Overcoming Old Habits

I am the Warden!!

On Friday, I announced my involvement in a new gamebook for the upcoming solo RPG, Adventurer. Now that it's Monday, it's time to start figuring out how the hell I'm going to write this sum bitch.

A friend and frequent playtester of mine, Brandon Neff, emailed some tips and tricks he used for a similar project of his (SoloQuest published by Kenzer & Co.). His recommendations came in three parts, each as important as the last and suited to a dungeon crawl style gamebook.

Step 1: Build a map first, randomly numbering each room, intersection, and corridor.
Step 2: Take each number from your map and assign them a single line on a notebook, followed by connecting numbers that room/intersection/corridor came from or heads toward. For example, line 48 could read as 48 - 3 - 56 - 112.
Step 3: Start writing out each numbered section, pacing yourself out in a particular direction for six or seven choices at a time before winding back and picking up where you left off so as not to get too far ahead.

As I mentioned above, this process was intended for dungeon crawling gamebooks and the biggest issue with mine is that it's an outdoor, story-based sandbox gamebook. Considering Brandon's more experienced than me at the process, I'm not really in any position to be finicky, so I'll use what's been offered in generosity and figure out how best to use it.

Let's take a look at each of the three steps and re-analize them, shall we?

NaNoWriMo: Day One

I am the Warden!!

Those of you following this blog may have noticed I'm not inclined to have my face on camera. I'm not sure why, it's a quirk. I'm more comfortable behind the camera than in front, let alone keep a video journal of anything. However, sooner or later, I have to face my fears and try something.

Throughout this year's NaNoWriMo, I'll planning to keep a video journal of my progress and capture the randomness of my thoughts and process. It might not happen on a daily basis, but I would like to post at least one per week and share it. Think of it as a way to force me into following through with this project. Today's entry provides details on what my novel is about - a fantasy tale called Messenger - why I chose it and the foundation I'm trying to lock down.

Attention All Gamebook Fans

I am the Warden!!

As I'm about to let the cat out of the bag, there was an ulterior motive for this past weekend's Under the Hood article on gamebooks. Not in writing it, but researching it. With all the paperwork signed, sealed, and electronically delivered, I can officially announce my involvement in a new gamebook for the upcoming solo RPG, Adventurer.

The concept of this game is to create a core RPG system allowing players to create their own character and maintain an ongoing campaign throughout a series of gamebooks instead of switching characters with every different book. It's an interesting and unique concept put together by Shane Garvey and Stuart Lloyd combining the individuality of 1980s style gamebooks with the flexibility and character development of RPGs. You can even gain experience and levels with each gamebook adapting to your level. Its publisher, Adventure Games Guild, release a beta version of the game's rules last week, so feel free to check it out and judge for yourself.

My particular entry is currently titled Fire Across the Plains and involves the sole adventurer encountering a rising escalation between an isolated community of half-breed (half-elves, half-orcs, etc.) and the noble Emerald Knights. As each side accuses the other of instigating the conflict and threatening the other with war, the adventurer must get to the bottom of this predicament and find a way to keep the peace between them. It's a sandbox style adventure rather than a dungeon crawl and I'm really looking forward to putting the pieces together.

I have to admit, it's going to be a challenge putting it all together for the sheer reason that I've never written a gamebook before in my life. Played, yes, but never written. I've pulled out my reprinted special edition of Warlock of Firetop Mountain as inspiration, but the trick to making this book work will be allowing fluent choices without overwhelming the player with too many options. I want to set it up so that the player can choose which side to align themselves with and still reach the same conclusion, even play both sides and choose whom to align with. All I can say is that I'm glad I have a giant bulletin board in the office, cause I'm gonna need it.

As I get cracking on this project (with a projected first draft due date of early January 2013), stay tuned to this very blog for updates and thinking-out-loud posts as I do with all my work. 

NaNoWriMo: The Quest for 50,000 Words

I am the Warden!!

While I'm waiting for videos to upload from my phone, it's time to start thinking about this year's NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month, I think). Scratch that! It's time to start doing something about it, not just thinking about it.

Ever since I first found out about this annual goal for aspiring writers to write at least 50,000 words within the month of November last year, I've aspired to do something about it this year. In typical fashion, it feels like every other month would have allowed time and investment in such a project and November 2012 seems overburdened already, but such as it is. Despite my workload, I'm going to try and find a way to make it happen.

So what am I planning to write about? That's a good question.

There are two projects in mind. The first is a Killshot short story involving a detailed analysis of how a young fellow becomes a professional assassin. The second is a fantasy novel. That's about as far as I've gone with either idea. Every day for the past week, I've darted back and forth between which project should take priority and neither one seems to secure the lead in this race. With the starting pistol hours away from going off, it's time for me to make a decision.

As much as I could make use of a Killshot novel, there's a big part of me craving something different. Step away from the same type of work I've been doing these past couple of years and write something for myself. In other words, it feels as if I want to write a Killshot novel so that I'll have a Killshot novel to sell. With the fantasy novel, I have no aspiring plans other than the standard idea to sell it as a self-published ebook if I like the final result, but that's not the priority.

Then again, I have no idea what this fantasy novel will be about, let alone details of the world. Any ideas bouncing around are not concrete enough to announce here, so it would literally involve a more complicated endeavour than the Killshot novel, where at least I know the plot. And it would involve the real world, something that's already created with millions of supplements available on a daily basis. It would be harder to write a fantasy novel at this point with the workload already on my plate and numerous appointments on tap for the month. (I'm already losing out on the first day when I go in for the first cortisone injection tomorrow morning.)

The thing about harder projects is that they're very attractive options for me. A challenge mocking me in the background and I'm always up for showing a challenge who's boss. It may not be the best idea - how can it be any worse if I don't even have an idea? - but it looks like I need to piece together 50,000 words of fantasy.

Maybe I could just write some S&M fanfare using alternate names for Middle Earth characters as a backup plan. 

Reloading Killshot: Let's Get Mystical, Part 2

The Nine Cuts of the kuji-kiri. Used for reference only.

I am the Warden!!

Seems I broke a small promise to you and went a bit off course from my Reloading Killshot series. With so many things on the go, I guess it's bound to happen, but let's not think of it that way. Let's think of it as appropriate to the topic - ninjas. One minute, your mind is thinking about them and how they might come in through the window to kill you in your sleep until eventually you begin to wonder about other problems... and then BAM!! they slip out of the shadows and dig a knife into your back.

Last time, I wrote about ninja magic in the upcoming theme, Way of the Killshot. As historical accuracy has already been tossed out the driver's seat, playing up on the mystique and terror of these ancient assassins is now par for the course. The trick is devising a magic add-on that not only plays along with the ninja's other assets without overpowering them (i.e. other focuses), but also extends the mechanics without breaking them and enhances the aura of these characters without snapping players out of their expectations.

As the idea of "magical ninja" is intended as a variant for players and Directors to play around with rather than a regular feature, I've created a first draft ninja focus called the Shinobi. These ninja specialize in the mystical art of kuji-kiri, itself based on the actual practise of hand symbols as part of meditation in various Japanese martial arts (including ninjitsu). Each symbol (or cut) represents an aspect of human consciousness and was taught to real world students as part of their path to enlightenment and training. All nine cuts are featured on the diagram to the right.

One Lean, Mean, Typing Machine

I am the Warden!!

Notice anything different about how I'm typing? Perhaps not, but if you look closely - real close - you may just notice a bit of an eager step to these sentences, a sign of hope that all my problems from the past couple of years have melted away.

That's right, I've finally replaced my laptop.

It's the conclusion of a long overdue journey featuring my faithful and trusted iBook G4 purchased in 2006 and the start of a new fellowship with this gorgeous silver MacBook Pro. To be honest, I'm both incredibly excited and horribly nervous at the prospect because as much as I desperately needed this sucker as my new career is up and running, it's an awful lot of money to spend at the moment as my new career is just getting started.

As with many significant changes in life, this latest one came to be in light of a technical problem. On Tuesday morning, after spending the previous day talking about the risk of my iBook crapping out completely, she crapped out. Not completely, but enough that there was no ignoring the sign. After pressing the on button, it started to make a sudden chopping noise for close to 20 seconds before coming to an end on its own. Yep, it was time. It's also why I've been silent on this blog and the Broken Ruler's website as I couldn't risk starting up the old girl again until I had reliable access online.

Just Play, Dammit (or How I Finally Got To Be An Assassin)

I am the Warden!!

Friday night was a major event for two reasons. First, I was finally able to present my Development Team for Killshot with hardcover copies of the book as a token of appreciation for all of their hard work, time, and effort playing, critiquing, and improving this game of assassination. Second, I got to play an assassin.

That's right. I relinquished my Director's chair to my buddy, Nick (literally and figuratively - it's not a true director's chair, but it is larger, softer, and more impressive compared to the dining room chairs the players use), who volunteered to run a job for us last night. No pressure on creating, running, and ruling on a game; I could just play. Not that I didn't chime in character recommendations, quick rule references, and such because my instinct is to be the Director. As my fiancee put it, things sure did sound like I was still running a game from the adjoining living room. But once the action was rolling, I shut the fuck up.

For the evening's festivities, I rolled up an Enforcer/Hunter by the name of "Father" James Heathridge (yeah, I stole a name from another job), so nicknamed because he was once a man of the cloth who one day got his hands bloody and began walking down a dark path. While I had originally intended for the Father to be a fist fighter, I switched him out to a firearms expert with +1d6 towards unarmed attacks so there was always a back-up option (and it would allow me to use Dual Strike unarmed or with any weapons mastered through my Weapons Expert benefit).

I had a blast and not just because I was thrilled to finally play (something that never happens when you design your own independent RPG). Aside from offering me the standard fare I've been dishing out to them for months on end, we were tossed a bone. A Cthulhu bone, if you will. Released from our respective prison cells by a clandestine organization (assuming from the tremendous effort they went through to spring us from the slammer), we were charged with eliminating three kidnappers who had snatched an unidentified subject known only as the High Value Target (HVT). We had all the information we needed on the three kidnappers, other than where they currently resided, and were hired to dispose of all four targets.