Month: January 2011

DCU, Eberron and Rogue Trader

Yeah, it’s kind of catching up again. The good news is that much fun is being had and that the writing continues in one form or another. I think I’m finally ready to put a foot forward and continue work on The Many Labors of Bob, my novel in progress. And I think I have a plan to keep me on track. It’s a rather bold and different plan, but I have a fair amount of confidence that it will work.

The current video game du jour has been DC Universe which I’ve been playing a lot lately – strictly for professional reasons (riiiiiight). It’s brought me back to my City of Heroes days in a good way. CoH had many, many problems, one of which was constant updating and nerfing. DC seems stable, fun and, more importantly, not wholly dependent on playing in teams. I’m progressing rather well by myself and playing in groups has been fun. For those of you following HeyPoorPlayer, I’ll be putting up my two week update on it sometime this week, god willing. Perhaps the snow will help me out in that regard.

Eberron and Rogue Trader of course also continue on, with RT picking up again tonight. Provided atmospheric effects don’t scare two of my players off. The new group for Eberron seems really enthusiastic. Hopefully all parties involved get a big a kick out of it as I do.

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Writing A Different Kind of Story

When I’m not writing short stories, reviews or my first novel, I’m writing about something else. Unlike other kinds of writing, I find that this kind is not really a solitary practice. In fact, I pretty much write the setting out, pop in some bad guys and outline a goal. I then find other people to be heroes and they make up the dialog and decide how the plot is best advanced.

Sounds like a fantasy project doesn’t it? Well, you could call it that. It’s called module writing, and it ties into RPG events. It’s fun, though it has its difficulties.

It’s sometimes difficult to do this when I have other projects going in addition to the other interests and/or addictions I have. But, it’s almost always rewarding. I take no small amount of pride when I put together a supplement of my own for the game, though I imagine those who write modules professionally have a better organizational system than I do. I can set to task with Keynote on my iPad or use the Dungeonmaster’s Toolkit app to keep things straight (provided the app has the right plugins for the proper systems). More often than not though, I imagine my personal game notes might drive another GM mad. I have no coherent record for ‘The Box Boy’s Ghost’ campaign, which was written around a real, unsolved crime right in Fairmount Park. Or the Whatley House encounter, deep within the mountain ranges of Colorado. Or the Scion campaign in which I pitted my players against the nightmares of the Egyptian Titans. Sure, I have my feverish notes. But, I sometimes wonder if I collated them if there’d be any gain beyond that of my own satisfaction – and the satisfaction of my players of course.

The toughest part though is that the narrative is largely written by the characters. What they do and how they react, determines much about any scenario I give them. And more often than not, just like a good battle plan, it does not survive the initial encounter. It’s like ad-libing and free association had some malign lovechild, intent on making things turn out WAY different than expected.

Though, admittedly, that’s part of the thrill. Tomorrow, I shall see how it all turns out for the test-run demo I’ll be running for Gamma World at Days of Knights, date soon to be determined for the actual event. If you’re interested in playing sometime in February and are in the Delaware area, pop by DoK’s and ask tell John you’re interested.

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Childrens’ Runes For the 41st Millennium

I have two adorable new relatives living out west who just turned ten months old. Uncle Maurice has tons of neat stuff planned for them, and will be working very hard to ensure that if they don’t actually become nerds that they’ll have some sort of recessive, stealth nerd traits. You have to get the mental seeds planted while they’re young, so how else better than rhyme and verse? In this case, I am encouraging my niece and nephew to look deep into the Warhammer 40K universe. As Games Workshop will tell you: In the grim darkness of the 41st millennium, there is only war.

So, I present for them the following. For those of you along for the ride, feel free to spectate at the sidelines.

A for Astartes, who fight in the stars.
B for Bionics, constructed on Mars

C for Carnifex, all chitin and slime
D for Daemonhost, enslaved for all time

E for Exosuit, for all greater good
F for Farseer, who gaze inside hoods

G for the Greenskins, but most call ’em Orks
H for Heretic, and fiendish, dark works

I for Imperium, to the galaxy’s end
J for the Judges, the Arbites’ friends

K is for Killzone, guardsmen take note
L is for Lictor, most righteously smote

M for Mytocene, a terrible child
N for Nurgle, all swollen with bile

O for Ork again, don’t question why
P for the Psykers, who most often die

Q for Questioner, the Inquisitor’s trade
R for Ravenor, who Eisenhorn made

S for Sororitas, women of battle
T for the Titans, reaving chaos like chattel

U for Ultramar, first, only and last
V for Valkyries, the air support fast

W for Waaaaaaagh, the Ork battle cry
X for the Xenos, who more often lie

Y for Yellow Suns, who’re more often red
Z for T’zeench, and really a ‘T’

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