Some people play roleplaying-games for the challenge; others play them for the story. Award-winning fantasy author and freelance game writer Marie Brennan is unabashedly in the latter camp. In these essays she looks at tabletop and live-action RPGs from a narrative perspective, exploring the ways the framework of a game can generate and support (or undermine) your tale. Whether you are a player or a game master, Dice Tales offers insights on every facet of RPG storytelling, including: * generating characters with rich narrative potential * scaling plot as PCs become more powerful * managing the interaction between rules and roleplay * campaign planning at different stages * the social dynamics of collaborative creation * and more!

Contemplating the randomness of nature, Ekeland extends his consideration of the catastrophe theory of the universe begun in Mathematics and the Unexpected, drawing upon rich literary sources and current topics in math and physics such as chaos theory, information theory, and particle physics. Line drawings.

Here’s a collection of stories you won’t find anywhere else. Inside are tales of a spooky mansion eager to be bought; disappointed model railroad denizens; and a doorknob that greets your hand, literally. Also part of this collection are the sagas of Surgard the Northerner. Journey with the heroic and witty Surgard as he faces down foolish giants, singing dwarves, duplicitous wizards, suspicious savages, and worst of all, a monster with an attorney! And last but not least is the tale of the Valley Springs Resort. It’s a place on a distant world where visitors can relax and have a good time. You might not think such a place has much of a story. You’d be wrong, which is why you need to go there.

How far from reality can you travel in 15 minutes? The stories of One Cup Chronicles take the reader on a gritty, in-depth tour of the Russian underworld, all in the amount of time it takes to drink a single cup of coffee. Discover the dark secret of a famous philanthropist, watch the downfall of a world-renowned gambler, or come along for the ride as a pickpocket accidentally gets tangled up in a malicious scheme – all before your coffee gets cold.

Some children were feeling sad. They filled the canvas with colors. From these colorful canvases emerged a variety of stories. The Crèare Foundation connects children with art. ‘Canvas Tales’ is a book that inspires children with stories, poems, illustrated narratives, talking pictures, & games. A group of melancholic children poured their emotions onto the canvas, saturating it with vibrant hues. From these kaleidoscopic masterpieces sprang forth an array of enchanting tales.

Imagine the guys from Animal House with high SAT scores. The Tiltboys are buddies who went to Stanford together and began a weekly poker game that led to weekend trips to Las Vegas and, for a few of them, to a life of playing poker professionally.

Here are more than two hundred oral tales from some of Louisiana's finest storytellers. In this comprehensive volume of great range are transcriptions of narratives in many genres, from diverse voices, and from all regions of the state. Told in settings ranging from the front porch to the festival stage, these tales proclaim the great vitality and variety of Louisiana's oral narrative traditions. Given special focus are Harold Talbert, Lonnie Gray, Bel Abbey, Ben Guiné, and Enola Matthews--whose wealth of imagination, memory, and artistry demonstrates the depth as well as the breadth of the storyteller's craft. For tales told in Cajun and Creole French, Koasati, and Spanish, the editors have supplied both the original language and English translation. To the volume Maida Owens has contributed an overview of Louisiana's folk culture and a survey of folklife studies of various regions of the state. Car Lindahl's introduction and notes discuss the various genres and styles of storytelling common in Louisiana and link them with the worldwide are of the folktale.