The Story of Josh Part Twenty Two … I am a (Writer Installment #5) “I write my own adventures”
OK so when I went to the meeting point to meet with the raspy voiced therapist there was a note that said that he had a movie premiere to get to and that I should call a number written below. The phone was answered by a pleasant sounding man with a cultured New England accent. He told me that he could see me at my leisure so I said that as soon as possible would be best. Now I am here.
He is a pleasant bald man in his mid to late thirties and his every word fills me with ease. He sort of reminds me of the dude that played Captain Picard on Star trek the Next Generation.
I started writing role playing material when I was in about the fifth grade. I had quickly become tired of the prewritten adventure modules that were available to me, not because they weren’t generally good but because I lacked the funds to buy many of them. Also my publisher of choice, Palladium Books, was not in the habit of publishing isolated adventures the way TSR and some of the others did. So what I did was start making my own maps and writing my own adventures.
This is nothing extraordinary any game master worth his salt does the same thing to this very day.
But as the years went by my preparatory writing changed from that of a game master that wanted to craft a good game for his players to that of a writer crafting a world. I had, and still do have, binders and folders filled with what amounts to rough sourcebooks for my various games. When I was in high school I took to spending most of my free time in that very pursuit.
Writing RPG material is a different animal than business writing (which I went to school for) or fictional prose (which I seem to have a knack for). It is a combination of both with a touch of technical writing thrown in for good measure. I do not claim to be a great RPG writer but I like to think that I am a serviceable worker in that arena. I had better be considering I have been published more than a few times.
The RPG industry is a funny one. There are a few titans still around, Wizards of the Coast being the big dog, but most publishers regardless of their success are small operations. Even the big boys that are not WotC, Paizo and Fantasy Flight tending to lead that pack, are still small operations. But they all have one thing in common that has kept them going as the industry has been rocked by changes.
They are run and staffed almost entirely by fans.
I know more than a few of the small press owners and the freelance writers that work for them and I have to say that they are some of the hardest working most dedicated people I have ever known. I had the honor to work with Jason Marker (www.amalgamatedfiction.com) briefly when we were both moving through the mill at Palladium Books and I have to say that if I needed to pick one RPG writer to sky rocket in the next few years it would be him. He puts his fucking shoulder the rock and pushes as hard as he can, and what he produces is pure fucking gold.
That is not ass kissing because Jason really is an amazing writer. And I am not being sickly self deprecating. I happen to think I am a pretty good writer, if I didn’t I would not be plowing forward with my own plans. But to me RPG writing is something that I do for fun, the passion I had for it was almost wholly destroyed, but fiction writing is my heart and soul. After my family there is nothing I enjoy more. But I will always have at least an arm in the RPG field and the one hope I have is that I will be able to work with Jason Marker again.
Alright I am done, the bald guy keeps staring at me and I just realized that he is sitting in a wheel chair. I was going to say more but some dude in red sunglasses just came in and told “The Professor” that he was needed downstairs.
He is a pleasant bald man in his mid to late thirties and his every word fills me with ease. He sort of reminds me of the dude that played Captain Picard on Star trek the Next Generation.
I started writing role playing material when I was in about the fifth grade. I had quickly become tired of the prewritten adventure modules that were available to me, not because they weren’t generally good but because I lacked the funds to buy many of them. Also my publisher of choice, Palladium Books, was not in the habit of publishing isolated adventures the way TSR and some of the others did. So what I did was start making my own maps and writing my own adventures.
This is nothing extraordinary any game master worth his salt does the same thing to this very day.
But as the years went by my preparatory writing changed from that of a game master that wanted to craft a good game for his players to that of a writer crafting a world. I had, and still do have, binders and folders filled with what amounts to rough sourcebooks for my various games. When I was in high school I took to spending most of my free time in that very pursuit.
Writing RPG material is a different animal than business writing (which I went to school for) or fictional prose (which I seem to have a knack for). It is a combination of both with a touch of technical writing thrown in for good measure. I do not claim to be a great RPG writer but I like to think that I am a serviceable worker in that arena. I had better be considering I have been published more than a few times.
The RPG industry is a funny one. There are a few titans still around, Wizards of the Coast being the big dog, but most publishers regardless of their success are small operations. Even the big boys that are not WotC, Paizo and Fantasy Flight tending to lead that pack, are still small operations. But they all have one thing in common that has kept them going as the industry has been rocked by changes.
They are run and staffed almost entirely by fans.
I know more than a few of the small press owners and the freelance writers that work for them and I have to say that they are some of the hardest working most dedicated people I have ever known. I had the honor to work with Jason Marker (www.amalgamatedfiction.com) briefly when we were both moving through the mill at Palladium Books and I have to say that if I needed to pick one RPG writer to sky rocket in the next few years it would be him. He puts his fucking shoulder the rock and pushes as hard as he can, and what he produces is pure fucking gold.
That is not ass kissing because Jason really is an amazing writer. And I am not being sickly self deprecating. I happen to think I am a pretty good writer, if I didn’t I would not be plowing forward with my own plans. But to me RPG writing is something that I do for fun, the passion I had for it was almost wholly destroyed, but fiction writing is my heart and soul. After my family there is nothing I enjoy more. But I will always have at least an arm in the RPG field and the one hope I have is that I will be able to work with Jason Marker again.
Alright I am done, the bald guy keeps staring at me and I just realized that he is sitting in a wheel chair. I was going to say more but some dude in red sunglasses just came in and told “The Professor” that he was needed downstairs.
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