my first gaming credit

[swan_tower]

It's no secret that I'm a gamer. RPGS, both tabletop and LARP, are one of my main hobbies; they're also what I studied in graduate school. I've written academic papers on the subject, and grew a novel series out of one of the games I've run. From time to time I come up with system hacks for running games in particular settings; when I was playing Changeling, I wrote an entire splatbook's worth of material for Mesoamerican fae.

Some of you may recall that a while ago, I started messing around with an alternate history for the game Legend of the Five Rings. I stopped posting about that because shortly after I began, the guys at AEG announced that they would be taking submissions for Imperial Histories 2 -- that is, proposals for chapters on various eras of Rokugan's past.

Including alternate histories.

Last night, I got an e-mail telling me that my proposal for "The Togashi Dynasty" has been accepted, and will be included in the volume.

This pleases me greatly not only because, hey, sale, but because I love the chance to broaden my horizons and publish something in a new field. And L5R is a great game, with a rich setting and a devoted player base -- as evidenced by the dozens of submissions they got for IH2. I think writing this chapter is going to be a lot of fun, and I look forward to seeing what's in the rest of the book.

Comments

[alecaustin.livejournal.com]

I think I said this last night, but congratulations! That's awesome.

[beccastareyes]

Congrats! That's so cool!

[aliettedb.livejournal.com]

Oh, that's rather neat--congrats!

[ckd]

That's way cool! Sale, with extra bonus neatness (or neat, with extra bonus money; either way you win).

[charlesatan.livejournal.com]

Woot! Congrats! Exploding dice!

[maratai.livejournal.com]

Congrats!

[kurayami-hime.livejournal.com]

おめでとうございます～

[aliseadae]

Awesome! Congratulations.

[moonandserpent.livejournal.com]

Grats!

[dormouse-in-tea.livejournal.com]

Um, congratulations, seriously, that is great, but...you had me at an entire splatbook's worth of material for Mesoamerican fae..

Does this still exist somewhere? OMG. That would be the most interesting reading ever. O_O

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Well, it depends on what exactly you're after. Mechanics you can use in a Changeling LARP? Sure, I've got the doc. Mesoamerican fae-type stuff? I've reworked the concepts into one short story (http://www.swantower.com/stories/other/amof.html), and intend to write more.

[gollumgollum.livejournal.com]

Congratulations! I'm so totally gonna tell everybody i knew you when you were writing Mesoamerican Changeling splatbooks.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

And you've seen me painted up like a jaguar woman, too! ;-)

[misslynx.livejournal.com]

That's really fascinating - I'm a huge Changeling fan as well. I wouldn't have guessed that the Onyx Court series originated that way, but now that I know that, it kind of makes sense. I'd never heard of Legend of the Five Rings before, but it sounds interesting.

Have you encountered the game Deliria: Faerie Tales for a New Millennium? That's another one I really love, though its status and future have seemed a little uncertain for some while, since the company that originally produced it, Laughing Pan Productions, fell apart. But its developer, satyrblade (who had previously written for White Wolf, notably on Mage and Changeling), seems committed to continuing it in some form, even if it's a bit of an uphill battle. Anyway, it's an absolutely fascinating setting, and I've run three games in it thus far. I've been toying with trying to turn the stories I came up with for them into novels, at the urging of some of my players, but I'm already in the midst of trying to write an unrelated novel right now, so I need to wait until I finish that first.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

The major Changeling-specific element that got excised was that the Onyx Hall was a freehold, and that figured into the whole Suspiria background. (You can read the full details here (http://www.swantower.com/novels/onyx/mnc/game-comparison.html).) The later books use specific game events much less, although some of the themes (like sovereignty) carry over.

I own the first two Deliria books, but have never played the game. Some of my friends helped write them, though!

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Yay! That's excellent news.

[ninja-turbo.livejournal.com]

Awesome-sauce! I may have to pick that book up -- it's been a while since I did anything with L5R.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Heh. Well, Imperial Histories 2 isn't exactly the book to start with -- but 4th ed is pretty solid, and I'm loving the setting and the way the mechanics support it.