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The Main Event is an alumni of Dickinson College and The University of Miami Law School. He writes dungeon mastering advice in his Pain of Campaigning series. Now a practicing attorney in Maryland specializing in Wills, Trusts, and Estates, The Main Event is an aspiring author and always looking for new clients or avenues of publication. Email him or follow him on Twitter.
Pain of Publication: Ninja Testing
Like many aspiring writers, I lack the luxury of being able to dedicate a full-time portion of my life to these endeavors. So, I have to make my time work for me. I have been eager to run Marvel Heroic Roleplaying in its finished form, but have not yet found a suitable occasion to do so. This post explores the pitfalls and potential of using an unorthodox method of giving a new system a spin. Switching systems in an established campaign should be an opportunity for all participants to examine what propels their campaign, learn the benefits of a new system, and get out of a gaming rut.
Having successfully been a Guest GM before and having been inspired by excellent posts on using Marvel to power a fantasy-based system, I decided to try something odd. I sensed my normally tireless DM was getting burned out in Pathfinder, so I offered to take over for a few adventures. The group was pretty positive about a change of pace, but there was a lot of surprise when I said I was going to run the same characters, the same world, in campaign continuity with a different system. My own character is being removed from the action, and the DM’s “Dungeon Master Player Character” (DPC) will be used as a player by our typical DM. This all begs the question: why go through all the trouble to change the system from my group’s perspective? I want to try it out, but I owe it to my playgroup to have a “payoff.” That payoff is to give the group a completely different feel of the game and scope of the adventure. [Read the rest of this article]
Pain of Publication Review: “Dinocalypse Now”
Previously I’ve talked about my previous novel attempts, difficult revisions and cutting, actually getting work done, reviewed Low Town and Alloy of Law, and finally about writing knowing full well you are going to revise.
Background
Spirit of the Century is a successful and well-regarded gaming line done by Evil Hat Productions. Only being vaguely aware of the original game, I believed it was about airships during the turn of the century time. When given the opportunity to review a complimentary advanced review copy of Spirit of the Century original fiction by Chuck Wendig, I leapt at the opportunity. I was curious how I would perceive it knowing little about the license. Simply put, I was impressed. With Wendig’s mixing of pulpy goodness and a dash of panache, he effortlessly cooks up an exciting story set in the Spirit of the Century universe that stands on its own without knowing the original book. [Read the rest of this article]
Pain of Publication: Writing to Revise
Previously I’ve talked about my previous novel attempts, difficult revisions and cutting, actually getting work done, reviewed Low Town and Alloy of Law.
Having written three novels to completion, and having none of them published, provides ample opportunity for self-reflection. One thing that consistently impresses me is how bad my first drafts are. There is a startling lack of crispness and terrible sagging portions of the book that really don’t tie together. Even though revisions are a pain in the ass, there’s a feeling of wizardry when you combine two throwaway characters into one quirky minor character or change a few proper nouns around to create foreshadowing. It almost feels like cheating. Knowing that revisions will be made should inform how you write a draft. I have learned to prioritize certain aspects of writing in my first draft and give other considerations lower priority.
Characterization
Don’t expect every character to be fully defined from the moment they walk into your story, but as you go forward, develop a feel for each character. Get comfortable stepping into their skin, internalizing their values, and understanding their point of view. Ideally, as the plot moves forward, you want to be able to look through each character’s lens and judge events. The plot is not monolithic and you may find the the character you have crafted does not fit as neatly into the story as you had expected. If you recognize this as you are writing, adjust the character’s role in the plot accordingly, but more importantly, by the time you have a draft you should have mastered the character. Pay attention to make sure that each character behaves appropriately throughout the story. Ultimately, if you throw tough situations and drama at well-developed characters you will gain an understanding on how they would react. Well-developed protagonists will begin to move the plot along seemingly of their own volition as you intuitively know what they would do given the trouble you have cooked up for them. It’s this internal sense when cultivated in a draft which shine through on later revisions. [Read the rest of this article]
Review: “Alloy of Law”
Previously I’ve talked about my previous novel attempts, difficult revisions and cutting, actually getting work done, and reviewed Low Town.
Background
After his excellent Mistborn trilogy and being tapped to finish The Wheel of Time. Brandon Sanderson has risen swiftly through the ranks of fantasy authors. Personally, Mistborn is my favorite series of all time. When I found out that a new novel set in the same universe was coming out, I was excited. The magic in the world revolves around using metals to have significant, but limited, magical effects. Whereas the first novel took place in a fantasy dystopia with apocalyptic rumblings, this novels problems are decidedly more limited in scope.
Setting
With the same magic system firmly in place, Sanderson moves out of medieval stasis into a Wild West/ Industrial Revolution era in a novel that smartly extrapolates a world’s progression even if it fails to capture the grand scope of the original. Alloy of Law starts in the Wild West (called the Roughs), but spends most of the time in a bustling metropolis. Although Sanderson’s new characters lack the variety of powers found in the first trilogy, he uses his magic system adroitly to come up with formidable (and interesting) twists on what existed in his original Mistborn trilogy. Coupled with very cool newsprint/dime store inserts between some chapters, the setting is one that easy to enjoy. [Read the rest of this article]
Pain of Publication: Book Review of “Low Town”
Previously I’ve talked about my previous novel attempts, difficult revisions and cutting, and actually getting work done. Whereas I normally review books in a vacuum, this time I am reviewing a book and weaving some lessons learned into my own Pain of Publication series.
Low Town is the debut novel of fellow Dickinson alumni, Daniel Polansky. Mr. Polansky knew many of the same people I did in college, but even in a small liberal arts school like Dickinson our paths never crossed. It’s a damn shame because Low Town is a rollicking mash up of two great genres: noir and fantasy. The author skillfully weaves a first person narrative in a way that vibrantly develops the setting into a living, breathing, festering, and foul supporting character unto itself.
Setting
The book is named after the impoverished underbelly of the Imperial Capital and the vast majority of the action takes place in this fetid urban sprawl. The book follows a man simply known as The Warden: an independent drug dealer with a wonderfully checkered past. He ends up caught in a tangled web of child murders where his own conscience and the machinations of others forces him into solving one last mystery. Although we only see things through the eyes of The Warden, we get a good feel for the supporting cast and an incredible appreciation for the misery that is Low Town. The author pulls no punches depicting graphic violence and frequent drug use. There is a sense of history to the world, but the author walks the tight rope of unfurling the past slowly and only inasmuch as it bears an impact on the story of The Warden. Proper nouns and slang give Low Town its own feel without impairing the readability of the novel. However, only three or four characters besides The Warden manage to stick out. This did not bother me though, as the same word count that often goes into character development was instead packaged as setting development. Low Town was great, but if you like your fantasy noble then stay out of Low Town. [Read the rest of this article]
The Pain of Publication III: Making the Most of your Work Sessions
Previously I’ve talked about my previous novel attempts and about difficult revisions and cutting. Today I’d like to talk about actually getting to work.
The reality for most aspiring authors is that their writing has to give way to the realities of a full life outside of it. Most of the time, that means squeezing in time in between your job that pays you and other life activities. However, sometimes you can get lucky and have the opportunity to spend a large dedicated chunk of time writing without work getting in the way. Having neglected to use my vacation time much over the past few years, I found myself with time off to spare and resolved to take a work week off and write. And so, between Christmas and New Years I had nothing to do but write… and do family things for the holidays, of course.
This column is about getting the most out of your time during those brief times you ought to be able to dedicate to writing and coping with the inevitable interferences that will crop up. [Read the rest of this article]
The Pain of Publication: Revising and Cutting
My first installment detailed my past attempt to get published. This article is going to detail the last steps I am taking prior to preparing another deluge of query letters. First, here is an explanation of where my current project: it’s called Roland’s Legion and it could be described succinctly as Red Dawn meets Harry Potter. I could go into more detail, but this column is less about the plot of my novel and more about how you go about dealing with a novel. My novel is in the midst of revisions by third parties (friends that I begged to read it and they took pity on me). Two of my friends read, reviewed, revised, and critiqued the novel once. Then I did rewrites and revisions. At this point, 5-7 more people are going through that process again with version 2.0. I should have their notes in by the Christmas. At that point, I won’t have any more excuses for why I haven’t worked on my latest draft.
So now, with all the self-important preamble out of the way, its time to cut to the heart of this column: killing what you love. It’s easy, academically, to understand you need to tweak and change sentences to make a novel more readable. Over the course of thousands and thousands of words you are almost certain to put down some downright incomprehensible sentences. Maybe you fall in love with a few, but diction is not the issue I’m covering here today. No, instead we’re talking plot. Some readers questioned the purpose and execution of what I will call The Religion Subplot. At first, I rejected the notion it needed to be changed. I could fix it, tweak it, and make it better. I would show my friends what it was that I meant in my brilliant manuscript even if they were too stubborn to see it. In fact, my first revision did see me overhaul and improve the The Religion Subplot.
However, my friend Andy, who was insane enough to read my draft a second time, still had some rather well-reasoned criticism of the The Religion Subplot. I had thought that I had fixed it, but his renewed complaints planted the seeds of doubt. After overcoming my own wounded pride, I decided to look at The Religion Subplot with as much objectivity as I could muster and judge it based on the following criteria: [Read the rest of this article]
The Pain of Publication: How I Got to Where I Am
For those of you who don’t me, I was one of the original group that started writing for Critical-Hits, but as my life changed, my time as a DM/GM dwindled. As such, my status as a regular columnist shrunk to that of a mere guest columnist. I grew up with TheGame and Bartoneus and can even be seen grinning foolishly in a few Ennie Award pictures. My column, the Pain of Campaigning has languished and faded into obscurity, but from the ashes of that experience I would like to introduce my new column: The Pain of Publication.
If you want advice from guys that have actually been published in the gaming world, frankly, there are plenty on this site. None of my work has seen publication. My efforts are focused more on fiction writing. However, even in that regard, I have also struck out. I never tried to get the first novel I wrote published. I realized it was deeply flawed and I lacked the dedication to fix it. My second novel was better, and after a major overhaul I even had agent representation, but my agent never did get it published. Now, years later, I am nearing the completion (read: temporary stoppage in editing) of my third completed novel and seeking once again to find an agent and get published.
The Pain of Publication is a journey through this process. I emphasize, again, that this is a process. I can offer no advice on what works, because nothing has for me, but what I can do, is discuss my regular activity related to this subject. This column’s focus will range from the obvious (getting an agent), to related (how do I make my novel worth publishing), and all the way through tangential subject matters (I have not yet fathomed what those might be).This first installment is going to focus on how I found an agent. There are literally books written on this, and agents out there with information on how they find and evaluate talent. Those books and resources are more qualified to speak on things as an expert, but its my hope that my own anecdotal experiences and lessons learned will be useful to some people out there. [Read the rest of this article]
Piledriver: The Most Popular Game Ever Played
Piledriver. You’ve all played it, sometimes on purpose, sometimes by accident, but you play it more than you expect.
I can’t name all the times I played Piledriver, but I can tell you when I first knew I was playing Piledriver. I had just bought Settlers of Catan and rather than any one of us sitting down and thoroughly reading the rules, we blew through the instructions, thought we understood, and began to play. We randomly placed our numbers down, built settlements without a care for roads, and committed all sorts of unforgiveable sins that butchered every attempt at elegant and balanced game design, but most of all we had fun. During the evening of play, a friend read the rules and said that we had basically played a completely made up game bearing only slight resemblance to Settlers of Catan. I don’t know why, but when it was revealed we had been playing wrong someone said, “Pileeeeeeedriver!”
And thus, Piledriver was born. [Read the rest of this article]
Quitical Hits Review: “Quarriors”
Quarriors is a deck building game that uses dice instead of cards, published by WizKids. 2-4 players gather dice that represent monsters to impress the Empress of their realm. Average playtime seems to be near half an hour, and this review is based on three plays.
Gameplay
Play begins with twelve base dice and you roll six at random for your turn. Resources generated by those dice can be used to summon monsters, buy spells, and acquire new monsters. Each die can come up with resources, a reroll, or a monster/spell. Monsters cost resources to bring out, spells typically happen without paying for them and then have some in-game effect. Some monster dice have different level monsters that cost varying amounts for different levels of potency. Summoned monsters have to survive your opponents turn before scoring. First one to score a preset number of points wins. As a bonus, when you score, you can “cull” dice form your dice pool to cut out your increasingly outclassed starting dice. [Read the rest of this article]
