The Beginning

The Book of Worlds is an old project. In fact, it didn’t get its official name until about a couple of years ago. Before that it went by the somewhat mysterious moniker the Fantasy Project. Now you might wonder what I am going on about. You see, I am a roleplayer. An honest to God geek, and I have been since back in the day. Although I am not as old as some, nor did I start as early as many, I have been in the game half my life now.

My first encounter with the glorious world of RPG's was in 9th grade, back in the early nineties.

This kid had moved from Civilization to my neck of the woods, and we found we had some common interests. If my memory serves me, our first contact was about a girl. He had fallen for a friend of mine, and I got involved in the business as a sort of intermediary/councillor. My first encounter with the game came shortly after I visited him the first time. I commented on a poster he had on his door. I still remember the one. It was one of Larry Elmore's dragon scenes. I asked him about it, and he replied, "Nah, just something from a game I play." To make a long story short, that's how it began. He GM'ed for me and a few friends until he moved back to the city a year or so later. Left without a GM, I took the mantle. Since then I have never looked back.

Lesson #1
The first thing I learned after taking over the screen was: Do not waste time planning, the bastards will just do the opposite of what you intend them to do. I had spent three days writing this adventure - pen and paper only -- this was before I owned a computer. It took about thirty seven minutes into the session before my sixteen handwritten pages about the "Curse of the Forsaken Temple" were useless. After that I learned to fly by the seat of my pants.

But I digress. The Fantasy Project is an old dream of mine. I wanted to make a world that worked. I have discovered that making a world that works for that one chronicle, with that group of players is easy. Creating something that can support prolonged and varied play is a little more challenging.

I've run several different scenarios under the header over the years, but the world of Argos appeared out of the blue the winter of 2003. I was asked by a couple of friends to run a game, and I came up with a scenario, and drew a map. Thus the kingdom of Pendrell was born. The stroke of genius (in my own very humble opinion) was to draw a map section, as opposed to a world map. It hinted towards more, but as long as the story didn't call for it, the rest of the world was allowed to stay out of reach. That first game on Argos lasted about eight or ten nights, and had everything. Adventure, heroism, action, mood, even a Good Death.

Then the world lay dormant for a while. I hosted a few games in the World of Darkness, and the Fantasy Project was put on the backburner.

The purpose of this blog is to share my experiences in world-building, storytelling, and roleplaying in general. I have been told I'm wordy, so I do not expect that a lot of people will bother reading all my anecdotes and meanderings. Those who do, please ask if you think I can answer your question(s).

Next: The Headshot that gave birth to the Book of Worlds

(edited to weed out typos)