Feb
9
This was originally posted by Steven Savage on his blog, and has allowed me to republish it here as I think it’s useful for roleplayers! This is part of Steven’s Way With Worlds series of articles.
So last we met I discussed originality being an illusion, but I feel I do need to cover something – the use of tropes, stereotypes, and “seen-it-all-before” elements in our worldbuilding. Read More
Feb
7
Dwarfs are known for their colourful use of the common tongue, especially when it comes to insults. Sometimes these are meant in jest, with some dwarfs known to use words as a weapon to rile up and anger their opponent into making a mistake. A few dwarfs have taken to using this as a part of their arsenal in battle, with a few being true masters of the insult, making their opponent slip up and attack them in anger, only to be met with a well-placed axe or hammer to the head. Read More
Feb
3
This was originally posted by Steven Savage on his blog under a different title, Steven has allowed me to republish it here as I think it’s useful for roleplayers! This is part of Steven’s Way With Worlds series of articles.
Every worldbuilder, author, artist has had that moment. That moment where originality seems to be a fleeting illusion.
Perhaps they feel that they can’t seem to do anything original. Read More
Feb
1
We use the term Mary Sue a lot in roleplaying. That’s because it can be a huge problem with one character trying to hog the limelight more than others. A Mary Sue typically is too “perfect”. They’re either unrealistically skilled for their age, or just freakishly talented at exactly whatever needs to be done to solve the current plot. Read More
Jan
26
The following is an extract from an article by Steven Savage from his Way with Worlds series of articles. It’s really intended for writing a book, but I thought it was interesting for creating heroes & villains in your roleplaying game.
Jan
24
This was originally posted by Steven Savage on his blog, but has allowed me to republish it here as I think it’s useful for roleplayers! This is part of Steven’s Way With Worlds series of articles.
It seems that we often end up discussing Good and Evil when we are talking Heroes and Villains, antagonists and protagonists, and often for pretty good reasons. Let’s face it Good Versus Evil is a prime conflict and element of many stories, and we want to read/play/experience interesting characters. Read More
Jan
21
This was originally posted by Steven Savage on his blog, but has allowed me to republish it here as I think it’s useful for roleplayers! This is part of Steven’s Way With Worlds series of articles.
Sacrifice is a part of literature and part of our lives. The act of giving something up for other reasons, perhaps making the ultimate sacrifice of ones life, is part of us really. We value the act of giving things up at time because it provides surety, clarity – and a view into someone’s character. Read More
Jan
19
It’s fun when 2 people get together and write a sequence of action about their characters. It’s even more fun when those characters have completely opposite character traits, maybe they’ll wind each other up? (which is very fun to write!) or maybe they’ll use their separate personality traits and skills to their advantage (good cop bad cop perhaps?). Read More
Jan
13
Stories without drama are really boring, which is why in TV, books and films, characters are always faced with perils to survive and overcome. Natural disasters are excellent ways to add drama to a story. Read More
Jan
11
Having villains in your roleplay works so much better when they’re realistic. We’ve posted some tips about creating an effective villain before (read it here), but what also makes a big difference is credibility (we’ve posted an article about this before too – see here).
The best villains aren’t just ones that are “evil” or do “evil things”, because if you think about it… what does that mean? That’s not realistic. Read More
