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: 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]
Pain of Campaigning: Rotating GMs
Dave and I always joked about our gaming white whale: The Supers Game. It’s not that running a superhero game was impossible, it was just that, for us, it had never gelled. Enter Gencon 2010 and my purchase of DC Adventures. I had a system, and I had player interest (though just barely); I even had a weeknight that would work, but I had one problem:
I wanted to play the damn game, not just run it.
And so, I launched a nefarious scheme. I would run an awesome adventure and then announce that I planned on being the “Head GM” for the group, but that I’d pass the GMing duties off after that. To be honest, as simple as it seemed, I was unsure as to whether or not my players would be interested or if they’d mutiny. Thankfully, two other players of mine eagerly volunteered to Co-GM.
Nineteen adventures and seven months later, I have learned a few things about how to manage a rotating GM. [Read the rest of this article]
The Guest DM
Occasionally, DMs need a break. In long-running highly developed game worlds players may find that there are parts of the campaign or the world that they are particular interested in. If they notice that the DM needs a break, but is still is gung-ho about his game, this presents a golden opportunity. Running a single adventure in the regular DM’s game world is an unusual break for him and a change of place for the players. To be successful requires communication between the standard DM and the guest DM, an understanding about the place in the campaign of your solo adventure, and the right personalities to embrace and enjoy the role reversal.
First, the anecdotal example I’m using: I am part of a long running SAGA Star Wars campaign. Its timeline began after the end of Revenge of the Sith and has already seen one set of 19th level characters enter semi-retirement. Amongst those characters was my accidental Jedi Master. My DM and I agreed it was time to put him on a bus because he had hung around too long and didn’t fit the fluff of the era. He started off as a guest character/macguffin doomed to die, but for whatever reason he managed to keep escaping his destined fate. So, I agreed to have him leave. He took a power that let him masquerade as if he was a dark side character and secretly “joined” the Emperor and his Empire with the identity of an Inquisitor he had vanquished. Now, the new PCs were being sent in to infiltrate his compound (at my suggestion) and I offered to run it as a “reverse dungeon.”
For starters, this Star Wars game is very big on its in-game canon. As such, weeks ahead of time I made a nice flowchart of the adventure to show what would happen. Last minute adventure prep is not the way to go here. The nuts and bolts of the adventure were fine, but my DM made sure to insert the correct proper nouns into the mission fluff. It was a bit more formally planned than usual for me, but I felt it was important to assuage any concerns about me planning on giving the party millions of credits to ruin the game. For the procrastinating DMs out there, this is a bit of a change, but it’s a sacrifice that has to be made in such a collaborative effort. If you try to run an adventure like this, be prepared for tinkering of some kind. It may be with the core of the adventure itself, however, the important thing is to make sure that you’re on the same wavelength and not get too married to any one idea. Campaigns are the DM’s precious baby, and it’s only natural that they may be a bit of a helicopter parent when it comes to loosening the reigns.
Second, you want to make sure you know about where your adventure takes place in the campaign as a whole. In my example, the DM has been using three parties on a rotating basis. He wanted a story option that would explain phasing out one party (if the players chose to do so) and a way to gracefully have a character whose player left bow out. This was done by having the entire “mission” against my old character be an elaborate ruse for him to make contact with Rebel elements and hire the mercenaries that undertook the attack against him. It could also be a simple side quest without any real tie to the game at large. Even so, you can always ask to use certain minor NPCs to give them more development in the game world as a whole. Be wary about making the adventure revolve around your current character. Bringing back retired favorites for a cameo is fine, but don’t have the game devolve into a wankfest.
In addition, both the DM and the DM-substitute need to be easy-going enough to allow their creativity to be tinkered with. In my case, the regular DM and I have played games with each other for nearly 15 years. We respect one another’s playing and DMing, so it was not a hard sell. Even so, he had to deal with my general disinterest in Star Wars equipment and pseudo-science during the adventure and I had to deal with his “interpretation” of the character he was playing (read: he was hamming it up as a player). It was all well and good, but you have to willing to accept the differences in the game. Moreover, you need players that are willing to accept an abrupt change in style. While I blew at least four different rules calls during the game, I also let players automatically succeed more often even if the rules called for a check. I killed off mooks that were close to dead rather than meticulously keeping track of hit points. In the end, you just have to have a group that’s focused on fun and unique play over consistency and regularity.
Guest DMing can give a player a chance to flex his DMing muscles, the old DM a brief respite, and a chance for a new take on the game world and the game itself for the players. It requires collaboration, a good working rapport, and an open-minded group, but the opportunity and uniqueness of the change is well worth the effort.
Tabletop RPGs and Music: The Beautiful Thieves
Inspiration for adventures, campaigns, and characters oftentimes come from the same shared geek sources. If your play group is a mirror of your social circle, chances are you share the same touchstones of inspiration: Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, a few book series, some choice TV shows, and shared experiences from the past. As such, if I were to introduce a debilitated gunslinger to my RPG group the would roll their eyes at me and say “Doc Holiday from Tombstone, AGAIN?!” While it’s perfectly legitimate (and even encouraged!) to use shared sources as fodder for your RPGS, sometimes using an unusual source subject to interpretation is superior. Music can be evocative of particular emotions and aesthetics, but possess lyrics sparse enough to spark imagination and allow you, as the GM/DM or player creating a character, to own the concept while still owing your inspiration to another source.
Every RPGer struggles to make their game special. No one wants to run a forgettable, generic game. In my opinion, music can very easily fuel ideas for unique campaign settings, adventure, or character concepts. As a player, in TheGame’s notorious Kitchen Sink D&D game, I chose Frog from Chrono Trigger’s theme song for my idealist psionicist team leader, Levi Black (kudos if you figure out where I ripped that name off from). Hearing that song, even today, really puts me in the character’s shoes (sorry Frog you were great too!) As a GM I offered an XP bonus to anyone that picked a character theme song and explained to me why they chose it. When I was planning adventures I’d key up those songs to help me evoke the character and their attitude and persona. [Read the rest of this article]
