How Ravenloft helped me get into writing (true story)

[Willowhugger]

Hey guys,

I wanted to share a story that occurred to me might be worth sharing. I've always wanted to be an RPG writer and do game fiction like any serious gamer does. The biggest problem was developing the talent for such, which you can imagine is hardly something that pops in over night.

The Books of S series were where I got my first real constructive cristicism regarding my writing. John W. Magnum was particularly brutal but I thank him for that as it got me to seriously work on correcting a lot of my flaws. Given John eventually DID go onto become one of the best RPG authors around (and wrote one of my favorite games in Conspiracy X) I was quite grateful for this.

Afterwards, I became briefly involved in the company Seraphim Guard that you may have seen advertised in KOTDT magazine. Sadly, my experiences there failed to produce much of note (an ebook or two). Financial things, but it gave me a good deal of experience that I'm grateful for.

My experience left me extremely bummed out though at the start when I got involved in a fun Ravenloft campaign with my friend Jesse whom recommended that I talk to some of SG's old associates. They were interested in my idea of a fantasy novel humor set (coming out later this year) based on some D&D ideas I had and also an anime, cyberpunk, adventure series that I wanted other people to write like the shared universes of Forgotten Realms and other genre worlds.

And for that I'm very grateful for it. Ravenloft lead me to achieve a lifelong dream. I don't expect it to be a runaway success but I hope to see what people think of what I have made. I've put a great deal of my heart and soul into the work.

For those interested in the work there's the signature and here's the sourcebooks...

Machine Goddess sourcebook: http://tinyurl.com/gevbc
Undying Machine sourcebook: http://tinyurl.com/py29f

Anyone else have some inspirational Ravenloft stories?

[Joël of the FoS]

Quite cool! Congratulation!

Joël

[alhoon]

1st April Joke or true? I hope the later.

[Willowhugger]

Quite true.



I am indeed that Charles Phipps and I hope people take time to take a look at my stuff if they happen to like Science Fiction of that trope (drop me a line if you do).

I owe a lot to RL.

[HuManBing]

I don't have anything quite as dramatic to write, but I can say I used to hate school writing assignments with a passion, all the way until I was in my early teens.

Several important things happened then to make me a writer, of which AD&D (and specifically 2nd edition Ravenloft) was one. I marvelled at the interesting characters and the way the writers were able to twist and snarl the language to achieve an emotion or feel.

My parents overcame their reservations about D&D (as parents in the 1980s witch hunt atmosphere might remember) when it became clear my school grades were improving and I was writing with flair and passion. Today my most recent job was as a journalist, where I won in-house and regional competitions for my work. If only they knew where I got my inspiration from...