Articles from May 2011
Posted by Ravyn on May 31, 2011
Yesterday, I talked about how combat spark, the peculiar quality of a fight scene and the maneuvers therein, is comprised of a number of component elements. What are these elements, and how do they help?
Combat spark is a trait that seems to act more on actions than on overall sequences, particularly in RPGs, though a [...]
Categories: Concepts, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Player Advice, Tactics, Technique |
Tags: combat spark, fight scenes, roleplaying, writing | 
5 Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on May 30, 2011
Last week, I squealed over the presence of a quality that I called that (as in, “My game needs more of that”) in Kung Fu Panda 2. As promised, I’m going to look into what it constitutes—including coming up with something else to call it. I’ve gone through several possible names (je ne sais combat [...]
Categories: Concepts, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Player Advice, Tactics, Technique |
Tags: combat spark, fight scenes, roleplaying, writing | 5 Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on May 29, 2011
I’d had my own ideas for this week, but the Management said something about a panda, went haring off after a white peacock, and came back with an editorial mandate. She might have the right idea, though. For most of us, “peacock” and “intimidating” don’t seem to belong anywhere near the same sentence, but that [...]
Categories: Generic Villain |
Tags: advice for antagonists, Generic Villain, innocuous forms, intimidation | 2 Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on May 28, 2011
This week, I talked about dream quests. I’ve written three in the time I’ve been gaming, only one of which is actually a quest, so to speak, but they’ve all made for interesting experiences.
The first of these was a Type 1.5 dream quest in the first story arc of my game, with the characters venturing [...]
Categories: Impractical Applications |
Tags: dream quests, impractical applications | No Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on May 27, 2011
I’ll admit, picking up technique wasn’t particularly on my mind when I went to see Kung Fu Panda 2, aside from testing the premise that the best way to see a kids’ movie on opening day is the middle of the afternoon during the school year (today’s experiment: successful). But to say I got blogfodder [...]
Categories: Concepts, Description, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Player Advice, Reviews and technique, Tactics, Technique |
Tags: fight scenes, Kung Fu Panda 2, reviews, roleplaying, that, writing | 3 Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on May 26, 2011
Yesterday, I talked about the dream quest, the pseudo-supernatural, pseudo-symbolic trip through a not entirely real realm for the sake of goods, power-ups, fixes to otherwise nigh-on-impossible problems, or understanding of one’s own psychology. One thing I’ve noticed about these dream quests is that they tend to fall into two major types, each of which [...]
Categories: Concepts, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Symbolism, Technique |
Tags: concepts, dream quests, plot, roleplaying, writing | No Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on May 25, 2011
The world is a single building, a series of places connected by montages, a place out of an Impressionist painting. Useful objects come readily to hand, and sometimes for the strong-minded even the world itself is malleable. There’s something to be found, and everyone has a pretty good idea what direction to go but less [...]
Categories: Concepts, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Symbolism, Technique |
Tags: concepts, dream quests, plot, roleplaying, writing | 2 Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on May 24, 2011
The toughest part of beginning with a story or game, I’ve found, is getting enough of a balance between beginning concepts to actually have a story rather than a set of fleeting ideas in nowhere-space. You have a plot, and a vague outline of what the setting might look like, and that’s it. Where to [...]
Categories: Birth of a world, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Plot, Technique, World-building |
Tags: Almagest, beginning, plot, role-playing, setting, World-building, writing | 1 Comment »
Posted by Ravyn on May 23, 2011
Somewhere in this place, anything can be bought. There are dark corners with darker figures lurking in them, there are scents that have never reached the noses of the truly innocent, and the law isn’t nearly as important as the Rules. The people here are either comfortably untouchable as they take advantage of everyone else [...]
Categories: For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Geography, Places, World-building |
Tags: roleplaying, slums, World-building, writing | No Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on May 22, 2011
Evil’s often equated with pragmatism. We can afford to be pragmatic; we don’t have to worry all that much about keeping our cred by valuing every life, maintaining honor… you get the idea. Leaving people in the lurch because it’s not at all tactically, strategically, financially, or in any other way sound to go fetch [...]
Categories: Generic Villain |
Tags: abandonment, advice for antagonists, Generic Villain | No Comments »