TWO FISTED HOMEOPAPE June/14 - Is this newsletter just a journaling RPG IRL?
Is my head just a series of d100 prompt tables?
♫ I applied for a rescue dog,
But if I get you dog,
You're rescuing me ♫
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2021 -- beyond.
Journaling RPGs.
Okay, I’ve fallen down a rabbit hole, and I don’t ever want to come out. It started with this, and I wrote it for the ‘Perhaps You’d Care To Sample’ section:
“LOST IN THE DEEP - is a solo rpg game/booklet where you write your diary of the final dwarf lost in some mines and unable to get out. But it’s also still a game with a block tower, and 52 playing cards, and a table of events. It looks like such a cool way to lose a week. It’s got me absolutely dying to try and write a solo writing/rpg.”
But between that paragraph a few days ago, and now, I’ve fallen down a deep rabbit hole of solo, and specifically journaling/writing, role playing games.
I’ve long loved solo games. I grew up on Fighting Fantasy books, I used to read the cards out of Trivial Pursuit on my own, making a little column graph out of how many correct answers I could get out of 6, I recently fell in love with the DEEP SPACE D-6 solo board game.
Realistically, I don’t know how I’ve not fallen into this before. Considering I got into D&D over the past few years, but I acknowledge that finding time to sync up with mates and energy to get out can make it difficult, this looks like the perfect blend of a lot of these things, plus it’s just creative writing superfuel.
Okay, to explain, for those who might not know…
A solo RPG game is one where you have a little scenario and a rule set and some prompts and then you craft an adventure on your own. I like the ones where it’s specifically built for you to journal.
It’ll give you a character - like the last dwarf in a dungeon, or a trucker on a long haul ride in 1983, whatever - and then you craft their adventure, sometimes over hours or even months, using prompts found in the resource.
It’s usually like a small zine, or pdf, and you roll a die on different tables, or sometimes even draw from a 52 deck of cards, and then you write out what happens in those situations. The result is this written artefact that sounds amazing. There are also map making ones, and you can also sometimes just play them verbally, with a group even, and make it up on the fly.
But I like the writing ones, because you can really take your time, you get into your character’s head. You make something beautiful.
Naturally, I want more time so I can “play” all of them. But I also want to use them in class, so I’m thinking ahead for educational benefits. The ability to get students writing amazing prose pieces, or finding other ways to structure such stories: evidence boxes, image blended slidedecks, Flipgrid diary videos.
Some of my favourite ones I’ve found include the following scenarios: building the history of a weapon, exploring different planets on your space ship, inheriting a haunted house, living with your retired mech technology.
And, really, the sky is the limit for situations you could concoct, and ways you could explore them. To go through some of them sounds fun, to make my own sounds awesome, to take students through some sounds inspiring, to get students making their own sounds like the future.
All I can think of is taking a small notebook and dedicating it to one of these RPGs and then just building a library, or a class resource.
I need more notebooks.
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A busy enough week.
Sometimes there’s a gap in the schedule. And in those moments, it’s interesting to note how hungry you are to keep writing, even when there’s no deadline or pressure or even need.
EVERFROST #1 has landed in stores, #2 is now prepped for the printer. BLACK BEACON #1 is set for the printer as a solo issue, it’s already been in the HEAVY METAL magazine, and #2 is looking pretty well locked and loaded. The Patreon has all of the month’s script pages scheduled. I was giving the script for SHE Vol. 2 time to breathe while my Editor Supreme, Dan Hill, looked over it. I’ve got [THE SHARP INK PROJECT] out at a new publisher as a pitch so I need to wait and see what they say - will they be the second rejection, or will I get a greenlight? It’s all out of my hands, so there’s nothing I can do.
There wasn’t too much immediate on my plate, and it’s at those times I feel tested. I could take my foot off the pedal. I could read more. If I choose to do something, it’s gotta be out of my own motivation. Which is hard, sometimes. But I’m glad I pushed through because I spent most of this past week writing and rewriting and rewriting a story plan for something new I’ll pitch around soon.
[THE 36 HOUR PROJECT] is a new story idea, one that’s been kicking around in the back of my mind most of this year, so I took this week to get as much of it down on paper as I could so I could analyse it and rearrange it and see if it works. It’s a strange sci fi tale that I want to make much more about the people and the relationships than I do the sci fi. I keep returning my mind to THE LEFTOVERS and SWEET TOOTH and THE MIDNIGHT SKY as my points of reference.
I’ve written the overall plot in vomit form about 5 times this week, and miscellaneous other pages for breaking down characters and world elements, and I think I want to go to a white board next, just so I juggle certain pieces properly. It’s coming together in a very different fashion to [THE SHARP INK PROJECT] which laid itself out in a narrative line fairly easily.
Hopefully I can work this up into shape in time to pitch after [THE SHARP INK PROJECT] whether it gets picked up or knocked back. Time shall tell.
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BIRTHDAY HAUL!
Birthdays are a time of reflection for me - one year older, one year wiser, one year further into writing - but most importantly, what presents did I get and what do they say about me right now? I think what people buy you tells you a lot about what you project into the world, because it represents the things you obviously show focus on, and this birthday was great for this:
AN INDOOR/OUTDOOR TEMPERATURE WEATHER STATION - this little beauty has two parts, one goes in the house, another outside. I put the outside one in the tall greenhouse, and now take great joy in seeing how the temps differ, and what life is like for my seedlings out there. It obviously speaks to me as a greenthumb, which is something I would not have gotten ten years ago.
This present is also the one that speaks to me most becoming an old man.
THE NEW STEPHEN KING NOVEL - I’ve 100% become that dad that gets the latest book from his favourite author and my kids know it. I’m predictable and happy to wait for it to come as a present because I’m not quick enough to need to read it on the day of release.
A D&D COOKBOOK - a nerd, and one who tries in the kitchen. Genuinely excited to try a few things, like the Drow Mushroom Steaks and the Orc Bacon.
DOUGH PROVING BOWLS - I had no idea such a thing existed, and yet now I cannot wait for my next pizza cook up [Every Friday Night, Tell Your Friends] so I can see how these go with the dough.
Yes. Excited. Genuinely excited to try these bowls out [what have I become???].
GOLDEN SOUR ALE - a six pack of this absolutely delicious citrus sour ale. Perfect for having just 1-2 and enjoying a spot in the sun.
Hmm, looking it all over - nerdy stuff, Stephen King, booze - perhaps I haven’t changed all that much.
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EVERFROST Script Pages on my Patreon
For the month of June, to celebrate the release of EVERFROST #1, I’m going to release a page of script a day with annotations so you can see my thoughts behind writing this comic, and compare them to the pages as you read them, and that’ll give me a daily schedule for pretty much the whole month.
You can get in on this for just $1 for the whole month - sign up here and I’ll kick off June 01.
The first week of pages, so up to Page Five, will be free to view, and then the paywall kicks in. We hope some of you come along for the ride and enjoy it, and everything else I post up there. I usually write some process-type stuff, some short fic bursts, some D&D stuff, and the money genuinely helps me keep the lights on in this office.
Pages have been going up for two weeks now, so you can go and get all caught up and be about halfway through the script.
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ASD&D.
Did you read above? Orc Bacon!!!
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PERHAPS YOU'D CARE TO SAMPLE
FOGLINE on Kickstarter - what if a true crime podcast was about to investigate the crime you committed? Absolute cracking story idea, get in on it.
ANY PORT IN STORM on Kickstarter - fellow Aussie writer, Ben Quinlin, has created an 88 page OGN about teleportation being banned in this sci fi city because of some seriously Cronenbergian issues. Really wanna see this one succeed!
Incel Comics - ugh, the concept is a cringe [comics created by the young men who lament being unable to land a partner], but this analysis in comic form is an insight into a really toxic and worrying element of society, and I believe knowing this exists is the first step towards being able to combat it for the next generation.
THE WEIRDY WORDY Newspaper - this is a newsletter that looks like a newspaper, and the articles of this location, Oddland, are absolutely ludicrous, and absolute fun. Definitely worth your time if you want a little creative intrusion into your day.
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GRIST FOR THE MILL
LOKI - I liked the first episode. It’s becoming clear that each of these Disney+ shows has a completely unique tone, which I dig. I also get the feeling each show was given the task of dealing with one thing coming out of the ENDGAME - let’s explore: Scarlet Witch’s grief, the Falcon and Bucky’s grief mingled with their new sense of responsibility, Loki’s disappearance...and grief.
Giving each of these characters time to delve into their reactions to the huge events of the last cycle of films through 6 or so hours of tv is actually pretty damn cool. Rather than getting a scene in a tentpole blockbuster, they get a whole season with a genre and tone that fits them and they work through the issue. Each show feels like it’s much less about the “plot” and more about the “character arc” and I’m completely down for that. Loki certainly seems to be on that path, too, after the first ep. I’m keen to dig in on more.
DAREDEVIL #30 - just a reminder that this run is very good, and has kept the quality up for 30 issues, if not perhaps improving it over time. Still a good time to be a Daredevil fan.
THE NICE HOUSE ON THE LAKE #1 - this is an interesting debut issue to analyse. The mood is exceptional, the finale was really bloody good, and the art is truly spectacular. I find it of interest because it feels like it packs a punch, and doesn’t try to fit in too much story. This, as you know, is a problem I have, so I want to see how it’s done in a way I do not know how to do. I can see myself coming back to this, especially as I’ve already been pushing myself to plan out [THE SHARP INK PROJECT]s first issue as something like this in space where I don’t slam through the narrative, but just give a solid intro to the characters and a great jumping point into everything else at the final page.
Be one of the good guys, because there's way too many of the bad.
POST CREDITS SEQUENCE
I nearly got to buy a tractor tyre online for $20.
I want it for fitness purposes. I want to see if I could incorporate it in the Spring/Summer months of getting outside and staying fit, probably mostly on the weekends.
I need to continue to keep my eye out for one. Or, I need to go loiter at farming bars and see who’s willing to hook me up.