Kunniavieras: Guy Sclanders
Traconin roolipelivieraaksi saapuu eteläafrikkalainen roolipelien tarinankerronnan mestari Guy Sclanders. Saamme kuulla Guyn taipaleesta pelien saralla useassa eri ohjelmanumerossa, ja pääsemme oppimaan, kuinka pelille luodaan mitä kutkuttavin taustajuoni.
Guy on uransa aikana toiminut mm. käsikirjoittajana, ohjaajana, animoijana, näyttelijänä ja äänitaiteilijana. Vuonna 2010 hän ryhtyi pelinjohtamaan Etelä-Afrikan kansallisella kilpailutasolla. Kolmessa vuodessa Guy saavutti hyvinkin suoraviivaisesti kulkien kilpailun ensimmäisen sijan. Tämän jälkeen oli selvää, että kilpailun tavoite oli nyt hoideltu, ja olisi tärkeämpää tarjota muille pelinjohtajille mahdollisuus kehittyä.
Loistavana puhujana ja tilanteiden sanoittamisen taitajana, Guyn uran seuraava looginen askel olikin alkaa opettaa taitojaan muille. Hän päätti ystäviensä kanssa perustaa YouTube-kanavan, jossa jakaa tätä pitkälle hiottua ja monipuolista osaamistaan pelinjohtajuudesta kiinnostuneille harrastajille. Guyn lähtökohta on, että kuka tahansa voi oppia kertomaan hyviä tarinoita. Tätä varten kannattaa opetella muutamia perustaitoja ja niksejä. Mielikuvitus seuraa perässä, varsinkin kun roolipelaamisessa lyödään yhteen koko peliseurueen yhdistetyt mielikuvat.
Guy kertoo erilaisten pelien tarinankerronnan luonteesta perjantaina 7.9. maksuttomalla osallistavalla luennollaan, Traconin Peliperjantaissa. Päätapahtumassa, lauantaina 8.9., on tiedossa kahden tunnin mittainen keskusteleva ohjelmanumero pelinjohtajuuden eri aspekteista, aina juonen keksimisestä tarinan sivuhahmojen luomiseen. Sunnuntaina 9.9. Guy vetää Traconissa kauhupelin, jossa jo kuvauksen perusteella syntyy mielikuva erittäin hämmentävästä ja hyytävästä tarinasta.
Guest of Honor: Guy Sclanders
"What can we say of the dark lord? He is evil, cunning, and... hairy. Yeah. That's about it."
Guy has been running role-playing games since he discovered gaming back in 1992 or thereabouts. Telling stories is his passion, and telling them with other people more so. He has worked as a scriptwriter, director, animator, actor and voice artist for most of his professional career. In 2013 he retired from competitive role-playing in South Africa because he realized he enjoyed helping others discover the joy of running their own games.
A few years later and he, together with his friends, launched the YouTube channel - How to be a Great Game Master. The channel focuses on how to improve storytelling within a role-playing environment, and tries to be as helpful as it can to as many different types of role-playing as there are. Everyone has a great imagination, and everyone is capable of telling great stories, Guy maintains, it is just that some of us happen to have learned a few tricks that make it seem easier. But once you know the rules you never need tell a bad story again.
Program
Friday 7th: 1 hour talk
The power of Expectation in driving Story
How to insert a giant banana...
In this one hour interactive discussion on the use of Expectation to help you create better stories, Guy unpacks the basic concepts of storytelling that are fundamental to role-playing games, computer games, novels, screenplays and stage plays. Of particular fun is the section on inserting a giant banana... Audience participation is required but you don't need to bring a banana.
Saturday 8th: 12.00 - 14.00, 2 hours talk with a break in the middle
Duetto 2
A cunning plan
I have a cunning plan my lord...
Join Guy for an hour long discussion on how to create your cunning plan within your story. Where do cunning plans come from? How do we make sure they remain cunning? Can they be more cunning? And just how cunning is cunning? This interactive session looks at ways in which we can create our master plot that will drive our narratives forward and make writing them so much easier. Please bring a pen with you to this session.
I'm just an NPC
Breathing life into the lifeless...
Every story needs background characters who may give the hero some words of wisdom or some guidance. They may just hand the hero a sword. Or lose a poker game and end up giving the hero a starship. That doesn't mean that they shouldn't have a life too! Secondary characters, supporting characters, extras', call them what you will but you miss an golden opportunity when you don't give these fine folk some tender loving care. Learn how to make even the smallest background character feel like a hero... even if their only job is to die so the hero can avenge them... Nobody said it was a happy life that we give them.
Sunday 9th: 11.00 - 15.00 Running a tabletop session
Sopraano
The late night train
Nobody ever saw them again...
A classic Cthulu'esque role-playing adventure for up to seven players of any skill and experience.
The year is 1889 and investigators on the Great Western Line never found the 501 Express Late train. Having left New York on the night of the 23rd she was expected to reach Salt Lake by the morning of the 26th. She never did. In fact, the last reported sighting of her was as she steamed through Clearwater, only 100 miles west of New York. The entire train vanished. No sign of wreckage. No sign of passengers. Nothing. Just a field full of dead bison, an abandoned Apache village, and nothing else. What became of the 501, and what became of the 7 passengers who were aboard?
