NathanKlas

This is a series where I look back on work I've done in the past, pointing out what worked, what didn't, and what I'd change if I did it again. It's also 100% me smelling my own farts, but I do like reading other people do retrospectives like this, so hopefully you get something out of this too. Glass Hound This is a Delta Green scenario that I wrote for the 2024 Shotgun Scenario Contest , which is an annual scenario writing contest with a 1,500-word limit (excluding stat blocks and other supplementary material). It won first place that year, and even got played through on the Technical Difficulties Gaming Podcast ! Needless to say, I'm very proud of this one. I also have some sharp criticisms. Let's get to it! For convenience's sake, especially for mobile users, I'm going to reproduce the text of the scenario here in black, and put my commentary in blue . You can find the original scenario here . Glass Hound in a Glass House for a Glass Hound in a Glas...

Back in the day, I wrote a short review for every scenario in the 2024 Shotgun Scenario contest . Compared to the previous year's reviews, I am much more satisfied with my writing style, and did the smart thing by making each page number correspond to a review number. Not to toot my own horn, but I did win both prizes that year, which is an achievement I will carry with me for the rest of my life. Enjoy! Link here .

Back in the day, I wrote a short review for every scenario in the 2023 Shotgun Scenario contest . This isn't my best work, but it was a great learning experience. Also, I unfortunately lost the original file, so I can't attach a google doc, just a pdf. Enjoy! Link here .

Just a cute little story, inspired by my cats.  ... I stirred and stretched, lazily blinking awake. My tangled limbs had thrown the sheets halfway off the bed. Dora was curled up under the crook of my arm, her tail tucked under her chin, her whiskers tickling my cheek. “O-o-a-a-ah” she purred, extending her forked tongue to lick the tip of my nose. “Baby time. Sleep now. Sleep.” Those cold eyes stared languidly into mine. A sliver of sun peeking through the curtains shone across her face, making the skin look golden, like her namesake. She didn’t blink even though the sun was beaming right into her- Sunlight? I flipped around in bed, immediately awake. Dora grunted. The clock was dead. But the noisemaker was still on, so there was still power. I traced my hand down the cord until I found the end. Unplugged. “What.” I said. “I kill machine.” Dora said, curling back into place. “Now baby time forever.” “No, the clock isn’t what makes me leave! I have to work! Oh…” I hurried out of be...

I Think You Should Leave is a very quotable show. A lot of the bits have entered my vocabulary, to the joy and annoyance of the people around me. One of those was "Do what you want." from the Save Corncob TV episode. Eventually, I started saying it out of context as ironic advice. Then it stopped being ironic. I think it's really good advice. For life, for writing, for creative work of any kind. Writing Advice I see great advice all the time. The kind that makes you want to write it down somewhere so you never forget it. I am, obviously, a big fan of great advice. I also see people ignore great advice all the time. They plan their first D&D game as a ten-year campaign in a vast original fantasy world. They prep pages of bland backstory for each NPC instead of the dungeon that's coming up next session. They write modules where the PCs are literal Nazis, insisting that they'll get the optics right where others have failed. It's infuriating as a veteran of t...