The Mini Van Soap Box

It's been so cold here that I believe my creative juices have been frozen solid, however I thought it was important to pass on this interesting information.

And by interesting information, I mean information that will probably make absolutely no sense to you at all. Except for maybe two of you. I'm not exactly sure I understand it all myself, but will do my best to explain it in non-geek terms.

I believe that one of the strongest points of my marriage is the fact that we compliment each others differences. Granted, our way of "complimenting" those said differences has been by spending a large portion of our adult lives poking fun at what the other enjoys.

I always knew when we were in High School that he and his friends were a bit...strange. Granted, I really had no right to talk considering I was a drama student. You don't typically get any stranger than that. I never really understood the extent of the strange until much later in life.

After returning home from cavorting with girlfriends at a local bar, I entered our living room to find my husband and his friends in a full on Sunday Night "Game". What met me was a friend of his, we'll call him Tacitus, speaking in a falsetto female voice, in what I'm still not entirely sure was a real language. There was probably about six of them there, all intently listening, making notes, and checking what was on the 12 sided die.

Yes, I am speaking of Role Playing. D&D Role Playing.

That's Dungeons and Dragons for you uneducated souls.

I've picked things up here and there - not on purpose mind you. Elfs, Dragons, Dwarfs, Goblins, Orcs, Mojhs, Charisma, Wisdom and Hit points almost all make sense to me. I still have no desire to take part, or even be in the same room. Much like I'm sure if I was to have a book club meeting to discuss the latest romance novel - he would rather be as far away as possible.

As time has flown by and we've all grown older - moved away or had children - his Sunday night game is no more. In it's place is computer games, books and online RPG.....That's Role Playing Game...Come on people...Keep up.

That's just background to the point of this post.

His best friend has recently entered the Paizo RPG Superstar writing contest. The idea is simple enough to understand. Paizo is looking for the next great RPG designer. There are six rounds: Wondrous Item, Design A Country, Design A Villain, Design Three Linked Monsters, Design An Encounter and lastly, Submit a Full Adventure Proposal.

(I told you this wouldn't make sense to any of you)

He's already sailed through the first two rounds (where there were 850 entries to begin with), and has just today made the Final 16.

The winner, decided by the readers of Paizo, will be given the opportunity to get paid to write for Paizo Publishing. I couldn't imagine anything cooler for this guy to do.

Even if this doesn't interest you in the slightest....Check out the country Iskandria. I find it amazing what some people can just come up with in their minds.

As a side note: I needed some slight input from my husband on this post, mostly because I didn't know how to spell Mojh. However, in asking one simple question, an apparent lack of judgment on my part, I have also learned:

There apparently IS a difference between a Dungeon Master, Storyteller, and a Game Master. There is such a creature in his world called Black Pudding, which from what I understand, surrounds you and melts you in some sort of way. (That would be your character, not your real person). And lastly that monkey-goblins are cool.

So, in conclusion. Go Robert. We're very proud of you. Now go write the greatest RPG villain of all time.