Lyryk is one of those fun characters I’m not sure what to do with. She started life as a backup character for our campaign, so I began writing her backstory to get to know her. Most of these stories started as writing prompts I was able to use to flesh out the character. That day’s … Continue reading Signs Of False Spring
At the beginning of the year, I started a spreadsheet to track my word count. Seven months into the year, I’ve noticed that my word count is slowing down for the summer. While I managed to write almost 4500 words for this blog in June, I realized that I hadn’t written a new story since … Continue reading Writing Season
(C) 2020, JJ Shaun This past weekend, I held Session Zero for a group of youngsters wanting to play Dungeons & Dragons. The age range of most of my players is 11 to 15. Needless to say, it was a little like herding cats. Session Zero is where everyone creates their characters and gets to … Continue reading Session Zero
(C) 2020, JJ Shaun For the past six months, the “tweens” of the family have been clambering for me to play Dungeons & Dragons with them. For various reasons, the timing hasn’t worked—until now. This coming weekend, I will introduce six novices to the world of the Forgotten Realms. I decided to use a pre-generated … Continue reading Introducing D&D to a New Generation
(C) 2022, JJ ShaunA set of Dungeons & Dragons dice. If you’ve read this blog, you know that I don’t just whine about losing my home to wildfire. I also write fantasy fiction. One of my launch pads for storytelling has always been Dungeons & Dragons. From the moment that the half-elf, Meegan Redoak, rolled … Continue reading Confessions of A Role-Player
“There is no winning or losing, but rather the value is in the experience of imagining yourself as a character in whatever genre you're involved in, whether it's a fantasy game, the Wild West, secret agents or whatever else. You get to sort of vicariously experience those things.”~Gary Gygax American game designer Gary Gygax was … Continue reading Random Quote for July 27, 2020
It’s been a wild couple of weeks. With all that’s happening in the “real world,” I’ve had a difficult time concentrating on the characters tiptoeing through my imagination. But as things calmed down to a dull roar last week, I watched a scene unfold with the twins as they discovered a hidden cavern. In this … Continue reading Using Life to Create Fiction
(C) 2020, JJ ShaunThe Happy Harpy I’ve spent the past week or so looking for ways to introduce the player characters (PCs) to the homebrew Dungeons & Dragons campaign I’m creating. I have a place to start them out—the Happy Harpy Inn—and a destination if they play it out to reach the Great Evil. As … Continue reading Building Adara
(C) 2000, JJ ShaunThe Adaran continent. I spent this week combing the Internet looking for information on how to build a better fantasy world. I created an account with the Dungeon Master’s Guild and went trolling for information. The DM’s Guild is a site on which a bunch of DM-created guides and play modules are … Continue reading Building Adara
(C) 2020 JJ ShaunThe gate to the Happy Harpy I’ve spent the last week creating characters to fill my fantasy outpost, the Happy Harpy. Making up the characters has been an exciting exercise. I have a good idea of how a small group can interact over time. (I spent four years on two different Navy … Continue reading Staffing a Fantasy Outpost
A piece of my scattered mind.
Tavern Tales
Poetry BLOG By Edge of Humanity Magazine
New Writing Engaging with the Sacred
50,000 Monkeys at 50,000 Typewriters Can't Be Wrong
J.J. Shaun 