In case you don't know what a recurring character is, the idea is simple. These are characters who show up from time to time in a story, but not so often that they're considered one of the main/supporting characters.
In a TV show, this might be a character that shows up in a few episodes each season, but that aren't in a majority of the episodes. In a book series, it would be a character that's in multiple books in the series, but not all of them (think Michael or the Alphas in Dresden Files). In an RPG, this could be an NPC that the party sees several times, but that doesn't show up every session/adventure.
Why Use Recurring Characters?
Put simply, audiences, be they readers, viewers, or players, like familiarity. They like when a character walks onto the screen and they know what they can expect from that character.
Because they aren't part of the main cast, sometimes recurring characters can be more dramatic or shake things up more than people who are always present can (since those who are always present generally have to maintain similar relationships to everyone else, or primarily make choices that can later be readjusted back). This allows these recurring characters to sometimes leave more of an impact on the audience, gaining a particular following and favoritism that gets audience members excited when they know that character will be returning.
It's good to use recurring characters when possible. Rather than introducing a new character and adding to a growing cast, putting in a familiar face helps the audience to connect by utilizing an already established connection.
Examples of Recurring Characters
1. The Old Friend
This is someone from the past of one of the main characters. One of the more common/effective uses of this character is to have them be a former best (or at least close) friend of one of the main characters. They may still consider themselves to be friends, but they certainly aren't as close as they once were.
One of the benefits of the old friend is that it allows the rest of the main cast (as well as, or even more so, the audience) to learn more about the regular character's past. Possibly, if the regular character talked or acted differently in the past, the old friend being around may even cause them to revert back and pick up some of their old habits.
In addition to this, drama can be ramped up in a few of ways. The regular character who is friends with the old friend may care a lot about getting the rest of the main cast to like the old friend. Dialed up if the old friend is expressly the sort of person the main cast doesn't get along with, or vice versa. The old friend may be jealous of the regular character's friendship with the rest of the main cast, or vice versa. Further, the old friend may have changed from the person the regular character remembers. This could create tension as the change makes the two less compatible, or if the old friend tries to hide this change. It can also be played the other way, with the regular character being the one who has changed, and this can even be used to show character growth. Another way the recurring character might hide things about themselves is if they are just trying to use their friendship with the regular character for some advantage that they are otherwise keeping secret: money, a place to stay, access to the regular character's work or friends, etc...
This is more commonly used in sit coms, but it could be worked into RPG scenarios or other works as well. In an RPG, having people that one of the PC's grew up with show up is always interesting. Maybe they lived in the same village as kids. Maybe they trained at the same academy or went to the same school. Maybe the old friend is a member of the PC's former adventuring company.
2. The Needy Relative
A person connected to one of the main characters shows up. They need something. They may or may not be open with the main character about that, but their presence will be clear to the audience as a metaphorical weight around that character's neck.
There may or may not be some overlap with this and the old friend, especially as many relatives tend to have ties to a character's past. Relatives also have ties to a character's present by way of the family, and can be a way of showing the people a character is connected to in that way. If other family members have shown up previously, a relative showing up can provide an update on the status of something going on with that family member, helping to establish more familiarity with the audience and providing them more information on a situation they might care about without having to do a whole episode/scene/chapter/lengthy thing about it.
Drama with the needy relative usually comes from the need. Like the old friend, they may be concealing this need and plan to take advantage of the main character covertly. Possibly they are a pickpocket who is fleecing the main cast for every dime they can get, or possibly they are less sinisterly just trying to use their connections to gain an advantage-maybe a job or access to someone for which they have feelings. They may, however, be open about their need, relying on the character's sense of duty to their family or general righteousness to gain their help. Possibly, it might be a health issue or something else for which the expression of the need isn't desired by the relative, but that it is necessary.
This is common in dramas, sit-coms, and the like, but it can be used in any story. In an RPG, nothing motivates a PC so well as someone they already like and have connections to asking them for help.
3. The Love Interest
Used in stories where the love interest isn't also one of the main characters, this is someone that one of the main characters has affections for. If it's a recurring character, it's often a plot that advances in phases over time, but sometimes not.
Usually, the main character will develop affections for the love interest, and there will be a pre-relationship phase where the audience is teased with the will-they/won't-they drama. If the love interest doesn't reciprocate the main character's feelings, then they usually don't stay in the story for very long after, making them less likely to be a recurring character.
Once the couple enters the relationship phase, the character is free to come and go in the story as a tie to that main character as needed and for any number of uses. This can reveal things about the main character and how they treat relationships, but a love interest can also be used as an extra main character for stories where an extra person in the group would be helpful.
In RPGs, many groups don't like to utilize romantic plots due to awkwardness of the meta-issues of a DM and a player playing characters that have feelings for each other, especially if there are romantic relationships going on in real life between any of the involved parties. That said, for the groups that do utilize romantic plots, it can be a strong motivator for PCs. A PC will go to great lengths to win the affections of a love interest, and once having them, they will often do many things for that love interest to support the relationship and show their love. Love interests endangered motivate PCs, but this should not be done so often that it makes PCs afraid to develop connections to people for fear of being punished by their loved ones always being in danger.
4. The Ex
Maybe the main character had broken up with their ex at a point before when the stories began, or maybe she was once a love interest who moved down to this position, having a former flame show up in a main character's life is a sure way to generate drama.
The ex can be utilized in a number of ways, depending on how both the ex and the main character they are attached to feel about each other at present. If one wants the other back and the other doesn't, there are a series of issues that come with how they handle that. It could potentially even show character growth in a main character who has moved on. If they both have resentment towards each other, the return of the ex can be antagonistic to both sides. If they both want to get back together, then either the ex might move up to being the love interest, or they might be reminded of why they never worked out in the first place.
3. The Co-Worker
This is someone that one of the main characters works with. The main character usually either likes this co-worker, or they don't, but they're rarely undecided.
If it's someone the main character likes, then they may have a similar effect of the needy relative, using this affection to try to get the main character to help them with work projects to boost their own success. If a friendship develops with the co-worker, they might have some similarities to the old friend, with tensions being caused if the co-worker doesn't get along with the rest of the main cast, or if there is jealousy on either side. It may become a workplace romance, going into the territory of the love interest, but adding any tensions of having to work together on top of their romance.
If it's someone the main character doesn't like, the issues caused can range from annoyance (see Patrice from How I Met Your Mother) to active sabotage from either side. If this co-worker is in the same position as the main character and they are both competing for the same projects/jobs/promotions, it may extend into the territory of the rival.
4. The Business Contact
This is someone who a main character has to work with for their job, but who they don't see regularly. In spy fiction, it may be a contact on the ground in the location. For someone who works in an office job, it might be a supplier or a potential client for their business. Usually, these contacts don't work/live near the main character and they show up either if the main character goes to their location, or if they come to visit where the main character works.
5. The Staff Member
This person works somewhere. Somewhere the main cast goes often. Maybe it's a bartender that shows up from time to time. If the characters are accident prone or have health issues, maybe it's a doctor (one of my favorite recurring characters is the doctor in Arrested Development). Especially in RPG games, it could be a quirky and interesting shopkeeper.
These rarely increase the drama or plot of the story, but they do help to provide familiarity. If they have defining/interesting personalities, they can also provide humor or fascination for the audience.
6. The Villain
This is the bread and butter of comic book superhero stories. This is the Joker, Loki, Dr. Doom, the Riddler, Green Goblin, Lex Luther, etc...
These are the characters who show up over and over again and ruin the main character's lives. They pose a threat that forces the main character to act or lose something important. When they come onto the scene, they come with all the existing tensions of the previous times that they've fought against the heroes.
Audiences like recurring characters, but they love recurring villains.
For me, I think that a lot of times I find myself rooting for the villain even more than the hero, and I don't think I'm the only one who does. Something about villains fascinates us. We want to know how they think, how they do what it is that they do. Add to that the familiarity of seeing them over and over again, and some additional quirks and attributes that charm an audience, and you've got a recipe for something audiences can't turn down.
In addition to all that, we as people process most things through conflicts. Through overcoming adversity. This is what the majority of stories are about. Seeing the hero in conflict with a villain is the story conflict going back through the ages. It's familiar. It speaks to us on an innate level. Having a recurring villain of great power magnifies that over and over again.
The biggest issue with recurring villains, especially in RPG campaigns, is how to keep the heroes from killing them. In stories, it's easy, because the creator controls both sides of the board. The heroes have qualms about killing people, or the villain has an escape route and gets away, or the hero puts the villain in prison (only to have them escape later on. Seriously, does Arkham just have a revolving door in the back of it?), but one way or another, it's easy in fiction to make the villain able to come back later on.
In RPGs, where PCs are often murder-hobos, it's a little bit harder. If they enter combat with the villain, they're often going to kill said villain, making it harder to make them recur. Here are some suggestions for how to deal with that: You could have the villain interact with them in settings where they can't kill him. Maybe he's a well respected noble and they meet him at a party where no one would believe them if they accused him or tried to battle him. Maybe he's talking to them from atop a cliff or otherwise in a place they can't reach. You could have the villain interact through minions or messages, which makes their presence recurring, but it doesn't seem to actually have the villain itself be recurring. You could use things like holographic projections or robots that look like the villain which are directly controlled by the villain. You could make sure the villain has an escape route whenever the PCs would encounter them. (This should be done carefully, as PCs are clever and may find a way to cut off this escape route, or, especially if the villain tries to fight before taking the escape route, they may kill the villain before he/she can escape. The only way to be sure of an escape would be to fudge die rolls or how much damage the villain is taking, which some people may see as underhanded/unfair GMing, even if it is for a better story.)
One way of having a villain recur, either in stories or RPGs, that I am wary of, is bringing them back from the dead. I'm not saying that this can't be done effectively, because it can. I've seen great examples of it that I've really liked. However, if your work, be it an RPG, or a book, or a tv show, or anything else, brings people back from the dead too much, death will become meaningless. Your audience will stop caring when people die, which takes away the emotional consequences of death in your story.
7. The Rival
One might consider the rival a subset of the villain, but it is a subset that is specific enough that I wanted to talk about it.
The rival is a great recurring character. It is someone who reminds the audience of one of the main characters, because the share many of the same attributes. They're good at the same things. Oftentimes, if the story is of a sort where things like darkness or evil make sense, the rival might be seen as a dark/evil opposite of the hero, using the same skills and attributes in more sinister ways.
But one of the things that makes the rival particularly compelling is that they usually want the same thing the main character wants, and that thing doesn't split between them. Maybe it's a promotion at work. Maybe it's the affections of a particular love interest. Maybe it's a lost relic of an ancient civilization. Maybe it's a super weapon.
The rival is great because it raises for the audience the tensions of a race to the finish line as well as questions about which side's skills and tactics will prove superior. Since usually (but not always) the rival is more willing to be underhanded than the main character, they have something of a leg up from the start.
What other recurring characters have you found that you've liked? What do you like about them?
Friday, September 30, 2016
Monday, September 26, 2016
Health and Sickness in Stories and Life
Over the last year or so, I've thought a lot about the concept of health. More recent events have caused me to think about it all the more.
For the purposes of this post, I'll be using the word "disorder" as a catch all for any form of unhealthiness from sicknesses like the cold, to mental disorders, to broken bones, to things like cancer, etc. I understand that these things are not all considered medical "disorders", but they are things that disturb the "order" of a person and of their life.
In television, movies, and most forms of fiction, unless the story is about disorder/how the disorder affects the lives of people with it, most of the time characters are portrayed as generally having good health.
In real life, disorder is a lot of times looked at as something shameful, burdensome, or as a form of weakness. Sure, things happen, someone goes to the hospital and everyone acknowledges the severity of the active disorder and shows sympathy and support, but that's usually only in a limited window of severity and time. (There are, of course, exceptions, but I'm looking at a lot of generalities in my experiences.)
With the shame, people are taught to reel in their disorder, to hide it from others, to not talk about it a lot, and generally to do a lot of coping on their own.
These things shaped my perception of people and of reality.
I believed that being "healthy" was the norm, and this is not the case.
It turns out, as I've talked to people and paid more attention over the last year or so, a significant portion of people I know have some ongoing disorder in varying degrees. Maybe it's a debilitating or chronic physical thing. Maybe it's a mental disorder. Maybe it's even just an inescapable psychosis which needs ongoing therapy. These things all affect people's lives. Even if whatever it is can be treated with medication, usually that just bring someone *close* to healthy. It allows them to hide and blend in, hide, not be a burden, but there are almost always still some effects from the disorder, not to mention side effects of medication.
This isn't really being represented in fiction. Should it be?
There are a number of benefits that would come from having more people with disorders in fiction, especially fiction that doesn't focus on the fact that they have a disorder. For one, it would bring fiction closer to our reality, something for which the merits are debatable. But, as a larger point, having characters with disorder that are portrayed in a positive light become more commonplace could help to remove the stigma of having disorder in oneself. People who have disorder might feel less like they have to hide their weaknesses, and more willing to be themselves. They wouldn't have to feel ashamed. Then, rather than bearing the whole burden of this terrible thing that isn't their fault, this terrible thing that is happening to them, alone, they can find help, support, and comfort from those around them. The people who look down on those with disorder might begin to see that it's not so bad and, even more so, not the fault of the person with the disorder. Over time, increasing this trend could help to make society more accepting and more honest.
So why isn't it happening now?
We, the audience, don't want it to. We all know those episodes of tv shows where a major character gets sick/severely injured, or where a character shows up who has health issues. Those are very rarely, if ever, our favorite episodes. We have been trained that when this happens the plot will slow. A lot of the time it will become more serious than normal as it focuses on how the disorder affects all the other characters. We can accept these episodes as "good" or "important" but they aren't the ones we choose to rewatch.
We like our characters to be able and capable and not have to have struggles or issues separate from the main conflicts of the story. We see health issues as either the story itself, in the case of stories focused on disorder, or as distractions from the story in stories that aren't.
Disorder is real in a way that fiction isn't.
While a lot of fiction tries to maintain a level of realism, it also has a structure that real life doesn't often follow. Some authors weave themes through their stories that would often be difficult to work disorder into without focusing on it. Most stories have some sort of plot arc, and disorders could (and often do) disrupt that arc.
Disorder doesn't follow themes or arcs. It doesn't necessarily show up at times that are dramatically appropriate. If it's being portrayed accurately, it shows up unexpectedly. Sometimes it is severe enough to put the rest of one's life, the rest of one's story, on hold. Sometimes it's just an interruption. But it rarely has anything to do with the other things going on in a person's life. It doesn't "fit." It doesn't go well with an existing story.
I don't have a solution.
I want disorder to be better represented. I want to live in that world where people don't feel ashamed about their struggles. I want to live in the world that acknowledges that perfect health is not the norm and that everyone is going through something. I think fiction can be a part of getting to that world.
But I also don't want to read the stories that are super focused on disorder. I don't want to feel like "oh, this character is only in this story for social justice reasons." I don't want disorder to be forced. I don't really want to read about disorder. I don't want disorder to disrupt my stories.
I want the benefits, but I struggle, both as a writer and as an audience member, with the execution. I don't know how a good negotiation works.
Possibly one of the best I've seen is the webcomic d20 Monkey which includes a blind supporting character. It isn't made a big deal of, but it is consistent throughout the comic.
I do have a major character in Heroism and Other Lies who has a physical disorder, and I like to think I pull this off well, but I still don't feel like the work as a whole is particularly representative. Nor am I sure how much it should be.
For the purposes of this post, I'll be using the word "disorder" as a catch all for any form of unhealthiness from sicknesses like the cold, to mental disorders, to broken bones, to things like cancer, etc. I understand that these things are not all considered medical "disorders", but they are things that disturb the "order" of a person and of their life.
In television, movies, and most forms of fiction, unless the story is about disorder/how the disorder affects the lives of people with it, most of the time characters are portrayed as generally having good health.
In real life, disorder is a lot of times looked at as something shameful, burdensome, or as a form of weakness. Sure, things happen, someone goes to the hospital and everyone acknowledges the severity of the active disorder and shows sympathy and support, but that's usually only in a limited window of severity and time. (There are, of course, exceptions, but I'm looking at a lot of generalities in my experiences.)
With the shame, people are taught to reel in their disorder, to hide it from others, to not talk about it a lot, and generally to do a lot of coping on their own.
These things shaped my perception of people and of reality.
I believed that being "healthy" was the norm, and this is not the case.
It turns out, as I've talked to people and paid more attention over the last year or so, a significant portion of people I know have some ongoing disorder in varying degrees. Maybe it's a debilitating or chronic physical thing. Maybe it's a mental disorder. Maybe it's even just an inescapable psychosis which needs ongoing therapy. These things all affect people's lives. Even if whatever it is can be treated with medication, usually that just bring someone *close* to healthy. It allows them to hide and blend in, hide, not be a burden, but there are almost always still some effects from the disorder, not to mention side effects of medication.
This isn't really being represented in fiction. Should it be?
There are a number of benefits that would come from having more people with disorders in fiction, especially fiction that doesn't focus on the fact that they have a disorder. For one, it would bring fiction closer to our reality, something for which the merits are debatable. But, as a larger point, having characters with disorder that are portrayed in a positive light become more commonplace could help to remove the stigma of having disorder in oneself. People who have disorder might feel less like they have to hide their weaknesses, and more willing to be themselves. They wouldn't have to feel ashamed. Then, rather than bearing the whole burden of this terrible thing that isn't their fault, this terrible thing that is happening to them, alone, they can find help, support, and comfort from those around them. The people who look down on those with disorder might begin to see that it's not so bad and, even more so, not the fault of the person with the disorder. Over time, increasing this trend could help to make society more accepting and more honest.
So why isn't it happening now?
We, the audience, don't want it to. We all know those episodes of tv shows where a major character gets sick/severely injured, or where a character shows up who has health issues. Those are very rarely, if ever, our favorite episodes. We have been trained that when this happens the plot will slow. A lot of the time it will become more serious than normal as it focuses on how the disorder affects all the other characters. We can accept these episodes as "good" or "important" but they aren't the ones we choose to rewatch.
We like our characters to be able and capable and not have to have struggles or issues separate from the main conflicts of the story. We see health issues as either the story itself, in the case of stories focused on disorder, or as distractions from the story in stories that aren't.
Disorder is real in a way that fiction isn't.
While a lot of fiction tries to maintain a level of realism, it also has a structure that real life doesn't often follow. Some authors weave themes through their stories that would often be difficult to work disorder into without focusing on it. Most stories have some sort of plot arc, and disorders could (and often do) disrupt that arc.
Disorder doesn't follow themes or arcs. It doesn't necessarily show up at times that are dramatically appropriate. If it's being portrayed accurately, it shows up unexpectedly. Sometimes it is severe enough to put the rest of one's life, the rest of one's story, on hold. Sometimes it's just an interruption. But it rarely has anything to do with the other things going on in a person's life. It doesn't "fit." It doesn't go well with an existing story.
I don't have a solution.
I want disorder to be better represented. I want to live in that world where people don't feel ashamed about their struggles. I want to live in the world that acknowledges that perfect health is not the norm and that everyone is going through something. I think fiction can be a part of getting to that world.
But I also don't want to read the stories that are super focused on disorder. I don't want to feel like "oh, this character is only in this story for social justice reasons." I don't want disorder to be forced. I don't really want to read about disorder. I don't want disorder to disrupt my stories.
I want the benefits, but I struggle, both as a writer and as an audience member, with the execution. I don't know how a good negotiation works.
Possibly one of the best I've seen is the webcomic d20 Monkey which includes a blind supporting character. It isn't made a big deal of, but it is consistent throughout the comic.
I do have a major character in Heroism and Other Lies who has a physical disorder, and I like to think I pull this off well, but I still don't feel like the work as a whole is particularly representative. Nor am I sure how much it should be.
Friday, September 16, 2016
Theme: Build a Better Future
One of the things I've been interested in for the past 10 years or so (really much longer, but I was less self-aware at the time), is progress.
Technology is Advancing Rapidly
From communication to transportation to labor, we are hurtling towards a new future. And this fascinates me. The internet, and it's byproducts, has changed how people interact with almost everything within my life time. I've seen how facebook and other social media has changed how we socialize. Amazon and like websites have changed how we buy things, or how we research what we're going to buy and what we're willing to pay for it. Smartphones, putting us in constant communication with this world of information, have changed how we learn and how we behave around one another. Even cell phones before that didn't become commonplace within the last twenty years.
And it's not just on a personal level.
Those examples are ones you see every day, but it affects business too. As a writer, the idea that I can write an rpg adventure, or a book, or any other written word product, go online, upload it, and have it available for the masses to purchase and/or download is amazing, and it's not something we could do before. It is easier than ever to get ideas and products out there. Independent people can make crafts and sell them through etsy or similar pages. Overall, people are able to connect to do business better than ever before.
And technology is helping business in even more ways. Production, automation, all things that are improving and making it cheaper and easier to supply products and services. Not to mention creating new products and services to sell.
But, what's the cost?
As we hurtle towards the future, a lot of times people work towards progress without looking at the consequences, or working towards solutions for them.
As self-driving cars develop, it's going to replace millions of jobs that people hold based on transportation (from taxis to shipping). Fast food restaurants are looking to replace their cashiers with automated alternatives. Grocery stores already have self-checkouts, and many are developing technologies to make these easier and more automated. All this leads to one of the biggest problems that we're going to be facing in the future: there are going to be way fewer jobs than there are people. For those people, it means living on government subsidies and/or living with a low quality of life. For businesses, it will mean fewer consumers to buy their products.
(As a side note, less related to automization replacing jobs, but more related to how our current job/economic culture is affecting people's interaction as consumers: Why Aren't Millennials Buying Diamonds)
Other things that are being developed that we aren't considering the consequences to include but aren't limited to: Virtual Reality (and it's affect on the human mind in terms of distinguishing between reality and fantasy as well as desensitization), efforts to make computers that think like humans and/or to "upload" human consciousness, and the ability for the wealthy to genetically modify their offspring before giving birth.
This is fascinating.
I am very pro-progress. I think all of these technologies are great things. However, I also think it's important to figure out how to deal with the unintended consequences and the ethics of things. And I don't think we're effectively doing so. Or, the people who are studying the effects of these things and who are developing ideas and plans aren't being listened to by the more progressive businesses looking to develop the technology and profit from it quickly.
This informs a lot of what I write.
The idea of progress and it's unintentional effects is one of the core themes that is present across a very large number of things I've written, going all the way back to Anti-Spy and The Saga of Redshot, two "novels" that I wrote in middle school; the first rough drafts I ever completed.
And it is central to Heroism and Other Lies
If there is one central theme to the Heroism and Other Lies series, it is trying to use progress and technology to Build a Better Future. The organization that the main character used to belong to, as well as at least one other, were a part of an initiative with this goal (creatively called the Build a Better Future initiative.)
Every book or episode will continue to delve deeper into potential future technologies and their potential effects on society and the people in it, both positive and negative. In his heroing efforts, Joe will have to work against the effects of some technologies, while having to rely on others. All in all, it should be an interesting look into things.
More on other themes in my work, as well as on Heroism and Other Lies is sure to come in future posts.
P.S.
In it's first 48 hours of publication, my first published RPG adventure (The Machine God's Temple) has sold 10 copies. It's not a ton, but I'm happy with it. It's about as good as I could have expected for a third party adventure published in a system that's secondary in popularity to the bigger systems like Pathfinder or D&D. I hope I continue to get some steady sales with it.
Technology is Advancing Rapidly
From communication to transportation to labor, we are hurtling towards a new future. And this fascinates me. The internet, and it's byproducts, has changed how people interact with almost everything within my life time. I've seen how facebook and other social media has changed how we socialize. Amazon and like websites have changed how we buy things, or how we research what we're going to buy and what we're willing to pay for it. Smartphones, putting us in constant communication with this world of information, have changed how we learn and how we behave around one another. Even cell phones before that didn't become commonplace within the last twenty years.
And it's not just on a personal level.
Those examples are ones you see every day, but it affects business too. As a writer, the idea that I can write an rpg adventure, or a book, or any other written word product, go online, upload it, and have it available for the masses to purchase and/or download is amazing, and it's not something we could do before. It is easier than ever to get ideas and products out there. Independent people can make crafts and sell them through etsy or similar pages. Overall, people are able to connect to do business better than ever before.
And technology is helping business in even more ways. Production, automation, all things that are improving and making it cheaper and easier to supply products and services. Not to mention creating new products and services to sell.
But, what's the cost?
As we hurtle towards the future, a lot of times people work towards progress without looking at the consequences, or working towards solutions for them.
As self-driving cars develop, it's going to replace millions of jobs that people hold based on transportation (from taxis to shipping). Fast food restaurants are looking to replace their cashiers with automated alternatives. Grocery stores already have self-checkouts, and many are developing technologies to make these easier and more automated. All this leads to one of the biggest problems that we're going to be facing in the future: there are going to be way fewer jobs than there are people. For those people, it means living on government subsidies and/or living with a low quality of life. For businesses, it will mean fewer consumers to buy their products.
(As a side note, less related to automization replacing jobs, but more related to how our current job/economic culture is affecting people's interaction as consumers: Why Aren't Millennials Buying Diamonds)
Other things that are being developed that we aren't considering the consequences to include but aren't limited to: Virtual Reality (and it's affect on the human mind in terms of distinguishing between reality and fantasy as well as desensitization), efforts to make computers that think like humans and/or to "upload" human consciousness, and the ability for the wealthy to genetically modify their offspring before giving birth.
This is fascinating.
I am very pro-progress. I think all of these technologies are great things. However, I also think it's important to figure out how to deal with the unintended consequences and the ethics of things. And I don't think we're effectively doing so. Or, the people who are studying the effects of these things and who are developing ideas and plans aren't being listened to by the more progressive businesses looking to develop the technology and profit from it quickly.
This informs a lot of what I write.
The idea of progress and it's unintentional effects is one of the core themes that is present across a very large number of things I've written, going all the way back to Anti-Spy and The Saga of Redshot, two "novels" that I wrote in middle school; the first rough drafts I ever completed.
And it is central to Heroism and Other Lies
If there is one central theme to the Heroism and Other Lies series, it is trying to use progress and technology to Build a Better Future. The organization that the main character used to belong to, as well as at least one other, were a part of an initiative with this goal (creatively called the Build a Better Future initiative.)
Every book or episode will continue to delve deeper into potential future technologies and their potential effects on society and the people in it, both positive and negative. In his heroing efforts, Joe will have to work against the effects of some technologies, while having to rely on others. All in all, it should be an interesting look into things.
More on other themes in my work, as well as on Heroism and Other Lies is sure to come in future posts.
P.S.
In it's first 48 hours of publication, my first published RPG adventure (The Machine God's Temple) has sold 10 copies. It's not a ton, but I'm happy with it. It's about as good as I could have expected for a third party adventure published in a system that's secondary in popularity to the bigger systems like Pathfinder or D&D. I hope I continue to get some steady sales with it.
Wednesday, September 14, 2016
Publication Day: Machine God's Temple
Very soon is today.
http://www.rpgnow.com/product/193385/The-Machine-Gods-Temple
This is an adventure designed for the Cypher System (originally based on an adventure I ran in Numenera) where player characters explore an ancient temple for a powerful Machine God. The temple is filled with tech that was never designed to exist this long, but which is far more advanced than that which the current world is familiar with. There are automatons, a maze of teleporters, travel across the world and back in an instant, and more complications from the unfathomable and malfunctioning technology. Even if the players can get through this, they still have to parlay with the Machine God itself and hope that it will provide them the help they sought here.
This adventure is 25 pages and includes 5 pregenerated characters.
Tuesday, September 13, 2016
The Beginning of the Worlds
I've been meaning to start up this blog for some time now, but have been having trouble with beginnings. So, I apologize if this seems a bit unfocused. Let's begin.
I am Douglas Miller. I'm an independent writer of novels and game master of tabletop roleplaying games. I've been writing as far back as I can remember, and have years worth of work that I'm building upon. I've been game mastering a shorter amount of time, but I've played and run roleplaying games in many different systems and for many different lengths of time, from one shots to short campaigns to longer wider-spanning ones.
It's my hope to use this blog to talk about my projects, but to also share my musings, advice, and thoughts on varying writing, roleplaying, gamemastering, and storytelling topics.
On the writer side of things, my main focus at present is Heroism and Other Lies, a series of short novels that I've been working on. I'll be posting more about this to come, but the basic concept is a superhero/comic book style story set in a cyberpunk type setting, exploring the good and bad of future technology. I have the first two books of this series in draft form, going through varying levels of editing, and a third mostly written. If I can make final decisions on cover work, I hope to have the first two books out before the end of the year. Fingers crossed.
I've got another novel idea that I'm working on developing, but I don't want to say too much about it just yet. I'm hoping to get a good chunk of that written during November, so I will probably talk more about that then.
On the GM/roleplaying game side, I've got a bit more going on. Much of it is Cypher System based, but some of it isn't.
Using the Cypher Creator System, I'm working on putting together two adventures for publication. The first one is called The Machine God's Temple and is based on the first Numenera one shot that I developed and ran...probably almost three years ago. I'm mostly done writing it all out and re-skinning it for Cypher System rather than for Numenera specifically, so I'm hoping to put that out really soon. The next is called The Wonder Vault Heist and, as the name implies, is based on a heist, also in a science-fantasy setting. It's largely in the idea-phase right now, but I'm hoping to put that out in the November/December time frame. In addition to those two adventures, I've got an idea for a surreal sci-fi setting for the Cypher System inspired by (but not based on) Monte Cook Games' new game, Invisible Sun. I haven't decided if I'm going to follow up on the setting idea or not yet. I'd like to, but I'm not sure I'll have time with my other creative pursuits.
I've also been working on developing my own system, which I hope to publish in the future. I've got the basic framework down, but will need to develop a lot more in the way of abilities, creatures, setting, etc, not to mention playtesting to iron out the kinks. It's my intention to start a campaign with my system in the next few months, set in Ninth World (the setting of Numenera). This way I can test the mechanics while still working on the side on the more setting specific details that I'd need for publication.
In the meantime, while all that develops, are there any writing or roleplaying game topics that you'd be interested in me sharing my thoughts on?
I am Douglas Miller. I'm an independent writer of novels and game master of tabletop roleplaying games. I've been writing as far back as I can remember, and have years worth of work that I'm building upon. I've been game mastering a shorter amount of time, but I've played and run roleplaying games in many different systems and for many different lengths of time, from one shots to short campaigns to longer wider-spanning ones.
It's my hope to use this blog to talk about my projects, but to also share my musings, advice, and thoughts on varying writing, roleplaying, gamemastering, and storytelling topics.
On the writer side of things, my main focus at present is Heroism and Other Lies, a series of short novels that I've been working on. I'll be posting more about this to come, but the basic concept is a superhero/comic book style story set in a cyberpunk type setting, exploring the good and bad of future technology. I have the first two books of this series in draft form, going through varying levels of editing, and a third mostly written. If I can make final decisions on cover work, I hope to have the first two books out before the end of the year. Fingers crossed.
I've got another novel idea that I'm working on developing, but I don't want to say too much about it just yet. I'm hoping to get a good chunk of that written during November, so I will probably talk more about that then.
On the GM/roleplaying game side, I've got a bit more going on. Much of it is Cypher System based, but some of it isn't.
Using the Cypher Creator System, I'm working on putting together two adventures for publication. The first one is called The Machine God's Temple and is based on the first Numenera one shot that I developed and ran...probably almost three years ago. I'm mostly done writing it all out and re-skinning it for Cypher System rather than for Numenera specifically, so I'm hoping to put that out really soon. The next is called The Wonder Vault Heist and, as the name implies, is based on a heist, also in a science-fantasy setting. It's largely in the idea-phase right now, but I'm hoping to put that out in the November/December time frame. In addition to those two adventures, I've got an idea for a surreal sci-fi setting for the Cypher System inspired by (but not based on) Monte Cook Games' new game, Invisible Sun. I haven't decided if I'm going to follow up on the setting idea or not yet. I'd like to, but I'm not sure I'll have time with my other creative pursuits.
I've also been working on developing my own system, which I hope to publish in the future. I've got the basic framework down, but will need to develop a lot more in the way of abilities, creatures, setting, etc, not to mention playtesting to iron out the kinks. It's my intention to start a campaign with my system in the next few months, set in Ninth World (the setting of Numenera). This way I can test the mechanics while still working on the side on the more setting specific details that I'd need for publication.
In the meantime, while all that develops, are there any writing or roleplaying game topics that you'd be interested in me sharing my thoughts on?
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