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Adventure Writing Like A Fucking Boss $3.00
Average Rating:4.0 / 5
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Adventure Writing Like A Fucking Boss
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Adventure Writing Like A Fucking Boss
Publisher: Kortthalis Publishing
by phil p. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/25/2020 10:08:27

Picked this up years ago. Its a quick to read like a bull is quick to ride. Jump up and jump on this bad boy because you'll be in for some bully adventures. HBD VENGER



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Adventure Writing Like A Fucking Boss
Publisher: Kortthalis Publishing
by Hal G. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/12/2018 15:07:38

If you arn't familiar with Venger Satanis and his particular flare for naming books, you might pass this by as a joke after you read the title. Don't do that. I put the carriage before the horse and got Adventure Writing II before I got this one... it was so invaluable to me that I needed to add this to my collection. And it's just as invaluable. I doesn't matter what style of game you run, this book will have something that you will be able to take away to make your adventures better. It calls attention to the obvious things that are so basic and fundamental that they get overlooked in the heat of making an adventure... its a must read and I give it my full recommendation.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Adventure Writing Like A Fucking Boss
Publisher: Kortthalis Publishing
by larry h. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/18/2018 18:43:03

This booklet was made up of "short and sweet, quick and dirty guidelines" that provide a solid foundation for those with little or no idea of where to start. Perfect for me. Venger gives you some practical ways to come up with an adventure idea and how to turn that into enough material to become a playable adventure that should hit all the points of interest for your players. Guidelines for writing with style, sandbox vs railroading, and a nice breakdown of an adventure into its composite pieces were the most helpful to me mainly because I was a blank slate and needed help getting started with the basics. Advice on setting a scene and when to end it or take it up a notch and up the stakes was also new info for me and I'm glad it was included. As good as this was, the book How to Game Master Like a F+cking Boss was such a bigger book of GM tips and advice that I'd recommend that if you read this one and want to get more of Venger's advice on GMing.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Adventure Writing Like A Fucking Boss
Publisher: Kortthalis Publishing
by William A. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 01/17/2018 19:55:07

When you buy a Kort'thalis Publishing release, what you are buying is a trip to the proverbial flea market. You're never quite sure up front what you're going to get, only that it's going to run the gamut. You're going to find things you don't have an interest in, a things you want but will never use, and maybe a few things that might just be exactly what you're looking for.

It's a $3 PDF. If you think it's going to contain detailed advice on how to write best-selling RPG scenarios, you're barking up the wrong tree. But if you're an experienced GM looking for something a little offbeat to get the wheels in your head turning and maybe unearth some new fertile ground for ideas to take root in...this might be exactly what you need. Isn't it worth a roll of the dice to see?



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Adventure Writing Like A Fucking Boss
Publisher: Kortthalis Publishing
by [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 11/22/2017 04:37:57

The content of this product is very very limited. It is 14 pages in total 2 pages of full page intro images and 1 page of credits. Several one page images and more than a large square boxes. For a reasource that is intended to teach you how to write like a Boss there sure as hell is a lot of empty space.

It is full of unoriginal and uninspired work with no structure or experience that might be useful. quite honestly regret speding the time to review this but I feel like it my obligation to spare everyone the waste of going through this.



Rating:
[1 of 5 Stars!]
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Adventure Writing Like A Fucking Boss
Publisher: Kortthalis Publishing
by Benjamin S. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 09/14/2017 11:23:34

It misses details and elaboration, especially on the actual writing part. However, what can you expect for $3? It is a good start, nothing more, nothing less. If you get more into adventure writing you might leave some of it behind and explore the depths and possibilities of adventure writing that are out there. I for myself don't like writing adventures in the form of scenes. The scenes are something which happens in my game, not on the planning table. I have to be honest - the author implies that his guide is for GMs how want to play the adventure after they have written them. I do it the other way around, first I play the adventure, then I might bother to write it down for others, will the input and insights I gathered from playing. I think it is a waste of time to write adventures in this way befor you play them. Especially with that in mind the book doesn't get in the art of rewriting and redacting your adventure.

So, in the end I give a solid 3 out of 5. It won't change my game, but it wasn't a waste of time or money either. Maybe I will even try to write one of my next adventures exactly like it is recommended in the guide.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
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Adventure Writing Like A Fucking Boss
Publisher: Kortthalis Publishing
by Jeff C. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 09/14/2017 04:54:11

I like to read/collect books about adventure writing and GM'ing. I stayed away from similar titles from this line of books because I think dropping an "F-Bomb" in your title is a bit juvenile, crude, ill-mannered, unprofessional, makes you sound uneducated and is done strictly for shock value. While I don't advocate censorship, I advocate responsible, sensible writing and editing. I have been known to drop foul language in front of my kids, old people, etc, just not when writing gaming material. I started gaming when I was 10. Do I really want my 11 year old son picking this up?

That said, I could have just walked away from this pdf all together. Then curiousity took hold...

It's really short, including a big logo, several sidebars, a full page illustration and a long quoted scene from Resevoir Dogs. I think this might have made for an okay-ish article in a fanzine or the like, but I'm not sure it was worth much to me in terms of the money I spent.

Shameless plugs are okay in moderation. I think this author went out of his way to include them.

Some of the advice was good, maybe even great with some polish. Some of the examples made me chuckle. There's a lot of potential here, but I feel it was mired in the author's personal opinions and negative examples. Some of this advice was redundant with other sources such as "How to Write Modules That Don't Suck" and basic writing advice you would get in any given course. However, it was done in the author's very distinctive style, which merits mention.

Good effort and intentions, just needs a lot of work on revision and substance.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
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Adventure Writing Like A Fucking Boss
Publisher: Kortthalis Publishing
by Thilo G. [Featured Reviewer]
Date Added: 09/11/2017 05:12:01

An Endzeitgeist.com review

This advice booklet clocks in at 14 pages, 1 page front cover, 1 page kort’thalis glyph, 1 page editorial, leaving us with 11 pages of content, so let’s take a look!

Okay, so this advice-book for adventure-writers and, as one born from the pen of one of the OSR’s more controversial writers, its very first section is titled “No Limits” – it is a rallying call versus censorship and, to a degree, something I absolutely agree with. Why? Because someone, somewhere, is bound to be offended by what you write, no matter how carefully you phrase your material. That being said, the pdf does draw a line in the sand that very much echoes my sentiment – never force PCs to harm children, even if they are make-believe children. It is a line in the sand I share…but it brings me to an aspect of the book that should be mentioned first:

This book is about writing modules for your group, and not for public consumption.

This is important, for the aforementioned no-limits-aesthetic falls apart pretty quickly once you have to navigate the harsh realities of closed IP, compatibility-licenses, etc. That being said, even when writing for your own group, there are limits – we have wildly diverging levels of tolerance for the descriptive portrayal of the less pleasant potential aspects of the condition humana, and what may be totally fine for guys like me could be utterly horrific for other players – so my expansion of the thesis, which arguably focuses more on theme rather than levels of violence/sex/etc., would be “No Limits within the boundaries that your group considers palatable.”

But that may just be me and is much less catchy and edgy. It should also be noted that this pdf does not, not even once, note the mathematical principles and difficulty-gauging process, which may not be required for Kort’thalis pretty simple d6-based game-engines, but which is very much a huge stumbling block for more complex games. Getting rules-language right is similarly not touched upon, probably due to the same reasons. Heck, many OSR-writers would benefit seriously from taking a close look at the system for which they’re writing. Simple rules don’t mean that they’re not supposed to be precise. (Check out Necrotic Gnome’s Complete Vivimancer for a gorgeous example of how to write incredibly precise OSR-material that loses none of the cool outré wildness we all love…) Sorry, I’m rambling.

So, you decided to write your own module, righty? Venger’s first advice regarding structuring would be the elevator pitch and it won’t remain the only one: Sections of the adventure are likened to scenes and their anatomy is treated as such: Concise questions allow you to get a grip on them and the use of random tables and dressing choices as means to make things more interesting is similarly touched upon. The book also helps you establish a grasp on what happens between the scenes (and breathers) and the use of the callback reference as a narrative device that you can employ as alternate storytelling means or to make things fall into place – we often see that used to great effect in the smarter horror/thriller movies, so yeah, kudos – I just wished it would provide some ideas to make the callback work smoothly. If we remain in the realm of those movies – they turn into duds if you can see the reveal/callback coming from a mile away, so some advanced guidelines would have been neat to see. The ultimate expression of these movie-analogues would be the trailer test – can you make a trailer that’s compelling out of the scenes assembled?

From a structural point of view, the trinity of combat, interaction and exploration are covered. The general structure of an adventure is discussed with a classic 5-act structure and, as conflict is at the heart of most adventuring, depicting interesting conflict, upping the ante for a scene, etc. can be found and all such aspects are presented in an easy to grasp manner.

Structure-wise, the importance of sandboxing versus railroads…and where the difference lies between railroads and guardrails, are mentioned. After all, as a consequence of the limited nature of the medium words versus our imagination, a degree of railroading is hard to avoid. The pdf also advises the prospective reader regarding finding a style – whether terse or detail-oriented or in-between and the respective aesthetics. Personally, I would have loved if the pdf actually mentioned tips for these styles; tricks; means to develop them. It remains, for the most part, a pretty basic discussion of the standards.

Conclusion:

Editing and formatting are top-notch, I noticed no significant glitches. Layout adheres to a nice two-column full-color standard with reddish veins and the pdf comes with a second, more printer-friendly b/w-version. The pdf sports some really nice b/w-artworks and comes fully bookmarked for your convenience.

So, here’s the big question: Should you get this guidebook by Venger As’Nas Satanis?

The response, ultimately, depends on your motivation and your level of expertise. If you’re already a veteran and cognizant of most pitfalls of adventure-writing, then this will not do much for you.

Similarly, this will not provide any new insights if you have a background in an academic field that studies, in some form, the structures of a given form of media. If you’re looking for a concise how-to-guide to get published by the “big players” (in as far as these exist in RPGs in the first place), then this won’t necessarily help you there either. This is a book for writing adventures for your home group, first and foremost. It is not a book that teaches you to write for the rules of a given system, doesn’t help you extrapolate success-chances, etc. This is not about “DESIGNING”, this is only about writing.

This guide does not discuss the pitfalls of structural variations, how to generate modular investigations, truly free sandboxes (ironically enough) like hex crawls. This is very much a vanilla adventure writing pdf, blended with a kind of written form of pep-talk, telling writers to stand up for their vision – and in a field where many brilliant writers suffer from anxiety, impostor syndrome, etc., this has some worth in itself.

What this does, however, is to outline an easy way to think with a certain structure about not yet fully gestated adventure ideas, a guidance that particularly newcomers to the arena of writing are likely to appreciate greatly. Additionally, the book can be seen as a kind of submission guideline for Venger’s adventure-writing contest for Kort’thalis Publishing, which, obviously, makes the aforementioned potential issues with submission guidelines different from those herein, moot.

Is this worth the low and fair asking price? If you want to submit a module to Kort’thalis, then absolutely! If you love Venger’s modules and his distinct style and structure, then this makes for a nice introduction to the subject matter. Now, my advice for veterans or those looking for advanced advice would be to skip this; personally, I got no new knowledge whatsoever out of this pdf and frankly, my own adventures tend to gravitate towards more difficult structures than what this covers. (Same holds true for some of Venger’s modules, fyi – this is a starting point, after all!)

At the same time, I can see this pdf perfectly fulfilling its role as a first guidance booklet for prospective authors, which is to say, that yes, I do believe that this has a raison d`être. For me as a person, this did literally nothing, but as a reviewer, I need to take its value for a part of its demographic into account – even if, to me, this is less “writing like a fucking boss” and more “n00b writing basics for home use 101.” You won’t find extensive pacing guidelines, the mechanics of setting up sequels, establishing leitmotifs and using them – the pdf does not cover the depths of the subject matter and remains a place to start from.

Ultimately, this booklet is less widely useful than it should be and misses a significant part of its potential demographics; but it also does what it sets out to do rather well. A novice GM sans theoretical experience regarding module creation should consider this to be a solid offering. If one of the caveats I listed above apply to you regarding your knowledge, experience, goals, etc., then skip this – this is not for you.

In the end, my final verdict will clock in at 3.5 stars, but honestly, I can’t round up for this one – it may be a twist or irony, but to me, Venger’s guide to GMing like a Fucking Boss has more salient advice that can be extrapolated to adventure-writing; his discussion of how to structure narratives and sell them to the players, how to improvise, helps significantly with the DESIGN-aspect of the adventure and the material covered is significantly broader in the way it can be applied. So yeah, veterans, take a look at that one instead. Chances are you’ll find at least something cool in that tome!

Endzeitgeist out.



Rating:
[3 of 5 Stars!]
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Adventure Writing Like A Fucking Boss
Publisher: Kortthalis Publishing
by Ben W. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 09/02/2017 07:53:59

I've been a GM for 25 of the 27 years I have been roleplaying. I am always looking for new gems and morsels to leverage for aiding my adventure design and play. This is not the greatest ever read on the subject (how can it be at only 11 real pages of content?), but especially for $3.00, it is a very good document to have on hand to refresh yourself on the basics. It reminds me of the KISS principle (Keep It Simple, Stupid). How often do I fall into that trap of trying to over do it, trying to make it more and more awesome, when all I really need to do is take a breath and remember the basics. This book helps you center on those basics, helps you focus on the important story elements, and does so without innundating oneself with too much extra superfluous crap. It reminds you of how to focus on the important elements of the story and of that fact that GMing is 50% prep and 50% improvisation. I give it 4 starts because I found it useful, informative, and reasonably priced. I didn't give it 5 starts because I think there is a bit of waste at the beginning with the entire first page dedicated to "no limits" and primarily because there is a bit of hype/marketing (good on you - wink, wink) with the title and plugs for other documents by the same publisher within the content. No big deal and understandbly part of the content, but just a bit much for me. Still, a good, short read to have on hand when you need a refresher course on the basics and for a reasonable price. I do wish there would have been more, but hey, I didn't rate it "perfect" for a reason.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Adventure Writing Like A Fucking Boss
Publisher: Kortthalis Publishing
by Mark N. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/30/2017 15:16:24

I went into this with my eyes wide open. I knew the author has a destinctive style, and I wasn't dissapointed. I picked upsom great tips and it is a bargain at the price.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Adventure Writing Like A Fucking Boss
Publisher: Kortthalis Publishing
by Stephane G. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/15/2017 18:58:02

This book in my opinion is good if you want some tips on how to set up a basic structure for your adventure, whether you wan to submit it to a publisher or just for yourself, but may not be worth the price.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
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Adventure Writing Like A Fucking Boss
Publisher: Kortthalis Publishing
by Arto S. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/10/2017 04:12:37

It's a solid ballsy guide to what you are expected to write that qualifies as a good adventure.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Adventure Writing Like A Fucking Boss
Publisher: Kortthalis Publishing
by A customer [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 08/04/2017 17:45:48

I've been a GM/DM since in the 1980s, and I found this booklet to be well worth the read. It has made me reflect on how I ran my past adventures, and there's information in there that I can apply to future adventures for my campaign. This is a great resource for new and experienced GMs. Highly recommended.



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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Adventure Writing Like A Fucking Boss
Publisher: Kortthalis Publishing
by Marc P. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/26/2017 17:58:41

So, earlier this year I had a moment of realization. I came to see that while I'd been ignoring the written adventures of both yore and today I'd been missing out on learning design from other people's effort. It's not that I can't run a game, or write an adventure for myself, but going through the process of writing one for other people made me realize where I tended to say "fuck it" and just improvise. Not a bad thing, but not a great thing for published product.

So I've been looking at various bits of advice in this regard. The latest of which is "Adventure Writing Like A Fucking Boss" which is a title that really says something about the confidence level of the author...

What's In It?

Advice that strips out most of the bullshit. Seriously, there's very little pretension here, which is a good thing. Hell, it's probably the best part of this product that it doesn't treat itself as being too far "above the reader." In what amounts to about 9 pages of text if you strip out the art, cover, and credits the author lays down the foundations of adventure writing. As a GM for decades there's not a lot here that's "new to me" but it's refreshing to see it all laid out and bare.

The content is broken out into fifteen sections ranging from about 3 paragraphs to a dozen or so. The author starts off by detailing why you may want to write your own adventures. OK, fair enough, but probably anybody who has gotten this far already made that choice. It then goes into the idea of the elevator pitch as a metric for good and bad ideas. This is pretty reasonable, if you cannot sum up an idea into 2-3 interesting sentences it's probably not an idea that will yield an interesting adventure. Or it's too much, and you need to consider breaking it up into smaller parts; perhaps your epic idea can become fodder for a series of adventures instead. From there we get some advice on finding your own writing style and trying to make the best of it. There are some words of wisdom here in regards to over-writing.

Next we get a discussion of the adventure rails. Ah, to railroad, or not to railroad, that is the question! Actually, no, screw that, NEVER railroad. But, to the author's point, knowing when to toss in "guardrails" to keep the adventure from going entirely ... ahem ... "off the rails" ... is wise. Players are ... unpredictable creatures, and having mitigating factors in place to help keep the session from going bananas is good. Most GMs simply cannot keep up improvising after a certain point without abandoning the original adventure, which sucks.

At this point we're on page four and getting into the meat. First we get "Anatomy of an Adventure" breaking down the basic (and classic) structure for storytelling. Then the author dives into scenes and starts discussing each component therein. The fact that adventures and scenes have the same basic structure is makes this all the more valuable.

From here out the product fires on all cylinders for me, right up until the last section, which just didn't float for me, but hey, that's cool, it's only one page. The writing keeps being punchy and direct, and breaks down how to build a scene up without getting overwrought. It's presents the idea of a "Trailer Test" to help prune scenes much in the way the Elevator Pitch helps prune out bad adventure ideas. This is just the fractal nature of things in my opinion.

After scenes we get a quick hit of the three most basic aspects of gaming (and storytelling) and how these should all be present in some form to make for a good session. Lastly there is some advice for "moments" or interludes, the stuff between scenes that adds color, as well as the idea of callbacks.

The layout if functional, the art is minimal (which is fine) and of a good quality, but I couldn't stand the full color version with these angry red veins rimming each page. It added nothing, and it detracted plenty. Thankfully there's a printer friendly version without that. I will say the cover is quality, and I imagine that's just good marketing to put an attractive eye catching cover onto any product. Duh.

Closing Thoughts

I'd say that if you're new to GMing, and new to writing up your own adventures this is a pretty damn good purchase for $3. If you've been at it a while it may make for a nice refresher course, and the clean and bullshit free presentation of the writing does help make this a nice reference or refresher. Will this make you a "fucking boss" at adventure writing? I'm not sure about that, but it sure as shit will help prevent you from making an ass of yourself. There's plenty more to writing good adventures than structure, but if you don't have good "bones" the flesh won't matter for shit.

Score: 85% - Pretty good for those wanting a refresher course or those who are new to adventure writing. Maybe not what you're looking for if you've been GMing for a while.



Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Adventure Writing Like A Fucking Boss
Publisher: Kortthalis Publishing
by Elizabeth R. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/21/2017 19:04:08

This is a pretty good booklet, well worth the cost. I'm only halfway done, but it's helping me make a lot of connections between fiction writing and creating scenarios for player-directed RPG.

But, seriously, guys, do we need the F word in the title?



Rating:
[5 of 5 Stars!]
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