The Wanderer rocked violently, a fragile speck in the vast, storm-beaten waters. Spicer, the captain, stood barefoot at the helm, his wiry frame braced against the ship’s shuddering frame as waves slapped mercilessly at the hull. A deep-set grin carved into his face despite the danger, he looked more at ease here, at the edge of…
Category: Writing
Languaging and the Naming of Things
One of the important things for the World is familiarity. I remember reading a great (and hefty) first RPG by a Scottish crowd and one of the things I remember most is not their evocative prose or the art which captured the sort of neo-victorian fantasy world, but that they took the time to use…
Talking to Dragons
Dragons of all shapes and sizes occupy this world but due to the spread of wizardry, they are most often found on remote islands or on lonely peaks. A solitary race of oviparous hermaphroditic flying lizards capable of parthenogenesis and, when mature enough, breathing fire. It takes a dragon over a hundred years to go…
The 23rd Letter 3rd Edition
So, we have been working a lot on this. The rules are probably 90% complete but we keep finding little places where we think a rule or guideline is needed. Like today it was clarifiying how Hideouts function mechanically in relation to Heat from the authorities. We are starting to look at design and layout…
Return to Jorune
I am in the middle of a writing project (Twilight Invasion, if you must know) but this just means I have extra procrastination for other writing projects. I’ve written about Jorune before. There’s some activity on the Jorune Facebook page for a resurgence into the BRP version but honestly I don’t think I can face…
T2000: CZTERY – Four Mystery Scenarios for Twilight:2000
Now available through the Free League Workshop, four mysteries for Twilight: 2000 referees who want something mysterious in their game. Ready to slot into an existing campaign or you can use the places (and maps) provided. This does the work of expanding the environment of post-apocalyptic Europe from military missions and bleak survival to mystery,…
Draculas Night Oot
Attached below is a script I wrote a few years ago. It was for a BBC comedy shorts competition they were running out of Writers Room. The competition was called “Fright Shorts” and it was meant to be comedy horror. My idea was Dracula arrives in the North East of England but rather than going…
Frontier….2020: progress, updates and the future
I’ve begun working on Frontier again, firstly through a collaboration with a young Kenyan artist to produce some concept pieces for the book. It’s really helping to crystallise some of the thoughts but I definitely need to lock down the dates for things a lot more to keep them in my head. Is it 500…
Current work…writing scripts
For the last few months, on top of travelling and attending a bazillion courses, I’ve been writing. I’ve written five short scripts in the world of THE 23RD LETTER. I’ve written two more in the world of STATUS: REFUGEE. I’ve written one horror script. And I’m looking at writing some scripts based on FRONTIER and…
NINoWriMO – Northern Ireland Novel Writing Month
I’m taking part in a fiction-writing collective called “WriteWeekly” but this has some relevance as well: Blick Shared Studios, Malone Rd, Belfast 7-9pm, Thursday 4th, 11th, 18th, 25th November 2010 Suggested donation: £1 Every November (Novel-writing Month), Studio NI hosts a series of get-togethers to help participants write a 50,000 word novel in a 30-day…
Frontier: Foreword, History of Mbaye Schools, page 23
[I am taking part in a weekly writing task with some friends. The first seed for this assignment was the opening line from Dune by Frank Herbert: “A beginning is the time for taking the most delicate care that the balances are correct.”] The pump would need repaired. During the wet seasons the housings had…
The WhiteChapel Project
The Project in Whitechapel was formed in September 1941 as a subsection of the Special Operations Executive (SOE). The SOE was directed to encourage espionage behind enemy lines and build the core of a resistance cell in the event of a land invasion. As a result, they were entirely dependent upon the security of radio…
MURDERDROME: iPhone comic reader BANNED!
Wednesday afternoon I popped round to Paul’s house for a quick chat (and a couple of headache tablets) and I saw a demo of MurderDrome, the first iteration of a new comic application for the iPhone. There have been a few comic reader apps for the iPhone/iPod touch out there, most notably ClickWheel Comic Reader…
WotW: Earth – 21 Days of Invasion
The Narrator of the book was close to one of the arrival sites but this was not necessarily the most active site. He also spent more than two weeks (or a three week invasion) hiding in a collapsed house. He was not the first to discover the dead Martians at the end of the invasion…
Subversion for Writers.
TUAW has a link about Subversion for Writers. Subversion is a popular open source version control system. “It allows you to work collaboratively with folks on the same files (in most cases code) without fear of overwriting the work of others. Subversion tracks all the changes made to those files, and who did them, and…
What’s He Building In There?
Title taken from the Tom Waits track. This blossomed into a scenario where the PCs were sent to investigate a murder. A newcomer to a quiet US suburb was found beaten to death in his home. The house is trashed. And no-one else in the suburb heard or saw anything… Anyone else have done something…
Spiralling Down
I don’t blame anyone really. Sometimes I get angry or depressed and curse my friends, my family, the company, the system, the church and anyone else I can name. But it’s a short madness and like all things, it will pass. I haven’t slept very well in the last few days. Bouts of lethargy and…
So you want to be a writer
I got this from the blog of reknowned comic artist PJ Holden So you want to be a writer? Or do you want to make a living as a writer?