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Oren is a grumpy old man whose physical age hasn’t quite caught up with him, at least that’s what the kids who won’t get off his lawn keep saying. He’s been into roleplaying games since he was knee-high to a d10, and into prose writing for nearly as long. He loves stories and games that push the envelope of storytelling, like the Discworld series and the RPG Primetime Adventures. He’s also a huge Star Trek fan, though his rants on the mistakes of Voyager and Enterprise might make you think otherwise.
Queer representation is a critical issue in storytelling, so today we’re giving the floor to guest host Kristin for a discussion of asexual and aromantic characters on TV. As a pleasant surprise, there are more of them than you might expect! Not nearly enough of … read more »
A good villain is critical for most stories. The villain is usually the second most important character, behind only the protagonist themself. If a villain goes wrong, they often drag the entire story down with them, and there are many ways for villains to go … read more »
Hey, Mythcreants, I’m planning a new story, and I’d like to know if it falls into the “oppressed mages” trope or not. Here’s the situation. A powerful empire has recently conquered a small tribe on its border. Both groups practice necromancy as their main form … read more »
Sometimes a character is so nice you use them twice. Or three times even. Sure, they might have a different name and be in a different story, but you still recognize them. They have the same sense of humor, the same signature swagger, or maybe … read more »
Roleplaying design is highly sensitive to context. Some rules work really well in one system and really poorly in another, and it all depends on what each game is trying to achieve. But then there are mechanics that don’t work well in any system, and … read more »
Sometimes your hero is stuck between two choices, neither of which have a good outcome. Will they allow the villain to escape or shoot said villain in the back? Will they destroy one city to save another? Will they eat less at dinner so they … read more »
Antagonists need to be threatening so they can provide tension. If the story doesn’t have tension, then the conflict isn’t interesting, and the audience will get bored in a hurry. Storytellers have many tools at their disposal to make bad guys more threatening, but there … read more »
Whenever we create a magic system, we have to choose how it ends up in the hands of our characters. While this comes in an unlimited number of flavors, acquisition generally falls into five basic methods. These methods determine who has magic, who doesn’t, and … read more »
Spec fic takes us to amazing places, from deep space to the ancient past. But one place it rarely takes us is under water, so that’s what we’re talking about today. Dive in as we discuss the unique potential of underwater settings and why almost … read more »
Downtime is an important concept in roleplaying games. It represents whatever time passes between adventures, whether those adventures are old-school dungeon crawls or awkward socializing on prom night. While the narrative focus may be off, PCs are intelligent beings with free will, and players will … read more »