Andrew Seiple's Blog: Transmissions From the Teslaverse - Posts Tagged "roleplaying"

So, in our Wednesday game, it was my friend's turn to run. He had an idea, we had characters built... but he had to postpone. Needed more time to work on stuff.

So I stepped up to run something, and we ended up going with Star Wars.

I had a simple scenario in mind to start with. Started the group off with three of them in the Imperial prison spice mining complex on Kessel, seeking a way out. The fourth one, who hadn't gone deep into debt to build her character, was an inspector called in to check out the prison's records.

I didn't have much beyond a vague plan, and experience with how secure facilities are run. I detailed a few key players among the prisoners, including three gangs with their own characters and outlooks. One of them was made up of the enslaved wookies working the mines, and two of them had a political power struggle going on.

My PC's romped through there, didn't follow any of the script, had a blast escaping, and completely ignored the wookie politics.

And y'know what? It's cool. I had it on hand if I needed it, but I didn't, and that's okay. Life goes on.

I guess what I'm saying, is that... it's better to have enough notes to keep up with the players if they decide to jump a particular direction and not have to use them, then it is to have nothing on hand when they go that way.

It's a pity, though, man. They totally could have played peacemakers and unifiers to a group of angry tree ape dudes. Ah well, maybe another session...

When I run RPG's, I usually try to give each non-player-character their own distinctive voice. Accents, tones, ways of speaking, stuff like that. It adds flavor to the game I find, helps the players visualize the person they're talking to. And honestly, it's pretty darn fun. The voices don't have to be perfect, so long as they're memorable.

I carried that technique over to me when I write. My characters all have their own voices, and ways of speaking. The goal is to make it so that you can recognize who's talking without quite as many "he-said, she-said's" on the page. I don't always succeed at that goal, but that's fine. It's still fun, and it helps me visualize the scenes that I'm writing.

And a funny thing happens, if you can find their voices... dialogue becomes easy. You don't plot out what they're going to say anymore, you just put the characters in a scene and let them talk about it. Often I'm surprised by how they banter, or go off on a subject that I didn't expect because, well, they would. It's just how they talk and act.

It was a bit scary letting them do this at first, since I was giving up control... but the more I went back and read the scenes where I tried it, the more I realized that they felt natural. Unforced. It felt more REAL.

So yeah. This technique might not work for everyone, but if you ever get the chance, I recommend that you try it. What've you got to lose?

Let your characters talk as they will. You might be pleasantly surprised at what they're saying.

I went into Acadecon not knowing what to expect. I had hopes, mind you. What I'd seen so far seemed encouraging.

But when you're dealing with a new convention, you really don't know what you're going to get. So I approached it as I approached everything, hoping for the best but preparing for the worst.

Guys, it was the best.

The con was well-run, efficient, and offered a good amount of value for money. The schedule was packed with gaming events, they had plenty of door prizes, and every vendor I know who set up there made a profit above table costs. I'm no exception to that... the books sold were enough to cover my weekend, and a souveneir or two.

It was encouraging, to see so many local folks who share my niche hobby, and to talk to some of them on panels as a subject matter expert. Got to tell five prospective writers about the realities of self-publishing. Also got to lay out my strategy for creating sandbox campaigns. In between I sold books and chatted with local artists, craftsmen, and authors. There's a lot of us in the Dayton area. And barring mishap, most of us will be back next year.

That's how good conventions should go. A solid, well-planned launch leads to word of mouth spreading leads to growth the next year. Back it up by extending advertising, and you end up with a tradition. Sure, it won't all be cake and sunshine, but at the end of the day if you keep smart and remember to try to keep people happy, you can ride out the bad spots.

So good on Acadecon's organizers, and I very much look forward to seeing them next year. Peace, out!