Coggleton

Oh wow grad school really got the better of me.

What I read lately: Spies of No Country: Back in 1948 when the Brits pulled out of Palestine and things started to go south real fast, the Jewish intelligence community decided to employ as its agents those who grew up in the Arab world (such as Damascus). A fascinating look at spycraft with none…[Read more]

@taylorclogston

What I Read: Still plodding through “The Christian in Complete Armor”, a monolith of a book on Eph. 6:10-20 from the 1600s (and still written in that style).

What I Wrote: More outlining for Zalal’s fall- while his present-day motive is “amass power”, I’m still wanting to show what led to that. To that end I’m thinking his fall…[Read more]

@taylorclogston

So far work’s been keeping me busy so I’ve only read up to page 14. Thoughts:

– What’s Circe doing in the prologue reminiscing kindly on Artorius’ plight? I thought she hated his guts at this point.

– Even though the sun isn’t blinding to look at, it seems like it would be a nice touch for Artorius to be squinting as an…[Read more]

@taylorclogston Thanks for the encouragement! And yeah, the game itself was good- it could’ve been much better, though, but it was good enough as is. I really hope they add some DLC to flesh things out a bit. If there’s one take-away from the game though, it’s making sure motives stay consistent.

@evelyn (I’ll answer you in this thread to…[Read more]

@taylorclogston Yeah, should be able to. Is the old link the right one?

@taylorclogston

Woops, so I completely misunderstood which week this was for!

What I’ve Played: So Kingdom Hearts 3 came out, and as the finale for the arc of the story thus far I was heavily anticipating it. It also serves as an object lesson in writing, if you’ve followed the series- is anyone else here a fan of KH? I don’t want to talk about…[Read more]

So I haven’t read much- but I have played Kingdom Hearts 3, and man what a doozy was that. Is anyone else here a fan of the series?

@taylorclogston Zalal’s greater-scope view is honestly something I’ve been trying to mull over myself. Here was my thought process behind him, maybe it’ll help you see where I want to end up:

1. Write a genuinely evil villain to show that a) any excuses he might try and provide does not make evil any less evil, b) show that people with no…[Read more]

@writercatherine

Something else that could be used to find the “good” traits for a villain is to ask why they do something. For example, consider the following reasons the bad guy could shoot someone who’s running away:
– Personal entertainment? This means mercilessness is rooted in cruelty.
– To prevent the man from suffering further? This…[Read more]

@j-a-penrose @taylorclogston @evelyn @steward-of-the-pen Actually, I was wondering if you guys could help out with my antagonist’s motive.

The idea I had was that Zalal, back when he was a good guy and an apprentice paladin, wanted “To be appreciated/respected for my talent”. However, because he didn’t learn that “Respect worth having is based…[Read more]

This is something I’ve been thinking about with Zalal. Something I’ve wanted to do with my series is have a villain who is completely morally bankrupt, because that’s how all those who reject God eventually end up; and since Zalal’s been around for a few milennia, seems like the perfect demonstration. Yet I’ve also wanted to show:

a) He didn’t…[Read more]

@taylorclogston We’re using a custom setting- mechanically it’s regular FATE with Venture City power rules. The setting is post-post-apocalyptic superheroes, and after session zero it suddenly became superhero monster hunters (as in the games, not werewolves).

@taylorclogston So it turns out I haven’t accomplished much at all last week since I fell behind at work. Though I’ve started a FATE roleplaying game with some church friends- hopefully that will give some storytelling experience.

@taylorclogston

I’ve started to read The Brothers Karamazov- barely scratched the surface, but they say it’s better than Crime and Punishment (and that was really good). Also going through K.M. Weiland’s Character Arcs book, which is really helpful.

I’m trying to figure out the main focusing question behind the series, and i’m trying to juggle…[Read more]

@j-a-penrose
What are three things you know about characters?
1. Characters drive the plot- actions don’t just happen in a vacuum.
2. Characters should be individual persons with tangible wants and beliefs- not just philosophical ideas (unless you’re Dostoevsky, of course).
3. Characters can make or break a work of fiction.
What are three things…[Read more]

@taylorclogston

Ah, I should’ve mentioned- yes he is depowered, but he now works for the devil. So he’s gone from being a Paladin to a Blackguard.

As far as his methodology, my thoughts would be that 3000+ years of working for the devil would be quite the negative character arc. While he started out somewhat idealistic, he gradually declines…[Read more]

@taylorclogston

Thank you for the input! I’m still thinking about the bottom three points (Since they’re kinda contingent on the first point after all), but here’s the general idea I have:

Zalal’s Motive: To finally be recognized as the hero/worthy figure he (thinks he) is. This motive being stymied is what caused him to apostatize and change…[Read more]

@j-a-penrose

The guilds have certainly been helpful! As it happens, I’ve been involved in a forum-based roleplaying group before, and here’s some thoughts from that I have.

– It seems like there’s no subforum/thread dedicated for General Use/General Conversation, so something like that would be useful.

– While I think the maintained activity is…[Read more]

I wish I could- unfortunately, time and finances aren’t favorable right now. Sounds fantastic, though!