Look, Ma! I’m a Writer!

It was another day inside and on twitter. That day, I popped into a thread on magic in tabletop games and related mechanics with Dee Pennyway. After a pretty solid exchange of ideas, we decided to continue the convo via DM when this happened:

I’ve read your blog posts and I like everything I’ve seen you talk about wrt game design, worldbuilding, etc. Trying to phrase this question but it’s coming out garbled – have you published any formal, like…Game Stuff?

Dee Pennyway // June 8, 2020

It was kind of them to say. Of course, I hadn’t and I had no idea how to even if I wanted to. They asked if I wanted to explore the idea and said I should. Over the last few months, as I’d opened up more to the idea of sharing more about my thoughts on D&D and how it handles various things, I got acquainted with quite a few people. Most of them encouraging me to write some stuff and get it out into the world.

Shortly after questions and encouragement came an offer.

I was gonna ask if you wanted to hop onto a Mnemonic project, actually – I’m putting together a big book that’s like…the “Core” Mnemonic rules, if there are core rules at all. It’s using those Tables as a big structural piece, and I’d like to have your insight in the room while we’re figuring things out

Dee Pennyway // June 8, 2020

To say I was taken aback was an understatement. I would learn of people on the team and it was a bunch of people I felt were so cool and were designers proper who had actually shipped things. The welcome was enthusiastic and gentle. Warm.

As was offered, I got asked my ideas on things. They were heard and applied where they could be. I was also asked to share stories and wrote a story arc that we got to stream a bit of on the ActualPlay channel. There were two episodes. Each had two parts.

This coincided with an actual kickstarter. Also: holy shit this is a thing people were going to pay real money for and I am writing in and I will legit appear in the credits of things and [incomphensible noises].

* * *

As part of the team, I was in no way ever made to feel less than an equal to everyone involved in spite of my lack of experience. That continues to be the most shocking thing of this whole experience: my ideas are valued as equal to my peers.

There are no words for what that means to me after only recently finding my place in worldbuilding – especially given my experiences in other places – and now that the kickstarter is funded, there’s even more I will be called on to contribute.

The faith and trust that I’ve been given and am being given has been incredible and I get to use a system that I believe will tell many of the stories I hope to tell.

To the team, to everyone cheering me on from the sidelines and the rafters, and very much to Dee: thank you for believing in me and now, I guess I have to actually write things. Ugh.