From heather at burningvoid.com Wed Jan 5 09:00:49 2005 From: heather at burningvoid.com (Heather Grove) Date: Wed Jan 5 09:09:33 2005 Subject: [Twilight Time] Brief Burning Void Announcement Message-ID: <3454D118-5F22-11D9-B886-000A958E5B9C@burningvoid.com> Hi! I just wanted to let people know that we finally implemented the oft-requested article announcement list: http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/burningvoid-announce It's strictly for semi-regular announcements of new reviews and articles, as well as other major site changes. That way I can reserve Twilight Time just for the zine articles, and anyone who wants to know what's going on with the site can sign up for the other list. It'll probably be used roughly once every one to three weeks depending on how much stuff is going up on the site, but I'd say a minimum of once a month and a maximum of twice a week. Why did we do this? Because there are some changes going on at the Burning Void site: http://www.burningvoid.com/ You may have noticed the advent of some Google adwords ads. Hopefully they're fairly unobtrusive and relevant to the content. You may have also noticed that I'm finally getting around to updating all the old stuff into the new site format. I'm even putting all of my Epinions reviews up on the site, and integrating the old Twilight Time articles (all the way back to the beginning!) into the main site design and navigation. This is because I'm working on turning the site into something of a part-time job for myself. This helps both me and you. How does it help you? Because it lets me spend more time on the site, including more helpful content, while still keeping that content free. A couple of the more notable changes are: We've revived the old cooking resources, to a certain extent. They may not see a lot of updating, but since it seems people have still found the old resources useful despite that, we figured we might as well update them finally. We're taking review copies of things again, primarily of writers' books, cookbooks, and cooking-related things, although we may occasionally be willing to take a few other things as well; details can be found on the main reviews page if there's something you want us to review. Brief plug: the Amazon links in the reviews definitely help to support the site if you're interested in buying something we've reviewed! You may not realize it, but we've reviewed all sorts of things besides RPGs: cookware, fiction, gardening books, psychology books, writers' books, and a whole lot more. I apologize that the promised article on one-on-one gaming hasn't gone up, nor have I sent out a recent Twilight Time article. Converting the site kind of got in the way, and I want to finish that up first. I still have to port over a good handful of reviews and the Zine articles since about early '01; hopefully that won't take too much longer and then I can get to putting up new site content. Thank you for your time, I hope you like the new changes, and if you're interested in hearing about new articles and site changes as they happen--please sign up for the new list! You can also sign up by sending an email with a subject of "subscribe" (without the quotes) to burningvoid-announce-request at seven.pairlist.net --you'll be required to confirm your subscription within three days' time; this is to prevent anyone from signing you up without your permission. Thank you, and I hope you're having a great new year! Heather Heather Grove heather@burningvoid.com http://www.burningvoid.com/ From heather at burningvoid.com Sun Jan 9 05:56:33 2005 From: heather at burningvoid.com (Heather Grove) Date: Sun Jan 9 05:59:18 2005 Subject: [Twilight Time] Plot hooks by genre Message-ID: <1FE8AB6F-622D-11D9-81BD-000A958E5B9C@burningvoid.com> January 9, 2005 -- Plot Hooks by Genre Volume 6, Issue 1 This is the Twilight Time zine, copyright 2005 by Burning Void Publishing and Heather Grove, except where noted otherwise. You may forward via email to other people, but only in its entirety. Do not repost or reprint by any other means without direct permission. To subscribe or unsubscribe, change your options, or view the archives: http://two.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/twilighttime You can also subscribe by sending an email with a subject of "subscribe" (without the quotes) to Twilighttime-request at burningvoid.com Good morning! Just a reminder that we now have an announcement list for those who wish to be kept up-to-date on new articles, reviews, and so on: http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/burningvoid-announce Or subscribe by sending an email with a subject of "subscribe" (without the quotes) to burningvoid-announce-request at seven.pairlist.net We're doing a lot more with the web site now, in particular with reviews of all kinds! I'm currently receiving review copies of books from a good handful of publishers. In the process of updating the site I was reminded of just how popular some of our "instant plot hook" articles have been, so today we're bringing you plot hooks-by-genre, just a little bit of fun to start off the new year with. Have a great day! Heather +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Instant Plot Hooks-by-Genre Since our "instant plot hooks" (little things meant to take up a spare half-hour here and there in an emergency, and possibly to be expanded into full plots) are so popular, here are a bunch tailored for various genres. Adapt them to your game, or use them as inspiration to help you think up your own. It can be handy to have a handful of these next to you when you GM. You can use them to liven things up, to complicate a pre-existing plot, to fill in a gap when the player characters (PCs) short-circuit your plans, and so on. Or you can use them as inspiration for a full adventure. Science Fiction 1. Introduce a new and dangerous frontier. A "new frontier" can be just about any new area open to exploration: a new area of science, a new planet, a new dimension, space travel in general. What makes it so dangerous? 2. A cure is found for a terrible disease or illness. But it introduces its own dark secret... 3. Someone has found a way to overcome hunger, disease, aging, or something similar. But there's a terrible price for those who wish to take advantage of this... Fantasy 1. An ancient and long-thought-extinct race of creatures has merely been hidden away or "sleeping" all this time, and now they're returning. They want their rightful place back, and someone isn't going to want to give it to them... 2. A powerful and important artifact has been rescued from thieves or a villain. Everything seems all right, until someone tries to use the artifact's powers... 3. Both sides in a war have good reason to insist that the PCs should be on their side, and evidence why this should be so. How do the characters unravel the mystery? Can they stop the war, or must they choose a side--and how? Spy/Military 1. The PCs are sent after a traitor who stole information to sell, only to be told when they catch up to him that he did it to lure the bad guys into a trap. Is he telling the truth? Do they believe him? What do they do? 2. Someone higher in rank than the PCs starts behaving a little oddly--he doesn't seem to remember little things that he should, or some of his orders don't entirely make sense. Is he a traitor? Has he been compromised, threatened, or replaced? Has someone drugged or poisoned him? Is he distracted by a family tragedy, or starting to go senile? Or is something stranger going on? 3. A reliable source tells the PCs that an invasion or attack is coming, but they can't find any evidence of one. Then that person disappears, and the trail of clues begins... Superhero 1. A dead and defeated villain seems to have returned, but things aren't that simple. He's behaving oddly, or his memories aren't quite right. Is it really that villain? If so, what's changed? What's he up to now? 2. A villain comes to the PCs for help--someone he cares about is in danger, and he honestly believes what he's saying to them. Is it a trap set by someone else? Is the villain truly able to set aside his feelings about the PCs even under these circumstances? Who is the someone he cares about, and why should the PCs help them? 3. One of the PCs seems to have lost his powers, but then things get strange. He has odd dreams and hallucinations in which people ask him for help. What's suppressing or stealing his powers? Are the dreams or hallucinations messages? How are these things related? Horror 1. One of the PCs (or a close friend or family member) starts to age at an unusual rate. What's going on, and can the PCs stop it in time? 2. One or more of the PCs start seeing an unusual animal wherever they go: a white cat, perhaps, a dark brown dog, or a raven. It's almost always sitting quietly and watching them intently. What is it really? Is it an enemy or a friend? Is it evaluating them for something? Is it spying on them? 3. One of the PCs starts to go blind, and doctors can't find anything wrong with him. Then the visions start... Mystery 1. An item disappears from a museum, but it's one of the cheapest and most worthless items in the collection. Much more important and valuable items right next to it were left behind. Who stole it, and what made this piece worth more to them? What's its secret? 2. Children start disappearing from a local hospital and no one knows why. What's going on? Where have they gone? Are they all right? Is someone saving them or harming them? 3. Someone has kidnapped the sibling of a minor politician and is demanding the politician vote a certain way on a particular issue--but it's a minor and seemingly inconsequential issue. What makes it so important? Who's doing the kidnapping? What's really going on? As usual, there are a few things to keep in mind when designing your own instant plot hooks. Keep them simple: you need to be able to adapt them to the circumstances at the time when you decide to use them. Don't pin down too many details in advance. Fill them with questions and unexplained events that the party can investigate and you can choose to expand upon. Try to look for the unexpected in them. Where might your players expect such a plot hook to go? How can you take it in a different direction? Try mixing an IPH with a tarot card or some song lyrics to help you expand on it in new and interesting ways. What's Your Opinion?: Comments on this issue's topic? Suggestions? Tips? Special topic requests? Drop me a line. If I pass any of your suggestions on (either through the newsletter or the RPG resources page), I'll attribute them to you. Be sure to tell me if you don't want me to use your name and/or comments! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ SITE UPDATE: Burning Void: resources for roleplayers and writers http://www.burningvoid.com/ I've worked many of the old Twilight Time articles (through part of 2002 at this point) into the main part of the site. There are a bunch of new reviews, and the first site update can guide you to a number of other things: http://seven.pairlist.net/pipermail/burningvoid-announce/2005/ 000000.html +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ RATINGS: You can give the Twilight Time Zine a rating on the RPG Gateway to let us know how we're doing: http://www.rpggateway.com/cgi-bin/wyrm/rate.cgi?ID=5288 The same goes for the Burning Void RPG resources page: http://www.rpggateway.com/cgi-bin/wyrm/rate.cgi?ID=1392 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Privacy Policy: We do not sell or give out your information. We will never hand out your email addresses (or any other information that we somehow end up with), barring a legal requirement to do so. Your privacy is important to us! Missing Issues: If you have subscribed to the zine and do not receive an issue, please check two things. First, make sure any spam filter you may be using has been told that the zine is not spam. Second, make sure there's room in your account for the email--every month we get bounces from accounts that are over-quota. If your account bounces two or more issues in a row, we reserve the right to unsubscribe you from the list. Unsubscribe: The Burning Void Roleplaying Resources Newsletter is entirely voluntary and opt-in ONLY. If you are receiving this directly from us and you did not sign up for this newsletter then something is wrong. Please use the unsubscribe instructions below. If that does not work, let us know right away at . In order to unsubscribe, visit http://two.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/twilighttime Sign in (if you've forgotten or lost your password, the system can email it to you), and follow the instructions. Or, send an email with a subject of "unsubscribe" (without the quotes) to twilighttime-request at burningvoid.com From heather at burningvoid.com Tue Jan 25 17:23:12 2005 From: heather at burningvoid.com (Heather Grove) Date: Tue Jan 25 17:28:42 2005 Subject: [Twilight Time] Writers' Exercises and Roleplaying Opportunities Message-ID: Writers' Exercises and Roleplaying Opportunities January 25, 2005--Volume 6, Issue 2 This is the Twilight Time zine, copyright 2005 by Burning Void http://www.burningvoid.com/ and Heather Grove, except where noted otherwise. You may forward this via email to other people, but only in its entirety. Do not repost or reprint by any other means without direct permission. To subscribe or unsubscribe, change your options, or view the archives: http://two.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/twilighttime You can subscribe/unsubscribe by sending an email with a subject of "subscribe" or "unsubscribe" (without the quotes) to Twilighttime-request at burningvoid.com Good afternoon! It's been a weird week already, and it's only Tuesday. We got lots of snow recently (for Maryland anyway). I've been reading review books and making recipes from cookbooks we've been given for review. I just put up two lists of recommended writers' books, which I've intended to do for quite a while; the first one is books for beginners, and the second is books for inspiration. I also put up an article on using tarot decks to create player characters and fictional characters for writers, as well as a new writers' exercise--which made me think, "gee, writers' exercises can be awfully handy for coming up with roleplaying material too. Hmm. That could make an interesting Twilight Time article..." and so here I am. Hopefully you'll find it useful! Have a great day! Heather +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Join our ANNOUNCEMENT LIST to hear about new articles, updates and reviews posted to the web site: http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/burningvoid-announce The listinfo page also links to the latest site updates, in case you want to know what's going on but don't want to subscribe. We've posted quite a few new reviews and articles recently, so please check it out! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Writers' Exercises and Roleplaying Opportunities One of the things writers love is little prompts and exercises. Why? Because they're fun. They're also great for "loosening up" your thinking. Creativity requires you to make interesting thought connections and think in new directions, and choosing some random inspiration rather than having to come up with things from scratch can jump-start that process. There's no reason game masters can't make use of the same thing. Ways to Make Use of Writers' Prompts The questions in a character questionnaire are just another form of writer's prompt, albeit a particularly directed form. So you can use prompts to help you come up with characters. Hold your needs firmly in mind, for example, "I need to come up with a stylish villain who's smart and effective." Then pick a prompt at random, mentally hold it up next to your requirements, and allow the two to mix. If it helps, take a piece of paper and write the two things down at the top of the paper. Then set a timer for five or ten minutes and free-write. I.e., set pen to paper and don't stop writing. Don't worry about grammar, punctuation or spelling. Don't worry about whether the ideas are any good. The point isn't to use this wholesale--it's to go back through it afterward and mine it for the one or two gems among the random cruft that spills out. You can use prompts in the same way to come up with plots, plot hooks, plot twists, and plot complications. If you have a particular need to fill, again, hold the prompt up next to that requirement and "cross-breed" the two to see what emerges. If you don't, just put the prompt at the top of your sheet of paper and free-associate directly from that. Example Need: "I need a stylish villain who's smart and effective." Prompt: "What is her favorite restaurant? Does she go often enough for them to recognize her?" (Selected randomly from our character questionnaire: http://www.burningvoid.com/rpg/2001/pcquestions.php ) Free association: Perhaps the villain owns a popular niche restaurant the player characters (PCs) frequent. He's a businessman with a taste for elegant food and when he can't find what he wants, he feels the need to do it himself. So when he couldn't find a restaurant that quite satisfied his tastes, he set up his own. It takes a slight loss, but he supports it out of his other business endeavors because he believes in its long-term viability and enjoys spending time there. Hmm. Okay. So far we have some nifty character-building stuff, but we don't know a lot about what makes this man a villain or what might set him at odds with the party. Thus: New need: "What makes this man a villain?" Prompt (again selected randomly from the questionnaire): "What did your character want to be when she grew up? Did she realize that dream? If not, why not? Does she regret that she never made it, or regret that she did? Does she still have a chance to get there if she didn't?" Free association: He wanted desperately to be something that he isn't or couldn't be. Since he seems to be pouring money into a restaurant that can't sustain itself, maybe he wanted to be a chef. He had talent, but then he injured one of his hands, and of course his parents refused to support such a frivolous endeavor, instead insisting on his going to business school and taking a job in investments. Now he delights in using his considerable business skills to ruin competing businesses, almost as though he was trying to take other people's dreams away the way his were taken away. Perhaps he's trying to ruin a business owned by or important to the PCs or their allies. This obviously isn't perfect. The "poor me, I didn't get what I want and everyone else will pay" motivation is a little tired, although it still might make interesting background color. It might be more interesting if instead of having a "poor me" attitude about it the man has grown into an unrepentantly and delightedly wicked person who enjoys the thrill of the competition and hunt. He has embraced the life of the businessman instead of fighting it, and his restaurant ownership is the only trace left of that once-important dream of his. But that's my point--you pick your prompts, do your free association, and then go through, weed out the material that won't work, pluck the parts that will, and craft them into something interesting. Online Prompts Some sources of online prompts and exercises can be found at: Our selection of writers' exercises: http://www.burningvoid.com/write/exer.php Writer's Digest weekly prompts: http://www.writersdigest.com/writingprompts.asp Writing Fix's Random Daily Prompt Generator: http://writingfix.com/dailypromptgenerator.htm Writing prompts from CanTeach: http://www.canteach.ca/elementary/prompts.html Creative-Journal.com uses a slightly different approach of visual prompts: http://www.creative-journal.com/visual/ Creativewritingprompts.com: http://www.creativewritingprompts.com/ Journal Sparks: http://journalsparks.com/ Books of Prompts If you'd prefer books with exercises in them, there are plenty of them. Take a look through our reviews of writers' books for some possibilities: http://www.burningvoid.com/review/writing.php Good ones that I believe would work well for game masters include "The Pocket Muse," "Story Starters," "The Writer's Idea Book," "The Book of Questions," "Inner Outings," "The Writer's Block," "45 Master Characters," and "Fast Fiction." What's Your Opinion?: Comments on this issue's topic? Suggestions? Tips? Special topic requests? Drop me a line. If I pass any of your suggestions on (either through the newsletter or the RPG resources page), I'll attribute them to you. Be sure to tell me if you don't want me to use your name and/or comments! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ RATINGS: You can give the Twilight Time Zine a rating on the RPG Gateway to let us (and everyone else) know how we're doing: http://www.rpggateway.com/cgi-bin/wyrm/rate.cgi?ID=5288 The same goes for the Burning Void RPG resources page: http://www.rpggateway.com/cgi-bin/wyrm/rate.cgi?ID=1392 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Privacy Policy: We do not sell or give out your information. We will never hand out your email addresses (or any other information that we somehow end up with), barring a legal requirement to do so. Missing Issues: If you have subscribed to the zine and do not receive an issue, please check two things. First, make sure any spam filter you may be using has been told that the zine is not spam. Second, make sure there's room in your account for the email--every month we get bounces from accounts that are over-quota. If your account bounces two or more issues in a row, we reserve the right to unsubscribe you from the list. Unsubscribe: The Burning Void Roleplaying Resources Newsletter is entirely voluntary and opt-in ONLY. If you are receiving this directly from us and you did not sign up for this newsletter then please use the unsubscribe instructions at the top of this email. If that does not work, let us know right away at . From heather at burningvoid.com Mon Mar 14 13:11:49 2005 From: heather at burningvoid.com (Heather Grove) Date: Mon Mar 14 14:08:49 2005 Subject: [Twilight Time] Step-by-Step Development of Characters Message-ID: <8a9ae49d30aea9a45f9402f2ece04171@burningvoid.com> March 14, 2005 -- Step-by-Step Development of Characters Volume 6, Issue 3 This is the Twilight Time zine, copyright 2005 by Burning Void http://www.burningvoid.com/ and Heather Grove, except where noted otherwise. You may forward via email to other people, but only in its entirety. Do not repost or reprint by any other means without direct permission. To subscribe or unsubscribe, change your options, or view the archives: http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/twilighttime You can also subscribe/unsubscribe by sending an email with a subject of "subscribe" or "unsubscribe" (without quotes) to Twilighttime-request at burningvoid.com Good afternoon! Despite illness and World of Warcraft (yes, I finally joined the MMORPG craze) I've been busy. There are lots of reviews that have gone up on the site since the last zine issue. Various cookware companies have been sending me review items, so if you like to cook, drop by to check them out. I've also been getting plenty of review books, particularly writing books, so you might want to check out those too. For some reason I have a passion for writers' exercises (I just think they're fun), and I've started putting them up almost daily in the blog I started: http://burningvoid.blogspot.com/ So if you enjoy writers' exercises, drop by now and then for ideas. My husband tells me that if I were a writing teacher I'd be the kind of teacher that students wouldn't be able to decide whether they loved or hated to get--I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not. ;) Both the blog and announcement list can keep you updated on new articles and reviews if you're so inclined; the link to the announcement list is below. Have a great day! Heather ========================= Join our announcement list to hear about new articles, updates and reviews. The info page also links to the site updates, in case you want to follow along without subscribing: http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/burningvoid-announce ========================= Step-by-Step Development of Characters Sometimes a roleplaying game (RPG) character comes with a full background; his history just falls into place, or the player has plenty of time to think about his character before the game begins. Sometimes, however, your players start game with more skeletal characters. Maybe it's a high-death game and the players worry about putting time and effort into characters that could die on the first night of game. Maybe the players are new to roleplaying or otherwise uncertain of what they're doing when it comes to creating an in-depth character. Perhaps they simply haven't had much advance time to come up with a character. For whatever reason, you the game master (GM) want to encourage them to develop their characters more fully, but you don't want them to have to do it all at once. You need a gradual way to develop the player characters (PCs). So, this month I present you with a step-by-step plan to help your players develop their characters as your game progresses. Roleplaying tends to be a personalized thing, so you'll want to adapt this to your own group's needs. Step 1: Prepare your players Make sure your players know your plan. Let them know you're okay with the idea of starting off with skeletal characters, but that you plan to help them develop their characters further as the game progresses. Ask them to put at least a little thought into personality and a couple of background details for their characters; it'll give them and you something to start with. You might give each of them one to three specific questions to answer about their characters if you know they'll have trouble coming up with character details (or allow them to choose their own questions). If you need help coming up with questions, we have a character questionnaire: http://www.burningvoid.com/rpg/2001/pcquestions.php Step 2: Draw the characters out a little at a time You'll probably want to give your players a couple of sessions to get used to their characters before you start delving into character issues. When players start out with skeletal characters it can be tough to skip straight to the deep stuff. However, give them reason to interact with non-player characters (NPCs) on at least a mildly personal level. Use in-game conversation to draw out personality and to help the players establish their characters in their own minds. Step 3: Ask your first question After a couple of sessions, ask each player to answer a character-building question for his character. You might ask the same question of everyone so you can see the differences that emerge, or ask different questions of each so you end up with a wide variety of subject material. For example, one player said that his character, Jack, is claustrophobic because of a traumatic childhood event, but he didn't give any further detail. You've noticed during game that Jack--we'll say he's a military character of some type--behaves in an imperious manner, bordering on rudeness, whenever dealing with low-level civilians. You now have several choices. First, you could allow the player to choose a question of his own. Second, you could choose something random and off-the-wall just to see if it provokes an idea. For example, "What photographs, pieces of art, or other decoration does Jack keep in his office?" Or, you could choose something that you think might shed a little light on his behavior so far. Perhaps you could ask one of the following questions: "Imagine the place that frightens Jack the most. Describe it in intimate detail. Now put Jack in that place and narrate his reaction." "Name and describe the civilian Jack dislikes the most. Narrate the back-story that explains why Jack feels the way he does about him or her." Ask your players to give you at least one paragraph in response, but up to however much you're willing to read. Some folks won't write much, but others might get inspired. Consider asking your players to write up their responses in an unusual (and more immersive) form such as a story, a diary entry, a letter from their character to another character, or something similar. A first-person account from their character's point of view might help them to get into their character. Step 4: Draw on the results It's important that you not ignore the results; otherwise players won't see much point in doing this. You don't have to use all of this detail directly; sometimes it's enough for the character's personality to deepen. Sometimes, however, you'll want to play with the things that emerge. For example, if you explore Jack's claustrophobia in your questions, you might also want to explore it during the game. Force him to confront it for a dramatic scene or, if you know the player roleplays well, use it in little bits around the edges to step up tension and drama (just don't overuse it). If you explore Jack's rudeness with low-ranking civilians, you could use his attitude to complicate a plot. Perhaps he now needs the help of someone he was rude to in the past and he has to find a way to mollify them. Some of these things might lead to further character development and change; others will act as complications for plots; still others become interesting color and background. Don't overdo this, however. Don't bring Jack's claustrophobia into every little plot. While crisis points can be great things, you don't want players to feel that you're punishing them for creating interesting character material. Nor do you want the material to become commonplace and boring. Putting the PCs into situations where they might overcome great odds, get creative about finding new solutions to problems, or occasionally fail in a dramatic manner is one thing--screwing the players over because they did what you asked them to do is another. Step 5: Repeat steps 3 and 4 as many times as necessary to create an enjoyable game While you don't want to do this continually--the amount of information could become overwhelming pretty quickly--try to do it once in a while if your players have created characters that don't have a lot of depth to them. You don't have to work every detail into the game, and in fact, keeping the players guessing as to what will make it into game and what won't can be fun. But working this kind of personal material into game can make your RPG a more enjoyable and immersive experience for everyone. What's Your Opinion? Comments? Suggestions? Tips? Special topic requests? Drop me a line. If I pass any of your suggestions on I'll attribute them to you. Be sure to tell me if you don't want me to use your name and/or comments! ============================== READER TIPS: Hi Heather, In the mid 1980s I participated in a brief but intensive course on Graphic Design. The content of your latest issue reminded me of the "inspiration" technique I was taught early in that course, but not employed in quite the same way. I thought, therefore, that you (and perhaps the other readers of Twilight Time) might be interested in the differences. 1. The Questions Start by making a list of all the things that you need to decide. In graphic design, these are things like "tone", "texture", "symbology", "colour", "shape", and so on. In roleplaying terms, I would use the classic questions: Who, What, Why, When, Where, and How..Leave plenty of space between the questions. 2. Clarify the questions A question phrased simply as "Why" means nothing - you need a referant. This is where you apply something related to the intended role of the character or situation in terms of the plot. "Why is he an enemy?" or "Why do the party oppose him" or "Why do the Goblins steal the Dragon's Egg?", for example. 3. First Pass So far, there hasn't really been much change from the material you suggest - perhaps a more organised question-generation method, that's all. This is the step where things start to deviate - just a little. Divide a piece of paper into boxes of roughly equal size - the faster the better. The minimum is 8 (four boxes in a row, two rows, with the paper in landscape orientation). The maximum is 32 (8 boxes in a row, four rows). Then write OR DRAW something - it doesn't matter what - in every box, as fast as you possibly can. The "or draw" is the important part - one graphic symbol can have multiple interpretations. If you run out of panels, start a second page - and then a third - but don't spend less than a minute doing this, and only one thing to a box. 4. Second Pass On a second page, layed out the same as the first, write every free-association word or symbol or whatever that you can think of in thirty seconds or so relating to the first item from the first pass. Then move on to the second. Then the third. Again, work as quickly as possible. - and don't spend more than five minutes in total. The value of this approach is that you are not only limbering up your imagination with the first pass, you are placing a buffer between your needs and that imagination. 5. Relating Results to questions Now the fun part. Go through the results of the second pass looking for things that might relate to the first of your questions. Copy anything that seems relevant into the space beneath the question. Repeat for the next question, and then the third. All you are doing here is categorising your ideas according to the subjects they might be applied to. Some people cross out an item once it's been placed in a given category so that you cant use the same word in every answer, a practice that I endorse, but others permit the reuse of ideas in multiple questions. 6. Patterns and Answers Finally, look through the list of ideas for the first question. Cross off any that you've done before or that don't inspire you. You should be left with at least two or three. I cross off the non-inspirational ones and only go after the previously-used ideas if I still have too many left. Repeat for the other questions. You will normally find that there are patterns in what's been left behind. Circle and link the elements of those patterns. Then write an answer to the question based on each pattern - you might end up with two or three possible sets of answers to your questions. Then it's just a matter of picking the one you like. In commercial art, where you are working for a customer, you would develop each idea and one or two variations on each, shifting the emphasis, possibly trying to blend two or more complete concepts. Here, you are the boss - but at this point I like to try and choose the answer set that offers the greatest potential for interaction with the players as my favorite. Mike Bourke Free Original Australian Compositions http://www.geocities.com/mike_cb_1999/ =============================== RATINGS: You can give the Twilight Time Zine a rating on the RPG Gateway to let us (and everyone else) know how we're doing: http://www.rpggateway.com/cgi-bin/wyrm/rate.cgi?ID=5288 The same goes for the Burning Void RPG resources page: http://www.rpggateway.com/cgi-bin/wyrm/rate.cgi?ID=1392 =============================== Privacy Policy: We do not sell or give out your information. We will never hand out your email addresses (or any other information that we somehow end up with), barring a legal requirement to do so. Missing Issues: If you have subscribed to the zine and do not receive an issue, please check two things. First, make sure any spam filter you may be using has been told that the zine is not spam. Second, make sure there's room in your account for the email--every month we get bounces from accounts that are over-quota. If your account bounces two or more issues in a row, we reserve the right to unsubscribe you from the list. Unsubscribe: The Burning Void Roleplaying Resources Newsletter is entirely voluntary and opt-in ONLY. If you are receiving this directly from us and you did not sign up for this newsletter then please use the unsubscribe instructions at the top of this email. If that does not work, let us know right away at . From heather at burningvoid.com Wed Apr 20 09:41:51 2005 From: heather at burningvoid.com (Heather Grove) Date: Wed Apr 20 09:55:22 2005 Subject: [Twilight Time] The "Thou Shalt Not's" of Roleplaying a Character Message-ID: April 20, 2005 -- The "Thou Shalt Not's" of Roleplaying a Character Volume 6, Issue 4 This is the Twilight Time zine, copyright 2005 by Burning Void http://www.burningvoid.com/ and Heather Grove, except where noted otherwise. You may forward via email to other people, but only in its entirety. Do not repost or reprint by any other means without direct permission. To subscribe or unsubscribe, change your options, or view the archives: http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/twilighttime You can also subscribe/unsubscribe by sending an email with a subject of "subscribe" or "unsubscribe" (without quotes) to Twilighttime-request at burningvoid.com Good morning! I think you'll find this issue will apply to more than just tabletop roleplaying; it has some applicability to MMORPG roleplay, forum-play, and so on, although of course some of the details will change. Not much else to babble about today, so I'll skip straight to the article. Have a great day! Heather ========================= Join our announcement list to hear about new articles, updates and reviews. The info page also links to the site updates, in case you want to follow along without subscribing: http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/burningvoid-announce ========================= The "Thou Shalt Not's" of Roleplaying a Character 1. Thou Shalt Not Substitute "Thee" and "Thou" for Actual Roleplaying Some people seem to think that simply using words like thee, thou, and thy constitutes roleplaying, even when they're inappropriate to the setting. Actually, while some people can get into character that way, I find it often gets in the way. People are concentrating so hard on talking differently that they aren't ever really getting into their character's *personality*; the stilted language ends up substituting for actual roleplaying. Besides, way too many people mangle their attempt to use those words and end up sounding silly. Note that things like unusual accents and speech patterns fall under here too. Again, they *can* work very well--I'm not saying you shouldn't use them at all--but you need to be sure you aren't simply substituting them for roleplaying a character's personality. Yes, I put this first for irony's sake, since I'm using the "thou shalt" construction. 2. Thou Shalt Not Strive to be the Center of All Attention This one is a little tricky. Some people just have wild imaginations, and this can be mistaken for an attempt to usurp attention through creating unusual characters or giving their characters complex backstory. However, usually the true attention-seekers will show their colors in other ways as well, such as by attempting to shut other characters out of portions of the action, or by attempting to take on roles that require the other players to bow to them and show them respect in some way. They might also try to insert themselves into other characters' important moments and take them over. It's fine to want some spotlight time; that is, inherently, a part of what roleplaying is about, after all. It isn't fine when you do it at the expense of everyone else around your table (or in your forum, etc.)--roleplaying is a social activity, and requires that you share the spotlight with others. 3. Thou Shalt Not Strive to Lord It Over Thy Teammates Sometimes it works out fine to have the player characters (PCs) be of different ranks, and to have one or more be of lower ranks than others. Sometimes it doesn't. There's a difference between being a leader and being a tyrant or dictator. A PC who is a leader can be fine (assuming the other players are okay with this--not everyone will feel comfortable with it), but a PC who is a dictator or tyrant just makes everyone else unhappy. Note that not all dictators and tyrants are obvious. Some are good at looking like nice guys while throwing their weight around in more subtle ways. (See #4.) 4. Thou Shalt Not Make the Game About You This one overlaps with #2, but there are subtler ways to try to make games be about you and your character. For example, I've seen people go deep into a role of being generous, benevolent mentors to "younger" characters (particularly in an MMORPG setting). It seems really nice of them at first, until you gradually come to notice how much they love the role of having people call them "lord" or "lady" and say thank you to them all the time, and they'll keep people from actually going out and doing anything so that those people can spend more time bowing to them. There can be a fine line between wanting to help people because you're a cool person, and wanting to help people because you want to feel loved and appreciated and superior. Make sure you're staying on the former side of the line--the latter is a form of manipulation, and will eventually make others resentful. 5. Thou Shalt Not Use Roleplaying as an Excuse for Bad Behavior Don't create a womanizing character just so you can get away with being crass toward female characters. Don't create an amoral thief just so you have an excuse to steal from the party and say "it's in character!" There's a difference between playing your character and creating a character trait simply as an excuse for bad behavior. It can be interesting to create characters with "bad" personality traits and explore the use and consequences of those traits. However, that's worlds apart from using your character's personality as an excuse to behave like a creep. Remember that bad behavior has consequences. If you create a character with annoying or amoral personality traits, you need to expect that this will have in-game consequences. If that's something you and your game master (GM) want to explore, great. But you can't expect your GM to set aside in-game consequences just because you did something "in character." Well, guess what? The world is reacting "in character" too! 6. Thou Shalt Not Allow Real Life to Enter the Game Now, I'm not talking about giving the game priority over real life (real life is more important). What I mean is this: don't allow strong real-life opinions and attitudes to override your character in the game and cause problems. For example, if you're having problems with one of the other players at the table, try to set aside those problems; don't have your character do something horrid to the other character just because you're mad at the player. If you're zealously religious and your character isn't, it might not make sense for your character to take offense at a non-player character's (NPC's) bigoted comment (or it might--but be sure you're reacting from your character's morals, not yours). Don't derail the game with out-of-game arguments about politics and such--save those for your own time, unless your group likes and encourages a relaxed game in which people stop to have conversations about other things (I'm not sure I've ever seen a group do this, but I'm sure there are some somewhere). The "Thou Shalts" of Roleplaying 1. Thou Shalt Give Thy Teammates a Chance to Shine, Too Let everyone have their time in the spotlight. Don't feel the need to always jump in and be a part of everything. Once in a while, make sure you sit back and watch, allowing someone else to be the center of attention. Similarly, make sure you let others have a chance to help influence and make decisions. Even if your character is nominally in charge, take input from the others and allow it to influence you. Take others' concerns seriously. When others are the center of attention, don't pull out a book or a newspaper or shut your eyes to sleep unless things are going to be long and extended, or someone is themselves abusing the spotlight and shutting you out of the action. 2. Thou Shalt Put Some Effort into Thy Character You don't have to go crazy. You don't have to write 30 pages of backstory. But if you're in a group that encourages roleplaying, try to at least put a minimal amount of effort into creating a three-dimensional character. Don't just be "the fighter" or a blatant rip-off of a character from the latest movie you saw. Here you'll find a few articles that might help you if you aren't sure where to start: http://www.burningvoid.com/rpg/plcharacter.php 3. Thou Shalt Work with the GM Take the viewpoint that you and the GM are members of the same team. Some groups end up seeing themselves as being in some sort of competition or struggle with the GM, and trust me, except in some rare circumstances where people can do this all in fun, this usually makes things pretty annoying for your GM (and detracts from your own experience, whether you realize it or not). Listen to the GM, help him out, and try to work together as a team with the other players, even if your characters don't always get along. 4. Thou Shalt Behave Thyself Roleplaying is a social activity; it requires you to exhibit at least a minimal amount of social skills and teamwork. If you act like a selfish jackass, no one is going to want you at their table. Every once in a while, stop and make sure you're considering your teammates. Are you taking their needs and wants into account? Are you having empathy for their feelings? Are you giving them a chance to share the spotlight? Are you working with them (as players) rather than against them? Your characters don't always have to get along and work together (plenty of people have a lot of fun playing fractious groups), but the players need to have some sense of propriety and ability to work together. This doesn't mean that you have to be mannerly and polite; some groups are comfortable enough together that they can name-call and insult and be perfectly happy with each other. But you do need to have a fundamental respect for each other at some basic level. =============================== RATINGS: You can give the Twilight Time Zine a rating on the RPG Gateway to let us (and everyone else) know how we're doing: http://www.rpggateway.com/cgi-bin/wyrm/rate.cgi?ID=5288 The same goes for the Burning Void RPG resources page: http://www.rpggateway.com/cgi-bin/wyrm/rate.cgi?ID=1392 =============================== Privacy Policy: We do not sell or give out your information. We will never hand out your email addresses (or any other information that we somehow end up with), barring a legal requirement to do so. Missing Issues: If you have subscribed to the zine and do not receive an issue, please check two things. First, make sure any spam filter you may be using has been told that the zine is not spam. Second, make sure there's room in your account for the email--every month we get bounces from accounts that are over-quota. If your account bounces two or more issues in a row, we reserve the right to unsubscribe you from the list. Unsubscribe: The Burning Void Roleplaying Resources Newsletter is entirely voluntary and opt-in ONLY. If you are receiving this directly from us and you did not sign up for this newsletter then please use the unsubscribe instructions at the top of this email. If that does not work, let us know right away at . Heather Grove heather@burningvoid.com http://www.burningvoid.com/ Join our announcement list to hear about new articles and reviews! http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/burningvoid-announce From heather at burningvoid.com Thu May 26 10:13:46 2005 From: heather at burningvoid.com (Heather Grove) Date: Thu May 26 10:19:13 2005 Subject: [Twilight Time] subscribing and unsubscribing from Twilight Time Message-ID: <897d1df3e8b7f392ed740af2d966288a@burningvoid.com> Hello--Apparently for a little while now the twilighttime-request address has had some issues that have prevented some people from subscribing and unsubscribing to the newsletter. I just wanted to let everyone know that, in theory, this has been fixed. Sending an email with a subject of "subscribe" or "unsubscribe" (without the quotes) to the above address at burningvoid.com should now achieve the expected results. I'm hoping to get a new newsletter out soon, so I'll talk to you all later! Best wishes, Heather Heather Grove heather@burningvoid.com http://www.burningvoid.com/ Join our announcement list to hear about new articles and reviews! http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/burningvoid-announce From heather at burningvoid.com Thu May 26 11:18:55 2005 From: heather at burningvoid.com (Heather Grove) Date: Thu May 26 11:21:54 2005 Subject: [Twilight Time] whoops... address for subscribing... Message-ID: <899c4e5218d6c0600b4b1fab98c2914d@burningvoid.com> Apparently I wasn't clear (it's a slow morning; forgive me for the extra email!). The "subscribe" or "unsubscribe" email needs to go to twilighttime-request at burningvoid.com, not to my email address. Thank you and have a great day! Best, Heather Heather Grove heather@burningvoid.com http://www.burningvoid.com/ Join our announcement list to hear about new articles and reviews! http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/burningvoid-announce From heather at burningvoid.com Fri Jun 10 12:22:15 2005 From: heather at burningvoid.com (Heather Grove) Date: Fri Jun 10 12:25:11 2005 Subject: [Twilight Time] The Bell Method of Campaign Plotting Message-ID: <0e3452c4fa2ef05be0202afe43536e66@burningvoid.com> June 10, 2005 -- The Bell Method of Campaign Plotting Volume 6, Issue 5 This is the Twilight Time zine, copyright 2005 by Burning Void http://www.burningvoid.com/ and Heather Grove, except where noted otherwise. You may forward via email to other people, but only in its entirety. Do not repost or reprint by any other means without direct permission. To subscribe or unsubscribe, change your options, or view the archives: http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/twilighttime You can also subscribe/unsubscribe by sending an email with a subject of "subscribe" or "unsubscribe" (without quotes) to Twilighttime-request at burningvoid.com Good morning! I recently reviewed James Scott Bell's "Plot & Structure: Techniques and Exercises for crafting a plot that grips readers from start to finish": http://www.burningvoid.com/review/2005/plotandstructurebell.php I believe that many of his ideas for structuring a novel's plot would work equally well for constructing the plot of a roleplaying game. While I'm obviously not going to convert every last bit of wisdom in his book from the novel-writing world to the roleplaying world (it would take an entire book, not to mention it would be inappropriate), I'm going to give a few ideas for taking one of his central tenets and using them to improve and construct your RPG plots. I highly recommend, however, that you pick up a copy of the book and try out the rest of his ideas too: James Scott Bell "Plot & Structure" Writer's Digest Books ISBN #1-58297-294-X First, however, a brief word of warning. There are obviously some fundamental differences between writing a novel and writing a game plot. The biggest of these is that you can control where the plot of a novel goes; you have to allow the characters in a game much more free will than that and be flexible in your preparations. If you haven't already, I recommend that you take a look at some of our free will material before relying too heavily on novel-writing techniques and ideas: http://www.burningvoid.com/rpg/gmfreewill.php With that in mind, on to the article! Have a great weekend, Heather ========================= Join our announcement list to hear about new articles, updates and reviews. The info page also links to the site updates, in case you want to follow along without subscribing: http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/burningvoid-announce ========================= The Bell Method of Campaign Plotting If you have trouble coming up with interesting plots, don't despair. As James Scott Bell says in his book on "Plot & Structure," "[W]hen I began to learn about the craft, I saw that plotting had elements I could learn. And I found out about structure: when plot elements were put in a certain order, a stronger story resulted." Several of Bell's suggestions for learning to plot well apply equally well to the game master as to the writer: try stuff. Fool around and see what works. Try to stay loose and don't get tense--that just dampens your creativity. Get it down on paper first, then worry about mucking with it to make it work right. Practice a lot, and don't give up. Plotting is a skill you can learn, and like any skill it takes time and practice to get right. "Plot and structure both serve the larger enterprise--story. In the end, that's what this whole novel thing is about. Telling a story in a way that transports the reader."1 The above quote applies equally well to RPG plots. That's what gaming is all about--transporting the players so that they feel that they exist in this other world that you've formed around them and, with their help, created. The LOCK System Bell uses what he calls the LOCK system. L stands for a compelling lead character. O is for the lead's do-or-die objective. C is for confrontation, the opposition that stands in our hero's way. K is for the powerful, knockout ending that leaves the reader feeling satisfied. Let's talk about how these can apply to a roleplaying game. LEAD Obviously unless you're playing a one-on-one game (one GM, one player) you don' t have a single lead character. In this case, the lead could be translated in one of two ways. In most cases your "lead" will be your party of player characters (PCs) in their entirety. Think of it like an ensemble cast from a television show or movie that doesn't have a single big "star" character. Sometimes, however, you might choose to make your "lead" a non-player character (NPC). In the case of an RPG plot this doesn't mean that he will be the center of attention nor that he'll accomplish all of the big things. Instead, it means that the objective and opposition start out belonging to him, and the party of player characters gets involved to help or hinder, more or less taking over the focus of the plot. The need for a strong lead is one of the reasons why it's important for your players to put a little time and thought into their characters. If the PCs don't have strong personalities, interesting backgrounds, likes and dislikes, and things that make them angry or determined, then they won't make compelling lead characters. Without a compelling lead, the most amazing plot in the world suffers. It's also a reason why you need to put thought into any NPC who's going to be on-stage for more than a moment or two, and in particular any NPC who's going to have a strong interest in or impact on the plot. These NPCs need to be three-dimensional, interesting, and every bit as involved in what's going on as the PCs. This also means that you need to make sure that your plots have relevance to your leads--in this case to your PCs. There should always be important reasons for them to take interest in what's going on. If they can't develop strong feelings about the plot then the plot won't be compelling. OBJECTIVE "Solid plots have one and only one dominant objective for the Lead character. ... [T]he objective has to be essential to the well-being of the Lead. If the Lead doesn't get it (or get away from it), her life will take a tremendous hit for the worse."1 First, you need an objective for your plot (a want, desire or need). Then you need to make sure it's an objective that's going to be extremely important to your lead so he has some reason not to simply sit around and enjoy his life. If your lead isn't your party of PCs, then you further need to make sure that you have a way to transfer the importance of that objective (or an objective related to the "lead's" objective) to the PCs. This is much easier to do if, as I noted above, your PCs are complex, compelling leads in their own right. Death itself does not need to be a risk, although it certainly helps to up the tension factor and the importance of the objective. However, there are plenty of other risks that could be considered a kind of death of their own, even if it isn't a physical death--the death of dreams, careers, relationships, and other things that are of vital importance to your lead. Without that importance your players have little reason to worry, get tense, and get wrapped up in the question of whether or not they'll succeed. CONFRONTATION Without someone or something to stand in your lead's way, what's to stop him from achieving his objective calmly and happily and moving on with his life? Obviously you need opposition, confrontation, obstacles. Pile them on. Put things in the party's way. Make sure they're going to have to *work* for their goal. Without that work and difficulty there's no sense of urgency or satisfaction. There's no question of whether or not they'll succeed to make them invest themselves emotionally in the plot. This also goes back to one of our points in the free will articles: don't guarantee your characters' success. If your players know that they'll win no matter what, then you've effectively taken away the confrontation aspect of the plot. Emotionally speaking, you've removed their obstacles and opposition. While it's often appropriate to make sure they have a good chance of winning, don't guarantee it--allow their opposition to truly confront them and present a real obstacle to achieving their goals. The flip side of that point--don't guarantee their failure--speaks to the objective part of things. If they know they'll fail then they don't truly have an objective to work toward. KNOCKOUT "I once asked an old sports writer why he thought boxing was so popular. He smacked his fist into his hand. "Pow!" he said, letting his arm fall like a sack of potatoes. ... Readers of commercial fiction want to see a knockout at the end."1 ...And so do your players. They want a dramatic conclusion to a tense plot. They can succeed or fail, but ultimately they want to be satisfied. This is harder to arrange in a roleplaying game than in a novel. The ending, of course, comes at the end, by which time your players have had plenty of opportunity to wreak havoc on your carefully planned plot. You simply can't be entirely certain what will happen unless you railroad your players into doing what you want, and I explained above some of the reasons why that is not a good idea. So how can you guarantee a dramatic and satisfying ending? I'm not sure you can ever totally guarantee it. But here are some ways to make it more likely: 1. Make sure your NPCs are compelling and dramatic in their own right, through personality, back-story, wants, desires, and needs. 2. Make sure that there's plenty of dramatic, frightening opposition to the PCs. Keep one or two bits of opposition or obstacle in your back pocket, if you can, in case the players unexpectedly short-circuit some of the opposition you had planned. 3. Encourage your players to create compelling PCs with back-story, personality, wants and desires, who will get involved with plots and get emotionally invested in the goings-on. I once wrote an article positing that a self-motivating character would have one or more of the following traits: curiosity, ambition, a sense of responsibility, and the ability to form personal attachments to others. I still think that these traits help to contribute to a compelling character that will naturally become invested in an interesting plot. 4. Come up with plot objectives that are compelling, necessary, and personal to the PCs. Check out "The Seven Sins of Character Motivation" for help with this: http://www.burningvoid.com/rpg/2001/sevensinsofcharactermotivation.php 5. Go ahead and come up with an idea for a knockout ending. Better yet, come up with *several* possible knockout endings based on the general directions you can imagine that the players might take things in. Brainstorm a list of every possible outcome you can imagine, however unlikely, and make notes on how you could give it that "knockout power." Make note of the PCs' objective and opposition *in that scene* and how you can use that to jack up the tension. Do these things, and I think your games will naturally develop that dramatic, compelling story-power that will transport your players to another world. 1. Quotes and basic LOCK structure system from James Scott Bell's "Plot & Structure," Writer's Digest Books, ISBN #1-58297-294-X =============================== RATINGS: You can give the Twilight Time Zine a rating on the RPG Gateway to let us (and everyone else) know how we're doing: http://www.rpggateway.com/cgi-bin/wyrm/rate.cgi?ID=5288 The same goes for the Burning Void RPG resources page: http://www.rpggateway.com/cgi-bin/wyrm/rate.cgi?ID=1392 =============================== Privacy Policy: We do not sell or give out your information. We will never hand out your email addresses (or any other information that we somehow end up with), barring a legal requirement to do so. Missing Issues: If you have subscribed to the zine and do not receive an issue, please check two things. First, make sure any spam filter you may be using has been told that the zine is not spam. Second, make sure there's room in your account for the email--every month we get bounces from accounts that are over-quota. If your account bounces we reserve the right to unsubscribe you from the list. Unsubscribe: The Burning Void Roleplaying Resources Newsletter is entirely voluntary and opt-in ONLY. If you are receiving this directly from us and you did not sign up for this newsletter then please use the unsubscribe instructions at the top of this email. If that does not work, let us know right away at . From heather at burningvoid.com Tue Nov 29 07:40:16 2005 From: heather at burningvoid.com (Heather Grove) Date: Tue Nov 29 07:45:27 2005 Subject: [Twilight Time] Character Questions for Roleplayers Message-ID: November 29, 2005--Character Questions for Roleplayers Volume 6, Issue 6 This is the Twilight Time zine, copyright 2005 by Burning Void http://www.burningvoid.com/ and Heather Grove, except where noted otherwise. You may forward via email to other people, but only in its entirety. Do not repost or reprint by any other means without direct permission. To subscribe or unsubscribe, change your options, or view the archives: http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/twilighttime You can also subscribe/unsubscribe by sending an email with a subject of "subscribe" or "unsubscribe" (without quotes) to Twilighttime-request at burningvoid.com Good morning! I'm sorry it's been so long since the last issue. Due to various reasons I didn't get much work done with the site this summer. Things are looking up though, so for the moment at least I'm hoping to get a few more things done. The current issue was inspired by a free pdf download I put up on the site. One of our most popular articles has always been our character questionnaire ( http://www.burningvoid.com/rpg/2001/pcquestions.php ), which provides many possible questions for you to answer about your RPG character. Now, available from our "elements of character" page ( http://www.burningvoid.com/rpg/plcharacter.php ) under the "Downloads" section, I've provided a free downloadable pdf of "365 Character Questions for Writers and Roleplayers." Yes, that's right, never run out of inspiration again--it includes a question for every day of the year, plus some variations and bonus inspirational photos. On that topic, I think there are good and bad ways to use character questionnaires. That's where today's article comes in. Best, Heather ========================= Join our announcement list to hear about new articles, updates and reviews. The info page also links to the site updates, in case you want to follow along without subscribing: http://seven.pairlist.net/mailman/listinfo/burningvoid-announce ========================= Character Questions for Roleplayers Many people have trouble fleshing out a roleplaying game (RPG) character. Or in general they don't have a problem with it, but by the time they hit their twenty-eighth character they're having trouble thinking of new and interesting questions to explore. That's where character questionnaires can come in handy. However, there are some good and some not-so-good ways to use them. Recently I saw someone complain that they'd given their players a character questionnaire, but that it was pointless because none of them had actually filled it out. I remember thinking, "of course they didn't fill it out. That isn't what a character questionnaire is for." Most people, if faced with the prospect of taking what is essentially an essay test regarding their character, would flee in terror or balk out of sheer stubbornness. There's no need to hand someone a long list of questions and have your players answer all of them. With the exception of a few basic necessary pieces of information, such questions are for inspiration--not mandatory question-and-answer sessions. And you only need to answer one to three of them to get everything you need--not five, ten, or twenty. Free-Writing First let me introduce you to a concept that many of you may be familiar with already, and that is second nature to any writer who's taken writing classes: free-writing. The idea is that you take a topic, a phrase, a question, or whatever, set a timer for as little as five minutes (or as many as 30), and free associate about that topic using a pen and paper (or a keyboard and computer). You don't worry about your grammar, spelling, or punctuation. You don't worry about whether you're even making sense or sticking to the topic at hand. You simply write. You preferably plan never to even show this piece of writing to anyone. Why am I talking about free-writing? Because it's one of the best ways to get the most out of a character question or prompt. It sets your mind free to wander, without judgment, and come up with things that can surprise you. It helps to keep you from being constrained by the parameters of the original question, setting you free to explore all the little unanswered implications. You might even come up with something totally unrelated to the question you started with, which is just fine if it helps you to explore and flesh out your character. Treating a character questionnaire like an essay test is pretty much the opposite of free-writing. It makes people worry more about the form of what they're doing and whether or not its acceptable than about the material they're coming up with. If the GM wants to see this material, any salient points can be summarized or re-written before they're given to him. He doesn't have to see the raw exploration. Limit the Number of Questions If you set out to fill out a huge questionnaire about your character, with the exception of a few die-hard people, most folks will never finish the job. And they might well be sick of their characters by the time they give up. They also might never start since the job looks so daunting. Besides, there's simply no need to answer that many questions about your character. You don't need to know everything about him--you need to know representative details that give you a good idea of who he is and can inspire you to further imaginings later should you need more material. It also helps to answer a different set of questions for each character you play; it helps to give each one a unique flavor and focus. There are two helpful ways to pick questions. You can deliberately pick one or more questions that inspire you and make you go "oh, wow, that gives me an idea!" However, another great alternative is to pick at least one question that seems boring and uninteresting to you. Sometimes you'll discover the most interesting and unexpected things about your character in this manner. My personal recommendation is to answer at least one inspiring question and one that doesn't give you any immediate ideas. Then answer zero to three additional questions depending on how inspired you're feeling and how much material you get out of those first two questions. Do not wear yourself out. Various famous writers have been heard to say that they prefer to stop at the end of the day in the middle of something, before they run out of ideas for the day, so that when they come back they do so with momentum and inspiration. The same can be true of answering character questions. Don't exhaust your character's background. Keep questions in reserve. You can always answer them later, over the course of your roleplaying game, when you want to explore your character further. This also allows you to explore ways in which your character has changed over the course of the game, and it helps to keep your character fresh, interesting, and surprising. Resources I prefer to provide as many questions as possible for players--not because I want them to answer all of them, but because I want them to have the freedom to find the questions that will most inspire them. I want them to be able to answer new questions for each character they play. For that reason, here are some character questionnaires available on the web: Burning Void's character questionnaire: http://www.burningvoid.com/rpg/2001/pcquestions.php Burning Void's pdf book, "365 Character Questions for Writers and Roleplayers," under "Downloads": http://www.burningvoid.com/rpg/plcharacter.php Fiction Writer's Character Chart: http://www.eclectics.com/articles/character.html The 100 Most Important Things to Know About Your Character: http://www.geocities.com/poetess47/100questions.html Character Questions from WritingClasses.com: http://www.writingclasses.com/InformationPages/index.php/PageID/106 Proust's Character Questionnaire: http://www.scripsit.com/questionnaire.html (I'd like to acknowledge the blog "The Naked Truth" for some of these links: http://nmallory.exit-23.net/ ) Another source of interesting questions is "The Book of Questions": http://www.burningvoid.com/review/2001/thebookofquestions.php http://www.burningvoid.com/review/2005/bookofquestionsloveandsex.php http://www.burningvoid.com/review/2005/boqbusinessethics.php =============================== RATINGS: You can give the Twilight Time Zine a rating on the RPG Gateway to let us (and everyone else) know how we're doing: http://www.rpggateway.com/cgi-bin/wyrm/rate.cgi?ID=5288 The same goes for the Burning Void RPG resources page: http://www.rpggateway.com/cgi-bin/wyrm/rate.cgi?ID=1392 =============================== Privacy Policy: We do not sell or give out your information. 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