Meet Pyar Anderson

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Pyar Anderson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Pyar, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?

I have a weird resume: mountain guide, inventor, product designer, comic book artist, photographer, actor, filmmaker, bike mechanic, EMT and a few other odd ones thrown in for good measure.

When I looked at the big picture of my whole thing and tried to discern how to use all these disparate but related skills, I wanted to incorporate as many of them as possible into one agglomeration that multiplied effort and alacrity amongst the different abilities I have acquired.

I like spreadsheets, but mind maps or doodles or venn diagrams are a few other good ways to see where the core of your purpose might lie–assuming that past work and hobby experience is an indicator.

The first two things that came to mind for me after looking at what I love is that I like storytelling and I like adventure. These two alone could have taken me on a lot of routes that might look like Indiana Jones, but I wanted to get the drawing and design and filmmaking in the mix, too. Documentarian? Cameraman for The Amazing Race? I also wanted something that would keep me home most of the time–not blow my knees or my back out, too.

I had just finished the first draft of my first novel, and I was submitting to agencies for representation. This was the businessy part of the process and I was going stir crazy because I wasn’t making art, but that’s when it hit me.

This world I had created was a place I could inhabit forever, so why not spin it off into other avenues. That’s when the idea for my tabletop roleplaying game Lumberpunk was born.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

If you can picture a game of Dungeons and Dragons (DND) then you can pretty much picture the window dressings of Lumberpunk. If you can’t picture that, then imagine Whose Line Is It Anyway plus Yahtzee played out like an episodic TV show and you pretty much have the picture.

We think the game really stands out in the field based on a combination of novel dice mechanisms we have developed, including PTSD, integrated rules for player vs player tactical skirmish play, and a great ruleset for adventuring and exploring.

The setting is an optimistic look at a future for earth where animals speak, environmental health is the primary currency and a war is being fought between contemporary extractive capitalist practices and the new sylvan economy driving manifest rewilderness.

The first edition of the rule book is releasing this summer, followed by the first prequel novel, a live play stream/podcast, a line of miniatures and many more subsequent supplements and updates in the pipeline. For anyone interested in following our progress, our website or IG listed below will keep you touch with our progress.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Adventure.

Storytelling.

Design.

I like being a generalist, but it has become clear to me, that one of the simplest paths to take towards success is complementary specialties. I’m a pretty good mountain guide, but I’m not Everest good. I’m a pretty good writer, but I’m not China Mieville good. The list goes on. But combining various “pretty good” career pursuits into a spicy new combination that hasn’t ever been seen in quite those ratios makes for something that will tickle people’s brains to the moon and back.

And I think that the biggest takeaways from this idea is to be forgiving to yourself and creative in how you mix the brew. I hit a lot of what felt like dead ends or glass ceilings in different paths I explored. At the end of it all, I felt like I had failed at a bunch of different jobs that hadn’t turned into lifelong careers. But in truth, I had actually created a really diversified skillset that I could turn into something exciting for me and exciting for others to experience. It took some finagling, but I was able to fit about eighty percent of the puzzle of my experience together into something really powerful.

Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?

My parents encouraged and allowed me to explore without rails or inhibiting expectations of any kind. I have had such an amazing, exciting life rich with nights out under the stars, treks to places few humans will ever walk, immersion in ancient foreign cultures, collaborations with beautiful people and relationships that feel much older than the years that make them.

And funny enough, this ultimately led to insecurity and doubt about not being on a traditional path toward success.

But my parents keep celebrating my victories with me and I know that the combination of all these experiences is now culminating into something really special in the world of Lumberpunk, which is so quickly coming to vibrant life.

I know we can’t choose the parents we were given and I have been blessed with two of the most generous and kind parents anyone could ever hope to have. For those who weren’t so lucky, I believe that having a dog or two in your life is a close second. The more you care for them, the more they give back. Show them love and they will always believe in you, even when you are doubting yourself.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lumberpunkrpg.com/
• Instagram: @lumberpunkrpg
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@LumberpunkRPG