{"id":1023,"date":"2010-10-26T08:58:09","date_gmt":"2010-10-26T14:58:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/booklifenow.com\/?p=1023"},"modified":"2010-10-26T08:58:28","modified_gmt":"2010-10-26T14:58:28","slug":"infinite-conflicts-allen-varney-on-gaming-writing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/booklifenow.com\/2010\/10\/infinite-conflicts-allen-varney-on-gaming-writing\/","title":{"rendered":"Infinite Conflicts:  Allen Varney on Gaming &#038; Writing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.allenvarney.com\/\">Allen Varney<\/a> is a freelance writer and designer living in Texas.\u00a0 He\u2019s worked on everything from <em>Dungeons &amp; Dragons<\/em> (TSR) supplements in the 80s to <em>Paranoia<\/em> (Mongoose) in the OOs.\u00a0 His <em>Executive Challenge<\/em> simulation game is still used at the University of Texas McCombs Business School.\u00a0 Role-playing games, boardgames, computer games, Varney\u2019s done it all and below he talks about some of what games have taught him about writing.<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\nVarney contributed an essay on the game <em>The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen<\/em> to <a href=\"http:\/\/www.greenronin.com\/store\/product\/grr4001.html\"><em>Hobby Games: The 100 Best<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>*<\/p>\n<p><strong>What has playing games taught you about writing (of any sort)?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>*<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Allen Varney: <\/strong>Though it is a clich\u00e9 that good fiction requires a conflict, playing a wide variety of games has helped me understand some non-obvious types of conflicts, and the infinite ways conflict can play out. Sometimes the nature of the game illuminates and dramatizes psychology in ways stories can&#8217;t. I think, for instance, of <em>Finchley Central<\/em>, one of the antecedents of <em><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Mornington_Crescent_%28game%29\">Mornington Crescent<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><strong>*<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong> Is there a game every writer should try?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>*<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Allen Varney:<\/strong> A writer can benefit by playing one or more of the many different games that inspire creativity. Virtually every tabletop role-playing scenario can help stimulate imaginative thinking. Among board and card games, I recommend <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.atlas-games.com\/onceuponatime\/\">Once Upon a Time: The Storytelling Card Game<\/a><\/em> by James Wallis, Andrew Rilstone, and Richard Lambert.<\/p>\n<p><strong>*<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong> In what ways does playing games enhance your creativity?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>*<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Allen Varney: <\/strong>Anyone knows the answer to this question who has ever wriggled through a dungeon deathtrap, let alone persuaded Turkey to ally with you against Germany in 1916.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Allen Varney is a freelance writer and designer living in Texas.\u00a0 He\u2019s worked on everything from Dungeons &amp; Dragons (TSR) supplements in the 80s to Paranoia (Mongoose) in the OOs.\u00a0 His Executive Challenge simulation game is still used at the University of Texas McCombs Business School.\u00a0 Role-playing games, boardgames, computer games, Varney\u2019s done it all and below he talks about some of what games have taught him about writing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/booklifenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1023"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/booklifenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/booklifenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/booklifenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/booklifenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1023"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/booklifenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1023\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1047,"href":"https:\/\/booklifenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1023\/revisions\/1047"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/booklifenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/booklifenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/booklifenow.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}