Posts belonging to Category Dialogue
Posted by Ravyn on October 4, 2011
One of the toughest things I’ve ever found to do is writing scenes with lots and lots of characters (which can just mean “more than four or five who aren’t controlled by someone else”). I’ve talked about this before, mostly with characters all directly interacting with each other, but there always seems to be more [...]
Categories: Dialogue, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Scening, Tactics, Technique |
Tags: group scenes, planning, roleplaying, writing | 
3 Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on June 15, 2011
When we’re dealing with characterization, most of us have a tendency to write what we know—we’re used to the things we prioritize, and often figure out our characters based on “accepts this premise—rejects that one—ignores that one entirely….” Sometimes, though, we see characters who operate on a principle that just doesn’t resonate with our audience, [...]
Categories: Characterization, Characters in the world, Dialogue, Exposition, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Player Advice, Technique, Voice and Style |
Tags: alien mindsets, Characterization, cultural differences, roleplaying, writing | 2 Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on April 5, 2011
Yesterday, I talked about some of the elements for creating groups of characters that could also function as one somewhat complicated character role-wise. One of the points I touched on was the idea of each character’s role in the group, and how these roles can be used to ensure that the characters aren’t misplaced (unless [...]
Categories: Character creation, Character dynamics, Characterization, Characters in the world, Concepts, Dialogue, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Player Advice, Secondary characters, Technique |
Tags: role, roleplaying, small groups, writing | No Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on April 4, 2011
Sometimes you’re going to have a group of characters that are so associated that they might as well serve as one single character; you hardly ever see them apart from each other, and it’s usually either plot-related or a fact about feasibility when you do. Presenting these sorts of groups onstage is a challenge, particularly [...]
Categories: Character dynamics, Characterization, Characters in the world, Concepts, Dialogue, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Player Advice, Secondary characters, Technique |
Tags: role, roleplaying, small groups, unit, writing | 3 Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on March 28, 2011
We really don’t have to talk about why intense emotion is so common in our stories and games; it’s, well, intense. But the thing about it, particularly if it takes the form of a whole lot of negative emotion, is that it’s tiring, moreso the longer it goes. Fortunately, slipping spots of humor into an [...]
Categories: Description, Dialogue, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Mood, Technique, Voice and Style |
Tags: humor, mood, roleplaying, style, writing | 5 Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on March 21, 2011
I’ve had long arguments with at least one of my players/GMs about whether a scene that seems entirely to be small talk is worth it—and goodness knows I’ve heard plenty about conservation of detail, streamlining sessions, that sort of thing. So it came as a bit of a surprise when, twice in two weeks, I [...]
Categories: Characterization, Dialogue, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Mood, Player Advice, Scening, Technique, Voice and Style |
Tags: Characterization, idle conversation, roleplaying, writing | 3 Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on January 7, 2011
A good deception can be a thing of beauty, and even appreciated as such. I’ve often found myself rating the deceptions I’ve read or my characters have gotten themselves embroiled in, and there’s one tactic I’ve found that seems to give the deception a little extra style and—at least when dealing with my characters—a greater [...]
Categories: Concepts, Dialogue, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Player Advice, Tactics, Technique |
Tags: deception, roleplaying, tactics, writing | 3 Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on January 6, 2011
I’ve been talking most of the week about deception, both the bases to cover and how to handle people who already know what’s going on. Yes, the biggest thing to remember is that deceptions are very individualized things at heart, but there are still principles beyond know what to hide and what conclusions to push. [...]
Categories: Dialogue, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Player Advice, Tactics, Technique, Voice and Style |
Tags: deception, roleplaying, tactics, writing | No Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on January 5, 2011
Before we head deeper into the depths of deception, we need to take a little digression into one of the peculiarities of the English language, one that both makes sure that our sentences aren’t absurdly long and means that we need to be really careful about our sentences’ metamessages. It’s also why it sounds rather [...]
Categories: Concepts, Dialogue, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Player Advice, Tactics, Technique, Voice and Style |
Tags: language, presuppositions, roleplaying, tactics, writing | No Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on January 4, 2011
Brickwall, in response to yesterday’s post on deception, mentioned that one shouldn’t start a deception around other people who know the truth, because they will inevitably get in the way. I agree that other people who know the truth are dangerous, but in my experience, there are ways of ensuring that they’re more help than [...]
Categories: Dialogue, For Roleplayers, Player Advice, Tactics, Technique |
Tags: deception, game groups, roleplaying, tactics | No Comments »