A Brief Interlude

This happens every time we go to a good games convention; we sit with friends, some old, some new and chunter on about the things we admire, the things that inspire us and just the general stuff that life throws our way. And after we've gone back to the hotel, or are sitting at dinner, or hanging around in freezing cold train stations, we start to plot.

This happened last year at Dragonmeet, when after listening to people like Gregor Hutton chatting away about independent games, I decided I should think about writing again. We hadn't done much roleplaying for a couple of years for a variety of reasons; I missed it and I missed writing for it.

Initially I had intended to write the creepy cyberpunk game I'd planned to run many years ago when I'd been working in the South West. Somehow, it metamorphosed into a game about fallen stars seeking a way home (with help from the chaps at Collective Endeavour, who pointed me in the right direction).

Then we went to Conpulsion, and the whole cycle started again. Intrigued by by the game writing challenge set at the convention, we frothed away on the train home about the sorts of games we might have written if we hadn't had a train to catch. That lead to a game based on a short story I'd written, about what happens in houses when the humans aren't about.

Writing on both games stalled as life, work and a lack of playtesters got in the way, but once again Dragonmeet arrived with yet more inspiration and creative outpourings (I'm holding all of you on the independent games panel responsible, by the way). So now I'm working on a game with the better looking half of our marriage to give away free and then it will be back to the other two to get them finished and something done with them. This blog is to discuss the decisions we've made and why we've made them.

Our passion for our games, our desire to tell stories and more importantly, to share them, is what brings us back to them again and again. Long may interesting and inspiring conventions (and panels) continue!