How To Train Your Players

            The more I run Dungeons & Dragons, the more I realize how important it is to train the people who are playing in your game. Not in the sense of teaching them how to play (though this is also very important), but in training them how your world will react to the actions their characters take. Every Dungeon Master runs a slightly different game, and every player comes in with their own expectations – establishing how the game will be run is important, otherwise halfway through you’re liable to have a character get in trouble for murdering or stealing and be surprised that they can get in trouble in a game.

            If there are going to be consequences for actions in the world you create, you need to establish this as early as possible, but with minor situations rather than major ones. If the characters storm around doing whatever they want from the start, without any consequences, they’re going to keep doing so for the rest of the game – and, likely, get upset if suddenly something unexpected happens. They didn’t get in trouble before, why should they now?

            The way to do this is to show the world reacting to the characters – both in positive and negative ways. Every time a character does something seemingly inconsequential – you know, pranks or other things they may do just for fun – think about how people or the environment would realistically respond to them, and make it happen. Even if it’s just something in the background that a random person mentions in passing, having the little details there will show the players that what they do makes a difference in the world – and they’ll begin to treat the world with that expectation. In my current campaign, I’ve had incoming new players told, “Everything that’s happened is our fault!” which isn’t entirely true, but it tells me that I’ve taught my players well.

            There is no easy way to deliberately train players into the feel of the game you are running; that can only come with time, because that part of the game is determined by everyone in it, and it will change as players come and go (if you have players coming and going in your game). For that, there is only patience. Every group forms its own culture, and that can be guided by the game’s content, but not controlled. Give the group time to settle and everything will usually sort itself out.

            One of the more challenging things to teach your players – especially less experienced ones – is how to conserve their resources. In many ways, this is up to them to learn on their own, but it really behoves a Dungeon Master to help them along the way – otherwise the players will simply take a nap to regain their abilities after every battle, which slows the game and takes away from the strategy, the fun, and the sense of imminent danger in the game.

            So, how do you train your players into this? There are two simple ways. The first is to put them in a situation where they can’t rest, be it because of how many monsters there are around, or because there is something like poison in the environment that interferes with resting. The other method is very similar to what I was talking about at the beginning – show them the consequences of their actions. If the players stop to sleep more than once in the same 24 hour time span, the rest of the world isn’t going to stop to sleep with them. The monsters are going to keep moving. The villains will continue constructing their nefarious plans. And the players need to see this in action – be it from visible changes in rooms they’ve already been in, monsters surrounding them when they wake up, or some sort of evidence that their sleep wasn’t quite as undisturbed as they had thought. The world doesn’t stop moving because the main characters are sleeping – and the sooner the players understand this, the sooner they’ll start conserving their skills and spells so they won’t have to sleep as often.

            To make sure your game runs smoothly, you need to make sure everyone is on the same page as to what to expect from the game and the world. Some of this, you can simply explain to the players, but some you have to show them. As a Dungeon Master, it isn’t your job to punish players for not understanding the world you built; it’s your job to educate them until they do understand (or, in the extreme case where they understand but don’t seem to be having fun, to adapt and change the world into one where they will have fun).

Check out my YouTube channel where I tell the stories of my D&D campaigns.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

Also, make sure you check out my wife's blog and her website.


If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

Work or Play?

            I have often wondered about the appeal of certain aspects of video games. These aspects are not, by any means, in every video game, but they show up in a lot of them. So, why is it that we enjoy playing games that, when it comes right down to it, are a whole lot of work?

            I’m currently playing one of the older versions of a game called Harvest Moon. This is a game series where you play a character trying to run a farm in a little village. You basically have to build the farm up from scratch while trying to make money and trying to be part of the small community (maybe even getting married). But there is only so much time in the day, your character only has so much energy in a day, and you start with very little money. In the beginning, the game is all about time management and money management – once you get a ways in and have your farm established, it’s about maintaining a daily routine to keep your farm going. Doing the same thing, day after day after day.

            Sounds an awful lot like work, doesn’t it?

            Another game that I played way too much of when I was younger is Runescape. This is a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. There are many aspects to the game, but an important part is trying to get various levels raised. At lower levels, this is fairly quick and easy, but at higher levels you can literally spend days just mining, or cutting down trees, or fighting monsters, or cooking, just to gain one level. Day after day, doing the same thing.

            Hey, that sounds kinda like work, doesn’t it?

            Even in combat-heavy games like Starcraft or Call of Duty, you get an aspect of this – at least if you’re competing against other players and want to do well. You don’t just pick up a controller and become the best on the team – you have to work at it. At the professional level you have to practice and train, day after day.

            Doesn’t that sound like...? Well, yes, okay, at the professional level it is work, but you get my point.

            I believe the presiding theory about this is that video games give a sense of accomplishment without any risk to the gamer. This is a fair theory – you gain a level, and that is a reward for all your hard work. You defeat a difficult opponent and they reward you with treasure. You accomplish the same repetitive tasks one hundred times and you earn an achievement.

            Yet, it’s still just another type of work. Yeah, we don’t take it seriously because it’s a game, but it’s still work. And the general consensus is that work is bad and boring.

            What this tells me is that work can be made fun. All it takes is some gameification – the process of turning life into a game. Like Mary Poppins always taught us (not the blue one). This can be done fairly easy with a variety of apps, or simply setting goals and rewards for oneself, but that only goes part way.

We need employers finding ways of making their workplaces more fun. Having a fun work environment wouldn’t only make employees happier about going to work, it would raise productivity as people try to earn achievements or beat their best score. It would likely improve the employee-customer relationship – especially if the customer was happier at their job.

The augmented reality – being developed by companies such as Magic Leap – would make transitioning workplaces into fun, game-like environments almost simple. Can you imagine what the world would be like if everyone loved their job? That’s a future I’d like to see.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

Also, make sure you check out my wife's blog and her website.


If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

Failure to Win

            We live in a very competitive world. Or, rather, the world is competitive because we’re brought up to be competitive. Win! we’re told. Get out there, do your best, become your best, and win!

            It’s a mentality we either pick up through osmosis, or is outright given to us. When we play a game, our goal is to win. When we play a sport, our goal is to win. When we go to war, our goal is to win.

            Yes, you may say, winning is good. Winning is how you get ahead in life, how you show you’re the best. However, says I, when the focus is on winning, the more valuable part of any conflict is lost.

            Have you ever been playing a game or sport and found yourself despairing because you had no chance to win? Have you ever given up on a puzzle or a problem because it was so frustrating, and you just couldn’t figure it out? Have you ever found yourself in the middle of an argument where you’ve realized you’re wrong, but you keep arguing your point because you have to win?

            Have you ever paused to consider why it is we challenge ourselves to puzzles, why we compete in games?

            ....

            Back when I started highschool, before I fell in with the group of friends I came to spend all my time with, I spent my lunches playing chess. Not as part of the chess club, mind you – I actually stopped playing when that formed. No, I played chess with a specific friend that I met outside French class on my first day of school.

            Now, this friend, to the best of my knowledge, was a genuine genius. I was no match for him at all – he knew all kinds of famous chess plays and I can’t even begin to guess how many moves he planned ahead. I lost every single game. Yet, every lunch hour, there I was – playing a new game. And, slowly but surely, I got better at chess. Much better, because every time I lost, I learned something. Then, one day, I came thiiiiis close to winning...! And the bell rang for end of lunch. But we both agreed that I probably would have one this time, something that delighted us both. I had become quite the strategist.

            Years later, at my grandparents’ house, my brother and I were playing an old strategy game from my dad’s childhood. I quickly analyzed the game and, after a couple rounds, developed a strategy I believed to be unbeatable (I even figured out the one way to counter it, and how to prepare for and counter that counter). I defeated my brother in every round of the game, but at the end, he still wanted to play again. He kept trying different strategies, and I kept winning. Finally, I asked him why he kept wanting to play when he couldn’t beat me. I’ll never forget what he said:

            “You’ve learned only one way to win. I’ve learned twenty ways how not to win.”

            Even more years later, around the end of highschool, I got a strategy game called Khet – basically chess with lasers and mirrors. Once again, I soon came up with a strategy that was nearly unbeatable. I took challenger after challenger, and only rarely lost. But, when I did lose, I discovered that I enjoyed it! In fact, I enjoyed losing more than winning. And I couldn’t even allow myself to lose to get that enjoyment – because the fun came from trying my hardest and learning where I went wrong. The joy came from facing a challenge and growing from it.

            Now, my examples are all from strategy games, but the same applies across everything in life – from a Sudoku puzzle to searching for a job to running a business. Puzzles and games challenge us for the purpose of helping us grow, and we learn far more form losing than from winning. Life will always throw challenges at us, and when we fail we have the opportunity to learn what we did wrong and fix it for the next time.

            Our competitive society puts the emphasis on winning, rather than overcoming the challenge. But have you ever played a game where you were guaranteed to win? Was it fun? The fun doesn’t come from winning, the fun comes from the challenge.

            As a society, we need to shift our focus away from winning. Yes, winning should still be the goal – what’s the point if you don’t try your best? – but the reward should be the challenge.

            Think of how great the world would be if everyone stopped caring about winning, and started caring about the process of overcoming the challenge.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

Also, make sure you check out my wife's blog and her website.


If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

The Death Slime

            This is the story of how I (may have) gotten my entire Dungeons and Dragons party killed in two sessions. It’s a bit of a cliff-hanger, as I won’t know the actual end result until the game session next Wednesday, but the journey is more important than the ending.

            A new campaign recently started at our local board game cafe and Colleen and I were probably the first to sign up for it. The setting for the game is called Primeval Thule – it’s a world that mixes a Cohen the Barbarian type environment with H.P. Lovecraft elements like Cthulhu. That alone should have told me that this campaign would be more intense than any game I’ve played before.

            It started out with our group of adventurers being sent on a mission to an ancient dungeon (surprise, surprise) to find a specific gem. During the first session, we arrived at the location only to find it crawling with zombie-like creatures being controlled by strange plants. It was a tough battle, but we made it through with only one near-fatality – my character (also the only healer in the group), who was almost turned into one of the plant-zombies.

            My character was saved just in time, but not before receiving severe brain damage (caused by vines). Our group then rested and healed up, and that was the end of our first session.

            When we continued on last Wednesday, we delved down into the ruins. While my character’s brain injuries would slowly heal, for now my intelligence points were well below what is generally considered the minimum for a character being able to speak properly. So, I decided I had to play it properly.

            While the rest of my group carefully explored the ruins, mine started ambling around aimlessly. My character was eventually tied to another with a length of rope in the hopes of avoiding catastrophe. Well... it worked for a while – right up until everyone else was distracted and my character wandered straight into a trap, getting covered with a clinging acid.

            My character was (barely) saved, but in the process another character was severely injured and I used up all of my healing spells. That’s why, when a spider dropped on Colleen’s character and knocked her unconscious and paralyzed her with poison, there was no way to heal her.

            Now, if our group had decided to take a rest at this point, allowing the poison to wear off Colleen’s character and for her (and a couple other injured characters) to heal a little, things may have gone slightly differently. But the group had just solved a riddle that had opened a secret door somewhere and, in our eagerness to find it, we ran straight into a group of animated skeletons.

            Now, to start with, there were eight of them and six of us. We had one person down and three injured (two severely injured). Our tough barbarian (injured from saving my character) charged right into battle while everyone else fought from a distance. He went down, but not before taking half of the skeletons with him.

            One by one, each of my companions fell to the skeletons (unconscious and with a chance of dying – it would take too long to explain the game mechanics) save for my character and one other – and that’s where the session ended. My character fighting one uninjured skeleton, and a companion fighting two (one uninjured, one almost dead). If either of our characters gets hit one more time, they’ll be down.

            And I can’t help thinking how much differently this battle would have gone if my character hadn’t stupidly wandered into that trap. Some healing spells would have saved us all.

            Yet, at the same time, it was the most intense and fun night of D&D I’ve ever had – and that’s saying something. Who knew that having your character mess everything else up for the entire group could be so fun?

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

Also, make sure you check out my wife's blog and her life coaching website.


If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

Tunnelling Through The Snow

            Around this time of year, I always used to hope for a huge snowfall. Not just because it would mean school would be cancelled, but because I needed a lot of snow for my favourite winter activity: building snow tunnels.

            Of course, at the time, I didn’t call them snow tunnels – I called them igloos. This is a misnomer, because real igloos are constructed using blocks of ice (or packed snow), whereas what I made involved tunnelling out a mound of snow. Since we Canadians live in igloos year-round, it’s an important distinction to make. For the purposes of this blog, I’ll periodically call them igloos for simplicity’s sake.

            Anyway, the first time I made an igloo, it was a big family project. My parents, brother and I all worked really hard on it. To this day, I couldn’t say for certain how big that igloo was, because I was rather small at the time – in my memory, it was at least five-feet tall with a diameter of ten feet. Big enough for my entire family comfortably fit in, at least according to me. In reality, it was probably significantly smaller.

            After that initial construction, my brother and I got creative. We built a second, much smaller, igloo and attached the two with a tunnel. My poor mother nearly got stuck in that tunnel – it turns out adults are bigger than kids, but we were so proud of our accomplishment that we wouldn’t let her alone until she’d crawled through it.

            In future years, my brother and I became experts at tunnelling through the snow. This was, in part, for safety reasons. Around this time, there was a great deal of concern about kids getting injured in collapsing snow tunnels. One of my friends (you know who you are, and I know you’re reading this) was only allowed to play in our tunnels with us as long as she kept her head outside. My brother and I felt this was unnecessary because none of our igloos ever collapsed (unless we jumped on them or they melted) – we believe that the any that did were poorly constructed.

            Here are the guidelines we used for making our tunnels:

-          First, only use snow that packs decently. Light, fluffy snow won’t hold together well enough to form a solid structure. It is a good idea, once your pile of snow is ready to be tunnelled, to ensure it s sufficiently packed. To do this, carefully (so as not to leave footprints) climb to the top of the pile and roll down the hill. If the pile isn’t too high, it is also possible to jump lengthwise onto the top before rolling down. Repeat this until the hill is sufficiently packed on all sides and feel free to continue for as long as it’s fun.

-          Second, when tunnelling, make sure the walls are the correct thickness. If they are too thick, they could collapse from the weight. If they are too thin, they won’t be strong enough to hold up the structure. The ideal thickness is right before the point when you can see sunlight through the walls. The best way to achieve this is to tunnel until you can see a bit of light – then pack some snow over top of that and use that location as a guide for the continued tunnelling process. It is especially important to focus on getting the roof the right thickness, since that is the most likely part to cave in if there is a structural problem. In that event, a thinner roof is less dangerous.

-          Third, the don’ts. Don’t freeze your igloo – the process of freezing it will make the structure weaker and, in the event of a collapse, more dangerous. Don’t fill the walls with windows and doors – one entrance is enough, maybe one or two tunnels if you have a complex structure. And whatever you do, don’t jump on top of it – especially if there is another person inside.

Using these guidelines, my brother and I crafted many interesting snow tunnels. From a triplex of interconnected igloos to an igloo fort with a tunnelled outer wall, we had a great time every year we got enough snow (right up into out twenties). It helped that we had a large driveway – big enough to hold 6-8 card or 3 (friendly) dogsled teams. The snow needed to be shovelled anyway, so why not put it all in one place?

            So, if you’re stretched for things to do this winter, and you happen to get a lot of snow, try tunnelling. It’s a great deal of fun – just make sure you stay safe.

Disclaimer: To the best of my knowledge, that driveway has never had a dogsled team parked in it – and no, all Canadians don’t actually live in igloos.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

Also, make sure you check out my wife's blog and her life coaching website.


If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

Deadpool

            This week, my wife and I went to see the Deadpool movie. I mean, last year we made a Deadpool costume out of chainmaille, so how could we not?

            I have to say, the movie was great – although definitely not for children (there are a multitude of posts circulating the internet saying this, yet there are still some people who don’t listen). I like to think that says a lot coming from me as I tend towards the refined side of things while Deadpool is the crudest and most vulgar super(anti)hero I’m aware of.

            Yet, the character is fascinating and fun – frequently breaking the fourth wall – and, in his own way, charming and almost honorable.

            More than that, the movie carries a strong message about how it’s okay to be yourself, even if that self is kinda messed up. No matter how strange (or disfigured) someone is, there is still a place for them in this world.

            And yes, it is a love story, as advertised. Just one of the strangest love stories you’ve seen.

            So, if you’re not easily offended, it’s a movie worth seeing. If you are easily offended, well... if you think you can get past that, you’ll probably enjoy it. If you’re somewhere in the middle, you get the point. Go see Deadpool, it’s a fun movie.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

Escape Attempt

            Last weekend I got to try something new and exciting – a rare occurrence for me. My wife and I went to an escape room with my in-laws. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life.

            For those of you who don’t know what an escape room is, it’s where you go with a team to this place where they lock you in a room and you have to solve clues and puzzles in order to escape.

            It was a fun and fascinating experience, although I can’t give you specific details because that’s part of the agreement – no spoilers for people who haven’t gone. In the hour we were locked in (it felt like about 15min), we rushed around, finding clues and solving puzzles. What I found absolutely amazing was that there was enough there to keep everyone constantly busy and contributing to escaping. Going in, I think that we all expected one person to be solving most of the puzzles while everyone else crowded around, but it was quite different. I don’t think a single task was completed that didn’t involve a group effort.

            The best comparison for it is a puzzle based video game (like Zelda) or books where the characters and/or you follow clues to solve mysteries – only you’re actually there and able to interact with absolutely everything. It’s amazing.

            Alas, we didn’t manage to escape in time and we ended up being blown up (that was part of the story for this particular escape room). However, I hear rumblings from the rest of the team that there is an intention to go back and actually escape this time. We’ll get you next time, escape room, next time...!

            So, yes, if you get a chance to go to an escape room, do it. It’s loads of fun and worth the trip (and this is coming from someone who thinks leaving the house once a week is a bit much).

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

A World of Their Own

            It’s here! A World of Their Own was released last Friday and I now have some writing published! So, run on over to Amazon and buy a copy (Kindle or paperback – whichever you prefer).

            Now, I’m not just telling you to buy this book because my short stories are in it (we all know that’s reason enough), but there are short stories from a bunch of other amazingly talented authors, too! I haven’t finished reading all the stories yet (silly me, I put it off to long and as a slow reader didn’t give myself enough time to finish them all before writing this), but I have to tell you there are some great stories to be read. The best part about an anthology by a group of authors like this is that you get to sample lots of writing and if you love a writing style enough you can seek out more of their books. With so much variety, there's something for everyone.

            But wait, there’s more! All profits from every book sale go to the World LiteracyFoundation – so not only are you bringing wonderful stories into your own home, you’re helping to spread literacy around the world. How cool is that?

            I’ll leave you to it now – after all, I have some more reading to get done (and so do you).

            ... Okay seriously, brain, what’s with all the parentheses today? (I dunno. Seemed like a good idea at the time.) Stop that. People are staring. (Here, we’ll make up for our weirdness with some pretty artwork from the book.) Deal.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

Best Board Game Everrrrrer

            No, seriously, if you haven’t played this board game, you need to. It is Firefly The Game and it’s loads of fun.

            What is it like, you ask? Well, I can best describe it as a combination of Monopoly, Settlers of Catan and Dungeons & Dragons. Incidentally, if you haven’t played those either, you’re missing out. Except maybe Monopoly, that can be hit or miss.

            Anyway, even if you aren’t a fan of Firefly (which, if you’re not, it probably means you haven’t watched the show, a problem you should go fix right now), the game is great – although you miss many of the references. It has a simple concept – you are the captain of a Firefly class starship. You need to find a crew, find a job and keep flying.

            Throughout the game, you fly around between planets doing jobs, hiring crew members and upgrading your ship while working towards certain goals. You get to choose the jobs from various contacts and the work is either legal or illegal, moral or immoral, with some paying better and some being riskier (with the potential of getting issued arrest warrants or even having crew members killed). The jobs can vary from carting cargo and passengers between planets to robbing banks.

            As for the goals to win the game, they change! That’s the best part about the game – there are different story modes to play. There’s even a solo mode (which I had so much fun with I played for 5 hours straight one day). The different game stories change the strategies needed for playing and make for a fresh game each time. I figure you can even write your own game modes for it (I’m planning a fantastic co-operative story).

            The only downside is that it does take a while to set up – but it’s worth it. It’s also one of those games where the rules seem really complicated when they’re being explained, but they begin to make sense really fast as you’re playing.

            So, yes. Firefly. Play it.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

The Alliance of Worldbuilders

            It is hard to believe I haven’t written a post about the Alliance of Worldbuilders yet. I’ve mentioned them once or twice, but it’s about time I actually told you who they are.

            It all started, amazingly enough, about four years ago. It was a year after I’d finished writing my first book and I was still extremely ignorant of the world of publishing. I had timidly stuck my toe out to test the waters with no results – usurping for me now, with all that I’ve learned. It was during this time that I discovered Authonomy.

            With all the trouble I was having writing query letters, this website seemed like the perfect opportunity for me. It allowed me to share my writing, get criticism and, if I got enough support from the other writers on the site, I would get a review from a Harper Collins editor and potentially a publishing offer. How could I pass that up?

            So, I signed up, uploaded my book and headed over to the forums to post a shameless plug. There, I was almost immediately recruited to the Alliance of Worldbuilders by Sam, the Vice Captain in charge of Cake.

            How to join? It was a simple matter of hopping over to the Alliance of Worldbuilders forum thread, eat the ceremonial virtual cake (that in no way had any mind-controlling drugs to bind us to the will of the Dark Lord TRM) and I was a member. I was even offered a title, which I chose to be Lord of the Wyrms (I felt, as a new member, Dragon Lord would be too pretentious – plus, I couldn’t pass up the play on Lord of the Flies).

            So, what is the Alliance? Well, it was started by Dark Lord TRM (along with his evil rabbit, Midnight) as a criticism group for fantasy writers and anyone else who built their own worlds for their writings. It grew into much more – a writing support group and a group of close friends from across the world, all dreaming of being published. There were probably over 100 people who joined, but there are about twenty of us who made up the core of the group.

            The group ended up talking about everything from writing through philosophy, real life issues and, of course, our plans for global domination. We soon became the thread with the most posts on the entire forum (the legendary battles between Vice Captain Sam and Ice Queen Lisa helped – come to think of it, neither of them returned the dragons I lent them...) Of course, the forum wasn’t built to handle that much traffic, so we were requested to start a new thread. Which we did, then brought it up to the top threads before starting a third.

            We all learned quickly enough that to get the editor review on Authonomy, we’d have to play the political game that had become rampant on the site. So, most of us didn’t bother. We gave each other reviews when we had time, chatted, supported each other and became a close-knit group.

            Thanks to this group, I was able to improve my writing substantially. More than that, though, I learned far more about the publishing world than I ever had before. Plus, I had fun.

            Then things changed a bit. Many of the group started getting published, some traditionally, some self-published, and there wasn’t quite as much chatting happening. Then Authonomy did an overhaul which we were disenchanted with, so we moved out headquarters over to Facebook. We’re still a close group, we just don’t chat or battle as much.

            So, why do I choose to tell you about this wonderful and talented group now? Why, because we’re about to release an anthology of short stories! On September 4^th, we will be releasing A World of Their Own in memory of our fallen comrade, Lindsey J Parsons, with all proceeds being donated to the World Literacy Foundation.

            This collection of short stories is extra exciting for me, as it will contain my first published works. It should also be exciting for you, because it’s an opportunity to discover new favourite authors from a very talented bunch.

            So, mark your calendars and join the Facebook release party. Invite your friends, too! While you’re waiting, you can even check out the group’s Facebook page, website, and scout out all the authors who will be in the anthology. Then you, too, can share in the wonderful imaginations of the Alliance of Worldbuilders.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

World Building is Fun

            I think one of the most important traits in an author is a love of knowledge. Why? Because we have to know the oddest things so we can make our books realistic. Some of the most obscure things come up.

            Recently I’ve been doing a lot of world building, getting a very detailed portion of my world developed for a series I’m planning. My research taught me all kinds of things, like you can raise 100 pigs on the same amount of land you need for one cow (free grazing – about 5 acres, in case you’re curious), that dinosaurs only lived about 30 years, and that there are vast stretches of underground, water-filled caves that are the only sources of fresh water in some parts of the world.

            I saw a quote once (and can’t find who said it) that an author must be an expert on everything. When Terry Pratchett wrote The Amazing Morris and his Educated Rodents, he said that by the time he was done, he knew more about rats than anyone would ever want to know.

You might wonder why what seem like minor details matter so much, especially in fiction. Couldn’t we just make it up? Well, yes, we could. But then, along comes an expert in horses to tell us that horses treated the way they are in the book would die from being ridden too hard. This is a bad thing on two fronts – first, it conveys inaccurate information to people and it’s amazing how easily people believe what they read. The second is that it ruins the realism of the book for anyone with that knowledge of horses – which is terrible. Fiction is meant for people to enjoy, after all.

            So, an important part of the writing process becomes research into the oddest things. I can only imagine how often mystery writers worry what people would think if they could see all their Google searches related to how to kill people. It takes less than a pound of pressure to cut skin.

            With all the bitty details needed, enjoying learning becomes mandatory. Otherwise, writing becomes tedious work – and, really, why bother writing if you don’t enjoy it? I’m lucky in that I’ve always loved learning. On the flip side, my research skills are lacking, so it takes me a while to find what I’m looking for, but I tend to pick up a few extra tidbits along the way. I gain lots of new information, then add it to my arsenal for developing believable worlds, stories and characters.

            World building is fun!

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

What Were Those Mysterious Sounds?

            I don’t get out to as many medieval fairs and renaissance festivals as I’d like to – I mean, after all, they’re a ton of fun and it’s where chainmaille sells the best. However, of the ones that I know, I have a particular fondness of the Royal Medieval Faire that we were vendors at last Saturday.

            What makes this event so special? It has a new theme and storyline each year. I've never seen that anywhere else and I've gotta say, the organizers have a lot of fun with it.

            Last year, the faire was invaded by Vikings (also a drunken lady asking people to kiss her stuffed frog). This year was something unique and – I felt – very clever. It was a mystery. In fact, it was such a good mystery that I still don’t know what was going on. All I know is that throughout the day, we kept hearing the oddest noises. I also observed two shady looking characters dressed all in black offering a child a gold coin in exchange for information about the strange sounds.

            My best guess is that it was a snoring dragon. While that only accounts for some of the sounds, it’s the best I've got.

            Story line or no, medieval fairs are great fun. If you've never been to one, you should find one near you and go. Beware of dragons and Vikings, though. Also drunken ladies with kissy frogs. I'm not sure I’ll ever recover from that on.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

A DM is Born

            So, back in the spring I came up with a ridiculous idea – I was going to see if my parents would be interested in playing Dungeons and Dragons. I had played a couple games over the years and enjoyed it, but all of them died out very quickly because it was just too hard to get everyone together at the same time. Colleen had also played a little and wanted to try some more, which is where I came up with such a crazy idea.

            I started by asking my mother, since she’s the busiest one in the family (she’s a minister – if you've never spent much time around ministers you should know that they are always working, even on their days off). I explained the game isn't just about the fighting – it’s a storytelling game. I was shocked when she actually said yes.

            Then my brother dropped by, so I jokingly told him about it and asked him if he was interested (in the past he said he’d never want to play). He said sure, as long as I could convince his wife. A few texts later, she was in.

            Without even trying, I’d gotten four family members interested in the game. Last was my father, who, when he came home from worked and I asked him, said “yes” without a hesitation when I asked him.

            That was about when I realized that I had just accidentally convinced my family to play D&D, which meant something else – I needed to be the Dungeon Master, the person running the game.

            For those of you unfamiliar with the game, when playing D&D you are either part of a group of adventurers playing through the game, or you are the Dungeon Master (DM) who has to create the world, the story and control everyone and everything in the world who isn't one of the adventurers. In other words, it’s a lot of work.

            Luckily I was able to cheat a little. Because I've never run a game before, I decided that I would alter a pre-made adventure rather than making one from scratch. This way I’d know that I was running the game properly and it would be far less work.

            Even so, I knew I’d be teaching a group who were almost all new to the game while learning how to run the game, so I was a little worried about how it would go. I also wasn't sure if I was going to enjoy the role.

            Well, tonight (last night, for you lot reading this on Monday) we had our first game and I, for one, had a great time. I haven’t gotten feedback from everyone else yet, but the rest of my family seemed to have fun as well. This was particularly gratifying because the beginning of any D&D game is extremely slow and full of a lot of work for everyone, but when you have new players there’s a lot of new explaining to do that makes it even slower. Luckily everyone learned quickly and the pace picked up fairly quickly.

            It seems that I make a decent DM and I'm thoroughly enjoying myself. With any luck, everyone else will continue having fun as well and this will end up an ongoing thing. On the other hand, that means a lot more writing for me – not to mention I’ll have to start writing my blogs earlier in the week. Hey – that means this may even work out well for you!

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.

 

 

Nostalgia

            What is it about the past that we find so enthralling? It doesn't matter if it was good or bad; something always draws our minds to the past and somehow, the past was always better than the present.

            Nostalgia is such a fascinating thing, not because it exists, but because it exists in so many people. While I’ll freely admit that there is a lot of merit to the saying “They don’t make things like they used to” (don’t get me started on built-in obsolescence), was the past really better than the present?

            When I think back to when I was a child, I wonder at how easily I was entertained and how much fun I had with simple things. Swimming is a perfect example. My parents have numerous pictures of me swimming and having a grand old time. I remember having a blast pretending to be a dolphin or just paddling around. Now, however, I don’t see a point in swimming. There’s no purpose to it and, because of that, I no longer have fun.

            So, is swimming less fun now than it was when I was a kid? I find that doubtful. Swimming is an activity, it cannot change – but I can.

            What is it, then, that changes us as we grow older that makes us enjoy life less, or at least think we do? Is it growing up? Gaining more responsibility? Having greater knowledge?

            If I had to choose one, I would have to go with knowledge, because growing up is optional and in order to have responsibility you have to accept it. Knowledge is the one thing that is irreversible – once we have it, there’s no going back (well, at least not while you still have a healthy mind).

            Knowledge is important to our way of life and it’s supposed to be a good thing. So why does it seem like the more knowledge we have, the less we can enjoy life? I think it’s because we over-think things. We spend our time worrying about what other people think of us, what we could have done in the past to make the present better, when the next terrorist attack will come and what we can do to get a raise. Then we look back at our childhood selves and think, “Gee... I had it made back then.”

            The funny thing is that life isn't all that different now than it was back then. We just know more, which means we have to sift through a lot more before we can arrive at what we enjoy – or we don’t enjoy things because we don’t understand why we enjoy them.

            Instead of looking back at how great the past was, I think we should take all this knowledge we've accumulated and, rather than allowing it to make us think life is worse, use it to find ways of enjoying life more. We’ll never enjoy life the way we did when we were children – we have too much knowledge for that – but we can enjoy life differently. Not more, not less, but differently.

            Either that or we should accept that ignorance is bliss and go live in the trees like every kid wants to. After all, kids have it made.

Click here to find the charity anthology containing a couple of my short stories.

If there's any subject you'd like to see me ramble on about, feel free to leave a comment asking me to do so.