Author: Scott Martin

I recently read a fascinating novel, Something Like Normal by Trish Doller. It was fascinating–and somewhat alien to my experience. Since it’s set in the world around us today, it should have been easy to slip right into the character’s head, but it turns out that I’m more easily able to get into the heads of mighty magic wielders, nanotech artists, and creepy alien races. Strangely, those heroes of destiny seem to share my upbringing and values. You know, they’re people who buckle down, study…

“Men marry women with the hope they will never change. Women marry men with the hope they will change. Invariably they are both disappointed.” In a lot of ways, pop culture has this one right. What you can change about someone else, even with love and persistence, is limited. What does that have to do with roleplaying? Not much, even though we often make the mistake of thinking that we can change anything with persistence, friendly pressure, and a well placed XP penalty. We recently…

Social contracts. It’s hard to pick a topic more fundamental to a good roleplaying experience–or more dry to discuss. This time you can blame Roleplay DNA, particularly their podcast episode 15, Contact Negotiations. I had some “right on,” head nodding moments during the podcast and agreed with almost everything that was brought up. The truest–and most intimidating line–comes from Vern near the end of the podcast, where she mentions that all of the problems addressed in the previous podcasts were social contract problems. When she…

I don’t have anything against elves–especially not the Christmas kind. Everyday elves are tall and long lived, sometimes brooding or named Drizzt, but Christmas elves are a hard working, toy assembling people you can appreciate. They don’t hold a candle to the inventiveness that Krynn’s gnomes have… I’ve wandered off topic again, haven’t I? I was listening to the radio today, and they read a brief letter to Santa from a little girl who asked how he got presents to everyone in one night. While…

Gnome Rodeo! It’s time to don tall boots and prepare to ride the range on our battle sheep. What have our keen eyed scouts found? Skills: I’m a big fan of thinking about skills, but we’ve got a patrol to keep on keepin’ on. Fortunately, there are some mighty thoughtful cowpokes (sheep-pokes?) who’ve begun talkin’. Kate Elliot leads off with a discussion of skills from a writer’s point of view. She points out how unusual (or less expected) skills can set a character apart, create…

Thanksgiving is upon us! It’s time to let out my belt, pick some side dishes, and prepare to cook. Tomorrow will involve turkey–one of the few times a year I dedicate a whole day to planning, preparing, chopping, cooking, and devouring a meal. Even more, it’s one of the few times that I get to stand side by side with relatives and work together on a tasty project. I enjoy baking up a chicken many nights, but that’s so much less impressive in size and…

Throughout history, we’ve treated people of the same age very differently. While generally the eldest have been venerated, different cultures have had different cut-offs for what counts as old, who is an adult, who can formally earn a living, and who is protected. Playing with age, borrowing historical concepts, or extrapolating current trends into the future can make for a very different feel to your world. Non-humans alter this even more. Shadowrun does a particularly good job of having Orks mature faster, while Elves never…