Distractions, 4/30/26

Posted on by Henry

I’ve once more been waylaid by other things this week.

I’m excited to see my friend’s book coming together (she’s working on book three of three). I’ve enjoyed reading another friend’s current work in progress (they’re retelling Lady & the Tramp as lesbian werewolf romance, and it’s great). My own writing has suffered the usual fate of being sidelined by other life duties… and when I do have time to sit down for it, my mind runs off to chase the chores and tasks still undone.

That said, I am changing my current approach to a story I’ve had bouncing around my head for a year. I’m looking forward to ignoring the plot for a little bit, and instead simply focusing on world building and hashing out who some of the relevant powers-that-be are (and what they want). I realized that I’d been chasing story ideas that kept coming to me, without building the foundation that I usually need (and delight in making). I hope that switching approaches will gin up some excitement again and let me focus on the story and its world instead of being distracted by chores.

Well, I should say ‘instead of being distracted by chores when I have time to sit down and write.’ I do still need to do all the other work.

Fortunately, doodling out a few ideas regarding the schemes and motivations of NPCs for my Worlds Without Number game reminded me of just how much I enjoy that side of things. With any luck that enthusiasm will carry over to similar work for a different story. Honestly, I’ll probably use a few of Crawford’s generation tools for my creative process. I’m a little nervous, but I’m looking forward to it.

Collaborative worldbuilding #3, theme tags

Posted on by Henry

I mentioned ‘theme tags’ in Collab World Building pt2, but didn’t explain at all. They’re a simple concept tied to a character, place, or idea: e.g. noble or nobility, priesthood, gods, thieves, crime, trade, The Thousand Year Empress, ancient relics, treasure, corruption, etc. Each tag reminds me to connect or reference thematically linked elements. I find that tracking these tags works well in conjunction with the style of sandbox game prep that Kevin Crawford proselytizes in his RPGs.

Through the collaborative world building and character creation process of my Worlds Without Number game, I’ve collected a set of tags for each PC. I’ve also kept adding tags to the PCs any time they specify interest in a particular topic, or as their players articulate the PCs’ goals. This helps me in my setup for following sessions.

For example, one player has stated that their PC is interested in ‘humbling jerks.’ Now ‘jerks’ is a tag in my repertoire. But what does that mean? How do I use it? And how does it work with Kevin Crawford’s sandbox game tools?

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Squirrel Moon, 4/16/26

Posted on by Henry
From over a month ago

Today is a day for being behind.

Rotavirus, congested sinuses with modestly colorful snot, yet more interrupted sleep, being on sick-baby duty: not a few of my favorite things, but certainly a list of things I’m experiencing this week. The pictures on my phone are ever-more full of baby, and less and less full of flowers. Perhaps spring will change that balance a little bit. Maybe I’ll have pictures with both baby AND flowers.

There are no extended analyses for you today. Instead, I’ve got a few random thoughts.

First, I’ve crammed in a few episodes of Harley Quinn and I’m loving the show. It’s been a good thing to watch while slightly addled. I admire the ways in which the writers are layering on additional depth as the episodes progress and I’m excited to see where (and how far) they take it.

Second, I can’t help but continue to see the parallels (and diachronic threads) between the genres of classical questing fiction, portal fantasy, middle grade adventure, isekai, and now LitRPG. They’re not all the same thing, but… they kind of are all the same thing. At the very least, they’re playing Mad Libs with each other.

Third, I’m tired. I’m going to call it here and go rest my eyes or something until nap time is over.

Kubo and the Two Strings (2016)

Posted on by Henry

I’ve finally seen Kubo and the Two Strings, and I loved it.

Yes, the story’s themes are well-trodden classics. Yes, I could see the twists before they arrived. No, I didn’t care—Kubo and the Two Strings knew what it was setting out to do, and it delivered that with skillful and focused storytelling. Plus, it’s gorgeous, and its presentation is stylish as hell.

This is not a perfect movie. I feel a little weird about it. But it is an excellent reference for how to write a good all-ages adventure story with heart. That feels especially true when I compare it to the writing of K-Pop Demon Hunters.

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Project Hail Mary (book and movie)

Posted on by Henry

I have read the book. I have seen the movie. I love both. Despite this, I find the movie a more appealing piece of art.

Why?

It comes down to emotion.

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Eat your candy! Finding the fun in your games

Posted on by Henry

Eat your candy. ASAP.

I don’t mean your literal candy.

Heck, I don’t eat much candy. When I do eat candy, I eat it in small amounts. Even ice cream, which I love, I eat sparingly.

But when it comes to RPGs I think everyone should eat their (figurative) candy right away, even if that means sharing your character’s “secrets.”

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The Calculating Stars, by Mary Robinette Kowal

Posted on by Henry

“To put this into perspective… The Sirius has 5,600,000 parts and close to a million systems, subsystems, and assemblies. Even if everything was 99.9 percent reliable, that would still be 5,600 defects. It wasn’t a question of if something would go wrong on the way to the moon, it was a question of when and what.”

Page 329, The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal

This book has been on my to-read list for years. I somehow never picked it up. That paragraph above is the perfect encapsulation of why I love this book so much. I will try to explain. But honestly I was hooked upon reading the first page.

I found a used copy at Boskone. I knew that the title and author were familiar, that I’d been meaning to read the book, but then I thumbed the thing open and… here, try this for your first two paragraphs:

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Collaborative worldbuilding cont., deferred exercises 3/12/26

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I’ve deferred my Love/Hate connection experiment for at least one more session. I could do this differently; I could use that experiment now to improve my players’ understanding of their own PCs, as well as bettering my understanding of their relationships with the rest of the setting. I deferred that experiment yesterday because I wanted to get a session of play under our belts, whet my players’ appetites, that sort of thing. That went well. I think it was a good choice.

Now I’m holding off because I suspect…

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A more secure basis, 3/5/26

Posted on by Henry

Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government, and feudal lords tossing coins to the poor when they feel like it is no basis for an economy.

If you’ve been listening to economic news…

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Collaborative worldbuilding for a new game, 2/26/26

Posted on by Henry

I started a new game this week.

Our prior GM is a freshly minted parent. He’s currently in the land of absolute sleep deprivation. Having been there not too long ago myself, I’ve offered to take over with a new game (at least for some of the time).

I’m taking the opportunity to experiment with new ways to build connections between PCs and the setting. I’ve written about at least one of those ideas before. I’m taking things a step further by starting the group even earlier in the world creation process.

We began with a collaborative setting creation session. We’ll be playing Worlds Without Number from Kevin Crawford, and I want to use WWN’s general setting concept… but I want the players to have a hand in how our particular slice of the world feels. I want them to influence what direction our Latter Earth takes.

Alongside that…

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