This is really a post to myself right now, given that my current readership is nonexistent, but I’m going to be focusing the blog more on my own ideas and inspirations for writing than on other people’s work. I will be talking about other people’s work in the context of how their ideas are influencing my ideas, but that’s about it for reviews and commentary. I am planning on eventually submitting my work to agents and publishing houses for (hopefully) professional publication.

For anyone who is reading this and wants to know why I’m even considering writing fiction professionally, this isn’t my first rodeo as a writer. I am a currently employed magazine editor and have been a journalist for the last nine years.

So, what am I working on? My first project is a fiction novel, specifically science fiction. I’ve had an idea for a certain story for years now, and I’m finally getting around to putting words on a page. I do have ideas for other stories, and have written a few in fact, but it’s been my ambition to complete a novel for about eight years now, so I’ll be posting about my progress on my novel more than most other things around here. 

Next, I have an idea for (I think) a unique take on a tabletop RPG. I’ve been on the fringes of the indie tabletop/story gaming scene for about three years now (check out The Forge and Story Games if you’re interested in learning more about this subject. Do I plan to publish my idea? I’m not sure at this point. Once I get a first draft finished I’ll be playtesting it with friends. From there, I’ll just play it by ear.

Also on the gaming front, I’m currently co-editing my friend Alex Duarte’s game unWritten. I’ve been involved in playtesting his game for at least a couple of years now, so it’s very cool to see it entering the final draft stage. I’ll post a bit more about unWritten in the future, but suffice it to say that it’s a tabletop roleplaying game about creating just about any kind of story you would want to read or watch.

That’s it for now. I’ll be updating periodically, likely a few times a week, to keep myself on track. If after reading any of this you plan to follow this blog, I do plan to include content that will be useful to other aspiring writers. Check back in a few days for more on my writing process and interesting things I’ve found online that relate to fiction writing.

Aw, what the heck. Here’s a great writing podcast that I listen to regularly that every aspiring fiction writer should check out: Writing Excuses. It’s produced by Brandon Sanderson, Howard Tayler and Dan Wells, all published writers in fantasy fiction, webcomics and horror fiction, respectively.

Sorry for the lack of recent posts. I’m in the middle of three books at the moment. The one I’m furthest along in is David Anthony Durham’s Acacia. The second is Brian Ruckley’s Winterbirth and the third is The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss (winner of the 2007 Quill Award for Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror).

I’m enjoying all three, but so far the standout is Rothfuss’ The Name of the Wind. I still have a ways to go in each book, though, so I’ll post longer reviews of each once I finish them.

 

Cthulhutech (www.cthulhutech.com) is a ta bletop RPG that I’ve been looking forward to for the last few years. Atlhough it’s had a somewhat bumpy history, including long delays in publication and a change of publishers, it’s finally about to rear its war-torn, futuristic, tentacled head.

For those who have never heard of this game, it’s a far-future setting based on the stories of H.P. Lovecraft, a writer of horror, science fiction and fantasy (though mostly horror) who lived in the late 1800s, early 20th century.

Cthulhutech is truly a genre mash-up, the focus of which is a war where humanity fights for its very survival against massive alien armies, ala Robotech. Other elements include giant cyborg mecha, as in Neon Genesis Evangelion, and, of course, Lovecraft’s horrific literary creations, such as the Migou (insect-like fungus creatures from Pluto), cults of various unimaginably powerful alien beings (Hastur, Cthulhu, Nyarlathotep, etc.) and secret societies where their members covertly wage war to determine humanity’s fate.

I’ve preordered the game, so it should be arriving within the next few weeks. From what I know of the game so far, the art looks pretty awesome. War stories have always been a fascination of mine, especially ones where humanity’s survival is at stake, so hopefully this will be a solid addition to my gaming bookshelf. I’ll post a full review after I receive the book and have a chance to play the game a bit.

Apparently, the Electric Church has a new website. This is one of the better promotional websites for a book that I’ve seen in the last couple of years. Looks pretty cool. Check it out here. You can also order the book online by clicking through the links at the bottom of the page.

Game: Reign, A Game of Lords and Leaders
Author: Greg Stolze
Page Count: 363
Price: $49.30, hardcover (both cover styles) 
Website: www.gregstolze.com/reign/
My Pre-Actual Play Review: 4.5 out of 5

This is my first post about a tabletop role-playing game. I’ve been playing tabletop RPGs, also known as paper-and-pencil RPGs, to distinguish them from computer and console games, since I was in junior high. RPGs have come a long way in terms of design, style of play, content, etc, and Reign is no exception to the ongoing changes occurring in the roleplaying game market.

For those who don’t know what role-playing games involve, I’ll explain that in a future post. For the gamers out there, here’s my “never played yet, but have only read the book” review of Reign.

Overview

Reign is a beautiful book. The version I picked up was the hardcover version of the game with the cover illustration by Daniel Solis. The binding seems sturdy and looks like it can handle regular use by a group at the gaming table. The art is mostly atmospheric with a few full-page black-and white pieces, but is, overall, stylish and lends an “ancient mediterranean” feel to the game. The layout is also easy to read yet utilizes a number of graphic elements that enhance the look of the book and the game’s atmosphere.

Although Reign is set in a unique fantasy world (more on that later) and players create individual characters, Reign’s focus is on either each character, or the entire group of the players’ characters, leading a “company,” which that game defines as “a group, faction or party who are joined together in pursuit of some shared objective.” My impression is that scale plays an important role here. Examples of companies in the Reign core book include a religion, a political cause, a mercenary troupe, a secretive conspiracy and a government.

Now, Reign has two sets of mechanics that revolve around Greg Stolze’s One-Roll Engine, the first being similar to those in Greg Stolze’s other games, Godlike and Wild Talents, and focuses on traditional character and Gamemaster (GM) interaction. The second set is the game’s Company mechanics, which allows companies to interact and for characters to affect and improve their companies.

The One-Roll Engine is fairly simple once you get the hang of learning how to read dice results, and I thought the system has a good balance of “crunch” while maintaining fast character creation and prep for the GM. The book also comes with a handy table that allows GMs to create NPCs quickly using the ORE mechanic.

Characters

Player Characters (PCs) in Reign are not generally your average peasant farm boy or girl who leaves home seeking adventure, though this is definitely a possible character type (though not the default character type in terms of beginning skill and power). Instead, PCs are aspiring nobles who rule parts of kingdoms, leaders of rebel groups, founders of new religious cults, heads of merchant houses and other individuals who are in charge of, or at least have a vital leadership role in, a company that the group creates. In fact as characters earn experience (called XP), they can either spend it to improve their own abilities or those of their company, blurring the lines between the power of the individual character and that of the company.

Characters are defined by six Stats, basic attributes that define a character’s general capabilities: Skills, specific learned abilities; Passions, character motivations; Martial Paths and Esoteric Disciplines, learned special abilities that give the characters heroic competence in a variety of fields; and Advantages, a group of characteristics that enhance a character’s capabilities but aren’t easily categorizable. One last optional type of characteristic is “Problems,” handicaps of various sorts (not just physical, but mental and social as well) that can reward your character with more XP if you incorporate that particular handicap into play.

Magic is handled somewhat differently than in many other RPGs, being very focused on accomplishing specific tasks, be it harming enemies, personal enhancement or enchanting items in specific ways. It’s completely optional, and to create a starting character who is skilled in magic will be at the cost of other types of skills, disciplines and advantages. The core book doesn’t really have a system for creating your own types of magic, but it does offer guidelines and game balance tips if you choose to get creative and go that route.

I found the character options to be interesting and varied but not overwhelming. Again, the available options still make character creation relatively quick and fun.

Company

The Company rules are really one of the best parts of this book. They give a group a simple framework for playing out larger scale conflicts between armies, kingdoms, secret cults, thieves guilds, merchant houses and other social organizations, allowing the game to take on a broader scope than your traditional fantasy RPG. The only aspect of these rules that I thought could use more explanation and clarification is how you combine the company rules with the traditional RPG mechanics where there is GM and the group of players. The best advice in the book for making this work is on pg. 161 (PCs and Companies: A Final Note). The book offers suggestions for dovetailing the rules in play, by having a “company” session at the end of a regular session of play where the characters undertook some quest or dealt with a particular problem. Another option suggested is to alternate sessions of play where the focus is on the party of characters in one session and on the group’s company in the next.

Personally, I would have preferred a “default” structure of play for combining these rules with more advice on how to make this work, but that’s just me. One advantage of these two sets of rules is that you can incorporate them (they are the heart of this game, after all) easily or you can just as easily ignore them, depending on what your group prefers.

Setting

The default setting for Reign is a fantasy world that its inhabitants know as Heluso and Melonda, two continents on a unique world whose origins hearken back to ancient creation stories from Greek and Norse culture and Hinduism. I won’t spoil it for you here, but the setting is one of the more original fantasy worlds I’ve seen that is distinctive but not over the top or totally bizarre.

The core book gives details on four of the major cultures, though Stolze references numerous others throughout the book. The majority of the special abilities are specific to the world of Heluso and Melonda, though it would be fairly easy to port them to a fantasy setting of your own creation if you wanted to do so.

Pre-Actual Play Review:

Based on my reading of the book, I give Reign a solid 4.5 out of 5. It has an interesting, non-traditional setting, unique mechanics that focus on a dimension of play ignored by most games, great writing, layout and presentation. I can think of a few areas, specifically how to make use of the company rules in the context of regular play in a structured way, that I would have liked to see more information on, but the game is one of the best I’ve picked up this year. Now, if I can just get my group to try it out…

I’m going to make a point to play this game, so at some point I’ll post a shorter review of our actual play session(s) and let you know what I thought. 

Oh, one last note is Greg Stolze’s “Ransom Model” for supplements for Reign. He has a system set up whereby when the “Ransom” number (a dollar value) reaches a set amount, he releases a new PDF supplement for the game. Contributing to this new release is totally optional, and even if you do contribute, you don’t get charged unless enough people contribute to the ransom amount asked for. So far Greg Stolze has released two supplements for Reign, both of which offer great rules information, GM NPC creation and general prep aids, and color to the setting of Heluso and Melonda. He’s also writing short fiction to go along with these supplements to further develop the game’s setting.

Here’s a link to the “supplements” page for Reign. There is also a great Reign “wiki” out there, created by Stolze, that provides even more background information on the world of Heluso and Melonda. You can find that here.

 

Mouse Guard is another recent find. I purchased the first hardcover collection, entitled Mouse Guard, Fall 1152 and thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

The setting isn’t incredibly complex and is reminiscent of Brian Jacques’ Redwall series, but seems intended for a somewhat more mature audience (the publisher’s website says ages 10+). The premise is that mice in a medieval-esque society have created a group of warriors to protect the far-flung mouse settlements from predators. The first volume details the adventures of a group of three Guard Mice respectively named Saxon, Kenzie and Lieam. Here’s a picture of Lieam in black and white from the “Characters” section of David Petersen’s Mouse Guard website.

 

Not to give too much away, the first Mouse Guard story arc revolves around a legendary hero, a conspiracy and  battles against a variety of predators, from snakes to crabs. Yes, I said crabs, and you’ll have to read it to understand what I’m talking about.

I’ve read a few reviews online that say the story isn’t complex enough, but I didn’t really think that was an issue. I’m also curious to see where Petersen plans to take the story, as it seems it’s only going to get more involved in future volumes. FYI, the hardcover edition of Mouse Guard is in full color, and Petersen does an amazing job of bringing the world of the mice to life, especially in the forest scenes and in his rendition of the Mouse Guard’s fortress of Lockhaven.

I picked up my copy at Barnes & Noble in the bookstore itself, though obviously you can purchase copies online at Barnes and Noble’s website. For more information about Mouse Guard, you can visit the author’s site at www.mouseguard.net. The graphic novel is published by Archaia Studios Press at www.daradja.com.

(The images above are from www.mouseguard.net. The first is the cover to the first volume of the Mouse Guard comic by David Petersen, and the second image is a sketch from Petersen’s gallery on www.mouseguard.net.) 

I just found out about this book today. Definitely looks interesting. It’s a semi-near future story about Avery Cates, a criminal who runs afoul of The Electric Church, a rapidly expanding worldwide cult/religion that advocates conversion to the faith by turning individuals into ”Monks,” cyborgs that take the form of human brains in robotic bodies. Every member of the Church looks identical, so the creepy factor is pretty high.

Here’s a quote from the first chapter (via the excerpt I’ve linked to below):

“The Monks all looked alike. Their plastic faces were capable of expression, in weird, programmed contortions that never looked natural, but their faces were identical. At first you saw them here and there, heard rumor of them. Now they’re everywhere. You see Monks in the street, on the trains. The Electric Church was a registered religion. It was all very legal — they claimed to have paperwork on every member, showing voluntary submission to the conversion into a Monk. So far the System Pigs bought it, and left them alone.”

It’s  being published by Orbit books, originally a UK imprint, but now launching in the US in September of this year. This book is being released in trade paperback format, which seems to be a growing phenomenon in the book world. Mass market paperbacks are becoming few and far between, unfortunately. This looks interesting enough that I’ll pick up a copy, though. I’ll post a review in either September or October, depending on when this book is actually available and how long it takes me to get around to reading it.

Here’s a link to an excerpt of The Electric Church at www.orbitbooks.net.

(The image at the top of this post is the cover to The Electric Church, and is from Orbit Books’ site, linked to directly above.) 

Welcome to Wordsmithing. This blog is basically about whatever I happen to find cool or informative out there in the wide world of literature, nonfiction, comics and manga, role-playing games and poetry.  As a professional writer, I’ll also be posting what I know about the process of creating fiction and nonfiction in a variety of formats, although I’m continually learning about this process myself. I’ll also be posting links to, and comments on, books, blogs, websites and workshops designed to help other aspiring and professional writers. I’ll be adding a few posts in the next day or two, so if you’ve stumbled upon this site, keep an eye out for more content soon. Also, I plan on updating this site at least a couple of times per week with at least one new topic each time. Thanks for reading, and I hope you find something worth your time here.