Articles by Phil Menard
The Chatty DM is the "nom de plume" of gamer geek Philippe-Antoine Menard. He has been GMing various versions of D&D and other RPGs for nearly 30 years. A renowned RPG blogger, game designer and published author, he squats a corner of Critical Hits he affectionately calls "Musings of the Chatty DM." (Email Phil or follow him on Twitter.)
Writing Contest: Reap What You Sew
This guest post was written by my good friend Leah, she’s a professional photographer, a writer and editor of many awesome RPG books. She asked me to lend my space for a cool flash fiction contest she’s running, I agreed, because she’s the coolest… and her contest looks fun.
Hey there!
After Chatty’s recent foray into flash fiction, author Joseph Devon and I decided to have a flash fiction contest ourselves! Winners get a signed copy of his books, Probability Angels and Persistent Illusions. See below for further details.
Reap What you Sew
Whether you’re writing a novel or a D&D adventure plot, inspiration can strike at any moment’s notice, from places you’d never guess. Sometimes, seemingly trivial details or entire fields of knowledge you were unaware of can have a serious impact on a story. I recently had a conversation on Twitter with author @josephdevon. While doing research for his newest novel, he picked up a book on the history of sewing and textiles and discovered that you shouldn’t store your thread next to an open fire or a heating stove because it makes it brittle (the thread, not the stove).
That’s a useful piece of information I didn’t know. I mean, who here hasn’t forgotten their spool next to a heating stove and had a problem with brittle thread, am I right? (Editor: Hmmm, sure?). I’m putting that baby on a post it RIGHT NOW.
I challenged Joseph to use this “useless” sewing fact in a story. In fact, not only use it, but make brittle thread a PIVOTAL, Chevkov’s Gun-style element which would lead the characters to the ULTIMATE SEWING RELATED FINALE!!!
Sounds exciting, doesn’t it?
Seriously, it can be. Look at Snow White who pricked her finger on a spindle, fell asleep and woke up with some guy playing tongue hockey with her (Editor: Now THAT’S an expression I’m stealing.) Then of course there’s the EPIC* Kung Fu movie Swordsman II where needles are used as a weapon. Hell, even the Three Amigos have a quote about it, something like “Sew. Sew like the wind!”
Now – here’s where you come in, we’re challenging you to write a short story or RPG adventure hook in 750 words or less in which the final climactic scene involves sewing. That’s right. Sewing.
The winner will be judged by me and announced Friday June 1st and they will win signed copies of Joseph’s books.
Mail your submissions to : thiswhiterabbit at gmail dot com. If you have a blog or site where you want to post your story, feel free to link to it in the comments.
Good luck! I’ll be hanging by a thread in anticipation!
*Epic is a relative term.
Chatty Fiction: “At a Loss”
I wrote and edited over 12 000 words this last month working on Marvel Heroic Roleplaying supplements and material for my Seminars. That meant I spent a lot less time gaming and thus had less things to discuss on the blog. Yet, I did write a lot though. I do love to blog about what I do. Thus I decided that I could afford to bring a slight change of focus over here and start blogging about writing a little more.
Today, I wrote my first piece of Flash Fiction. I don’t know if it’s any good, but I’m proud of it. It’s an idea that popped in my mind as I was telling myself I should try my hand at it as a writing exercise in between freelance assignment. It’s amazing how challenging it can be to try to say so much in so little.
So here it is, slightly longer than this intro. Enjoy and let me know if I should do more.
Collateral Damage Issue #2: Super Shenanigans at Camp Hammond
Welcome again gentle reader to the continuation of this amazing series chronicling the exploits of the West Coast’s newest Super Hero team: Collateral Damage” powered by the all new Marvel Heroic Roleplaying technology!
Featuring
The One Man Army (AKA TOMA): A Sino-Arab mutant that can multiply in seemingly unlimited numbers. Prone to get into a lot of trouble but he has plenty of hands to handle it.
The Great Gregory: A man that can see exactly one minute into his immediate future. Bored of scamming casinos and doing clever magic tricks, he seeks a more “interesting” lifestyle as a hero.
The Magnificent Nightcrawler: Not quite the exact same lovable swashbuclking teleporter mutant from Earth-616, but pretty damn close.
Tsunami: Adorable Idoru-like water-controlling nuclear physicist whose links to her former humanity are tenuous at best.
Previously…
The members of the soon-to-be-formed Collateral Damage met in a seedy L.A. aquatic acrobatic circus where Nightcrawler and Tsunami got attacked by a band of ninjas led by the Silver Samurai. Learning to work together surprisingly fast, our heroes evacuated the place, flooded the whole theater and turned it into a gigantic Taser, making short work of the ninjas and the poor heavily armoured samurai.
As the police took the villains into custody, the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent in charge supervising the new team announced that they were flying to Stanford Connecticut for their official Hero training…
Chatty’s Mailbox: Playing Castle Death for First Timers
This week, reader Franky B sent me an email about my Castle Death RPG. I found that publishing it and my answer would make for a great Friday post.
Here’s the email, paraphrased from French:
I love your articles, especially those where you share your game sessions. Your last series on Castle Death blew my mind. I’m the father of a soon-to-be 10 daughter and I think that she would love to play this kind of game with me.
Never having been a Game Master, I’m not sure I’d be able to run the game with just a blank piece of paper and a D6. Do you have any kits, books, maps or something similar to suggest that could help me jump start things? Since this would be a first experience, I feel it has to be very cool, or chances are it will be the only time. [Read the rest of this article]
Chatty on Creativity: Muting the Judge and the What If Exercise.
Creativity Away From the Judge
Creativity is a strange, untamed beast. The mental process to generate ideas is a fickle one. I agree with author Stephen King when he says, in his essay “On Writing,” that ideas are not created but rather recognized and combined in one’s mind. Ideas are as much about opportunity (being receptive and available) as they are about the willingness to use them creatively.
The obstacles that people have when trying to come up with ideas are many and covering them would go beyond the scope of this blog post. In the technical/scientific/geek circles I travel in though, I would probably say that the greatest idea killer is “The Judge,”* that state of mind where ideas get discarded before being given a fair amount of consideration.
Ideas have no practical values, they are just glimpses of possibilities, most of which eventually get discarded. The problem with that is that judging ideas takes a lot of “brain space”, the same space that you need to generate ideas in the first place. In essence, people who evaluate and discard ideas as they are presented to them create a creative chokepoint that slows, and often kills the creative process.
Ideas are easy for me. I like to think it is because I can stem my internal judging process until after the point where I’ve had enough time to jot down enough ideas to start moving on to the next creative stage. Also, like many other things in my life, I’ve tried to make a game out of my creative process to motivate me to create more.
My favourite one remains the “What If” game. I’ve discussed it a few times before but I thought it would be fun to explore it in more detail here. [Read the rest of this article]
Castle Death! A Dead Simple RPG for Kids and Parents, Part 3
No actual orks were harmed during the writing of this post
Welcome back to this last post of a short series featuring my son Nico and I playing a simple d6-based RPG I created called Castle Death. In Part 1, I described the game’s core rule and character creation. In Part 2, we started playing and created new mechanics to complement the game experience. Today we follow Nico’s adventure as he start interacting with the game’s setting more.
The Implied Setting of Castle Death…
…is nonexistent. I made the title up as I invited my son to play the game. It could have been “The Caves of Xenu”, “The Moon Temple of the Dinosaur God” and even “Lords of the Mecha Dance Hall.” Anything that will pull a 10 y.o. from World of Warcraft to play with his old man/woman is a fine excuse. In fact I think I’ll use one of those next time.
Meet Pit Trap Mac
Chatty: Okay so you’re in a corridor that links the pillared halls of sculptures to rooms deeper in the dungeon. A very strong smell of food and spices permeates the area. There’s a big square hole that takes up the whole corridor ahead. There are doors on both side of the corridor before the pit.
Nico: Do I roll the dice now?
Well not all the time, you actually have to explore and describe what you try to do before stuff happens.
Okay, well then I’ll go see what’s in the hole. Can I roll now?
(Laughing) Sure, roll the D6. (He rolled a 4, meaning a somewhat positive outcome… that gave me an idea). All right, so you see this smiling face with a goatee staring up from the bottom of the pit. He says “Heeeeey Buddy! How you doin?”
I’m doing fine! What are you doing in the pit?
Oh this? That’s nothing, just a temporary thing while I rest up my sprained ankle. Gee listen amigo, you wouldn’t happen to have some rope hidden in that loot bag of yours right?
No I’m sorry. I don’t. Do I know you?
Know me? Haven’t you heard of me compadre? I’m Mac, legendary adventurer®, slayer of slayables and looter of lootables!
(And thus was Pit Trap Mac created) [Read the rest of this article]
Castle Death! A Dead Simple RPG for Kids and Parents, Part 2
In Part 1, I described how I sat down with my 10 y.o. son Nico and prepared, in mere minutes, a RPG session using a very simple game mechanic:
Whenever you wish to perform a task whose outcome is uncertain, Roll a d6. On a 6 you succeed with great success, on a 1 you fail horribly. All intermediate results are interpreted based on the ongoing story.
The Adventure Begins
I took my pad of graph paper and flipped to an empty page. On it, I drew a very large rectangle taking about 3/4 of the whole sheet and put a set of double doors on one side. I then added a sinewy path leading from the castle to an out-of-scale village.
Chatty: All right, Bersork makes his way to the Castle’s entry, the huge double door seems to be barred from behind. What do you do?
Nico: Can I force it open?
Sure, roll for it (he rolled a 3), ahhh I’m sorry but it apprears you aren’t strong enough to open it…
I use my axe to break it down. Can I roll again?
Nah, you’ll get the door “open” no problem but you’ll alert the whole place, are you ok with that?
Castle Death! A Dead Simple RPG for Kids and Parents, Part 1
Yay, time for another “Gaming with Nico” story. I haven’t done one of these in forever and it so happens that an occasion presented itself last week.
Ensnaring the Unwary
Nico: I’m bored, I wanna play something.
Chatty: Do you want to play World of Warcraft? Some Magic Commander? How about some Poker?
Nico: Hmmmm, I don’t know…
Chatty: Okay, join me in at the kitchen table then, I’ll teach you a new game.
Nico (wary, as always when I get all mysterious): What kinda game?
An adventure game. Trust me you’re going to LOVE this one.
Oh, what’s it called?
Hmmm… it’s called CASTLE DEATH!
Oh cool! How does it play?
(Hook line and sinker!) [Read the rest of this article]
Collateral Damage Issue #1: Electric Ninja Boogaloo, Part 2
Join us dear readers in a thrill ride where dangers and catastrophe are a dime a dozen. Witness the birth of a new Superhero team in the heart of the City of Angels! Collateral Damage is here to stay! Take a special behind-the-scenes tour here and don’t miss Part 1 of this exciting new series! Excelsior! Sit back and enjoy what the new Marvel Heroic Roleplaying game can offer. Excelsior!
Dramatis Personae
Just so you don’t have to go back to remember who’s who:
- The One Man Army (TOMA): A wisecracking troublemaker that can duplicate himself many many times. Played by Yan.
- Tsunami: A water-controller nuclear scientist who’s slowly loosing her humanity as she shifts into a water elemental-like creature. Played by Alex.
- The Great Gregory: A two-bit stage magician and casino cheat with the uncanny ability to see up to one minute in his future. Played by PM.
- Nightcrawler: Our favorite German Mutant teleporting Swashbuckler. Played by Frankie
Part #1 Redux
In one of Los Angeles’ seedier aquatic circus shows, S.H.I.E.L.D agent Sharon S. brings TOMA and The Great Gregory to meet Nightcrawler and Tsunami. As Nightcrawler’s plays his fake Houdini act, Ninjas prepare to attack. The surprise is foiled by a very alert Tsunami and a fight starts. Tsunami, TOMA and Nightcrawler engage the ninjas and save the confused and frightened audience. As the ninjas try to threaten Tsunami into surrendering, The Great Gregory announces the arrival of a far greater threat: The Silver Samurai! [Read the rest of this article]
Collateral Damage Issue #1: Electric Ninja Boogaloo, Part 1
Welcome true believers to a series describing the antics of the newest super hero team: Collateral Damage! I hope you’ve caught our special pre-launch issue where we showed you the nitty-gritty aspects of our creation process. Now get ready form pure raw action and laughs as only the Marvel Heroic Roleplaying game can offer you!
Setting the Scene
The Marvel Heroic Roleplaying game supports many playing style, from the more traditional “Game Master describes stuff, players react” to the Writer’s Room approach where the Gamemaster (called The Watcher) acts like a comic book’s editor and the players are as much the writers and artists of the whole series as the voice of their own characters. I really like this approach. Thus, while I get to set and run scenes, I encourage players to butt in and propose cooler ways for things to go down. It’s one of those “Shared Narrative” experience that jargon-laden game designers like to write about. Trust me, it’s a lot more fun than it sounds.
When we finally were ready to start playing, my heart started pounding as I had ABSOLUTELY no plot prepared for the session, having decided to trust the setting elements we’d create earlier in the session and our combined creativity. I picked the index cards unto which I copied the setting elements we created earlier (see previous post) and picked the following (with ideas I got while reviewing them):
- The Circus: Something happens at the show (Nightcrawler and Tsunami are working there. This would let Tsunami shine with her water powers)
- Sharon S: The S.H.I.E.L.D. liaison to the yet-to-be-formed team (She brings the other 2 heroes to introduce them to form the team).
- The Obsessed Scientist: Hired thugs to try to kidnap/coerce Tsunami back to Japan (Opposition!).
I had a scene. I just needed some supporting characters above and beyond Sharon. I started looking through my list (in the Breakout Mini-event that comes out with the Basic game) for an appropriate super villain. I kept going back to the Silver Samurai and that clinched it for me.
The Nipponese scientist pays Clan Harada huge sums of money to send a band of ninjas in LA to track Tsunami and apprehend her. The scientist INSISTS that the Harada himself be there to oversee operations and get involved if necessary.
I stated a large group of ninjas (the game has mechanics for mobs of identical minor characters) within seconds and I was ready to start. [Read the rest of this article]
