Current Projects

I have a tendency to overwhelm myself with projects.  The problem is that I have too many things that I want to create before I die.  In fact, I have currently have more ideas in me than I likely have life left.  So I try to get as many of them out as possible.  I’m like a sinking ship with passengers who I’m trying to put onto lifeboats before I sink into the waters of mortality.

Here is a list of the projects I have coming up later this year:

RPG Storytime podcast

Finish RPG Storytime Star Wars

Re-release Pro Bono

Release a companion piece for Pro Bono

Relic Worlds Adventures board game

Relic Worlds RPG

Relic Worlds short stories

Relic Worlds podcast

Command Combat 2^nd edition

Book about Robert E. Lee and Ulysses S. Grant

Book about my childhood with Ryan

Star Wars fan fiction

 

We’ll see at the end of the year how much I get done.

Relic Worlds – The RPG

While Relic Worlds has a lot of products associated with it, the one I’m most excited about right now is the role playing game that I’m developing for it.

What I’ve always loved about RPGs is the story element of it.  Players create characters to run around in the world generated by a game master.  In this case, those stories can be uploaded onto the website for everyone to read, and some will be chosen to be canon; part of the Relic Worlds universe.

I’ve been play testing the system and I think I have the mechanics down.  I’ll soon be putting it all into rulebook form, and later this year, I’ll be sending it out to the world to be play tested there.

RPG Storytime - Gangbusters

The next series on the RPG Storytime podcast is Gangbusters.  This is a game from the early days of the 1980s which reflects the Roaring '20s.  Characters are typically gangsters or detectives dealing with the law from either one side or the other.  This series follows a private detective and his friend, a reporter.

I hope to one day use these characters in a book series.

Here is the first of the Gangbusters adventures, but there are a lot more, including more that are still coming out.

https://rpgstorytime.buzzsprout.com/1015516/4003847-gangbusters-mad-dog-johnny-drake

RPG Storytime - The Podcast

I've been enjoying making RPG Storytime so much that I want to make it portable for people to listen to it.  That means doing it as a podcast so people can listen to it in cars on their way to work, and in the office...

Of course, that sort of changed during the time of Covid, when everyone ended up staying at home.  But I was told people still listen to podcasts at home, so I launched the channel anyway.

RPG Storytime takes the stories that were generated in role playing games and turns them into narrated stories, much like audio books or radio dramas.  The podcast can't use images and has fewer sound effects than the Youtube version, but it provides a sort of atmosphere through its radio feel.

You can find the channel and all the episodes here: https://rpgstorytime.buzzsprout.com/

I hope you enjoy it, and happy gaming everybody!

RPG Storytime - Star Wars

One of my favorite projects to work on is RPG Storytime.  It's where I take stories generated out of role playing games and turn them into narrated videos with music, sound effects, illustrations, and miniatures.

The latest campaign is an epic sized Star Wars one where we follow all the characters within a pair of sectors.  We use all the Star Wars games made by FFG that involve miniatures.

The webisodes that came out at the end of last year are from my favorite part of this story.  In it, a woman named Ellor Sundown is hunting the man who experimented on her, an unnatural Force wielder named Rixar Traln.

The beginning of the story is below:

 

Writing for Podcasts

This year I finally conformed and jumped into the crowded pool called podcasting.  I wasn't going to as I've got enough pots on the artistic fires that aren't paying anything.  As it is, I'm having difficulty getting people to watch my Youtube shows and read my books, so why should a podcast change anything?  Won't it just add to my already over-saturated promotion schedule?

Well, yes.  However, until I find that sweet spot of media of which people will consume my stories, I am constantly on the search.  And I have noticed that people more often listen to new things in podcasts than they do anywhere else.  Movie studios and major publishers only seem interested in rebooting older products, and Youtube seems obsessed with commenting on those rebooted movies.  But podcasts are often filled with original, new material.

People seem to be more willing to try something new while they're driving during their commutes, or at work.  I used to think they'd try watching my videos at work because studies have shown a tendency for people to consume social media while there.  However, what I didn't take into consideration is that my videos are often around 20 minutes and sometimes longer.  People can't take a break for that long.  The videos they watch are usually about five minutes maximum.

As for my books, I've been trying to send out free short stories on Facebook and push promotions on Amazon.  This has been met with limited success as people want to spend their free time on things they trust.

So it seems the commute is the time to present something new; something they'll try while they're bored, because no matter how bad it is, it beats waiting in traffic.  And so I'll be recording my Relic Worlds short stories since I was giving them away anyway, and in so doing I'll see what might need to be rewritten.  I'll also be re-recording the narration for RPG Storytime, having to describe things a little more since I won't have visuals.  But it should be interesting.  I'm looking forward to seeing how it all goes; and I'm hoping it's at least a little more successful than my previous endeavors.

The Art of Turning RPG Games into Videos

Earlier this year I started a channel called RPG Storytime which shows videos I've made that tell the stories that came out of RPG games.  Rather than live streaming us playing the game, like most channels do, I take the story that was generated from the game sessions, and I write a script for it.  I narrate it like an audiobook, put in sound effects and music, and I set up shots of miniatures on tiny sets which illustrates what's happening.

This creates a fast-paced story that continues from video to video.  Viewers follow it like it's a TV series, and get invested in the characters.  In order to get it to that point, though, there are some important things I have to remember.  First and foremost, I need to follow the rules of storytelling rather than the rules of the game itself.  There are a lot of rules and details in a game that would bog down a story.  These should only be brought up when they're relevant to the story, or when there's an amazing roll.  It becomes important to highlight this aspect when something seems way out of the ordinary, and happened only because of an unexpected roll of the dice.

What's also very important is developing the characters as characters, not as classes.  Rather than a character being a third level rogue, they are a moderately experienced map maker, or someone seeking out artifacts.  Give them some trait that people would want to read in a book or see in a character in a movie.

Most importantly, the series needs to stay focused on the story and character arcs.  Individual fights mean nothing if they're not part of a story that's leading to something.  This is something to keep in mind when game mastering, but it is far more important when you're reciting the story to the audience.

All that being said, I have found that it is good to tape the players playing at least for a little while, or to set them up as though they're playing later on, because it's good to integrate these moments into the videos.  Viewers seem to like seeing the players make the decisions.  To that end, I also tape the players giving testimonials that can be intercut with the story so viewers can get a sense of their thinking and decision making processes.

Ultimately, regardless of how successful the videos are, I'm proud of them and really enjoy having these records of the stories which have come out of our RPG sessions.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTOn2WMkuvRskZ2SN1YBplQ

RPG Storytime is at Last Coming Out

I started my series RPG Storytime on Youtube with the intention on doing one season of four different shows every year.  Each show would have six episodes per season.  Star Trek would be in the spring, D&D would be in the summer, Outbreak Undead would be in the fall, and Star Wars would be in the winter.

Somewhere deep down in me I knew this was unrealistic, but I hoped I would rein myself in enough to make such a schedule possible.

I didn't.  So it's taking longer to make the videos.  But something bigger has interrupted the schedule.

At a certain point I found myself writing one series while planning a game for another series while playing yet another and recording stuff for the other.  Added to that was another future series I'm planning on doing, and some other games I simply like to play.  It was getting confusing!

I also discovered that the Star Wars game, which I admittedly overdid a bit, has grown into many storylines, all of which need to be clear to the audience.  In fact, they all have multiple storylines, but the Star Wars one is the most complex.  I started realizing that if I told that in 6 episode chunks, no one would understand it.  I didn't even know what 6 episodes to play with one another.  Added to this was the fact that I wanted to get Outbreak Undead out of the way to make room for Deadlands.

So the decision was made to run entire series together, rather than 6 episode chunks over several seasons.  Outbreak Undead is first.  Its first episode back is today.  (I figured Halloween is a good day to do that.)  It will be running until the end of the year.  I'll have a couple other games, then I'll be running my Star Trek series until it reaches the end.

The one exception I'll have to this is Dungeons & Dragons.  I want to have some episodes come out when Game of Thrones plays, so I'll have a few episodes of it in the spring.  Then, once I've put out some other game videos I've meant to edit for a really long time, I'll begin releasing the huge epic of Star Wars, which will run until the end of the year, coinciding with episode 9 in theaters.

I'm planning on doing a separate channel that is only RPG Storytime which will play all the videos in order without interruption.  I'm not sure when I'll do that, but I won't start shows on that until the last ones are finished.

If you'd like to see Outbreak Undead from the beginning, you can see it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpaiVtbtoQQ&list=PLJ55yyr7uUQCa9GdXrvG7dhrEsh30kDV_

RPG Storytime is at Last Coming Out

I started my series RPG Storytime on Youtube with the intention on doing one season of four different shows every year.  Each show would have six episodes per season.  Star Trek would be in the spring, D&D would be in the summer, Outbreak Undead would be in the fall, and Star Wars would be in the winter.

Somewhere deep down in me I knew this was unrealistic, but I hoped I would rein myself in enough to make such a schedule possible.

I didn't.  So it's taking longer to make the videos.  But something bigger has interrupted the schedule.

At a certain point I found myself writing one series while planning a game for another series while playing yet another and recording stuff for the other.  Added to that was another future series I'm planning on doing, and some other games I simply like to play.  It was getting confusing!

I also discovered that the Star Wars game, which I admittedly overdid a bit, has grown into many storylines, all of which need to be clear to the audience.  In fact, they all have multiple storylines, but the Star Wars one is the most complex.  I started realizing that if I told that in 6 episode chunks, no one would understand it.  I didn't even know what 6 episodes to play with one another.  Added to this was the fact that I wanted to get Outbreak Undead out of the way to make room for Deadlands.

So the decision was made to run entire series together, rather than 6 episode chunks over several seasons.  Outbreak Undead is first.  Its first episode back is today and will run until Halloween.  There will be a break while I finish the rest of those episodes, which will come out in December.  I'll have a couple other games, then I'll be running my Star Trek series until it reaches the end.

The one exception I'll have to this is Dungeons & Dragons.  I want to have some episodes come out when Game of Thrones plays, so I'll have a few episodes of it in the spring.  Then, once I've put out some other game videos I've meant to edit for a really long time, I'll begin releasing the huge epic of Star Wars, which will run until the end of the year, coinciding with episode 9 in theaters.

I'm planning on doing a separate channel that is only RPG Storytime which will play all the videos in order without interruption.  I'm not sure when I'll do that, but I won't start shows on that until the last ones are finished.

If you'd like to see Outbreak Undead from the beginning, you can see it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpaiVtbtoQQ&list=PLJ55yyr7uUQCa9GdXrvG7dhrEsh30kDV_

RPG Storytime: Star Wars!

Last week I wrote about my Star Wars fan fiction.  This week I'm writing about a different sort of fan fiction that I'm writing and producing.  It's the Star Wars role playing game which I'm playing, then making into videos in which I use miniatures to tell the stories.  I'm doing this with several different RPG games where I play it out with a group of people,then make the stories into little videos.  Over the next year I hope to do these games:

Star Wars
Star Trek
Dungeons & Dragons
Deadlands
Top Secret
Gang Busters
Pirates!
Outbreak: Undead

It's a lot, and I probably won't get them all made, but I'd like to do a lot of those.  RPG games are becoming the new staged readings, which excites me because I've always loved the idea of this sort of community storytelling.

Also, I use these as a way to bring in new readers.  People are more likely to watch something new than to read something new, so the idea here is to make videos that appeal to something a lot of people already enjoy, then gain their trust and being them into my own books.  It's been useful for me in the gaming world as I've gotten a number of gamers as readers over the past year.

My show is called RPG Storytime, and you can see it here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGdeEs8YJtA&t=1s

RPG Storytime

Separate from my writing, (and often taking my time away from it,) I’ve been running a couple game channels.  The first was a war game channel where I show miniature war games and other things from that community.  I wanted to expand into other games so I built a channel called Bandwagon Games where we have all sorts of board games, computer games, miniatures games, etc.

            But the one I’m most excited about is a show called RPG Storytime where I feature role playing games like Dungeons & Dragons, which is the first one.  The stories are created from games that have been played, and summarized using miniatures.  This particularly appeals to me because it embodies my three favorite things to do: gaming, storytelling, and making movies.

            It’s also a good tool for promoting.  As I’ve discussed last week, people connect more to video than they do to words.  Despite the fact that I’m a writer, or perhaps especially because I’m a writer, I have to admit this fact to myself.  Movies connect with multiple senses, such as sight and sound, while books force us to imagine things.  This is, of course, the strength of books, but it’s also what makes it harder for us to connect with the audience.

            RPG Storytime allows me to tell a story visually and to promote to a new audience, the gamers.  This works particularly well for my science fiction writing as those are two audiences that are closely related.  Nonfiction readers aren’t so much into games as much… Well, they’re sometimes into the war games, especially if they’re into military history.  But for the most part, this is a promotional opportunity for my sci fi and future fantasy writing.

            I plan to eventually turn some of the stories I’m making through RPG Storytime into books themselves.  The hope is that those people who connected with the videos will want to buy the books as well.  There will likely be people who wouldn’t have given the book a try, but because they got sucked into the Youtube videos, which were free to watch, they may have that emotional connection to want to get the books and read more.

If you’d like to see RPG Storytime, webisode 1 of the Dungeons & Dragons storyline is at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuO4eWuagZ0

RPG Into a Book

I’ve been thinking about the role playing video idea and I know what I want to do with it.  First, I want to do my own version.  It won’t likely have as good of production value as Wil Wheaton’s, but I plan on doing something he didn’t; use miniatures.  This will bring over what I’ve already collected for my mini-wargaming show, and will hopefully bring over that audience.  It will also give a separate voice from other rpg videos already out there.  It should also look really cool.

But what will also make this endeavor work is the idea that I could make a book based on the story at the end.  The videos can generate an audience which is then drawn to the book at the end, because it’s the story they just watched unfold.  What’s more, I have had this idea for a fantasy world for a long time, but I didn’t have a specific story put together.  This will fill in that all-important part while giving me the chance to fulfill this desire to build my fantasy world.

I’ve also determined that sci fi and fantasy are a lot more likely to sell in self-publishing, and have determined to focus on that from now on, so this fits with my overall plan more anyway.