Once at zero, you can affect the world around you, but monsters and such have no effect on you. You can literally teleport into Diablo's little chamber and not take a single hit. Which I did once for kicks. However, there's a down side. If the game switches levels while you are at zero life points, your dead as fried chicken and no resurrect is gonna bring you back. Heal won't work because you have to have alive to be healed. Resurrect fails because it tries to bring you back to one, which of course is negated by the ring or amulet or whatever. That's pretty much an accurate description of what led to my first town death :)

Ouch. How'd you get out of that situation?

Well, the 'purists' will howl in outrage, but I had to resort to a trainer to un-equip the ring. Nothing else worked and I wasn't about to lose the character I'd put so much work into.

What do you think of the guild-like community variants have?

I think it's great. It's a bunch of people playing under a common courtesy. Who could ask for more?

Can you believe that two players have level 50 BNM's?

What was that I said earlier? Something about taking something to an unhealthy, obsessive level... :)

Current rumor is that there will be no cursed items in Diablo II. Does this mean the end of the variants' way of life?

Well, it'll be the end of the BNM (or BNS if you will) for sure. But Variant styles have grown well beyond slapping on all the cursed items you can find. Variants have become about role playing and challenge. With all the things that D2 will have to offer in the way of Skill Trees, Combining Items and so forth, I think Variants will be stronger than ever.

Will YOU be playing Diablo II? And looking for different ways to play it as well? If you've heard of the Hardcore mode in Diablo II, you probably had a laugh with the rest of the variant community...variants gone official!

For a while there, I wasn't sure. I had come to the conclusion that D2 would just be more of the same-old-same-old and I guessed that I'd get bored with it quickly. But who am I kidding? I'll buy it the day it hits the shelves, without a doubt. As for different ways to play...I don't think so. At least not initially. Keep in mind that I haven't had a 'regular' character since my site opened up almost three years ago. I think playing it straight will be a kick, especially considering that there'll be five classes with gobs of skill paths. Once the thrill wears off, I might get creative and write my own Variant, or try one of the sure-to-be-many-Variants that will undoubtedly be on the web.

The Hardcore rules gave me a good chuckle. I think Pete should sue for infringement of copyright laws :)

Thanks for the interview, Woody!  Have fun in D2.