As I continue my preparations for an upcoming D&D campaign, set in my original world, Telia, I’ve come across an interesting challenge. In other settings, where a guide or sourcebook properly defines every culture and piece of the map, players can easily figure out their character’s place in the world, but when the world itself isn’t ready yet, how do you help the players figure out their origin? Continue reading Campaign Preparations – Player Homes
Tag: Writing
Campaign Preparations – World Building
A long time ago (in a galaxy far far away), I began my series of articles on writing a novel, detailing the steps to follow to write your story, how to prepare and break down your tasks in a way that works…for me. And last week I mentioned I was preparing a D&D campaign on my original world, Telia, which I’m building along with some of my players, as they’re incredibly creative people.
One of the things I spent time explaining in that little writing series was the planning stage, and particularly on the world building. In building this D&D world I’ve come to realise the major difference between doing so for a novel and for an RPG campaign. Continue reading Campaign Preparations – World Building
Dungeons Mastering – Campaign Preparations!
For the past few months I’ve been preparing to narrate a new campaign, as I’ve mentioned how much I love being a dungeon master. I gathered the players and convinced them to join me in exploring a new world in Dungeons & Dragons.
Because as much as I love the lore of the established Dungeons & Dragons realms and how much fun I’ve had playing in the worlds created by other authors and Dungeons Masters, I have always felt there is so much more you can do with your own world. It takes much more work, especially if you’re doing taking care of all geographical, political, economic and even racial aspects of your world. Continue reading Dungeons Mastering – Campaign Preparations!
The Fool’s Journey – Persona 5 Characters – Part 3
In the Persona series, the protagonist’s relationships with party members and important NPCs appear in the form of Arcanas, represented as Tarot cards, with the protagonist often taking the Fool card, number 0 in the Tarot. This is the wild card, representing innocence, creativity and inexperience.
A way to understand the Tarot is the Fool’s Journey, which takes you from Zero to the last card, from the Fool to The World, in a narrative about that card’s journey to find itself and overcome its own weaknesses. In Persona 5, you even hear this explanation and how each confidant, each NPC holding an Arcana, contributes to the protagonist’s personal Journey.
So let’s talk about those characters and what I think about them. Note: Below you’ll find minor spoilers on character story arcs. You have been warned. Continue reading The Fool’s Journey – Persona 5 Characters – Part 3
The Fool’s Journey – Persona 5 Characters – Part 2
In the Persona series, the protagonist’s relationships with party members and important NPCs appear in the form of Arcanas, represented as Tarot cards, with the protagonist often taking the Fool card, number 0 in the Tarot. This is the wild card, representing innocence, creativity and inexperience.
A way to understand the Tarot is the Fool’s Journey, which takes you from Zero to the last card, from the Fool to The World, in a narrative about that card’s journey to find itself and overcome its own weaknesses. In Persona 5, you even hear this explanation and how each confidant, each NPC holding an Arcana, contributes to the protagonist’s personal Journey.
On Wednesday, I spoke of the first seven Persona 5 characters, let’s do another seven today! Note: Below you’ll find minor spoilers on character story arcs. You have been warned. Continue reading The Fool’s Journey – Persona 5 Characters – Part 2
The Fool’s Journey – Persona 5 Characters – Part 1
I’ve been playing Persona 5 for weeks now, and I’m finally getting close to the end, as I’m just a few rooms away from the final boss and the true ending. I’m even considering streaming the last battle, if only to spite the abusive bastards at Atlus, who have the gall of trying to set limits on the game’s broadcasting and recording and even block out PlayStation 4 features.
But that’s not what I want to talk about today.
In the Persona series, the protagonist’s relationships with party members and important NPCs appear in the form of Arcanas, represented as Tarot cards, with the protagonist often taking the Fool card, number 0 in the Tarot. This is the wild card, representing innocence, creativity and also inexperience.
A way to understand the Tarot is the Fool’s Journey, which takes you from Zero to the last card, from the Fool to The World, in a narrative about that card’s journey to find itself and overcome its own weaknesses. In Persona 5, you even hear this explanation and how each confidant, each NPC holding an Arcana, contributes to the protagonist’s personal Journey.
So let’s talk about those characters and what I think about them. Note: Below you’ll find spoilers on character story arcs. You have been warned. Continue reading The Fool’s Journey – Persona 5 Characters – Part 1
The Witch of the Wilds
My son, if you’re reading this, then it’s your turn and I’m not around to take your place.
But despite the pleas I’m sure you’re hearing now, urging you to hurry and join the rest of the hunters, I beg you not to follow them, not yet, not until you read this. For in these pages you’ll find something you’ll need if you are to survive the night in the woods, if the spirits and monsters don’t devour you first. Continue reading The Witch of the Wilds
Playing with Expectations – Not So Scary Nancy Drew
Last month I wrote about expectations and how they have an impact on the emotional response you have with stories, games or any other form of entertainment. I wrote about how my expectations for a light-hearted romp made two Nancy Drew titles get to me. They managed to create tense atmospheres and even managed to scare me.
When I published that article, someone commented that I should have waited to play Nancy Drew: Ghost of Thornton Hall, as it was the scariest of all Nancy Drew games.
Having recently finished this title—on my way to play all the games in the Nancy Drew series, a goal I’m very close to achieving—I thought it might be a good idea to tell you about my experience with Nancy Drew: Ghost of Thornton Hall. Continue reading Playing with Expectations – Not So Scary Nancy Drew
Puzzle Design – Narrative vs Challenge
If there’s one thing that you can expect from an adventure game, it’s puzzles. They’re part of the genre, and even the slew of choice-based adventures we’ve seen in the past few years have at least one puzzle in them, a little challenge to break the pace from the monotony of watching interactive cutscenes.
If the above sentence makes it sound like I don’t like choice-driven games, you’re getting close, though it’s not exact either. I like challenges and puzzles in my videogaming, and when it comes to adventures, I want puzzles, be it logic, inventory or even conversation based. It’s why I loved Life is Strange, it didn’t sacrifice the puzzling for the choices, finding a good balance between them.
But as I sit here contemplating adventure games I realise there are different approaches to puzzle design, and while this might a gross oversimplification and generalisation, I believe you can put the overall design approaches into two categories: Narrative Driven and Challenge Driven. Continue reading Puzzle Design – Narrative vs Challenge
Storytelling – Expectations and Emotional Impact
In an earlier writing guide, I mentioned the importance of proper building for emotional impact, how showing character traits instead of mentioning helps readers form the crucial connections that will enable them to feel whatever it is you want them to, from humour and attraction to anxiety—and if you can manage it, fear.
But there is something to say about expectations. With any genre, emotion and well, story, knowing what is coming or at least having a hint can derail whatever the storyteller attempts. It’s why, for example, horror novels don’t faze me. I have never felt fear from a book, not even a Stephen King novel. I’ve felt revulsion, anxiety even, but that cold drip of dread I have never suffered. Continue reading Storytelling – Expectations and Emotional Impact