D&D Zombie Apocalypse, Part 2: The What Ifs
In part 1, I described how an improv D&D game I ran at the New York ComicCon had a Zombie Apocalypse as a setting.
While the game had nothing spectacular in terms of the encounters we played or the monsters the players fought (zombie wolves), the concept awoke my dormant creativity and sent into a spiral of ideas and concepts upon which a campaign setting could rest on.
The Fantasy Zombie Apocalypse What-If Game
Ever since that game, my mind’s been afire with the idea of running an actual D&D game during a Zombie Apocalypse. The game has the necessary resources: there are a gazzillion zombie creatures in the D&D Compendium, the Open Grave sourcebook has many ideas about them and, well, zombies are just too cool for school.
(Hello Phil? The 80′s called and they want that tacky buzz phrase back)
But here’s what makes ot so interesting to me, when you mix any generic fantasy world and apply a zombie plague over it, you get the most interesting concepts.
For a modern take on the subject, refer to this 2009 Halloween post of mine.
So why don’t we play my favourite of all creative games, the What-If game? [Read the rest of this article]
D&D Zombie Apocalypse, Part 1: Genesis
A few weeks ago, I got to attend New York’s ComicCon as one of Wizards of the Coast’s volunteer DMs. I ran a few “Learn to Play” events, using the recent D&D Red Box and a few level 1 pre-generated characters to entice new (and returning) players back into the fold.
As I was getting ready to play the less than stellar adventure found in the Box, the event’s organiser pulled me aside and told me these magical words:
“Forget about the red box adventure, make something up entirely. Just start with a Roleplaying encounter and play it by ear from there.”
I had just given me the keys to the kingdom… and no one was there to watch me steal the crown jewels.
(Ewww, get your mind out of the gutter!)
You see, while the adventure in the Red Box is quite ordinary and the character generation method is one of the worst I’ve seen since Battlelords of the 23rd Century, the Red Box’s DM’s book is a solid piece of introductory gaming. Thus, armed with the monster chapter and the digest rule-42 on the last page (i.e. the DC table for level 1-3 gameplay), I got ready to inflict my very own brew of D&D on unsuspecting players.
I decided to put all my small press experience to bear on those games and approached the game as such:
Chatty: Okay, so you’re all relatively new adventurers who’ve banded together in the recent past. Can you tell me about your last adventure? More specifically, can you tell me one thing that went really good for your group and what that was really bad…
This post is about one of the best answers I got: [Read the rest of this article]
Bedtime Adventures: May-Gee’s Big Test, Part 2
This is the second part of a bedtime interactive story that I told my 8 y.o. daughter. See part 1 here.
Chatty: So May-Gee was worried that she was going to fail her magical gestures exam this afternoon so she practiced really hard. See, gestures need to be precise.
I started making Tai-chi like moves with my hands, making my hands weave and circle around each other. Rory sat up in bed and started doing the same. Soon we both were May-Gee, practicing moves for the exam.
Chatty: May-Gee’s test wasn’t simple, she had to freeze water in a glass globe without making it burst. That made her very nervous.
That’s why she was practicing?
Yes, she was outside the school, trying to do as many as she could before the test.
Okay. Then what?
Well… There was this boy see…
No daddy! Not a boy!
Oh come on Rory, it’s a story about teenagers, there’s always a boy right?
(Laughing) Yeah, you’re right…
What should we name him then?
We started riffing for names and they all sounded wrong, stupid or inappropriate. We laughed a lot. After a few horrible, hilarious failures…
Chatty: Oh I don’t know. How about Luke?
Rory (pondering): Yeah, lets take this one.
All right, so while May-Gee was practicing, Luke came to the field. He said “‘here let me help” but he just started showing off. He made the gesture really well and started freezing one globe after the other.
That’s not nice.
I know. That’s why May-Gee told him “You know I don’t like that when you do this. You’re not helping, this is HARD for me!” Do you want to know what she did after?
What?
Well there’s this one spell that May-Gee is really good at, and she uses it when people tease her too much.
Oh yeah?
Yeah, so she put her hands on her hips, made a little circle on the floor with her left foot and started whistling. Luke, recognizing the spell, started apologizing but it was too late. Luke’s lips started inflating like balloons!
I started lisping really bad.
I’m sho shoory May-Dzee, I didn’t mean to teashe you…
Daddy stop doing that, May-Gee stops the spell!
Of course she does. Luke’s lips shrunk back really fast, he was relieved. Do you want to know how Luke made it up to May-Gee for being mean?
Yes.
Luke told her “See, I have this music that plays in my head when I make magical gestures. It’s like I dance to it, making the moves easier. You want to try?” “Sure” May-Gee answered, “but I can’t hear what’s in your mind”. Do you wanna know what he did next?
Yeah!
At this point I was in full narrative control of the story, but Rory (and I) were really into it. The story was barreling in my mind like a train, it was just too awesome.
Luke came real close to May-Gee, putting his head near hers (I did the same with Rory) and he said “I have this trick I discovered in the library, lets try it”. He reached to the side of his head with his fingers and made a pinching movement. As he slowly pulled, May-Gee saw those lines and symbols you see in music class.
Yes I remember, the staff and notes.
Exactly! So as Luke pulled off this stream of music from his head, May-Gee heard a faint song play. Luke then brought his fingers to May-Gee’s head, the music entered her mind and she heard it loud and clear. Then Luke started teaching her how the music guided him to make the correct gestures. After a short while, May-Gee said she was ready to try. So, both Luke and her set many many water globes in a large circle around them, and they both started making the moves, slowly at first, freezing water , each doing their own side. It was quite a sight to behold, like a slow, graceful dance .
Oh wow…
As they worked together, they didn’t even notice how good they were. They became a team as they froze globes faster and faster.
Then what daddy?
Well, someone was watching them from the school’s top floor!
Who daddy?
It was Baladur. He came down in a storm just as the last 2 globes were frozen. He said “Excuse me young lady!”
Oh no!
May-Gee started apologizing, explaining that Luke was just helping her practice for the test. But Baladur interrupted her with a dismissive wave. “It’s incredible what you did there! I’ve never seen two magicians, much less such young ones, perform in perfect unison like that… You pass the test young ones, no need to do it again!”
Yay!
Then Baladur said “More importantly, you seem to have rediscovered the power of linked magic… this is stupendous… we need to explore that…” But that’s for another time, that was the story for tonight.
That’s my favorite story ever dad!
Then Rory did something that stunned me, showing me we were more alike than I ever expected. She took my head, brought it close to hers, made a slight pinching gesture near her left temple, pulled an invisible string and brought it to my right temple… whispering
“Do you hear the song daddy?”
Of course I do love, of course I do.
And we both hummed a song together for a few seconds.
My love for my kids knows no bounds. I cherish every moment that brings me closer to them, even though many of the things that prevent me to do so come from my own choices and quirks.
I once promised I would not miss my children growing up. I take this promise to heart.
Thanks for reading.
Bedtime Adventures: May-Gee’s Big Test, Part 1
This is something I haven’t done in a long time. I hope you enjoy.
Chatty: Okay Rory (8 y.o daughter), it’s my turn to tuck you in and tell you a story.
Rory: I thought it was mom’s turn. I don’t want a story then.
(Pause) You know that hurts me when you say that. Please go wash your teeth and get in your PJs please.
Okay daddy.
I really was hurt. I know I have a harder time connecting with Rory than I do with my son Nico. She’s more artistic than me and has this fiery temperament that will make her a proud, headstong woman too soon for my weak father’s heart. Thus, I pushed my feelings aside and prepared to insist as the time I spend with her is too short as it is. But Rory blindsided me, as she came out the bathroom, she hugged me and said:
I want a story dad, one you invent.
She doesn’t usually like them so much and has never before asked for one. I was more than happy to oblige.
And yeah, I saw what she did there, it’s a great skill to have.
Chatty: Okay, do you want one where I ask you questions or one that I make on the spot?
Hmmm, I’m not sure. I just want a story.
All right then, lets see… Usually a story starts in a world. There are many kinds of worlds.
Like horror right? With monsters and skeletons…
Rory has a certain macabre streak, she’ll make a great teenaged Wednesday Addams someday. Then again she gets easily scared by her own ideas. See this story from a few years ago.
Chatty: Yes, there’s also fantasy worlds with magicians, dragons and goblins. There’s adventure ones, where stories happen to people like you and me.
Oh and there’s Back to the Future stories too daddy, right?
Yes! But those are hard to tell because I always get everything mixed up!
(Giggles)
And then there’s stories set in space and the future. So which one do you want?
I want a Fantasy one!
Well a fantasy story always starts with a hero, or maybe in your case a heroine.
A heroine.
Okay, then we should name her don’t you think?
(Rory thinks for a second) Hmmm, how about May-Gee?
Mah-Gee?
No, MAY-Gee, she’s a magician.
Okay and how old is she? Is she a child, a teenager or an adult magician?
She’s between a teenager and an adult.
Oh okay, like 14-18 or something like that right?
Yes something like that.
Note to parents playing RPGs with kids. At a certain age, kids don’t want to play kids anymore, they want to play teenagers and young adult. They want to have an impact in the life around them and playing what they perceived as “free people” is where their motivations sit. So that’s why I was happy to go with it.
Okay so Mah-Gee…
MAY-GEE daddy. May… Like the month of May.
Oh right right, sorry. Okay, so since she’s an older teenager, she should be in a school for girl magicians (French: Magiciennes)
No daddy, she goes to a school for magicians, boys and girls!
Rory has a very strong inclusive streak in her. Something we try very hard to foster.
Done! She goes to this magicians’ school and… lessee. Oh I know! She’s a bit stressed because she has this big test coming okay?
Okay. I want this story to be a story about a magic school!
Okay, let’s do this! So MAY-Gee (emphasis to mark my effort to get name right) is really worried today because she has this test with professor Baladur today.
Ballet-dur? She takes ballet lessons?
Why not, you could make magic with dance moves, want me to show you?
(Laughing) Don’t be silly daddy…
Of course not. His name is BALA-dur and he teaches (borrowing from Rory’s idea) magical gestures!
Why?
Oh young lady, you should know that magical gestures are capital to making proper magic spells. Imagine if you wanted to make a fireball to defend against a Troll and you…
…Made fireworks! (Giggling)
Exactly! Now wouldn’t that be terrible?
I like this story daddy.
My heart melted like only a father’s can.
Up next: May-Gee meets “the boy” and discovers the secret of linked magic.
Chatty DM, Freelancer, Part 5: OMG! I Made it!
Oh yeah, This is getting real baby!
This is the last of my autobiographical series that describes my becoming a writer and a freelancer. You can follow the series by clicking: part 1, part 2, part 3, and part 4.
Once the Plan was in place (see part 4), I started looking where I could send pitches. It was late in 2009; the economic crisis had hit the industry hard. Many struggling third-party publishers had few projects and the pay was too low for me (like 1 cent a word).
Rate aside: The rate per word (or per article) that you get paid is variable. It always starts low. I’ve worked from 3 cents a word (my first adventure) up to 20 cents for some of my most recent copywriting work. Game and adventure designs based on pitches usually pay between 4 to 6 cents a word. Rates increase when you are invited to join bigger projects with actual budget (like a WotC book or like the recently announced Marvel Super Heroes RPG).
Just don’t expect to ever become rich on this… that’s why I still have a (part time) day job.
So how did I start landing freelance jobs?
There’s no surefire secret. Were I to distill how I started to systematically land gigs, I’d bring it down to these points:
Networking with people.
I started going to Gen Con in 2008. At that time, I had had contacts with a few game designers through forums, emails and my then one-year old blog. For example, I was a regular on Monte Cook’s forums and had exchanged a few question-answers messages.
With a few, very rare exceptions, writers, designers and freelancers , if approached nicely, are easy to talk to and interact with. In my opinion, the BEST way to approach someone you admire is to go up to them, introduce yourself, and thank them for a specific product you liked. That will usually make them happy and more likely to talk to you. If you have a follow-up question that is simple enough, ask it. Engage them; make them talk about their stuff, their projects. By getting creative folks to talk about what they love, you’re establishing a great contact.
There is a chance you’ll notice they keep looking away from you, as if distracted by something. That’s because they have somewhere to be soon (or maybe you just don’t click). If they do, apologize and say you don’t want to be keeping them, and that you hope you get to talk more at a later time. It leaves a good expression and there’s a chance, if you do meet them later, that they’ll greet you as they recognize you.
Blogging also featured greatly in creating relationships with people of the industry. Late in 2007, I made a dumb post about Wolfgang Baur being the Storytelling Fluff Nemesis to my Crunchy Rules Overlord (links are broken, they come from my deleted Blogger blog). You should have seen my surprised face when, the next day, Wolfgang responded to a comment I left on one of his posts. I was delighted as I admired Wolfgang’s craft when it came to world building and setting flavour. I wanted to learn to become more like him and this “Crunch Overlord vs Fluff King” became a fun back and forth game which Wolfgang eventually won when I joined his team of freelancers on Kobold Quarterly.
Thus did I started seeing the potential of blogging, and more importantly, interacting with people from the industry.
Being nice to people always pays off.
Sending Queries
You won’t get invited into freelancing. You have to open the door and jam you foot in it with your skills and professionalism (i.e. write well, edit yourself, deliver on time and write what you were asked to write). Shortly after Gen Con 2009, I sent a query to WotC about making a D&D for kids adventure and I got a positive response to write a full outline. The idea never panned out as WotC later decided to tackle the idea in-house. But this first response gave me the positive boost I needed to keep at it. It told me that my ideas could be sold for money, provided I found myself at the right place and at the right conjecture in time.
How did I land my 1st magazine article? Very simple, I sent a “would you be interested in…” pitch to Wolfgang. He answered positively and that’s how I got to talk about mixing Skill Challenges in combat encounters back in the 2009 winter edition of Kobold Quarterly. Of course at that time, I had to learning a lesson that took me almost 2 years to fully grok:
Publishing in a magazine =/= blogging; edit your stuff, then do it again, and again. Get all the help you can.
Kobold Quarterly has high standards to get a piece published. Getting a query accepted does not mean your article will make it to print. You need to polevault over Wolfgang’s invisible quality line which keeps being raised with each passing issues. Your article is in competition with all others he gets for inclusion in the next issue. I was very lucky for my first piece to have the help of Ben Mcfarland, a veteran KQ contributor, who helped me morph my very conversationalist tone into a more neutral “magazine” voice.
Thanks Ben, I really owe you one.
Setting the Table for Success
I spent most of 2010 consolidating my non-RPG freelance projects. I spent countless hours building (and re-building) my training seminars, by far my highest paid part time gig. I also opened my own company in May and taught myself all the vagaries of billing, setting aside money for taxes, retirement, and other “fun” things like that. In the meantime, I got two more KQ queries accepted, one of which got published: an article on traps that become monsters and vice-versa in the Fall 2010 issue. The other was rejected.
The rejection was a bit painful, but not as bad as I thought, the piece was too gimicky for the magazine, maybe I should post it here.
I recall that during the fall of 2010, my wife Alex came to me and remarked that I wasn’t getting a lot of freelancing gigs vs the amount of time I had freed from my day job. She was right. At that point my other contracts and seminars were mostly set so I told her I’d initiate the final phase of “The Plan: Get (more) Freelance Contracts”. I sent about 10 pitches to Wizards of the Coast, none of them panned out. But I concentrated on getting my business up and running and stopped thinking about Wizards so much.
In all honesty, I was upset and discouraged that I couldn’t get a feet through the proverbial door. But D&D grand guru, James Wyatt, told me to hang in there… saying that he had been rejected a LOT before making it into Dungeon magazine.
Opening the Floodgates
It’s actually funny how things tumbled from there. First, I started hanging out with cool local Web 2.0 people: social media representatives for local media, tech bloggers, Tweeterati, TV show hosts, freelancers and others of that ilk. At one party, I met the host of a geek TV show and we hit it off talking about video games and RPGs. As it happens, he mentioned me in his weekly podcast; the week after I got a call from someone that offered me a regular copy-writing gig for a local workshop that manufactures realistic looking foam weapons for LARPs.
I still work for them; you can see some of my best work here and here.
Things really took off this year. I got a 3rd, very exciting query accepted for Kobold Quarterly which was just published in the Summer 2011 issue, a 4e article about playing character flaws and being rewarded for them. As my interest in small press games grew, especially with the Leverage game by Margaret Weis Production, I was invited by my friend Cam (MWP’s producer and lead designer/writer) to submit a 2000 word hack that allowed to play with Leverage‘s rules in a different genre.
I created a fantasy hack inspired by what I liked most of old school dungeon crawl… except I delivered 8000 words instead of 2000 
Cam also sent out a request for letters of interest to join the writing team of MWP’s newest RPG: Dragon Brigade based on Weis’ last novel: Shadow Raiders. After getting my response, he gave all contenders a writing test. I was asked to write, in an Alexandre Dumas voice, how to set scenes for a Swashbuckling game. I had a blast writing it. I think he liked it because I ended up writing more than 16 000 words for the game.
Of course, this was just a preview of the jackpot I would hit just a few weeks later. First, at the time I thought my chances if writing for Wizards of the Coast had evaporated, I got an email from the D&D Insider editorial inviting me (along several other bloggers and freelancers) to join their team of writers. This landed me 4 gigs: 2 Dungeon adventures and 2 Dragon magazine articles. If everything goes as planned you should see a combined Dragon/Dungeon set of article appear in the September issues and the next ones in early 2012.
After nearly 30 years of having started playing D&D, getting to officially contribute to it is such a honor. I hope I do the game justice.
Yet the biggest thing had yet to happen.
Cam (on IM): So what are your thoughts on Super Heroes gaming?
Phil: I have very fond memories of busting open TSR’s Marvel Super Heroes yellow box and making Wolverine fight Spiderman!
That discussion, initiated at an undisclosed date, eventually led me to be invited on the new Marvel Super Hero RPG design and writing team…
Brain… Blown.
The Journey Barely Begins
It took me nearly 25 years to realize I was a writer. It took me another 4 and a ton of effort, writing about a million words online, to become a better one. I made friends along the way that ultimately helped me make it in the RPG industry. Yes, I finally made it. And for a lot of this, I have you all to thank for it, through your supportive comments and helpful feedback.
Now I just have to keep on delivering. The road is not easier ahead, just more intense!
I hope you’ll get to derive the same kind of fun from what I will help create as I have with what the giants before me created.
Thanks for reading.
Chatty Shorts (and not Chatty’s Shorts, you pervs): Gen Con 2011
I’m so flooded in deliverables and projects that I can’t blog. I promised I would post once a week and I will try my best to hold on to that promise.
So here’s a hyper condensed version of my Gen Con highlights.
Booze and Bars
Our annual Drunken D&D game (a mix of college drinking game with an actual, tailor-made D&D adventure) was a huge success. We had a private area in our hotel’s sports bar (the J.W. Marriott’s High Velocity). The pre-party was full of friends and fans. It was hectic and awesome. I was drunk on Gin and Tonic way before I started rolling my 1st die. The game was very fun, the players had huge smiles and we laughed a lot. We ended up jettisoning big chunks of the adventure but that’s on par with the drunken experience.
We have crazy ideas about next year and a few improvement to make everything run smoother (we are improvement freaks).
Announcements:
Ennies: You may have heard about it, but Critical-Hits won the gold Ennies for best blog. We were stunned and happy. We’ve worked so hard on this site. especially Dave who’s devoted his heart and soul to the endeavor for so many years. It’s so great to see those efforts rewarded by our fans and peers. And we were complete classy guys on scene… all rumors about me streaking the Ennies scene are pure fabulations.
The Marvel Super Heros RPG: I can finally say it! I was hired to be part of the original design team for this upcoming Cortex-Plus based RPG planned for Feb 2012. It will be published by Margaret Weis Productions. I have the honour to be paired with such a slew of awesome people its humbling:
Core Design team: Will Hindmarch, Matt Forbeck, Jesse Scobles, Rob Donhoghue, Cam Banks, Amanda Valentine and myself.
Writing and Development of the first book (Basic game): Cam Banks, Dave the Game and myself.
I can’t wait to tell you more about it!
I Knew Him Before he was a Celebrity…
This line above became a running joke at Gen Con as I got a lot of high fives from friends, fans and people I look up to from the industry.
Where the story gets really cool is that I got to meet some of the industry’s top designers and got to actually interact with them before we recognized who we were. That’s how I ended up chatting for a good 25 minutes with Rob Heinsoo before we both got that look of “oh you’re THAT guy I know from the Internet/games you designed”. Something similar happened when my friend Logan introduced me to Keith Baker (Creator and designer of Eberron and Gloom) and we ended up brainstorming for his steampunk adventure while munching on street pizza. This was as fun as playing a game.
In 2008 I left Gen Con feeling like a Rockstar… In 2011, I can say, beyond my inner demons and gnawing doubts, that I am close to becoming one.
Provided I don’t fuck up the Marvel licence…
Phil: Gee insecurity, thanks for the vote of confidence.
Insecurity: Hey dude, that’s why you keep me around, I keep it real!
Phil: Oh go suck on AD&D second edition won’t you.
Insecurity: I’m hurt, you were a nice guy before you became a celebrity…
I also got to celebrate with the nicest people I met on Twitter. You know who you are as I can’t even attempt to namedrop you guys without making a mess of the whole thing. From the WotC Community crew and fans to the people I gamed, ate, caroused and walked around with, you all made my Gen Con a great experience.
A special mention goes to artist and freelance writer Claudio Posas:
As some may know, my Sunday trip home was canceled due to catastrophic failure of the plane’s brake AFTER an emergency stop on the runways. I therefore spent all of Monday at the airport with my new Brazilian friend, shooting the breeze, playing games and sharing our philosophies about life, family, women and gaming!
(I went back home on Tuesday morning).
I’ll try to catch up with you next week as, hopefully, my schedule clears up.
Now I’m diving back into Marvel pre-design work.
Thanks for sticking around, more awesome stuff coming up.
Chatty’s Gen Con 2011 Schedule and the Carpe Phil game
Just so you know what I look like during daylight
It’s a blogging tradition to share’s one Convention schedule so stalkers can hunt us down and tear us to pieces for posterity.
Not one to be left apart, here’s mine.
Wednesday
- 6:00 PM – DD&D Party at the JW Marriott High Velocity Bar & Restaurant. Details are here,everyone is invited.
- 8:00 PM – Running DD&D. This year’s theme: ULTIMATE DUNGEON REALITY SHOW
- After midnight: Cleanup, Escort people who need help, crawl to bed.
Thursday
- Hit the Expo hall and reconnect with contacts and friends. Buy stuff.
- Lunch with my buddy Ed Healy, one of the first guys who told me I’d make it. I see him only once a year at Gen Con, can’t wait.
- PM: Roam, play some games.
- 7:00 PM – Private D&D-related event.
- 10:00 PM – Magic (2012) draft with friends.
Friday
- Breakfast with my buddy DNA Phil from Gnome Stew
- AM: Walk around and maybe try to get invited into a D&D game in the Sagamore ballroom
- 1:00 PM – Attending the Margaret Weis Productions Q&A Seminar “Capers, Capes, and Cannons” (You WANT to be there for big Chatty news)
- PM: Free roaming and gaming
- 6:00 PM – Private event. Dave is going to be all stressed for the Ennies. I’ll have a beer.
- 7:00 PM – The Ennie Awards. We may win, we may not… but we’ve been nominated a few years in a row… that makes me glad.
- After the Ennies: Probably drinking/gaming somewhere , possibly at Scotti’s Pub with the WotC crew.
Saturday
- AM: I’ll spend all morning in the “Games on Demand” area, running my Fantasy Leverage hack: The Dungeon Job and maybe even some Dragon Brigade.
- PM: Wide Open… gimme suggestions. Possibly an official Magic Draft. Or gaming with friends and fans.
- 8:00 PM – Media Meet and Greet. Come and meet me, we’ll have drinks, we’ll talk and I’ll share free advice… (like anyone can stop me)
- Night: GAMING!
Sunday
- AM Last visit to Expo Hall,buying gift for kids and saying goodbye to friends.
- Lunch with friends
- PM: Going back to Montreal
Games I’ll have on me
Short Games: Spot it, Zombie Dice
Longer Games: Fiasco (I can play that game anytime, anywhere)
That's what I look like, by nightfall
The Carpe Phil game
It started as a Twitter joke where I said that I used to think “Carpe Diem” meant “Seize the Butt” (and implied I was a huge creepazoid). Then I turned the joke around and said I should make a Carpe Phil game à la Jane MacGonigal. So why not.
And no, it’s not an invitation to grab my butt, it IS awesome, but it is the property of someone special.
During the con, if I’m not otherwise occupied (ex: like running a game), I invite you to gather your courage and introduce yourself (or re-introduce yourself, I suck at names). I’ll have a special d20 on me that I’ll roll. On a 1-19, I’ll answer any short question you have about gaming, freelancing and dealing with Bipolar disorder. If you roll a 20 and I have the time, I’ll sit down with you for a short game of anything that lasts less then an hour.
One try per con-goer per day.
Either way, I’ll ask for your email and I’ll have a draw after Gen Con. The winner will get an autographed copy of one of my published works.
How’s that for a game for a gaming convention?
Looking forward to meeting/gaming with you all.
Chatty DM, Freelancer, Part 4: The Pit and The Plan
This post is part of a continuing series on how I became a freelancer and game designer. You’ll find part 1, part 2 and part 3.
The Amazing Ride
I came back from Gen Con 2008 surfing the wave of a certain type of madness that was later labeled as “Hypomania”. Excited beyond belief, ready to take on the world as a writer and a designer, I started a ton of projects and wrote all kinds of weird posts, including my all time favorites, micro-posts I dubbed “Yet Another 5000 word epic post about the contents of my laundry basket” Here’s an exemple:
What Gen Con Meant to Me
Feeling: I entered Gen Con 2008 feeling like a Nobody, I left it feeling like a Rockstar
Lesson learned: Edition Wars hate mongers are idiots. Rules are lies, Game systems are guidelines at best. Bask in the awesomeness of your bile and leave us alone while we have fun.
That was it, barely 70 words but oh so filled with emotion.
That part of my life was one of roller coasters and thrills. I started a new blog to talk about my design activities, I started a photo webcomic about talking D&D minis. I created a project called “Kobold Love” (a D&D adventure where the PCs were kobolds and the quest was to go and kill the good-aligned quest giver that kept sending adventurers into the dungeon, killing all the monsters).
I had great ideas aplenty, my mind aflame, sleep a luxury I decided I could do without. Hell, one of the D&D designer I admired the most told me I could bounce ideas his way once in a while.
Oh how much I burned that bridge… the once in a while became A LOT, and TOO OFTEN.
Yet… as this magical manic phase receded, I found myself juggling way too much with almost no time left.
I started dropping balls; I discovered the concept of Nerd Projectitis (and even wrote about it a few months later)
The roller coaster ride of manic-depression was starting to accelerate into darkness… [Read the rest of this article]
Chatty DM, Freelancer, Part 3: RPG Blogging, The Revelation
The is next part of my autobiographical series on how I came to terms with the fact that I was I writer and how I then became a freelancer. It also marks my 4th anniversary as a blogger!
See part 1 here and part 2 here.
On July 24 2007, about 8 months after being hired as the Quality Manager for the Montreal Heart Institute Pharmacogenomics Centre, I opened up a Blogger account. I had all these fields to fill before I could get to the cool writing I wanted done. I spent nary a minute and settled on “Musings of the Chatty DM” as the blog’s title.
A choice I never regretted.
My first post was telling in terms of not quite knowing where things would go with the website (and my dubious grasp of written English):
I’ve been thinking for a long time about starting a Blog, I got an account at Live Journal (Unfinished 1st Post) and another one at Microsoft (3 Posts, hate the interface).
Since I have recently gone completely Googlely, I decided I might as well give Blogger a shot.
Anyway, I think I have always been blogging ever since I was given a email account. The only difference is that my readers (read: my D&D player’s mailboxes) were more or less captive of my musings. I think out of respect for them I should move away from that form of expression and do it on a Bona Fide blog. Of course, I can’t expect to have as many readers…. lol.
Sigh…
I’m currently reading Wil Wheaton’s Just a Geek and I can’t help seeing a few similarities with his first posts, mine and those I see from talented new bloggers all over. First, we all look a bit like losers, seeking validation by using self-deprecation from the get go. Second, we all seem to struggle learning proper blogging English use. I mean, did I really say “lol” in a blog post? That’s like Wil’s overuse of the word “Lame” in his first few articles.
What’s “proper Blogging English” you ask? I touched it in the past:
While spelling and grammar are not hyper-critical (and can be helped by online tools), writing clear sentences, short paragraphs and ordering your thoughts in a comprehensive way is very important.
My first posts were short (yeah… pffff!) and very very numerous. I wrote about 860 posts in 4 years; each on average 1000 words each. At that time, I was looking for my voice yet still growing very fond of the act of writing just for the pleasure of doing so. What really got me going was getting comments from friends on some posts. From that point forward, I felt a great rush whenever I received a comment-notification email. I still love getting comments and read them all as soon as I can manage.
In August 2007, from the lofty height of my 30 days as a blogger, I cooked up my “Golden Rule of Modern Blogging“:
Write your Blog by assuming your boss, your wife/significant other/mom and your worst enemy will read it.
At that time, I was writing most of my blog post from work (guilty!) and I realized that I needed to start playing it safer. But, as I said in part 2, I was kept nowhere near busy enough to prevent me from knocking professional balls out of the park AND blog once a day at the same time. Of course… I didn’t edit my posts at all back then… so it was easier to just write and send while drinking the morning’s first Diet Coke (I don’t drink coffee).
I attribute 2 elements to my early success as a blogger (beyond my natural, if then unrefined talent as a writer):
The Linking Game (or the Birth of a Community)
First, I stumbled on the trick of linking to other blogs. At one point, I realized that I could write blog posts instead of leaving them comments on other blogs. When I did this, I instantly noticed how fast the blogger would come to check what the linked article said. This often started discussions and inspired blog posts between sites. In the late summer of 2007, I became close to a group of bloggers who had started at around the same time I did, namely the cast at Stupid Ranger (Dante, Stupid Ranger herself and Vanir who eventually joined us) and Zax a Montreal-born, Hawaii-based blogger who created and used to run Dungeonmastering.com. We exchanged links and emails a lot.
I also forged links with the guys that made me want to blog about RPGs: Dave and Danny over at Critical-Hits.com. They gave me advice and started dropping by the blog with witty comments and good feedback.
“Wait what?” aside: I merged with Critical-Hits in January of 2010, that’s why I refer to them as seperate here.
From this group grew a tight-knit community of what I would later call “The Second Generation RPG bloggers” (I then considered Jeff Rients and Berin Kinsmen to be among the 1st gen). We shared readers, links, reviews and news. This contributed to kickstart my readership but more importantly, it forged deep friendships that last to this day. Every time we can afford it, we meet at cons, game and organize events.
In fact, our annual Gen Con Drunken D&D, which now sports 4 DMs and 20 players, started in a hotel room in 2008 with 7 of those blogger friends sitting around a way too small table, having way too much fun.
Tropes!
I found my first (of many) voices as a blogger (and hit proverbial jackpot) when I started tackling tropes as playing aids for making RPG adventures. To this day, my Rule of Cool posts remains one of my favorite, most to-the-point post I have written (warts and all):
To transpose to RPG terms: Your players will put up with almost any illogical or “wobbly” plot devices or encounter you throw at them as long as things get cool enough. Which basically makes me think that my efforts as a DM should not so much be on far-reaching World Building and tight nitpicking-proof plot lines and such.
I should go all out for encounters and role playing that will swamp my players in coolness. Think combat on ice Bridges, negotiating the release of prisoners in a flooding underground prison, hopping from floating island to pieces of flying ruins in order to catch the thieves of the Star jewel of Radnia…
I had a blast writing about tropes. It fed my inspiration and growth as a blogger from the fall of 2007 way into 2009.
The Addiction Sets In
The blog’s success turned the endavour into an obsession. I was addicted to the sheer validation I got from the readers. So much so than my job of the time. The story they shared and the discussions they sparked were astounding. I was amazed that while people were battling trolls on their websites, I was surrounded by sane, polite (if passionate) people who really cared about the hobby. Oh I got a few rowdy guests (less than a handful in 4 years actually), but they were either convinced to behave and became lively, constructive participants (one even became a successful blogger) or were ignored.
Here’s a quick comment-management tip I think I got from Shamus Young (from Twenty-Sided) which I’ll paraphrase here:
A blog is not a public forum, it’s like your porch. People are welcome on it and everyone can discuss more or less freely according to your rules. Yet, when it’s all said and done, it is YOUR porch, and YOUR house. If people misbehave, or say things you don’t tolerate, you are free to ask them to leave. You can even kick them out and clean their messes.
At this point in my blogger experience, I found myself stuck in a pattern where I started to write for the readers. I wanted to generate responses, I wanted my inbox constantly flooded with comments. I was a slave to my blog and it started to show. Edition Wars posts, rants, contest posts, all these were plenty and easy to write… but I took less and less satisfaction from it I hit a few slumps and started looking for new voices on the blog. That’s when I started re-focusing on doing the blog for myself and consider its readership as a side-effect of the enthusiasm I pored into my prose.
Eureka, I’m mad!
While coming back from Gen Con 2008, in the grips of what would later be diagnosed as hypomania, I finally came to terms with what I was. I wrote this on the plane ride home:
I’m a Writer, because I blog and write Standard Operating Procedures for a living.
I’m a Writer, because I write adventures for my friends.
At Gen Con, I met many awesome people from the RPG industry as well as others, like myself, sitting at the edge of it all; many of them are Writers.
I don’t know why they are Writers. I’m a Writer because, given the opportunity to write about the things I love, I would do it 12 hours a day.Hell, I’d rather write than sleep!
Along with spending time with my family and gaming with my friends, writing makes me satisfied and happy. It brings me in the Flow: Time just stops existing while I spew stuff my mind makes up on the spot, my fingers flying on the keyboard at a speed that nearly matches my excited geek diatribes.
I’m a Writer, and I post my stuff on the Internet because I chose to ignore my doubts and stopped listening to my Inner Demons. I knew I had talent and I’ve managed to get a lot better since I started writing online 12 months ago.
I would love to become a published author of RPG material. I’d go absolutely geek-crazy to see my name on a Dungeon/Dragon/Kobolds Quarterly article.
If there was a way to make a decent living out of it, I’d quit my job in 5 minutes and never look back. Thing is, in the RPG industry, gamers won’t pay 400$ for a printed game system. While some would spend such a sum for getting a graphics cards just to play this “One computer Game”, you won’t see this happening in the RPG industry. Writers are paid like crap and amateur writer/fans often give out their work for free.
(I’m sure the same thing occurs in other writing fields.)
That’s not freaking fair but that’s life. I understand why it’s like that and thank God that the people in the industry are so nice. Quite often, just having a quick chat (or better yet a game) with a designer you admire makes up for all the work you poured into that adventure you wrote to run for your friends.
Be that as it may, I do not currently have the courage to leave my current job and jeopardize my family’s security to pursue the dream of writing full time. I do it in my free time and I make plans…Writers deserve better. That’s why I buy copies of new Role Playing Games I like. I want to support the creators like I hope others will support me some day…
Madness had finally struck me head on …
But with it finally came the Truth…
I was a Writer, I always have been and god willing, I always will be.
Does Size Really Matter?
About 5 years ago, a colleague at the genetics lab where I used to work burst into my office and said:
Quick Phil! How many people does it take to call something ‘an orgy?’
While this is a fascinating question, that’s not the main point of this post*. Rather, I found that raunchy anecdote to be the perfect intro for what’s been on my mind lately. You see, I’ve been pondering just how much of an impact the number of people sitting at my RPG table have on the overall playing experience. I ask that question as some of the last games I played felt handicapped by having too many players around the table. As I always do when I’m not entirely satisfied with my play experience, I start an introspective post to analyse the emotions that tinges my memory of that session.
Interestingly enough, such blogging often helps me understand side-issues that, on the whole, leads to far more interesting insights.
Here’s the crux of my problem: I find that when I run mechanically intensive games like D&D and Pathfinder, the overall playing experience gets significantly reduced when there’s 5 players or more. Yet… as I grow older, I have a harder and harder time getting my gaming friends all together to play.
It would seem that issue 2 resolves issue 1 right? All I need to do is adopt an episodic approach to gaming (the adventure starts and ends at each session) and whomever shows up plays (like a revolving cast of actors). Alternatively, we can just bust out one of our near endless number of incredibly well designed board games and have a great evening of fun. Right!
Right?
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