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Speculative fiction has always had difficulty including women. The number of spec fic stories that don’t have enough women in them is nearly equal to the number of spec fic stories in existence, but some stories are particularly egregious. The absence of women in these … read more »
Evil is a difficult subject for storytellers. The over saturation of works like Lord of the Rings and Star Wars, where evil celebrates itself with cartoonish glee, has caused many storytellers to eschew the idea of true evil in their work. Shades of grey* seem … read more »
What’s this? The Mythcreants Podcast is joined by a new guest host, and he just appeared out of nowhere! This week, Wes joins Oren and Chris to discuss works with strong foreshadowing — or at least that was the plan. Our hosts manage to get … read more »
Have you ever considered running your campaign upon the deck of a ship, with the players taking on the roles of officers most noble? If so, you’ve probably realized that running a game set on a ship presents both unique opportunities and unique challenges. Read more »
Storytellers can’t control the expectations their audience brings to a tale. Unfortunately, defying expectations set by common story conventions can make the audience feel like the storyteller broke their promises. Luckily, we have a solution for this: the subversive plot twist. Read more »
The protagonist appeared in the doorway, dressed in a magnificent golden helm and with cerulean eyes shining fiercely. If something about that sounds a little cheesy to you, then you’ll be happy to hear that we’re spending this episode talking about character descriptions. Joined again … read more »
When designing a roleplaying game, many elements are neither wholly good nor wholly bad. Instead, they exist on a long scale, or continuum. Going towards one end or another of that continuum has both advantages and disadvantages. Read more »
Some stories focus on big external conflicts to drive them and use a relatively blank protagonist as the audience’s vessel. But others try to make the protagonist as vivid as possible, trusting them to drive the story. The character has some intense desire or critical … read more »
Roll for initiative: it’s time to talk about action systems in roleplaying games. This week we are joined by special guest David, a veteran of many a dragon fight. We discuss the difference between realistic systems and abstract systems, how tactical combat should be, and how much … read more »
Scifi characters have lots of ways to get around, from hovercraft to instant teleportation, but fantasy characters are always stuck riding a horse. In particularly edgy stories, characters might get to ride a camel or ride in a horse-drawn carriage, but most of the time … read more »