Trailer for The Guild's new comicbook

I found out about Felicia Day from Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog. That's what pointed me toward her web series called The Guild, a funny look at MMORPGers. I've been hooked ever since, though I'm behind on the latest season (#3). Whether you've played an online game before or not, you might have fun watching the series. And now this week, their new comic book comes out. I plan to pick it up sometime this summer.

Check out the new trailer for the comic book. Then go watch some of the webseries. :D

Filk Friday: Roll a D6

I can't believe I almost forgot to do my Friday post again. Well, since gaming is on my mind, here's a parody on "Like a G6" called Roll a D6. For those of you less familiar, a d6 is a six-sided die used in many roleplaying games. D&D usually uses several different dice: the d4, d6, d8, d10, d12, and the d20. Sometimes you have to roll a d3, but for that we usually use d6 (1-2, 3-4, 5-6 for 1, 2, 3).

Now my gaming group doesn't this deep into our roles, but technically we do play in the basement at our friends' house. Both the husband and wife play, so I'm not the only gal there. But the guys are all pretty cool. My husband is our Gamemaster, and he comes up with some tough challenges of various kinds, a nice balance between hack-n-slash and roleplaying. It's the sort of balance that makes for great retelling later.

Ah the stories I could tell from various campaigns I've been in... But I digress. Enjoy this catchy bit of gamer filk, grab some friends, and roll a d6!

Filk Friday: Playing D&D

I've been playing D&D for almost 12 years, one of the good things I discovered while in college. I learned to respond quicker to situations, think in alternative ways--thereby improving my outlook on problems, and build a stronger self-confidence. It also led me to larping and from there to my hubby. So between that, the many hours of fun I've had with tabletop and live action games, and the inspiration that got me writing creatively again, D&D is pretty special.

This week, one of my friends linked a video on FB. The singer is the lovely SJ Tucker, who as it turns out, is a friend of a friend of one of my other friends who is not connected to the one who shared the video with me in the first place. Funny how that works sometimes.

So here is "Playing D&D," produced by Dead Gentlemen Productions. You can download this song for free from SJ Tucker's album "Mischief" at http://www.strowlers.biz/ according to the Youtube description.

Random blargh with drawing

I've frittered away much of the day so far trying to find a decent drawing program for my computer. So far, everything is a fail for what I want a computer program to do. I want to make perfect/nearly perfect nine-pointed stars in many variations. You know, like sunbursts, flowers, long points, and short points. I also want something for creating designs for cross-stitch, needlepoint, and filet crochet. Not all on the same program, mind you. One for the drawing and one for the graphing.

For now, I'll stick with paper to make my stars and charts. ;) I've already charted a small teapot and a 33 square wide 9-point star. The star turned out better than I hoped. If I can add a fairy or dragon to it, I'll have the perfect symbol to combine my Faith with my love of fantasy. Back to the drawing pad, I guess. At least I'm not feeling so blargh anymore. :D

Brainstorming Plot

As I've been hashing out the plot for one of my novels, I came to the realization that coming up with plot for my characters is much like thinking up hooks for roleplaying games, both table-top and live-action. Having worked with larping plot teams and tried a little Game Mastering myself for D&D, I've been looking at some of the things GMs and plot teams do to and for the Player Characters (PCs).

It might be something weather related or an ancient trap or a goal to accomplish. Some things might last a single game session while others cover multi-session arcs. But everything is to give the characters/PCs something to do and get involved in--if they weren't already. Because after all, characters create a fair amount of plot themselves by their choices and interactions with other characters.

The Dungeon Master's Guide version 3.5 has a chapter on creating adventures for the PCs. My favorite part is the list: One Hundred Adventure Ideas, on pages 44-45. I needed ideas for things to have happen to my two main characters on their way to the first set piece I have in mind. Well, there's a hundred ideas right there to start with.

A few of my favorites from the list:

#6. A caravan of important goods is about to leave for a trip through a dangerous area. (I used the caravan idea plus some bandits as inspiration for a couple chapters-worth of events. Even worked it into the primary arc.)
#42. A haunted tower is reputed to be filled with treasure.
#58. An evil tyrant outlaws nonofficially sanctioned magic use.
#81. An innocent man, about to be hanged, pleads for someone to help him. (a common hook)
#97. Someone in town is a werewolf. (The new Red Riding Hood movie comes to mind here.)

From larping:

1. Giant ants are wandering through the woods.
2. Packs of wolves are hunting for food.
3. A woman begs adventurers to save her husband from captivity by a pack of fishmen.
4. Dark dwarf women are out trying to snare husbands.
5. The king arranges a tourney and will be awarding prizes.
6. A rediscovered old mine is filled with monsters and pockets of hazardous gas.

Having a list of plot hooks and ideas is useful for the times when thinking of "what to have happen next" has you pounding your empty head on the keyboard. (Fingers go on the keys, not your head.) Since I don't currently have permission to reprint the D&D list in entirety to share with you, and it's only a start anyway, why don't we build our own shared list of seed ideas?

Post your plot hooks in the comments below, as many as you want/think of. Don't worry if they are genre specific. (see examples below) They can be ideas you've used in your writing or from books you've read. Let's see how many we can collect over this next month. I'll post weekly reminders until the beginning of March when I'll share the compiled list. Get your friends to join in.

Here are some examples of my own to get us started:

Astronauts discover a crashed ship on the Moon.
Fairies cause problems at a christening.
A woodcutter is trapped under some deadfall.
Someone is injured and gets wound-fever.
Aliens munch on an old truck.

Scientific Progress Goes "Boink"

Raise your hands if you recognized that title. Keep your hands up if you have a kid who resembles Calvin in some small way. Why yes, there's a bit of Calvin in my son. Why do you ask? *wink*

Calvin and Hobbes has been one of my favorite comics since I was a kid. Calvin is someone who would make an excellent writer if he ever applied himself to learning what his parents and teachers have been trying to teach. That imagination is amazing. He goes from seeing himself as a giant T-rex to Stupendous Man to Spaceman Spiff. He believes that his stuffed tiger is real when no one else is around (who likes to pounce on him) and has an evil genius when it comes to snowmen. He can believe in reverse gravity, suddenly growing larger, and that he can build a duplicator machine to make copies of himself to do his work. And he comes up with new stories on the spot to explain why he didn't do his homework.

If he'd just do his homework right away, he could take the time he'd spent dithering to turn all those stories into a book. Makes you wonder how much of Calvin was in Bill Watterson as a kid, doesn't it? Hehe.

What sort of flights of fantasy did you take yourself when you were growing up and have you used any of them to kickstart your stories?