Reflections & Lowlights
by Todd VanHooser

With the close of 2011, I look back on what was, overall, a pretty mixed bag. I considered writing a sugar-coated entry for New Years, but nixed the idea pretty quickly. Instead, I'm calling it out. We had ups and downs, success and defeat. I'm glad its done.

The most frustrating aspect of 2011 is the fact that I end the year no better off than where I began it. In fact, in many regards, I'm exactly where I was a year ago. For Laughing Moon every step forward was followed by at least one back. For me, this is tough to acknowledge as well as tough to endure. For 17 years I've been going steadily forward in one way or another, and just when things should be picking up steam, they more or less stalled out.

I gained new friends and helpful supporters only to see trusted ones disappear, flake out, or flat out jump ship. I could write an entire blog entry on that last business, and trust me I've thought about it...but I'll cling to some tried and true cliche and let bygones be bygones...water under the bridge...etc, etc. I've lived and learned, and won't be bit by that dog again. I'll let it go with a simple quote from Tom Petty, "Don't come around here no more."

I indulged in a number of new creative ideas in 2011--can you blame me? I've been working on the fantasy series and setting for the better part of 20 years. I needed a break. It felt good to set it aside for a time, look through a new lens, if you will. These ventures proved to be a lot of creative fun in brand new ways, and it led me to meet some great new people that I'm very pleased to now call friends. The final product didn't turn out quite as I had envisioned, but my work tends to follow the mythical phoenix. From the ashes comes something new.

I know that this year was a productive one for good ideas because I witnessed several of those being stolen. A nice compliment, I suppose, but I'll let this be a warning to those preying on my creativity: it won't be tolerated again. My patience, courtesy, and good disposition have run their course. Plus, I've been watching Breaking Bad.

To rant a bit more, I'm done with flaky artists. Your work isn't the only thing that carries you, my friends. Its your reputation. Its your name. I sincerely love the work I've paid for and received. Those I continue to work with know that I'm loyal. I'll be back with more commissions, and more money. Flake on me, and we're done. You get one shot. There are a lot just like you looking for work.

And lately I've been reading a number of negative articles about the tabletop gaming industry. Things have been said about its relevance in an electronic world. Its lack of creativity. The absence of "community" as every long-term player decides to create their own game. Gamers have become "an exclusive community of experts." The idea is that gamers have knowingly embraced some caricature of themselves and now feel enlightened, or empowered, or entitled somehow. As if knowing every last pop-culture reference is tallied on an invisible score board.

Is it true? Maybe. Probably, in fact. And in fear of this truth, I've started looking at what it is I do. What makes this Laughing Moon thing different?

The answer, to stay true to the mixed-bag theme I introduced up above, is yes and no. In some circles, my game will never be able to compete with players' enduring love affair with D&D, or Pathfinder, or whatever the hell its called today. For others, it may not be highbrow enough, or it lacks gears and switches and gas masks and a clockwork poodle that pisses gasoline. And no, although we encourage the role-playing element, it is not a LARP. I've come to terms with all that, and I'm just fine with it, in fact.

But as for community, I've found it. Relevance? You betcha. My game, my world, means something to a growing number of fans. We have open arms to new gamers, whether or not these people know the difference between a d20 or a d12 (for the record, noobs, the d20 is bigger). My world has grown thanks to the new blood involved, and for that involvement I am deeply thankful. I've found it to be a powerful way to bring people together and keep them coming back. I've seen new players discover a lifelong hobby, and I've found myself inspired by their enthusiasm. This group is growing, and my plan is to try and push what we do to a larger audience in 2012.

Laughing Moon Con was a shining example of this. Its an introduction, a gateway to show new people what this scene has to offer. Those that attended are likely to attend other local conventions, which is good for the whole community. And I sincerely hope to see them next year for the 4th round of our little convention.

We'll see new Laughing Moon products coming out this year. Game pieces, stories, and more. We're moving forward, folks, and that feels good.

For the upcoming year, I'm going back to my roots. I'm a storyteller, and this next year you can look forward to new stories. I'm looking at new ways of bringing stories to you. Ways of celebrating characters in a new light. I'm writing new adventures, and if you're reading this now, I hope to have you involved.

2011 ends tonight, and I for one say good riddance. On to 2012.

On to new adventures.

-T

Article: Getting into Character

Don't Be the NPC
by Todd VanHooser

There are many aspects to a tabletop role-playing game that sets it apart from other types of games. The type of dice, the fantasy setting, the story-telling, the fact that you’re forced to physically interact with real people rather than sit behind a gaming console while eating Cheetos in your underwear. But perhaps the most obvious and often overlooked aspect that sets things apart is the actual “role-playing” element.

The best adventures always seem to happen when players surrender to the story and really become their character. It’s not easy to do, but the payoff can really be something memorable. Seriously, how many games of Battleship, Operation, Blackjack, or even Call of Duty do you actually remember? To surrender to the story in a role-playing game opens the possibility of true magic happening as that story comes to life. But the burden falls on you, the player.

To succeed, you need to be able to let loose of your rationale mind, as well as your emotional connection to the character you’ve created. It isn't so much playing a character as becoming that character, at least for a short period of time. It doesn't matter if you're a brawny warrior, rogue magician, or bundalin thief--you've got to be willing to slip into that headspace and see where it takes you...as well as the game itself.

Here are a few tips to help you immerse a little more naturally into the game:

1) Know your stuff. Be familiar with the character’s personal attributes, skills, and abilities. Don’t be “that guy” who’s surprised when one of the other players points out your 80% ability to disarm a trap five minutes after watching a companion get impaled by poisonous darts.

2) Create a back story. Even if the details of your story don’t come out in an adventure, knowing where your character comes from, the details of their life, and why they’re out there adventuring helps shape that character in your mind. These details will help you, the player, determine certain actions, decisions, and even interactions.
3) Don’t metagame. One of the worst sins of role-playing is to make decisions based on “player knowledge” rather than “character knowledge.” Naturally one of the fun aspects of gaming is the opportunity to talk about your adventures with friends, and in the case of Laughing Moon, to see if, and how, those adventures link up at all. However, to use information gleaned from one of those conversations in your next session just isn’t cool. Furthermore, just because the dungeon maze is set up in front of you, and quite clearly you can see the seething pit of despair behind Door #2, remember that all your characters sees is the door. Play it out. Make decisions based solely on what your character actually knows, and let the dice roll.

4) Play fearlessly. That’s right, don’t tiptoe around situations that your character would dive into. I know you spent an hour rolling up your sneaky dwarven cutpurse, and I know you’ve scraped through a dozen adventures and acquired a collection of interesting loot, magical weapons, and a pile of gold coins taken from the still-warm bodies of your victims. But if you aren’t willing to put your character in danger—to really play that character to the hilt—then what’s the point? You’ve got to put it all out there, and be willing to lose all that you’ve gained. Go big or go home, right? If your character isn’t the smartest person in the party, then you probably shouldn’t be the one offering up the battle plan, or the step-by-step jail break. Play your character, not the clingy fear-riddled player with a strange over-emotional investment in a fictional character.

The four points mentioned here may seem obvious to some, but even the veteran gamers are guilty of falling out of character from time to time. You want to be an active part of the game...NPCs (non-player characters) are for your Game Master to manage. So get into your character, think through their background, motivation, and skills, and see what surprises come out of it. The trick is to give yourself the freedom to immerse in your character, trust in the story, and just let yourself escape for a time.

You'll find its quite adventure.


-T

Article: Game Mastering 101

The 'Why' & the 'What' of GMing
by Torrance Dinsmore

The role of the game master is a daunting one. You’ve got to find a time that works for the group of friends you’ve talked into gaming, you have to shell out fifty bucks for the core rule book of the game (more for miniatures, and terrain and supplements, if you want the full experience), and order the pizza. But, out of all those, the hardest bit you have to come up with is the adventure. Though formidable, this last and most important step can be accomplished quite easily in a number of ways which all boil down to figuring out two points: the ‘why’ and ‘what’ of the adventure.

The first (and, in this writer’s opinion, best) way is to come up with a compelling story and simply allow your gamers to become the main characters in that story. Think of a plot worthy of a short story or a chapter in a novel, and build the game around that. This is made easier after your players have a couple games (and bad decisions) under their belts. For example: that bandit they killed a while back? His brother is the head of the biggest crime syndicate on this side of the country, and now he’s out for blood. That temple of the evil god they burned to the ground? That ended up breaking the seal on the a whole kettle o’ evil, and now the taint from the temple is spreading to the surrounding village. You get the drift. Turn loose ends from previous gaming sessions into full blown adventures. This helps to build history—an important element in Laughing Moon adventures.

This isn’t to say a new group of players couldn’t have a similar adventure—maybe some other table full of noobs messed up, and they have to clean up the mess because of a case of mistaken identity, or because they’re the only people that can handle it in a thousand mile radius. In this case, the GM has the ‘why’ of the equation and now needs the ‘what’.

In this case the ‘what’ refers to the monsters, critters, and bad guys of the game. ‘What’ will the players be fighting?

To find the ‘what’, simply work through the story and decide what would be logical for the party to fight at each major turning point. Here, there is a lot of wiggle room, because the only requirement is that it makes sense in the context of the story. This could be simple—the bandit leader sends his group of thugs to rough up the heroes (shocker)—or it can be somewhat complex: perhaps magic run awry is twisting nearby animals and villagers into grotesque mirrors of what they once were. A decision must be made—do your players destroy the threat, or do they seek a cure? When given an opportunity, I would suggest running an adventure like this. More mental gymnastics may be required, but the added mystery can take this single adventure and turn it into a campaign in which the world may hang in the balance.

Another tried and true method is to pick a monster and build the game around that. The idea is to do just the opposite of the previous method—now you have the ‘what’ and need to figure out the ‘why’. Again, here is a chance to add depth to the story. If you just can’t wait to show off your newly painted vampire miniature, for instance, try to come up with something different than having your villain be Baron Rackula from Fangsilvainia. The big concern with coming up with an adventure this way, though, is that it is very easy to fall into clichés or other pitfalls of bad story telling. To combat this, come up with several possible scenarios to explain the presence of the monsters and why our heroes should be involved.

These are two of a multitude of ways that game ideas can be incepted and are in no ways all inclusive; they are simply the two most basic ways that adventures can be born. The thing to take from both of these strategies is that, no matter the way the adventure comes about, two things should be present: compelling story telling and the challenging battles.

Games with no story are a pale imitator of true gaming, while stories without fights are not much fun, and that is the point of playing these games: fun. So experiment with the creative process, play around with the ‘what’ and the ‘why’, and work with your players to make the nights you spend around the table the ones you’ll never forget.

Article: This is Why We Game

This is Why We Game
by Todd VanHooser

The great thing about tabletop role-playing games is that it appeals to such a broad range of people. Different ethnicities, different ages, different backgrounds. It crosses lines, mixes and matches, and creates a fun and safe environment for those involved. And it’s a ridiculous amount of fun while you’re at it.

With this in mind, I created a tabletop role-playing club at school, hoping to rope in kids with creative interests and give them a little fuel for their imaginations. I had no idea that four years later I would still be doing it, and with such an enthusiastic group.

Those that get involved seem to immediately understand the draw of this hobby. There’s hacking and slashing, there’s loot, there’s magic and mystery. And of course there’s cool miniatures, dice, and terrain that we use as well. Those that walk by and see a group of people sitting around rolling dice pause long enough to scratch their heads, and occasionally will even ask, “so what are you guys doing?”

However, if you’re one of those head-scratchers pausing by this blog right now, it’s not the “what” that I want to address here.

It’s the “why.”

Perhaps one of the most obvious reasons why people enjoy this game is for its pure escapism. For a few hours, you’re actually invited to shelve your concerns, your problems, your stress...your life. You get to become another person—one of your own creation. Within the context of the game,( if the dice smile on you), then you get to be the hero. But the real joy isn’t just that. The fun comes because you’re not doing it alone.

This hobby is more than just a game. It’s a social outlet. It’s a place where people who might never otherwise meet or spend time together, get to share in some fun. The game offers suspense, mystery, danger, and above all, it offers adventure. These are the very elements that bond people together, and I’ve seen that happen to players based on the events happening to their fictional characters. Games can be won or lost, but this is a place where friendships are forged.

I’ve seen gamers get so involved that they’re sitting on the edge of their seats, jumping out of their chairs, high-fiving, fist pumping, and dancing by the table. My gamers have been a part of epic stories, heart-breaking tragedies, on-going mysteries, and magic that gets in the player’s blood. This one common thing has brought people together, and leaves them wanting more.

We’re the Friday Night Lights of tabletop gaming. And those that play all know it.

And that, dear reader, is why we game.

-T

Back From....well, wherever...

It's been nearly a year since this blog has seen an update, and so much has happened since that time. Regardless, we're back on once again. Resurrected. Reinvigorated. Ready for more!

The point of this blog will be to keep you informed of all Laughing Moon Chronicles updates, events, games, and news. Furthermore, as before, we hope to provide you with some interesting game-related articles to help give you some perspective on the game.

I have rallied members of the Laughing Moon team to write and share articles with you, dear reader. Undoubtedly these will be things that will shock and amaze! Astound and baffle! Or at the very least, give you something to stare at when you should be working.

Adventures Under the Laughing Moon has grown in many ways over the last year, and now more than ever I am beginning to find my focus. This game is about bringing people together, forming bonds, finding common grounds, and ultimately story.

I have a story to share, and I hope you will be a part of the adventure.

-Todd

Article: Year in Review

2010 Under the Laughing Moon
by Todd VanHooser

This time last year I was eagerly looking toward a busy future. I had a number of conventions scheduled, one publication nearly complete, and the Laughing Moon game book was beginning to take shape after years of development. Its hard to believe a year has already gone by...but it’s more difficult to comprehend how much I’ve done in these last 12 months.

Here’s 2010 Under the Laughing Moon

Two major releases: The Lamplighter Collection, and Adventures Under the Laughing Moon were both released in 2010, making this a very productive year for me personally. Oddly, now that I think about it, both projects span a very large part of my life, and it’s an interesting coincidence that both should reach fruition in the same year.

Lamplighter is a collection of short fiction that I started writing in my fiction classes at the University of Missouri. In fact, my short story titled Catharsis first saw print in MU’s literary magazine, Stir. I just saw an old copy of that laying around at my parent’s house and was quite happy to stumble upon it. My own copy of the magazine was lost in a move years ago, and it’s fun to see how that particular story has evolved. Other stories in Lamplighter are much more recent. In fact, the headliner story, The Ole Lamplighter, I credit with saving my novel, The Barren Twelve. I had hit a major wall in the writing of that book, and desperately needed something to help invigorate that writing. The remedy came in the form of a good old-fashioned ghost story. I wrote that story in about four weeks, and afterwards I was able to tear into The Barren Twelve feeling refreshed and eager to finish the book.

Adventures Under the Laughing Moon stands as my biggest personal achievement to date. Putting aside book sales, reviews, etc., I accomplished something I simply did not think could be done. The Laughing Moon game began in 1995 as a mash-up home brew gaming system that picked and stole from the current RPGs of the day. Naturally that system grew and developed over time, but one thing remained consistent: the story. After debuting the game at an Arizona convention in ’09, I saw an opportunity to share the story with more people. As a marketing tool, this was perfect—readers could enjoy The Laughing Moon Chronicles, and then take a more interactive approach by creating their own characters and developing their own stories in the game. But for me, there was even more potential. The story had the chance to take on a life of its own.

It took me the better part of two years to compile all of my notes and then re-design the gaming system to stand on its own and support the type of game I had always run. After the system was built, play-testing had to occur, and this spread over a number of months with tweaks and changes occurring along the way. Once the game was done, the real work began. I had to figure out a way to put the game into a book that would allow even those unfamiliar with table-top RPGs to pick it up and learn the ropes. My incredibly talented wife, Susan, took on the daunting task of interior layout and design, and finally in October, I held the final product in hand.

I’m very proud of this accomplishment, and I'm extraordinarily grateful to those who helped me along the road . If you haven’t seen the book, you’re in for a pleasant surprise. It easily stands next to anything on the shelf at your gaming or book store, and the content actually sets it apart from the competition. The feedback has been great, (one of my first customers told me that after a long dry spell this was the very first gaming book he had purchased in over two years) but having the Adventures book completed is something for me.

Nine conventions: Big ones, small ones, local ones, and out of state, this was a BUSY year when it came to the con scene. There were some memorable moments at these events—some with fans and attendees, and others that fall into the memorable, but unmentionable category. The Laughing Moon Crew likes to say, “what happens at con, stays at con.” Maybe it’s not exactly an original slogan, but it works in a pinch.

I’m getting a better feel for these events. There is an expectation that goes into it, and I have attended enough to have formed my own opinion on what makes a good convention vs. what makes a poorly managed convention. People attend conventions like these to mingle, socialize, get exposed to new elements of their favorite genre or hobby, and have fun. That last part is certainly something I like to provide in what capacity I can. It is my hope that I will be able to expand the Laughing Moon experience even more in this coming year.

Of course, the biggest event for me was Laughing Moon Con—my very own event. I was told early on in the process that the best advice when it came to organizing a convention was “don’t do it.” I understood that it would be an undertaking, but I felt that the time had come to “put up or shut up.” In my opinion, the vast majority of local conventions and events had fallen deplorably short at marketing to the younger generation. This was an observation I had noted on many occasions, and a concern I had even tried to voice to those who I thought might make a difference. All marketing was geared at conventions, game stores, ConNotations, and second hand book stores. In other words, they were marketing to the people that were already going to the events, without any attempt at drawing in fresh faces. I’m a fantasy author and even I have to dig around to find out when and where the events are taking place. My goal for Laughing Moon Con was clear from the beginning: get new blood. Our marketing went to high schools and community colleges, in addition to game and book stores. And it worked. The first Laughing Moon Con brought in over 300 people—most of which had never attended a convention before in their lives. Now those same people are asking about Amazing Arizona Comic Con, Phoenix Comic Con, Rincon, and others.

In other words, we hooked them. They’ll be back.


Local events: Customers at gaming stores and book stores got a little taste of the Laughing Moon experience this last year. With a number of appearances at Gamers’ Inn and Imperial Outpost Games, I was able to introduce new people to the game and expose them to role-playing Laughing Moon style. In addition to this, I was able to get in front of small audiences and share excerpts of The Lamplighter Collection and discuss both the fantasy series as well as the writing process in general.


New faces: This year we have welcomed a number of new people into our fold. Whether they are gamers, readers, fans, or those helping out behind the scenes, these are the people that make adventuring under the Laughing Moon worthwhile. Ours numbers have significantly grown in 2010, and 2011 will only see that trend continue.

A helping hand: And lastly, 2010 marked the first year where our efforts were able to help out a few others. The Laughing Moon crew was able to raise a little extra money in the beginning of the year to send a handful of high-school kids to their very first convention. Later in the year, funds raised from the first Laughing Moon Con helped send the Desert Edge Marching Band to the Fiesta Bowl Parade where they will proudly be accompanying the Arizona 501st and playing selections from Star Wars. How cool is that?


I’m raising my glass to a fantastic 2010 and all that came and went with the passing year.


And now I’m setting my sights on 2011, and the adventures that await just around the corner.

-T
www.toddvanhooser.com

Article: Marketing Tip on AZ Publishing Services

Check out the link attached here for a brief article I wrote for AZ Publishing Services. Some good tips on marketing your own material and finding your audience.

Click it!: