Cyberpunk creator Mike Pondsmith, a keynote speaker at PAX, spent 30 minutes this weekend talking about how he got interested in games, how he eventually started creating his own RPGs, and the differences between tabletop game and video game design.

The keynote speech is embedded at the bottom of this article (Pondsmith is not only full of insight and great stories, but also has a very pleasant and soothing voice).

Pondsmith begins by talking about his early days playing fantasy RPGs like Chainmail and Dungeons & Dragons. In fact, Pondsmith met his future wife, Lisa, when her then-boyfriend was a DM on a D&D campaign. (Lisa would later create the cyberpunk clown gang The Bozos.)

Pondsmith then began playing the sci-fi RPG Traveller, which inspired him to start tinkering with "house rules" and design his own games. I started thinking differently about games," he said. I started thinking about how they fit together, why they're fun, what the entertainment elements are, what the storytelling elements are, what the world-building elements are."

He also fondly recalls the people he met early in his career (including Mark Miller, creator of "Traveller," and Steve Jackson, creator of "Car Wars") and how helpful they were. Game designers are friendly," he says, "and they're always willing to help. I've had people ask me if I had any problems getting into the business. I've been asked, 'No, I didn't.'

Pond-Smith says he tries to be friendly to the game designer eggs as well." I think I have to pass it on to the people in the industry who put up with me asking dumb questions and gave me really good advice."

While there are many similarities between tabletop and video game design, one of the major differences Pondsmith believes is the stakes involved. Pondsmith says that even today, a tabletop RPG can be produced and printed for as little as $10,000, while a video game production can easily run into the tens of millions of dollars.

"When I worked on my first really big video game project, I asked, 'What's your budget? And they said $20 million. So I went to ....... I'm now responsible for figuring out what to do with $20 million. I'm like, 'Oh, my God. So the stakes are high.

With so much money at stake, Pondsmith says, budding video game designers are unlikely to encounter more helpful people than they will in the tabletop industry.

"I think it's partially because video games are a little bit like Hollywood. The stakes are higher, and it's more problematic to contact and talk directly to fans. There is a wall between you and the people who use your game."

Still, Pondsmith says. 'Even in video games you will meet people who will talk to you about this mysterious thing called game design.'