Wednesday, January 1, 2014

RPG Blog Carnival for January 2014: The Theme is Transitions


This month's RPG Blog Carnival is being hosted here at the Hereticwerks blog. The topic for the month is Transitions. What do we mean by 'Transitions?' Well, the established definition covers a lot of ground: "the process or a period of changing from one state or condition to another."

What sort of Transitions will you make in your game or campaign this year? Will you be making the transition to a new game system, starting a new game, or picking up an old favorite? Are you going to take your first turn as a GM, or step back and be a player for a while? Or would you rather tell people about the kinds of transitions taking place within your game, the sorts of changes and transformations taking place among your characters or the game-world itself?




A blog carnival is a cross-blog event where a group of bloggers collectively post something on a particular topic or theme, last month it was 'Taking Charge,' this month the topic is 'Transitions.' Each blogger handles the topic or theme however they like. Readers can then click from one participating blog to another through the course of the blog carnival, sampling a wide range of writing styles and approaches.

To follow the blog carnival, check back regularly through the month and read the comments on this post where, hopefully, participants will be leaving links to their contributions. At the end of the month, we'll compile a wrap-up post here on the Hereticwerks blog [link due: January 30, 2014] that will provide links to all of the blog carnival participants for easy access. You can take a look at past blog carnivals over at the Archive, which is currently being maintained by the RPG Blog Alliance.

To participate in the carnival is easy. Once you have written a post on this month's topic, leave a comment on this page with a direct link. You can use the RPG Blog Carnival image on your post if you like. You can right-click and download it from here or any other blog displaying it, or it is also available at the RPG Blog Carnival page. Feel free to do more than one post, we just ask that you leave a link for each of your posts here in the comments as each one goes live. It's super easy and the blog carnival is open to anyone who wants to participate, you don't have to be a member of the RPGBA.

To Host a future blog carnival is also quite easy and fairly painless. Just click over to the handy How to Host a Carnival info at the RPGBA site and follow the instructions. Feel free to ask one of the former hosts for advice or assistance if you're considering it, but would like more information. The RPG Blog Carnival is always looking for new hosts and new topics, so feel free to jump right in!



Transitions...
Fiction, games, life; they are filled with transitions from one level to the next. Joining a new group or leaving an old one. Starting out on a path to adventure, leaving the service of a former employer, setting up your own stronghold. Voyaging past the edge of the map, delving deeper than anyone has gone before, exploring an uncharted wilderness...or simply changing places at the bar. Having and raising children, either in-game or in life is a major transition. Gaining experience, going up in level, growing in power, moving up in the world—or crashing down in flames and madness; these are all transitions.

Coping with the repercussions now that you've been infected with lycanthropy, uploaded your consciousness to a machine, or been bitten by a vampire (sparkly or original flavor), are all interesting transitions. Maybe a character has decided to switch classes or professions; perhaps they'd like to drop the whole spell-casting business and take up the exciting role of a cat burglar instead. How has the mighty fighter adapted to his new hand, the one they bought from that weird peddler from somewhere unpronounceable? Where will the thief go now that they've been blacklisted by their Guild? Traveling to a new city, journeying to a new country, shifting to another plane, visiting strange new worlds, entering a new setting...

It's a wide open topic. Feel free to interpret it any way you like.

We're looking forward to seeing what you come up with...



Everything you might want to know about the RPG Blog Carnival is available all in one place, including How to Participate, How to Sign-Up to Host a Carnival, as well as some handy advice for How to Host a Carnival if your topic gets accepted. You can also browse through the Archives of Past Carnivals and check to see what's coming next.

The RPG Blog Carnival is sponsored and supported by the RPG Blog Alliance. You can find out more about the RPGBA by clicking these links:

The RPGBA site
The RPGBA FAQ

19 comments:

  1. And here's my entry for the Carnival Behind the Screen in '14

    By the way the RPGBA wiki hasn't updated their page yet to list this month's carnival.

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    1. Nice post. Thanks for becoming part of the Carnival. Congrats on finding the copy of Metamorphosis Alpha in your basement! That's pretty cool.

      As to the Wiki, that is out of my hands. Folks are probably busy. I'm sure that it will get updated when someone gets a chance.

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  2. Here's mine - mostly in-character transitions for me this year. As far as I can see, but who knows what the year will bring.

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    1. Great post. It sounds like you have your hands full! founding a dynasty of sorts in Shadowrun sounds like quite an intriguing challenge!

      Thanks for participating in the Blog Carnival!

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  3. Mine will be going up 2/14 (I post once a week and tend to write them ahead of time).
    http://bigballofnofun.blogspot.com/

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    1. Cool. We're looking forward to it. Thanks for becoming part of this month's Carnival!

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    2. and the actual link to the article is...
      http://bigballofnofun.blogspot.com/2014/01/transitions-players-have-revolted-and.html

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    3. Got it! Thanks for participating. Sounds like you're in the midst of a pretty nice transition. It's good to get a break from GM-ing, so you can recharge your batteries a bit. Hopefully you'll have a fun time pushing the boundaries as only a player character can...

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  4. Well I'm a bit late to this party, but I've got a contribution anyway. The campaign I run goes through regular fluctuations. We've hit a rather significant uptick recently, which is nice. http://grimnir.me/2014/01/16/feast-and-famine/

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    1. Better late than never, right? Thanks for participating! We're just now getting back on track after a bad hard drive crash, so we're running late as well.

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  5. Here is the link for my entry for the January RPG Blog Carnival. Thanks for hosting it. http://thruthemultiverse.blogspot.com/2014/01/transitions-new-blog-for-new-year.html

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  6. I wrote about how transitions are all around us in the real world, and how they should be added to a game world to not only add a bit of realism, but to possibly spark adventure ideas.

    You can find the article here: http://www.hamell.net/transitions-rpg-world/

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    1. Cool. I'm heading over to read this now! Gotta get caught-up now that the machine is back.

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  7. Thanks for hosting, here's my contribution:

    http://warehouseoftrinkets.blogspot.com.ar/2014/01/blog-carnival-january-2014-transitions.html

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    1. Thank you for joining-in. I'm going to go read all these entries now.

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  8. Here's mine: http://fatesf.blogspot.com/2014/01/thursday-night-punctuated-equilibrium.html

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  9. I wrote my post and then forgot to come back here and mention it. :)

    2014: A Year of Transitions
    http://www.nuketown.com/games/2014-a-year-of-transitions

    Thanks for hosting!

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