Articles from October 2011
Posted by Ravyn on October 19, 2011
One of the things I pointed out in my first riff on spreading news is that there’s no guarantee that the news will arrive in precisely the same state as it left, nor even that it will arrive at all. Whether it was mean to happen or just happen, interference with news is a risk—and, [...]
Categories: For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Plot, Technique, World-building |
Tags: communication, messages, news, plot, World-building | 
No Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on October 18, 2011
Yesterday, I talked about the movement of information across distances, and all the factors we need to take into account when dealing with them. Today, I’m going to talk about some general methods by which it does so, and how it affects the speed and consistency of the message.
The basic way, of course, is word [...]
Categories: For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Plot, Technique, World-building |
Tags: communication, messages, news, plot, World-building | 2 Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on October 17, 2011
A lot of us are fond of having our narratives span a wide swath of country. The main characters specifically find themselves questing their way right across the map, or just find themselves bouncing about between locations in which they could get things done; PCs find themselves running to problems, or away from them, or [...]
Categories: For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Plot, Technique, World-building |
Tags: communication, messages, news, plot, World-building | 4 Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on October 16, 2011
Last week, I talked about taking criticism from your minions, what to do and what not to do about it. But sometimes, you’re getting word of the flaws in your plans from neutrals, or even—gasp—full-on protagonists. Those you need to handle carefully.
While it’s quite rare, sometimes you’re going to get criticisms from protagonists in… well, [...]
Categories: Generic Villain |
Tags: advice for antagonists, criticism, Generic Villain | No Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on October 15, 2011
This week, I focused on acclimation to new cultures, particularly in game. It’s a skill I pride myself on—though I’ll admit, my usual strategy is one part Miller’s Law and one part “This looks like a culture I know” and suggesting quirks to the GM—but more interesting, I think, has been watching my players’ interactions [...]
Categories: Impractical Applications |
Tags: impractical applications, learning cultures, loose threads, Samar, sky | No Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on October 13, 2011
This week, I’ve focused mostly on ways that a player can learn enough about a GM’s created culture to be able to at least somewhat fit in (or at the very least, mostly stay out of trouble). But in the case of characters in cultures they aren’t actually a part of, there’s one fact about [...]
Categories: Characterization, Characters in the world, For Roleplayers, GM Advice, Tactics, The Real World |
Tags: culture acclimation, GM tips, social interaction, uncanny valley | No Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on October 12, 2011
It’s good to know what we need to know before we turn our characters loose on a new culture, and how to find it out, but sometimes knowledge just isn’t enough to keep our character’s feet safely out of their mouths. Instead, we need to figure out where the cultural traps are, and how to [...]
Categories: Characterization, Characters in the world, For Roleplayers, Player Advice, Tactics |
Tags: learning cultures, player tips, roleplaying | 1 Comment »
Posted by Ravyn on October 11, 2011
I talk a lot about characters fitting into their worlds, but I know it’s not always easy. Most of the time, there really isn’t time—or in some cases, there isn’t much motivation, or enough information—for a player to really understand the world that she’s just started playing in, or even the specific combination of culture [...]
Categories: For Roleplayers, Player Advice, Tactics |
Tags: learning cultures, player tips, roleplaying | 1 Comment »
Posted by Ravyn on October 10, 2011
One of the side effects of dealing with worlds not our own is that we’re likely to be dealing with cultures not our own as well (and if we aren’t, why in blazes not?). From a player standpoint, or from the standpoint of a writer trying to deal with a culture not her own, this [...]
Categories: Characterization, Characters in the world, Cultures, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Player Advice, Plot, Technique, World-building |
Tags: Characterization, foreknowledge, plot, roleplaying, Things You Might Want To Know When…, writing | 3 Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on October 9, 2011
One of the things we Hands of Darkness often find ourselves on the wrong end of is our unshakable belief in our own infallibility. We are convinced that we have correctly predicted all possible paths that our opponents could take; we know for sure that our understanding of our own power and resources as they [...]
Categories: Generic Villain |
Tags: advice for antagonists, criticism, Generic Villain | 2 Comments »