Come one, come all to JiffyCon this Saturday. More details at the official JiffyCon website.

I’m running Tales of the Fisherman’s Wife, and Evan Torner is running Steal Away Jordan. I’m thinking about playstorming Murder Ballad Blackjack to put it back on track, but we’ll see.

See ya’ll there!

I intended to have an ashcan of M’Alice ready for GenCon 2008, but I’m going to put it aside for a little while. I like how it’s developing, but a couple of weeks ago, I was attacked by a very aggressive idea and this idea held me down and forced me to design a game called Tales of the Fisherman’s Wife. I have worked out enough kinks that I can spend the next few months writing and doing layout, and should have something ready for GenCon. I’m not giving up on M’Alice. Last week Fisherman’s Wife and M’Alice were in the same stage of development, but a few days ago I had another burst of inspiration (and 3 excellent playtests) and Fisherman’s Wife is 89% functional, whereas M’Alice is about 75% functional and has been play tested once. M’Alice needs about 8 more months of work.

I should have a second draft of Fisherman’s Wife ready for your viewing pleasure in the next week or so.

Brennen sent me the links to this interesting historical site in Opelika, AL, and I’m sharing to inspire folks who might want to use the legend as a Steal Away Jordan ghost story. Thanks, Brennen!

…I remembered a bit of local supernatural folklore regarding a historical landmark where I spent much time as a child. Here are a couple of links that gloss over the legend as I remember it:

Spring Villa in Opelika

Official Spring Villa Parks and Recreation Page

The reason for the murder, as I recall, is that Penn Yonge sold the murderer’s wife and child. The other omitted part of the legend: if you step on the 13th step, you’ll be dead within a year. Perhaps this will seed an idea, perhaps not, but I thought you might find it interesting.

It’s a really creepy house, in a really creepy bit of woods. If nothing else, Alabama can be really good for creepy.

- Brennen

…was jam packed with fun and excitement. I made new friends, hung out with old ones, and gave a good presentation.

Thank you Ayo, Yvonne, and Charles for making my trip so wonderful. I look forward to meeting with you all again.

Thanks, Sam Chupp for recording the presentation, and posting it on your podcast website (Bear’s Grove). I’ve never had a chance to hear what players do when I as GM leaves the room, until now. Randi, Oje, and Sam were awesome players. They got into their characters while deciding on their goals, and started role playing before the game even began. Exactly the kind of thing I wanted to hear.

Thanks to everyone who attended!

I got to hear this just before I left to give my presentation at Spelman. (More on that soon!)

One of these days I’ll learn to talk slower. Check out Vincent Baker and Luke Crane’s fascinating interview, too.

Thank you, Clyde for giving me the mic!

I’m going to talk about how I came to design a role playing game about slavery, about story games, the community, being an “only” in the community, and anything else that’s relevent. I’m also going to do a brief demo of Steal Away Jordan.

Last month, as I watched Prince Among Slaves (the book on which it is based) on PBS, I realized that Steal Away Jordan has more in common with a televised dramatization of a slave narrative than a text, such as Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.

I push the notion that in SAJ you play a hero. Your character can be larger than life. Your story has a full orchestra soundtrack. Your character’s costumes and makeup would win Oscars. Your characters may not get everything they want, and quite possibly may not survive, but they will go out in a blaze of glory. The audience will howl and weep and will cheer at the end.

Stories spoken out loud have that affect on me. It’s one of those things that drew me to role playing games in the first place. I could not resist the chance to exchange stories. Reading a book is a personal story telling experience. Movies and role playing games are enjoyed best in groups.

Last night at work, I finally saw an episode of The Boondocks. Tonight I watched The Story of Catcher Freeman. It illustrates perfectly and hilariously the power of collaborative story telling. You have four people each giving their account of a legendary slave hero, in all his cinematic glory. Each story reflects the ideals and perceptions of the story teller, for better or worse. Best of all, it was painfully funny. You can see it here for now.

If you find other interesting links about the Antebellum US and slavery, please post ‘em here. I’ll add some as I come across them!

I’m slowly getting Actual Play reports put together from the fantastic sessionsI ran at Dreamation. First up is the saddest Steal Away Jordan session ever. I’ll try to put the ghost story and time traveler stories up soon.