Brent P. Newhall's Blog
All – Mar 2009

24 Mar 09 – The City of Talon

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I've been working on a major role-playing project for the past few months. It's called the City of Talon, a small book that describes a busy portside fantasy city, suitable for any fantasy role-playing game. It can even be raided for ideas for short stories and novels.

It's a grand experiment. I love the creative side of role-playing, and I wanted to try my hand at creating a city that other people could include in their own games.

A document like this is very different from the articles and stories I'm used to writing. While fictional, it's very structured. It begins with an introduciton to the city, laying out its basic governing structure, level of technology, and overall feel. It then proceeds to a description of various places within the city—taverns, clubs, dives, docks, etc.--in some detail, including overall size and frequent patrons. I even drew maps for 9 major locations using the free vector graphics program Inkscape.

The book then lists dozens of famous (and infamous) denizens of the city, from nobles to paupers, just and unjust. I wanted these characters to be easy to imagine and role-play, so I ensured each had at least a motto, a physical quirk, and some background.

There's much more to a city than buildings and people, of course, so I also created short sections on major vices in the city, political organizations, and possible stories and adventures.

And finally, because people may want to fit these characters into their role-playing sessions, I mapped out the top dozen characters in three RPG systems (D&D 4th Edition, D&D 3.5, and GURPS). This took a lot of time, but I hope will be particularly useful to GMs as they narrate their players through the city.

It ended up at 50 pages, and I learned a lot. I'm already starting work on another setting, this time a large floating city buzzing with airships and intrigue, and I know how to make it even better than Talon.

Anyvay. If you're interested in Talon, for role-playing or as a spark for writing projects (lots of people and places to plagiarize), it's a $5 PDF at DriveThruRPG, or drop me a line and I'll send you a copy.

Let me know what you think!

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20 Mar 09 – Spring, Gardening, and Tea

Much as we've engineered our world into consistency—on any day of the year, you can find tomatoes in the grocery store—our planet maintains its seasonal cycle. Our kitchens may keep the same color every month of the year, but we step outside in March to a changing world.

While the mornings are still chilly, the air has a warmth and vitality that we haven't seen in months. After the long sleep of winter, Earth is taking its first wakening breaths.

And so my mind turns to my garden. I have two of them, really: front and back. The front garden is a simple patchwork of flower beds and healthy shrubs. The back garden is my canvas and my laboratory.

The crocuses have appeared, like shy girls at a dance, peeking up in ever-greater numbers. They are heralds of spring, and I'm craning my neck to see the rest of the season's bright entourage. No such luck, yet.

But that's okay, because my tea plant arrived today.

More accurately, my Camellia sinensis arrived from Camellia Forest Nursery today. Via UPS:

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I immediately unwrapped it and dug it into a pot that sits next to my back door:

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Camellia sinensis is the plant that all leaf teas are made from: green teas from fresh, steamed leaves; oolong teas from slightly browned leaves; and black teas from thoroughly browned and dried leaves.

While this single bush won't provide me with enough tea to entirely satisfy my daily afternoon tea cravings, the plant is a whimsical and useful addition to my garden. And a great beginning to the season.

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13 Mar 09 – Web Extroversion

(Bonus points if you catch the reference of this entry's title.)

So, I've been avoiding this blog for almost a month now. Not because I hate it, but because I have nothing to write about in this form.

I'm writing a lot on Twitter. I'm doing a lot—producing episodes of my podcast, working on Gunwave, watching anime—but I have nothing really to say about any of it at the moment.

Because, sometimes, life is work. And as valuable as writing can be, sometimes it accomplishes nothing. In fact, sometimes it confuses the matter.

It's funny. I like my blog's structure. I like the way I update it. I like having people read it.

But it's a platform, on which I stand and lecture. And we live in a world full to bursting with platforms and lectures. What have I got to say that's different than others' opinions and facts?

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