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Grumpy Wizard

Essays on Sword & Sorcery Fiction, Classic Adventure Gaming, and Heavy Metal Music

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Tag: writing

Some Writing Advice is Crap

On July 21, 2022July 21, 2022 By Travis MillerIn musings, storytelling2 Comments

I have a shelf full of books about writing and storytelling. Some of them are written by famous writers. Some are written by people you have never heard and teach the craft of fiction at well regarded university writing programs. They all have something useful in them. They all have varying degrees of bullshit. Here …

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Book Review: Make to Know

On April 21, 2022April 21, 2022 By Travis MillerIn recommended, Review1 Comment

Make to Know is a book about art and creativity. Ostensibly, it is for "creative people," but I think it has something for all of us to consider.

What Do I Have To Do?

On April 27, 2021April 26, 2021 By Travis MillerIn musingsLeave a comment

Feel free to eavesdrop while I pace, mutter and gesticulate.  How do I write good stuff? However you do it. What? What kind of answer is that? I need details! Techniques! Strategy! There’s no formula. You write and you keep writing and eventually, you get good at it. Ray Bradbury never went to college. George …

Continue reading What Do I Have To Do?

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Travis Miller is a writer, storyteller, role-playing gamer.

He lives in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio, with his wife, her collection of plants and animals and their delightful teenager. 

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Blogs I Follow

The Alexandrian

B/X Blackrazor

Hite Studios

Ten Foot Pole

Dweller of the Forbidden City

Delta’s D&D Hotspot

Hack & Slash

Joe Abercrombie’s Blog

From Kuroth’s Quill

Welcome To The Death Trap

Age of Dusk

Thews You Can Use

Witch House

The Pavilion Blog

Whetstone: Amateur Magazine of Sword & Sorcery

The Silver Key

#bedtimestory #swordandsorcery #lankhmar #fantasy #bookstagram #books Stories emerge from the events of a roleplaying game. The game is not itself a story, otherwise it ceases to be a game. Some days you are not going to accomplish as much as you want. We all have challenges, difficulty, and distractions. Even if you only manage a sentence or a paragraph, a quick sketch, a few ideas scribbles in your notebook... that's something. @rpg_ramblings Kickstarter is going well.  I have an essay in it.  Lots of other great essays and new monsters. Game masters get annoyed when their players don't engage with setting info. You are giving them too much knowledge all at once. Don't give long monologues at the table or send out huge texts to read before the campaign starts. Those of us who grew up in the 80's remember the Satanic Panic. It was a damaging phenomenon. The stories about human sacrifice and cults were on TV, in news magazines and books. My thoughts about the #D&D movie trailer. I see posts on Reddit, Twitter and elsewhere about DMs and players who try #oldschoolrenaissance games and get frustrated. Most of the time it's because they are trying to play an #OSR game like it's #dnd5e. There's an approach to the game that is fundamentally different. My wife likes the beach. I don't mind the beach so long as I have a  book.

Podcasts I Like

Tides of History

Hardcore History

RPG Ramblings

Unknown Worlds of the Merril Collection

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