Another degree of separation
Filed under Writing Journal on June 26, 2006
Keywords: Dungeon Crawl Classics, Goodman Games, Shattered Amulet
Harley Stroh has been named line editor for Goodman Games’s DCC adventures. Yet another example of what hard work and persistance will get ya. I’m so happy for you, Grim.
I took a break from writing the novel to revisit the world behind the story. Chronicles of Arunad, at its very essence, is the novelization of a roleplaying campaign. The pitfalls of that path continue to reveal themselves as I mature in my craft. I’ve mentioned before my attempt to distance the world from its D&D roots, to hone and polish that which makes Arunad original and distinct.
Sometimes that process involves reconstructive surgery.
I rewrote the foundational history of Arunad last week. Oh, there are still familiar names and events, but the landscape has been radically altered. Gone is the pantheon, replaced by one true god and idolatrous religions practiced by a rebellious creation. Gone are elves and dwarves, replaced by a single race divided because of a divine curse that resulted from their disobedience.
I won’t deny this new history is allegorical. The emerging “Christian” speculative market has been on my mind recently, as have several recent articles I’ve read from editors and agents about the hunt for “fresh and unique” fantasy. There’s more to the revision than that, however. This feels like me. I think I’ve finally made the world my own. Now I just have to infuse the story with my uniqueness in the same manner.
Related Posts
- Logan Shadowhand: a retrospective (part two)
- The purpose of a prologue
- Shattered Amulet, page 23
- Sleeping my way to the top
- The ties that bind
June 27th, 2006 at 1:40 am
Congrats to Mr Stroh. That’s pretty cool.
And the new direction sounds good, Kam. I look forward to one day reading it.
June 27th, 2006 at 7:39 am
Thanks for shout out Kam and Jace.
Kam, I hope all is well. I look forward to seeing you at GenCon, though I imagine it will be hard to leave your newborn.
Have you looked into the “Christian” RPGs at all? RPGnow has at least one that seems to be well written.
//H
June 27th, 2006 at 7:22 pm
Things are very busy. I so know how you feel about working 2 “night jobs”.
I’ve heard about an RPG that is set during Old Testament times, but I’ve avoided faith-based rpgs. I’m uncomfortable with the idea of someone taking artistic license with the Scriptures to make a game. It’s the same reason why I don’t watch movies like The Last Temptation of Christ or The Passion of Christ.