Words across time

A character biography written for a friend's campaign in July of 2013. ----------------------------------- Naved “Folly” Tanner Naved Tanner came into this world as we all do, though his circumstances were perhaps more fortunate than some. Born as the second son to a young married couple deeply in love with one another. His elder brother was to be trained to inherit the family profession, and neither Naved nor his brother had any objections or resentment to their potential paths in life. Naved learned pieces of his father’s craft, and he learned to love it, but never dreamt of following in his father’s footsteps. Naved showed magical potential from an early age, and even as a toddler was much more interested in the world that his mother moved through. His mother was a healer, and an excellent mage in that realm. Naved loved to watch his mother work, and as a toddler and young child was inseparable from her, crying and throwing a fit if he couldn’t accompany her on...

I wrote a short story once for a rather open ended synthetic biology assignment in college, April 2012. I enjoy it now because the setting is super reminiscent of Altered Carbon, which I loved. I got there first. ;-) -------------------------------------------------------------------- The sand was warm and a cool breeze brought with it the scent of the ocean. The only resident of this tropical island lay on his back, legs wet with the tide coming in. His eyes fluttered open, the calm of the beach shattered by his sharp gasps for breath. He rose to his feet, wobbly legs barely maintaining his balance. He was panicked, but gradually he gained his composure as he surveyed his surroundings. “Here again...” the man muttered. “Fucking hell, that didn’t go well.” He plopped back into the sand. “How much longer?” he screamed into the empty air. No reply came, and the man resigned himself to waiting. It was a pleasant lobby, but he found it frustrating. He had died. He kn...

On planning your plot! Starting a new campaign is super exciting as a GM, however, it can also be daunting. Using pre-written modules can be a great tool for lightening the load, but personally, I find more fulfillment out of building my own worlds and adventures for my players to galavant through. One of the strongest tools in my GM’s toolkit is a rather simple notion of how plots can develop. There are as many ways to tell a story as there are people telling them, but tabletop, being collaborative storytelling at its heart, takes an open minded and adaptive approach. My advice is this: let the player character’s motivations, and the non-player character’s motivations, dictate the plot. Not the other way around. I have heard the tale a hundred times: plans, intrigues, vignettes, and monologues, all laid out neatly beforehand. I have seen many a GM come with polished notions of what is going to happen in the session… followed by the players doing nothing a sane person cou...

“Just write something. Put the first question that comes to your mind.” Two shadowed figured huddled warily by the light of a single dim candle. A cold wind whipped through the trees, cutting through their cloaks as they pulled them tighter. “What if I write the wrong words? Or, or, what if I can’t think of the right question to ask?” The voice of a young boy responded hesitantly, an edge of fear not unfit for the situation. “You can’t you fatuous child, just, write whatever comes to mind. Whatever you put down, I’m sure it’ll be fine.” “You do it.” He said, holding a small notebook and a piece of charcoal towards his companion. “You can both do it if you want, but you should be first. You picked me up.” The voice spoke once more. It was at this moment that a casual observer, undoubtedly bundled against the cold forest night themselves, may have begun to note the source of the initial voice. It was not coming from either of the young anxious children in cloak...