http://capturingfantasy.com Creative Writing Blog and Role Playing Blog Tips for Collaborative Storytelling Adventures in a Play by Post New World of Darkness Setting Fri, 21 Nov 2008 16:57:34 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Every character has a weakness. Even the most powerful antagonist and the seemingly invincible protagonist have their Achilles' Heel. Weaknesses help define your character and make him interesting as much as his strengths. Who wants to read about the perfect person? It's no fun when the character can do everything and ... http://capturingfantasy.com/character-weakness How do you keep a reader in suspense? I could be mean and leave this post at that question just to illustrate my point, but that wouldn't make for interesting reading, now would it? Suspense is all about building anticipation. That anticipation keeps your readers turning pages or stuck on the page, ... http://capturingfantasy.com/how-to-build-anticipation-and-create-suspense In the genre of horror, there are many common werewolf and vampire myths. We've all heard a few of them, like myths that claim silver bullets kill a werewolf and garlic repels vampires. When it comes to Escaping Reality and the World of Darkness, though, some of these myths apply and ... http://capturingfantasy.com/common-werewolf-and-vampire-myths-dispelled I've finally gotten around to watching Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. It wasn't the best of the four Indy movies, but it was fun. I had the plot and several twists figured out five minutes into the movie. As I watched the movie, my thoughts progressed to ... http://capturingfantasy.com/where-do-storytellers-get-their-ideas All characters who become supernaturals go through a transitional period when they start to become what they're destined to be. For the Forsaken, this transitional period is usually a long process, often starting months before the actual change happens. The closer the time comes to the actual change and shift to ... http://capturingfantasy.com/tips-on-writing-your-werewolfs-first-change Write what you know is one of my mantras. I tell this to new writers and gamers all the time. First-hand experience of an event or a particular local makes your fiction writing work come alive with detail. But what if you have a character so unlike you that you've never ... http://capturingfantasy.com/writing-from-inexperience Oh the joy of a great scene! The excitement is fresh, the players are raring to go, the characters are set for action. Everyone is ready to explore the possibilities the scene has to offer. Game action begins rolling along and then suddenly… …one of the players disappears. Alright, no problem. You ... http://capturingfantasy.com/what-to-do-with-missing-players Dice rolling in role-playing games provides a means to determine the outcome of actions made by characters. In tabletop role-playing games, dice play a large part in generating actions and reactions. In Live Action Role-Playing (LARP) games, the preferred method is rock/paper/scissors. Online games are a little different. For the most part, ... http://capturingfantasy.com/dice-rolls I've participated in role-playing games with many people in my life. The most memorable players were the ones who took risks, and I enjoyed playing with those risk-takers a great deal. Risk-takers aren't people who make stupid go-for-broke types of risks. The number one rule in role-playing is that stupid gets ... http://capturingfantasy.com/taking-risks-with-your-character How many of you remember the television series Happy Days? Happy Days played for a long time – 10 years, in fact. It was a household staple of many people my age. Did you know that Happy Days coined the term "jumps the shark"? At some point in long-term series, the writers ... http://capturingfantasy.com/jump-the-shark