I just did a batch of inquiries for artists for Loreshaper Games, and as usual I feel like there are a few things that might not be immediately obvious that would be good hints for someone who wanted to get a start as an artist.
Author: homoeoteleutonadmin
The Joy of Arvo Pärt
I’m not a professional music critic. I don’t have any credentials, no particular knowledge of the methods and practices of musicians, and little more than a devoted layman’s familiarity with schools of music. However, I do listen to a fairly broad range of eclectic musical selections, and there is precisely one modern Classical-styled composer who I would peg as a certain shoe-in for greatness that will last for generations.
That composer is Arvo Pärt.
Jordan Peterson’s 12 Rules Chapter 1: Stand Up Straight With Your Shoulders Back
I’ve been hearing a lot about Jordan Peterson recently; he’s been the face of a couple political controversies and also a psychologist with a focus on studying archetypes, so there’s a little bit of overlap there that makes me interested in him. When I was reading Jeffrey Tucker’s A Beautiful Anarchy (Amazon affiliate link), one of the things that Tucker pointed out is that to really read a book and gain its full benefits you need to take a moment to write about what you have read, so I will attempt to do the same with Jordan Peterson’s book, since I am inevitably drawn to figure out what the fuss is about.
If you just want to hear what I have to say about the book in general, I’ll probably write a review of the book once I’m done. I’m actually as much interested in his Maps of Meaning, since I love anything about archetypes, but I’m a little stingy to spend $50 on a book.
Continue reading “Jordan Peterson’s 12 Rules Chapter 1: Stand Up Straight With Your Shoulders Back”
Managing the Workload
I’ve been really bad about doing anything resembling a sane workload in the past, so I’ve been working on improving my schedule and getting stuff done. Right now I’m working full-time and trying to get everything booted up, so there are a few things that I’m doing to really keep disciplined and get writing done.
Why Star Wars is Still Good
Yeah, so I’m going to try to write more stuff up here this year. Show that I’m alive. Since I got loreshapers.net up and going, this is back to being well and truly just my personal blog, and I’m also working past my “write something formal” stage and (hopefully) coming out of my shell as a better, more flexible writer.
Today’s topic: Star Wars, and particularly the Last Jedi. Spoilers ahead.
The Cycle
I’ve been really awful at updating this blog, and I think it’s because I insist on doing articles. I’m still probably going to finish up Breathing Life at some point, because I have a fair amount of stuff written for it already (and I’ve had a lot more drafted and planned, awaiting me having more free time).
Some of it’s because I keep starting new projects.
The most recent is velotha’s flock, a free-verse game about were-ravens caught in a struggle between God and the devil. Bit of a niche audience, but it draws me to an important point: the cycle of literary characters.
Breathing Life in Characters Part 3: Personal Quirks and Histories
In parts 1 and 2 of Breathing Life in Characters, we have talked about how characters gain depth by being part of their societies and traditional schools of thought. This part will examine individuality and the ways that characters can develop as single entities among their fellows while maintaining the ties to the world that make them feel lifelike.
In addition to existing as part of a society, characters should have a degree of individuality. Everyone has a certain personal history and will have their own experiences within the context of the world, and as with the social and philosophical elements of a character these elements can be painted first with broad brush strokes and then refined further into individual elements.
Continue reading “Breathing Life in Characters Part 3: Personal Quirks and Histories”
Breathing Life in Characters Part 2: The Self and Philosophy
The last post in this series looked at the concepts of politics and opinion. Once you have the external elements of a character down, it’s a good idea to look at their worldview. You may not want to do this for minor characters, especially ones that the players are unlikely to interact heavily with, but characters who may need to make consistent decisions or who are going to be showpieces of a session need to get a little more fabric put into their design, and their self-concept and philosophy. Like with political beliefs, many characters from the same society will have similar religious and philosophical viewpoints, and you can create a sort of baseline that lets you direct actions in a believable manner without a lot of micromanagement.
Continue reading “Breathing Life in Characters Part 2: The Self and Philosophy”
Breathing Life in Characters Part 1: Politics and Society
One of the things that makes or breaks any story are the characters involved in it, but creating great characters goes beyond individual personalities and delves into the experiences and social contexts of the world that they live in. In short, your characters should be opinionated.
Creating a living world is necessary for characters to be truly vibrant, and one of the best ways to do that is to look at current events and issues that characters are likely to engage themselves with. It is important to remember that in places where there is total agreement there is also little interest to be found: everyone agrees that the invasion of orcs is going to be problematic for the stability and sovereignty of the kingdom in the long run.
Continue reading “Breathing Life in Characters Part 1: Politics and Society”
Review: Starfinder
Alright, boys and girls, I’m back for some more punishment. For those who are new to me, I’ve been working on my own games for a while so I’ve been taking a back-seat on reviews, both because I don’t typically have time, and because that’s a heck of a conflict of interest (so take this with a grain of salt), but I’ve finally gotten my assorted appendages on a copy of Starfinder and I figured I’d write a review, since I was really excited for Starfinder and it was really something that covers a lot of my interests.