RPG Welcome to the Technocractic Union

I have uploaded an in-character video for my current Mage 20th chronicle. I originally started work on this a while ago, but due to health problems, limited time and not knowing much about making videos I placed the project on hold. My health has improved a bit, plus I’ve had time to think and do a bit more research, so I’ve remade the video; I accept that my video making and acting skills will take time to improve.

This introductory video is part of a series for my current World of Darkness chronicle, focusing on Mage 20th. There are a whole bunch of things I think I need to work on, but at least it’s a start.

 

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Videos for #RPGaDay2018

Following on from my last post about #RPGaDay2018, I have finally started making videos. I decided to embrace my lack of video making knowledge, mediocre acting skills, along with a typical dose of nerves; there is no pressure if it is supposed to poor and silly? I intentionally kept the rat voice as my own, honest.

 

#RPGaDay2018 is Coming

#RPGaDay is an annual event that runs in August, with 31 questions about role-playing to promote positive conversation about all RP & RPG; it’s now in its 5^th year. I thoroughly enjoyed answering last year’s #RPGaDay (my #RPGaDay2017 ) and I have been looking forward to this year’s questions. Once again David F Chapman (@autocratik) and Anthony Boyd (@Runeslinger) have organised the questions, along with Will Brooks (@willbrooks1989) providing the lovely graphic design.

As there have been so many RP related questions over the years, David put out a request for questions for this year. I was keen to join in, so I reread the questions from previous years and then spent a week pondering ideas. I eventually had a sizeable list covering: quirky concepts, art & music, and surprising successes from failures. I appreciated that the positive from negatives could psychological prime a participant to think of too many negatives things and possibly undermine the aim of the event, but I thought the reframing of a bad situation would be appreciated by most. I was pleased to find that a few of my questions made it onto the list; I’m aware others may have asked similar questions 😉

I am really impressed with this year’s questions; David and Anthony have done a great job. Even more impressive given how many previous questions have been asked. There are also some alternate questions at David’s blog http://autocratik.blogspot.com/2018/07/

#RPGaDay #RPGaDay2018

Inspirational Friends

Back in January 2018 my friend Richie Janukowicz started a vlog with the aim of doing a video a day. Richie has been involved in a few podcasts, Geek Pride and Noobgrind websites, as well as various creative projects, so he knew what he was letting himself in for.

I decided I would comment on every video, a simple way of keeping in touch. On some days it has been hard to figure out what to write, which is a bit pathetic but also a good example of self-imposed pressure; technically I don’t need to entertain, just comment.

I’ve not written a blog for months, besides my usual health issues I have preferred to focus on writing and design. Thankfully I’ve gotten a lot of writing done, including finishing a story. I have also been building towards making some videos about role-playing, which Richie and I have talked about many times. Like most people it has been an issue of allocating time and thus what to give up. I found Richie’s daily vlogs inspiring, somebody with his own health problems, as well family and work commitments has managed it. The short form of Richie’s videos as his workload increased is also a reminder that you can still hit a target by adjusting things. Whilst long form video essays are something to aspire to, they are extremely time-consuming, and that quality level is something to build towards, not demand of yourself at the start.

On an academic note, although there are many content creators on YouTube with an impressive number of followers and a lucrative number of views, apparently the vast majority of YouTube’s content is family centric content viewed by just a few relatives. So Richie’s videos also provide his friends and family to keep somewhat up to date with him, as well as being a diary. I presume Dr Michael Wesch: “An anthropological introduction to YouTube” is still applicable.

GollanczFest 2017 part 6

This continues on from my first post about the Gollancz Festival 2017.

After the morning panels were finished I got another chance to talk with Mark Stay (Orion Publishing, Author & The Bestseller Experiment). It was an informal chat with Mr Stay, as he was on hand for any customer or author enquiries. We had a chance to discuss The Bestseller Experiment, and briefly touch on some of the other projects he had mentioned in some of the bonus video chats the two Marks had done, and of course at the time the big query regarding the future of The Bestseller Experiment. I managed to avoid pitching my current projects, and when Mark asked about my work I give a concise overview; I think I did well considering how much I’d have liked to have said 😉

Mark Stay guardian of the Author-Portal for #GollanczFest 2017

Mr Stay’s welcoming professionalism was even more impressive in person. I had planned on writing about a few things that Mark had highlighted in our chat, like things to keep in mind when discussing a subject that readers and writers alike are so emotionally invested in. Helpfully Mark recently wrote about this subject on his blog: 25 things I’ve learned from 25 years in books… He has also touched on many of these points on The Bestseller Experiment.

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Once I knew Richie had finished the morning Writers’ Workshop sessions at Phoenix we meet up for lunch and spent the majority of it frothing about writing. As a bonus I got to have some of my favourite food: sweet buns.

I was quite curious about the Writers’ Workshops, since I had tried to get tickets but it hold sold out. Richie (Richie Digital) has written a lot over the years, he has had a variety of interesting jobs, including a background in community filmmaking. He explained that many of the people at the workshop talked about being in the early stages of writing, and they got good advice from the various authors of note. He also received some great answers, plus since he has actually finished a book, he received the bonus advice of: “What are you doing here? Just get it published.” Like so many productive people it comes down to managing competing priorities, and of course the typical writer’s overly-critical of their own work. Richie said he left the workshops with new inspiration, hopefully 2018 will see his work get picked up.

Gingerbread and NaNoWriMo 2017 p2

Continuing on from my previous post about the Gingerbread competition.

I successfully sent my entry for Gingerbread’s ‘One in Four’ before the deadline, which involves Trapeze Books (part of Orion) and The Pool UK. I received a confirmation email a few minutes later so thankfully my paranoia was somewhat alleviated, not entirely of course. Whilst the book is not complete, I’ll take finishing the competition portion as completing something 😉

In 2016 I entered the Richard and Judy book competition. Whilst I managed to hit the deadline, I also disliked writing it. The story was about a family recovering from losing a child in a school shooting, and I simply didn’t enjoy writing it; no surprise given the subject matter. Part of the reason was that I was still massively struggling with my health then. This Gingerbread story is different, after struggling to get going and keep momentum I started to enjoy things. Also, considering how much effort I’ve put in it would be silly to put it on hold. So the plan is to split my writing between my fantasy social services setting, non-fiction work on my role-playing guide, plus continuing this Gingerbread ‘One in Four’ tale.

A shout-out to my editor-extraordinaire Damian who also said the story so far was good. His feedback gave me a lot of confidence as I was going through my final tweaks and proofreading. Damian has helped me many times over the years, from helping me edit my rulebooks when I worked at KJC Games as well as several fiction writing projects; his eye for detail is impressively high.

I plan to resume posts about my Gollancz Festival 2017 experience next.

Gingerbread and NaNoWriMo

As my health has improved this year, I have made substantial progress with several of my projects. Like so many creative types, sticking to a single project is a struggle, so it was a mixed blessing when I heard The Bestseller Experiment interview in September announcing the Gingerbread competition: One in Four. The deadline is the 4th of December, and I’ve spent the majority of this November’s NaNoWriMo focused on that project. It’s been quite an emotionally demanding endeavour, reflecting upon distant memories, as well as talking to several people about their single-parent experience. Based upon these conversations, and my own reflections, I made a list of keywords to highlight commonalities.

As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, I had been working on a character in my fantasy setting who is a single-parent. I debated whether to make this character in to the protagonist, and since any genre is allowed for the competition, it would make sense to keep writing within the same fictional universe. Whilst some fantasy has mass appeal, it is rare, so in the end I decided to write a story set in modern day.

Given all the work I’d done, it was still a surprise to discover that I had problems working out a single story. After abandoning several outlines, as well as several pages that I just started writing without an outline, I decided to start writing about my own experience; I could always change details once the work was done.

By the time November started, and thus the start of NaNoWriMo, I had a collection of impressive waffle. At least this approach had provided me with several scenes and some dialogue that I did like; one cannot rewrite nothing. Despite my health declining again this month I was still able to persevere through the pain and stress. I successfully outlined a fictional story inspired by the experiences of myself and friends that I actually liked, being more than just a mix of our lives. I have since written a lot, but only tweaked the outline in small ways, a good sign that this story will stay on track and be completed. I still have a few more days with which to tweak what I plan on submitting, as well as receiving feedback from friends. Surprisingly, given how self-critical I am of my writing (like many people), I am quite optimistic about my chances with this competition.