Behind the Game - Guest Author

Ever since this project began, the blog and keeping up with the narrative has been a daunting responsibility, time wise. Originally, Rob was just posting a synopsis; First person, present tense. Eventually I jumped in to help him and it became more narrative, third person, past tense. I had wanted to go back to the beginning and re-write those early entries to at least make them third person, past tense, but also to expand the narrative. However, keeping up with the responsibilities of DM, AND keep the story up-to-date, AND go back and fix stuff was just too much for one person.

Then Veronica came along. Veronica isn’t a player, per se. She’s a professional writer and editor and a Facebook friend of mine who started reading the story and just loved it. Of course, the editor in her came out and she began pointing out spelling errors and typos. This was very helpful to me, but I soon realized that, in the time that she was typing up and sending me notes, she could be making the corrections herself, so I gave her admin rights. Her assistance inspired me to go back and start those re-writes I’d wanted to do on the early chapters. Along the way, I asked if she’d like to help, so we shared the revision duties. Soon, the story was caught up.

Then, I hit a creative snag with the Temple of the Jaguar. I knew what I wanted to do, but I didn’t know exactly how to get it written, and we were about to start the next scenario. So, I went back to Veronica and asked if she would like to write a whole chapter herself based on the text from the STAP and my notes about what the players did and the embellishments I wanted.

Now, keep in mind that every step of the way, I was concerned that I was taking advantage of this girl’s generous offer. Remember, she’s a professional writer and editor – it’s not like I was paying her. However, she assured me that she was happy to do it and, indeed, eager. So, this is that chapter.

Because she has just finished reading the previous stories in rapid succession over a few months, the story is still fresh in her mind – perhaps more so than it is for us who have been creating the story over years. You can defiantly see this as she draws from the entire story history, going back even to the first book. She also matched my writing style – I don’t know if that was intentional or not.

Part of why Veronica and I are such good friends is that we have so much in common. It’s like we’ve read all the same books and seen all the same films and TV shows. When I said that I pictured the training montage to be like The Karate Kid, No Retreat No Surrender and The Empire Strikes Back, she knew EXACTLY what I was talking about. That was all the instruction she needed. I couldn’t be happier with the result. Thank you, Veronica!

If you enjoy Veronica’s writing, check out her blog and let her know:

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One final note: I try to always give credit where credit is due. There are a LOT of quotes in this chapter, and I think they all link to a reference. Also, because most readers (even the players) may not recall the story as well as Veronica, I tried to link to previous chapters as they are referenced in the narrative.

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