How do you go from being a fan of a franchise to one of the people who gets to work on it? What is it like to write tie-in fiction, and what are some of the challenges these writers face?

I’m extremely grateful to be joined by Robert Denton III (@ohnospooky on Twitter) for the next installment of the +1 to Writing series. He’s the author of the upcoming The Sword and the Spirits novella, which I worked with him on as his editor. Set in the Legend of the Five Rings setting, the 144-page hardcover is due out soon from Fantasy Flight Games. The story features the spiritual Phoenix Clan and fan-favorite characters Shiba Tsukune and Isawa Tadaka, along with introductions to Kaito Kosori, her family, and their secrets.

I tracked Robert down amid several nor’easters (and power outages) to ask him a bit about his background in writing, his process, and some tips and tricks he’s discovered along the way.

What does the path to becoming an RPG freelancer look like? How does that path differ if you want to write tie-in stories for your favorite IP, or if you have an idea for an original story? What does it actually take to go professional in the business, and what are the writing habits and creative mindsets you need to cultivate along the way?

In the very first entry in this series, I caught up with author, editor, and tie-in writer Jennifer Brozek after her appearance at Norwescon last weekend to ask her a bit about her journey as a writer and what advice she has for people looking to get into the RPG industry. If you haven’t had the chance to read any of her work before, you’re missing out! Her works have twice been nominated for the Bram Stoker award, and she’s won the Scribe Award for best tie-in Young Adult novel for BattleTech: The Nellus Academy Incident. She’s also an active member of SFWA (Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America), HWA (Horror Writers Association), and IAMTW (International Association of Media Tie-In Writers).

It’s okay to sometimes want our roleplaying game sessions to be a refuge from the never-ending news cycle. When real life is already bleak, we don’t need our escapes to be equally depressing or hopeless. In trying times, many of us would rather tell stories of justice, empowerment, compassion, and hope. We want our characters to become reflections of the best we have to offer. In this way, the game becomes a welcome respite when we want to take a break from the daily struggle. For writers looking to imbue their stories with a ray of hope, you can adapt this advice to your fiction projects as well.

Although there are many examples of tabletop roleplaying systems and settings that evoke a grimdark flavor, there seem to be fewer examples of games that feel “noblebright.” The following article outlines some tips for game masters who would like to run RPG campaigns that inspire courage and recharge players’ emotional batteries. These guideposts can also be used to fine-tune a setting to be more representative of the one we wish we were living in—one where individuals can make a real difference and stand up for each other.

If you’ve ever played Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay, Dark Heresy, or any of the Witcher games, you know there’s a distinctly grimdark, gritty tone to those games. By concentrating on certain themes, you can evoke some of that depth and despair in your own games—and raise the stakes of the campaign in the process. If you’ve enjoyed grimdark books and are looking to expand into that genre, you can adapt this advice to your fiction projects as well.

But GM beware: it’s a fine line to walk between simply punishing your players and making a game with greater challenges and rewards. The key is to keep the pendulum swinging between light and dark, hope and fear. And to keep your players coming back, they’ll need to have seductive opportunities to succeed or make a positive impact on the world, even if they can’t save all of it.

Whether you’re pulling together a one-shot for a gaming convention or an adventure for your home campaign, sometime between when you wrangle a group and when you start playing, you have to develop the actual adventure! There are many components that go into roleplaying game adventures—encounters and maps, non-player characters and stat blocks, the list goes on—and tackling everything at once can be daunting. If you’re not sure where to start, the following five steps will help you organize your ideas and make sure you cover all your bases to create an engaging scenario that gives the players agency to determine their characters’ fate.

Step 1: Come up with A Hook or Premise

Start by coming up with the basic idea that forms the underpinning of the scenario and guides the rest of your prep. Ask yourself, what cool thing does this adventure revolve around? What element of the adventure gets you the most excited and helps you differentiate it from the myriad adventures you’ve played in or run before? The cool thing could be a location, a magic item, an NPC, or a specific reveal. Alternatively, you could explore what-if scenarios that interest you. What if a sentient magic item had gone crazy? What if we got to explore the temple shown in Jedha, and why would we go there? What if the pretty soldiers from Sailor Moon were more like a yankii street gang in a post-apocalyptic NeoTokyo?

Feel free to brainstorm ideas surrounding that cool thing and write a half page or so of description to give yourself the down-low on the focus of your adventure. You’ll probably use that information later when you devise the characters, obstacles, and world that are connected to it.

As you’re brainstorming these ideas, don’t forget to consider why you’re creating this adventure and the specific requirements or restraints you’re dealing with: Where will you play? How long do you have to play? Who will be playing? What tone or age rating will the adventure have? What are the conventions or tropes that surround the genre, and how can I play with my audience’s expectations?