Posts belonging to Category Exposition
Posted by Ravyn on December 7, 2011
Yesterday, I talked about the problems with having antagonists who Have a Plan that nobody in the audience can figure out. For the writer without an outline, though, or the GM improvising around the PCs, it can be difficult to make absolutely sure that the plan gets across. Here are some strategies to keep it [...]
Categories: Exposition, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Plot, Tactics, Technique |
Tags: antagonists, explication, foreshadowing, plans, roleplaying, writing | 
1 Comment »
Posted by Ravyn on December 6, 2011
Readers, it has often been said that I like antagonists with Plans. I like antagonists with Plans. I love antagonists with Plans. I love the ones who can tell you every little detail, particularly the parts that you’re going to have to fit right into, but they’ve got it so thoroughly figured out that you [...]
Categories: Exposition, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Plot, Tactics, Technique |
Tags: antagonists, explication, foreshadowing, plans, roleplaying, writing | 2 Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on November 22, 2011
Yesterday, I talked about the importance of getting places to resonate with the people in a world and thus through them with the audience, even before anyone actually sets foot there, and talked about what sorts of factors might give the places that resonance. The next step, then, is to figure out what sorts of [...]
Categories: Description, Exposition, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Geography, History, Places, Scening, Technique, Thematics, World-building |
Tags: Places, resonance, roleplaying, World-building, writing | No Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on November 21, 2011
One of the things I’ve always loved about a good world-building is a sense of place: the idea that after a little while, hearing a place name alone will bring in all the echoes of what the place actually means to the characters. It’s important, particularly in a narrative that bounces about between cities and [...]
Categories: Description, Exposition, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Geography, History, Places, Scening, Technique, Thematics, World-building |
Tags: Places, resonance, roleplaying, World-building, writing | 3 Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on July 18, 2011
One of my favorite things about new worlds, particularly settings with a subculture-high, inner-city emphasis to them, was all the nifty slang I was going to run into. People would throw around all sorts of colorful similes and metaphors referencing things I’d never heard of, and I’d read through and grin and take note for [...]
Categories: Description, Exposition, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Technique, Voice and Style, World-building |
Tags: exposition, slang, voice, World-building | No 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 January 12, 2011
An RPG doesn’t need to start with every little detail worked out. It helps, but it’s not necessary. I’ve seen games with rules for half-built characters, and games where the characters were talking IC and nobody’s sheet was even remotely finished. There are games where you can get away delegating figuring out what brought the [...]
Categories: Exposition, For Roleplayers, GM Advice, RPGs for the Uninitiated, Tactics, Technique, The Real World |
Tags: GM tips, informing players, potential hazards, roleplaying | No Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on December 23, 2010
Yesterday, I introduced an exercise for two people based on taking information and drawing conclusions. But there’s another use for it, one that can be done with two people but works just as well with one, one that’s a little more character-driven.
It’s pretty much the same sequence of events, with one minor difference: instead of [...]
Categories: Character development, Characterization, Characters in the world, Exercises, Exposition, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Player Advice, Technique, Voice and Style |
Tags: Characterization, conclusions, Exercises, roleplaying, writing | No Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on December 14, 2010
Some of us have nice simple plots and worlds, and this is just fine. They’re straightforward, each scene doesn’t need to do too much at once, so they can focus on getting one plot to work well. And then there are some of us who have a tendency to try to juggle multiple plotlines, build [...]
Categories: Concepts, Exposition, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Technique |
Tags: exposition, multi-thread plots, multipurpose scenes, roleplaying, writing | 3 Comments »
Posted by Ravyn on October 18, 2010
So the character’s just waking up, and is in that foggy haze between the dreaming and waking world—awake enough to be audible, asleep enough to not quite reach the point of lucidity. For her, it might be a good time to either pull the covers tighter and go back to sleep, or to get up [...]
Categories: Characterization, Dialogue, Exercises, Exposition, For Roleplayers, For Writers, GM Advice, Player Advice, Technique |
Tags: Characterization, dreams, roleplaying, sleeptalking, waking up, writing | 4 Comments »