Gaming and Writing Fiction
Posted: May 3, 2013 Filed under: Savage Worlds fiction, Thoughts on RPG Gaming Leave a comment »Gaming wasn’t always good inspiration for fiction. I definitely got that impression on reading the original Dragonlance novels inspired by D&D back in the day — or I should say, trying to read them. Loved the game, hated the stories.
I think part of it was disappointment that the novels didn’t really reflect a typical gaming session. That instinct was soon followed by an equally strong hunch that basing fiction off a typical gaming session would be awful — sort of like the James Bond flicks that I hated before Daniel Craig took over, full of explosions and short on plot, character and the most important elements of actual stories.
Since I started gaming in plot-point defined Savage Worlds campaigns involving deeply flawed characters, roleplayed by people who seem to want to convey micro-stories themselves, I’m finding that the games are actually inspring good stories worth writing; not fanfic and not game summaries, but actual, original fiction that takes bits and pieces from game days. This makes me happy.
If you’ve checked out some of the older posts on this site, you can read some of my earlier game-inspired fiction. I’m also writing stuff over at The Island of Misfit Stories
Enjoy.
Game Idea. The Sinister Six Take on the Most Dangerous Game of All
Posted: January 22, 2013 Filed under: Thoughts on RPG Gaming | Tags: Savage Worlds supers Leave a comment »Since we’re already starting off 2013 on an eeeeevil vibe with a Vampires WoD-style Savage Worlds adventure, I figure we’ll follow it up next with a supervillain-centric campaign, along the lines of the Sinister Six (classic Marvel villains Doctor Octopus, Mysterio, Sandman, Electro, Kraven the Hunter and the Vulture) hunting (and in turn, being hunted by) Spider-Man.
Why go with classic Marvel superhumans rather than generic supers? Using established, iconic villains (and an even more established, famous superhero adversary) means everyone’s already on roughly the same page with the kind of world we’re using, even if none of the Players (or myself) have actually read a comic book in about 20 years. Set up for character powers and motivations is easy. Pick some appropriate Power Trappings, Hindrances and Edges and we’re off to the races.
Read the rest of this entry »
The NeverEnding Stories of Savage Worlds
Posted: January 6, 2013 Filed under: Thoughts on RPG Gaming | Tags: D&D Sahuagin Leave a comment »
Our group has played many different kinds of campaigns in Savage Worlds, from fantasy and survival-horror to pirates and science fiction. But today we tried something we’d never done before: using old characters to go back into a campaign world we had finished a year ago.
The last time we used the fantasy Wild Cards Oranic the Wizard and Klothar the Barbarian, the pair of adventurers were in dire straits. Well, worse than dire — we scrambled their molecules in a magical equivalent of a small-scale nuclear blast (explained in the blog post, He Murdered Me). I always felt a little guilt about GM-ing the Total Party Kill, so bringing back these characters for a new adventure was a nice opportunity to undo some bad karma. Read the rest of this entry »
Looking Forward to a Savage 2013
Posted: December 31, 2012 Filed under: Savage Worlds, Thoughts on RPG Gaming | Tags: Savage Worlds blogging Leave a comment »
We started the Savage Games blog back in April to document our Savage Worlds RPG play-throughs, publish a bit of gaming-inspired fiction and just throw ideas around about how to keep improving the experience for Players and GM’s alike. After an extended holiday break and some time for our gaming group members to get through some personal transitions (moving house, starting school again, recovering from nearly being killed by a goddamned tree), I expect we’ll be back in full force with some fresh updates.
To make this blog a bit more useful to readers, we’re also thinking of publishing more Plot Point Campaign summaries, character stats, maps — basically, offering a bit more value for our fellow gamers. No promises on any kind of regularity for that, but we’ll do what we can. Read the rest of this entry »
Blood-Sucking Savages!
Posted: December 15, 2012 Filed under: Thoughts on RPG Gaming | Tags: Savage Worlds vampires, survival horror RPG, Vampire Masquerade, Vampire Requiem Leave a comment »
Source: digital-art-gallery.com via Melanie on Pinterest
Whenever I get around to GM-ing again, I plan to run a Savage Worlds campaign loosely based off the World of Darkness “Vampire: the Requiem” game. It’s going to be bloody good (Sorry. Couldn’t resist).
I used to play the “Vampires: the Masquerade” game back in the 1990s when it first came out. It was fun, but I often felt that actual gameplay didn’t live up to its potential (Whether I was GM-ing or as a Player). I almost want to prove to myself that this game can be not merely good, but awesome. The campaign will be a success if we can avoid some of the problems from my past experiences. Read the rest of this entry »
