GenCon 2017

As I mentioned earlier this week, this past weekend was GenCon here in Indianapolis, Indiana. In case you are unfamiliar with it (and I am always amazed at the people who live in the Indy area and yet have no idea what it is), GenCon is the largest gaming convention in the world. Their motto is, "The Best Four Days in Gaming," and as far as I'm concerned, they live up to that claim 100%. This year was their biggest attendance yet, with well over 200,000 people in attendance over the four days. In fact, for the first time in their history, they sold out of admission badges the week before the event began. This convention is so large that it not only encompasses the entire Indianapolis Convention Center, but spills over into event areas of seven other nearby hotels as well as Lucas Oil Stadium, home of the Indianapolis Colts.

I got the chance to play several great games, including:

• Scythe, a 7 player asymmetrical civilization and warfare strategy game
• Clank, a deck-building adventure game (by the same company that makes the CCG Eternal)
• Ex Libris, a card drafting and set collection game that feels like something from the Harry Potter universe
• 7-Wonders Duel, a 2 player variant on the popular 7 Wonders civilization strategy game
• Yamatai, an Asian mythology themed route/network building strategy game that is highly reminiscent of 5 Tribes
• Imperial Settlers, a asymmetrical civilization card strategy game 

I also have to mention attending the fantastic Writer's Symposium, which is an entire mini-seminar within the conference itself that brings in the top authors in the science fiction and fantasy genre to host topical panels for aspiring and beginning authors. Just like in previous years, my wife and I got sit in on the live recorded sessions of Writing Excuses, which is highly recommended. And for once, they had the whole cast there, which has not happened in previous years.

But the highlight of the weekend was the special panels I got to attend with Patrick Rothfuss, Brandon Sanderson, and the cast of Critical Role. Rothfuss is absolutely hilarious in person; listening to him reading his Princess book is not to be missed. I also managed to get a special promo card from Sanderson for the Mistborn: House Wars board game that just arrived on my doorstep straight from its Kickstarter fulfillment. And last but not least, seeing the amazing cast of Critical Role is an experience that should not be missed.

If you're a gamer of any sort, you should come to GenCon. It's well worth whatever it takes to get you there.

The Importance of Deadlines

Apparently I'm a lazy person.

No, maybe that's not it at all. But I've discovered that when it comes to writing, deadlines are important. In fact, that's exactly why when I resumed blogging a couple weeks back, I specifically announced a specific schedule of days of the week and topics. I know that without a deadline, I am more likely to procrastinate, to get lazy, or simply to not write at all.

That's been the best part of my decision to work through Writing Excuses Season 10 with one of my friends. Just this week, out of the blue, I was able to sit down and write over 500 words in about 40 minutes. How? I had a deadline. I had to get something done so that he and I would have something to talk about. I'm embarrassed to admit that we had to reschedule our discussion time two weeks in a row. And both of those weeks, I never once sat down to work on that assignment. No, it wasn't until I knew we were meeting again that I actually took the time to get it done.

Unfortunately, if I am ever going to become a published writer, I have to do better than this. I need to reach the point here my deadlines are internal, rather than external. I need to redevelop the discipline of writing every day. But I'm going to save that topic for next week.

Promises Made

I recently did an interest writing exercise as part of the Writing Excuses Master Class my friend and I are working our way through. Often time when discussing the beginning of a story, writers talk about the "promises" that a story makes. Essentially, within the first few paragraphs or so, a good writer should be telegraphing to their readers what the story is going to be about - the tone, the genre, the main character, the setting, and so on. For this exercise, we had to take the first page or so of our work in progress and show it to someone who knew nothing about the story and see what that person thought the story would be about.

My current story is about a priest who specializes in destroying items endowed with evil magic. He's brash and overconfident (and also racist), and in the story he is given three "gifts" which, in specific circumstances, will combine to unleash a terrible trap for him. After showing my wife the first page, here is what she said she thought would happen in the story:

"I feel like this is a set up for a story in which this guy lets something in that he didn't intend and underestimates some insidious dark magic-y thing and deals with either personal corruption or the corruption of many of his order as a consequence. Maybe trojan horse-like?"

Guess I must have made the right promises!

Writing Assignment - The Sphinx's Game

So my friend Phil and I have been working through the Master class episodes of Writing Excuses, which is a series of fifteen minute podcasts designed to cover the essential elements of what it takes to be a good genre fiction writer. Each week includes a specific writing prompt that connects to that week's topic.

Today I want to share my homework from Episode 6, where the prompt was to take a recent gaming experience where you lost and use the thought process behind that experience to inspire the elements of a story. I ended up with a piece that sounds almost like a transcript from someone's most recent D&D campaign. It's somewhat lighthearted, and I liked the way it turned out. I hope you do too. And at just over 1,000 words, it's a pretty quick read.

The Sphinx’s Game

            The beautiful ruby clutched in the hands of the jackal-headed statue made a stark contrast to the gigantic leonine figure whose sharp claws were, at that moment, shredding apart the remains of Bard and stuffing chunks of his corpse into the mouth of her shockingly beautiful face.
            “Guess that wasn’t the right answer,” was the best I could come up with at that moment. “Any ideas, Wizard?”
            My companion, robed in robes so purple they appeared black, had pulled out a musty tome from his pack and was quickly scanning the pages. “There’s got to be answer in ones of these books. Make yourself useful Rogue and help me look.”
            I shook my head, but she didn’t even notice, engrossed as she was. I doubt this monstrosity would ask a question whose answer could be found in one of Wizard’s books, but I’d been wrong about such things before.
            “We’re wasting our time,” Warrior complained, his greatsword gripped in both hands. “Bard may be dead, but we can still fell this beast. With the reward for that ruby, we can probably even afford a resurrection spell once we get back into town. What we need to do is come up with a plan.”
            At that moment, the large creature finished her meal and simply sat back on her haunches, her crystal blue eyes staring back at us coolly.
            “Let’s listen to the riddle one more time. Maybe the Divine will reveal something to me,” Cleric suggested. Without waiting for reply, he began approaching the magnificent beast.
            “Perfect! Cleric is the distraction, Rogue. When he gets close, strike from behind, and then I’ll draw her attacks. We can do this, but we’ve got to work together!”
            I glanced at Warrior, but shook my head. “You’re all crazy. Everyone knows that the best way to win is to cheat. And if you can’t cheat, you change the game entirely.”
            “Will you two shut up!” Wizard shouted. “I’m trying to concentrate!”
            And with that I dashed away, hugging the walls of the large cavern, hoping my cloak and hood might disguise my approach. Near the ruby, the monstrosity had just finished reciting her damned riddle again, but it seemed only Cleric had really been listening. She bowed before it, then slowly backed away towards where Warrior and Wizard were arguing.
            I reached the back of the cavern, and best I could tell the creature hadn’t noticed my approach. I slowly crept forward, thinking perhaps I could grab the gem and escape unseen. But all such hopes were dashed as the creature’s feminine head turned towards me and placed her two paws between me and the ruby. So much for that approach. Guess it was time to improvise.
            I threw back my hood and raised my hands, hoping the creature would interpret the gesture as meaning I was no threat. It was quite innerving to see her blonde hair, blue eyes, and perfect skin atop the body of an enormous lion, and the wings that soared above her only made her all the more intimidating. But I put on my most winsome smile and approached.
            “Such beauty is unexpected in a place such as this. Might this poor mortal hear the sound of your name, beautiful one?”
            The creature licked its teeth, and for a moment I feared it would attack. But then it replied, “I am Sphinx. You are either an intruder, or perhaps, a welcome guest. Have you an answer to my riddle?”
            “Sphinx? Such a name hardly befits one such as magnificent as you. One who is so wise, so beautiful, so fierce, and so strong. Tell me, madam, who has imprisoned you in this dark place? Surely you are not here on your own will. Would not the rugged peaks or the verdant forest be so much more to your liking?”
            Her face softened into a smile, and I swear to the Divine that I heard her purr before she replied, “You are well spoken for a human. Such fair words for such a small creature. I might ask the same of you. Why have you come to these depths?”
            “Great Sphinx, you must know that those who live above crave such trinkets as the ruby that stands before you. While I have no need of such frippery, alas I bound by my pledge to bring it back to the surface. But one such as you surely has no need for such a trinket. You are far more wondrous than any dirty stone.”
            “Little human, you think I shall simply give it to you in exchange for your kind words? I am not so easily charmed.”
            I gulped. “Of course not, magnificent one. Instead…instead I offer my companions. They are the ones that have forced me against my will to intrude upon you. Do with them what you will. Allow me to take this ruby, and if they cannot answer your riddle, do with them as you will. I only ask that you spare your humble servant.”
            I glanced back at them. Warrior and Cleric were closer than I thought, and Cleric’s eyes were wide. Maybe I hadn’t been as quiet with my words as I should have been. Wizard was now seated on the ground, a pile of books around him. He tossed another one aside and picked another one up, seemingly at random.
            “You amuse me, human. It has been a long time since I have enjoyed another’s company. You are certain, however, that you do not instead wish to answer my riddle?”
            “I am unworthy, Sphinx. For surely there are none who are as wise as you.”
            She smiled, and then her paw whipped out at me, knocking me off my feet and pinning me to the ground.  “Adventurers,” she said. “Have you an answer to my riddle?”
            They made no reply.
            Finally, she continued, “Then I propose a new bargain. Your friend here has decided to stay with me. In exchange for his service, I offer you the ruby you seek. Take it and be gone.”
            My three companions glanced at each other. Cleric shook her head, but Warrior just shrugged. Wizard quickly stowed his books, then approached. He slowly walked up to the statue and removed the gem. He bowed to the creature and then glanced at me.
            “Flattery works on dragons, Rogue. Not on a sphinx.”
            With that he turned and walked away. All too soon I was alone with this monster.
            “Now,” Sphinx said, releasing me from her grip with a wicked smile. “Let us talk.”

Back at Writing

After a year of mostly not doing any fiction writing, I decided it's time to get serious about this once again. I distinctly remember sitting in one of the Writing Symposium seminars at GenCon and begrudging the time I have wasted in not pursuing this dream. In fact, the pursuit of being a fantasy writer was one of the reasons I started this blog in the first place. It says so right in the upper right-hand corner - "I am a fantasy writer." What do writers do? They write. What do I need to do to become a fantasy writer? I need to write. So that's what I'm doing.

Here's my plan:

1. I reconnected with my high school buddy Phil, and we are working our way through the Season 10 Writing Excuses Master Classes. This season of this popular writing podcast is designed to equip new authors with the tools they need to write successfully. It comes complete with homework, which is a great way to motivate myself to write.
   
2. Every year Brandon Sanderson teaches an undergraduate Creative Writing class at Brigham Young University, and this year a professional videographer is recording his lectures. You can find the playlist here. If there is a better free resource for learning to write genre fiction, I want to know about it.
   
3. From one of these lectures, I learned that to be a professional writer, you need to write approximately 10,000 words a month. So that's the goal I am working to achieve. I am using the WriteTrack tool I blogged about several years ago, slowly ramping up each month in my goal until I am consistently writing 10,000 words a month (counting only my fiction, not any other writing here).
   
4. As I start producing quality pieces, I need to start submitting them to writing contests (like Writer of the Future) and online fantasy fiction magazines. This gives me the opportunity to hone my craft on smaller works before trying to tackle a whole novel.

I don't expect that any of this will interfere with my content for Standard Pauper, so don't worry about that. But it does mean that you can expect to see a few more writing posts from time to time. 

My GenCon Report

Hard to believe it's already been almost two weeks since GenCon. In case you missed my previous post on the subject, I had a chance to once again take in one of the largest, best-attended gaming conventions in the world on August 5-7. It was an amazing three days (I had to skip Sunday due to other commitments). My wife and I demoed a bunch of new games, played in two different roleplaying adventures, attended lots of different seminars, and hung out with a lot of great people. Here are the highlights:

1. Although my wife and I attended lots of great seminars put on by the GenCon Writer's Symposium, my two favorite seminars were a fantasy cooking class and one on mental health. In the fantasy cooking class, the presenter took us through an exercise designed to allow you to create a custom cuisine for any setting, based on the climate, the technology, the fauna and flora, and other cultural considerations. In the mental health seminar, we heard from several prominent authors who have struggled with mental illnesses, including best-selling author Patrick Rothfuss. The panel was very transparent about their own struggles and discussed some unique challenges associated with mental illness and the art of writing.
   
2. As I mentioned above, my wife and I played in two different RPG sessions. The first was a Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition Adventure's League session, where we came to the aid of a city besieged by modrons and helped reestablish order in the city. We both played 1st level characters in a party with mostly 3rd and 4th level characters, so we spent far too much time hiding in the back and getting 'one-shotted' by the monsters, but it was still quite fun. The other session we played in was the Planet Mercenary RPG, where we joined a crack team of mercenaries to locate and bag a weapons-dealer who, as it turns out, had put out a major bounty of her own head hoping to fake her own death with a gigantic explosion. We managed to beat the other teams to the punch, ambush the weapons dealer, and collect the bounty without causing massive destruction in the process. Needless to say, that was also very fun.
   
3. I also demoed lots of different games, including Tyrants of the Underdark, Mistborn House War, and Isle of Skye. Tyrants was a cool combination of Risk and Dominion, with some very interesting and thematic elements associated with dark elves. Mistborn was an absolute gem, with all sorts of conniving and bargaining between the players as well as the opportunity to try and totally change the win condition of the game and hose the rest of the players. Isle of Skye is a relatively simple tile-placement game, with lots of replay value thanks to the sheer number of tiles and the changing win conditions. All three are excellent games, and expect me to write fuller reviews of each once I get my hands on them.
   
4. My wife and I also had the opportunity to hangout with Dan Wells and Howard Taylor, two of the four hosts of the Writing Excuses podcast, and we even got to go to dinner later with Dan and talk books, games, pop culture, and all sorts of hilarity. Once these episodes of Writing Excuses goes live, anyone with a discerning ear could easily pick out the sound of my wife laughing during some of the more funny bits. 

There is so much more to write about, so much more that I saw and experienced, but this post is already long enough. It was an amazing experience, and I can't wait to go back next year!

More Miscellaneous Musing

There hasn't been much to share lately in the world of Standard Pauper, especially since I have barely been able to play the past month or so due to my schedule. BG Control continues to dominate the metagame, so if you have some tips or ideas on how to target that archetype, I'd still enjoy hearing them. But with little else to talk about (strange, given all the attention in Pauper around Eternal Masters), I thought I would simply share a random collection of things that I've been enjoying over the past couple weeks.

1. Soren Johnson (of Civilization IV fame) had a fantastic interview on the Designer Notes podcast about his new game, Offworld Trading Company, as well as some fascinating thoughts about video game and board design.

2. Speaking of board games, just today while mowing the lawn I listened to an interview on the Meeple Nation podcast of Dan Wells, author of the well-known horror thriller I Am Not a Serial Killer and cohost of the popular Writing Excuses podcast. Dan discusses his love of board games and particularly what attracts him to story-driven game play.

3. Somehow on YouTube I came across an indie strategy game from last year called Prison Architect, in which, as one might expect, you create and manage a prison. While this is not a game I think I ever would have picked up on my own, I've been watching Lets Play series by Sips and OfficialStuffPlus, and what I've seen has definitely caught my eye. I'm still not sure if I'll actually buy the game or simply scratch that itch by continue to watch other people play.

4. Finally, as I do every week, I have continued to enjoy the Dungeons and Dragons live shows Critical Role and Dice, Camera, Action. DMs Matt Mercer and Chris Perkins respectively make these shows what they are, and if you want to see roleplaying done well, you'd be hard pressed to find much better. I highly recommend you check both of these out.

If you've got some interesting content (particularly related to Standard Pauper) that you would like me to feature on my blog, please let me know! I always love hearing from my readers. Thanks as always for making me a part of your week. Until next time...

GenCon 2016 Preregistration

This past weekend preregistration opened for GenCon, which is the largest gaming convention in the world, and is held right here in my own state of Indiana. Although the event itself isn't until the first week of August, tickets for the huge variety of special events and seminars were finally available this past Sunday. And while there's a ton to see and do without having to participate in any of these events, in past years these have definitely been some of the highlights of my experience at this convention.

My wife and I will be spending a great deal of time at the Writer's Symposium, which is nearly a convention within the convention. It is a professional symposium for writers of speculative fiction. This year's Guest of Honor is none other than Robin Hobb, author of the Realms of Elderlings series of books, which are definitely among my favorite fantasy series. Any panel she is speaking on, I plan on attending.

Other events that I signed up for include playtesting Howard Taylor's new Planet Mercenary RPG, participating in the D&D 5th edition Adventure Leagues games, attending the Writing Excuses podcast recording, and getting a chance to play the newly released Tyrants of the Underdark board game.

If you're reading this and are planning on attending GenCon, I'd enjoy the chance to say hello. Let me know in the comments below. I can't wait for August!

GenCon 2015, Part Two

Living local to Indianapolis, I had the opportunity most of last week to travel to GenCon, self-described as "the original, longest-running, best-attended, gaming convention in the world!" Over the course of three days, I played a variety of different tabletop games, attended some writing seminars, and got to participate in several sessions of the Dungeon and Dragons Adventurers League. So all this week, I'll be blogging about my experience at GenCon this year. Today, I want to discuss my experience with the GenCon Writer's Symposium.

For over 20 years, the GenCon Writer's Symposium has offered attendees at this event the opportunity to attend seminars hosted by some of the best speculative fiction authors of our time, favoring practical topics designed to help new and aspiring writers the opportunity to grow and hone their craft. This year, the Symposium offered over 140 hours of programming, with more than 75% offered free of charge with admission to GenCon. They featured more than 70 fantastic authors and experts, including 2015 Author Guest of Honor Terry Brooks, Special Guest Chuck Wendig, Bill Willingham, Kameron Hurley, Patrick Rothfuss, and Cat Rambo.

Unfortunately, one of the luminaries who was not in attendance was Mary Robinette Kowal, who was scheduled to teach a seminar on short story writing which I had paid to attend. She ended up having to cancel her appearance for personal reasons, which was quite disappointing, as that seminar was probably what I was looking forward to the most. But between my wife and I, we attended well over 20 hours of lectures over the course of the weekend, and while the quality varied somewhat, a great deal of the material was absolutely fantastic.

The highlight for me, however, was actually getting to attend the live-recording of one of the best writing podcasts ever called Writing Excuses, which I blogged about several years back after my wife was awarded a scholarship to their first ever Writing Excuses Retreat. While neither Mary nor Brandon Sanderson were in attendance, our live audience had a blast listening and even interacting with Howard Taylor and Dan Wells. It will probably be quite some time before those episodes go live, but once they do, I have no doubt you'll be able to hear my wife laughing at several points in at least two of the episodes. In any case, I'll certainly let you know when those episodes are available.

Next time, I'll talk about my experience playing the amazing variety of games.

Writing Excuses

One of the absolute best sources of information about the craft of writing is a podcast known as Writing Excuses. As you might expect from the tagline, Writing Excuses is a fifteen minute podcast, with each week dedicated to a particular topic of interest to fiction writing, with a particular emphasis on science fiction and fantasy. The podcast is hosted by Mary Robinette Kowal, Brandon Sanderson, Howard Taylor, and Dan Wells, each of whom bring their own unique blend of experience, humor, wit, and charm to the podcast. They are often joined by a special guest, who typically contributes particular expertise on the topic in question.

In addition to sticking to their fifteen minute time-limit (more or less, anyway!), each episode also features a book recommendation by one of the hosts as well as signing off with a new and original writing prompt each week. Not only do they tackle a wide variety of useful topics on both the craft and business of writing, but are often hilariously funny. The podcast is currently on its seventh season, and you can download any of their episodes for free from the Writing Excuses Archives. If you've never done so, I strongly recommend you check out this amazing podcast.

As a bonus, you can also watch them record several episodes from Season 7 on YouTube.

Back in October, the hosts of Writing Excuses announced that they were holding a special retreat this coming June to give attendees the opportunity to have one-on-one time with their team to improve one's craft. If you're curious about what they have planned, you can find all the details here.

Interestingly enough, despite some concern by the hosts that there might only be minimal interest, the fact of the matter is that registration for this event sold out in a matter of minutes. But as a consolation prize of sorts for those who missed out, they decided to offer one lucky person the chance to attend the conference for free thanks to the generosity of one of their listeners. They came up with a detailed application process, which you can read more about here.

Why am I telling you all this? This past week, the Writing Excuses crew announced the recipient of this scholarship. Here's the full announcement:

I am absolutely delighted to report that it is none other than my lovely wife Alissa Leonard who was awarded the scholarship! The moment she discovered she won, she started shouting and jumping around the room for the sheer joy of it all. It was a scene I will not soon forget. I am so proud of her and so thrilled that she will have the opportunity to meet with the great group of writers and interact with them on her writing craft. I can't wait to share will all my readers the amazing experiences she is going to have on this week long retreat. And maybe, just maybe, this will be the big break she needs to finally become a published author.

And now I'm well past my deadline for today, so I will end here. Thanks so much for reading. See you next time.