2018 was a whirlwind of a year for me. I wrapped up my development work on the Legend of the Five Rings Roleplaying Game Core Rulebook before leaving my full-time position at Fantasy Flight Games to work at a textbook publisher. I was glad to continue to freelance for FFG, editing all of the L5R web fictions that were published last year plus Across the Burning Sands, writing the “Wedding at Kyotei... 
So you’ve got a collection of guides for game masters, a playlist’s worth of GM tips from Geek & Sundry, and a group of players who are happy to be your test subjects. In order to become a great GM, all you have to do is clock in ten thousand hours* of practicing those techniques in order to become great at gamemastering, right? Not so fast. According to the research, simply reading a book, watching a... 
As with any activity that requires you to perform in front of other people, GMing can be nerve-wracking. Some amount of nervousness is to be expected, but when your fears overwhelm you and you consider cancelling the session at the last minute, you can unwittingly put your entire campaign in jeopardy. Many of us creative types know how anxiety and depression can interfere with the way we want to live our... 
Fiddleback requested some advice for people attempting NaNoWriMo, and I’m happy to oblige him. Without further ado, here’s what worked for me to finish 43k words in 21 days last year (and I would’ve won, too, if it hadn’t been for a week-long visit to NY to visit family for Thanksgiving). Luckily, we’ve got five weekends this year to kick some ass, so let’s do this!... 
This post was originally written in the December 2012 issue of The Torch, Wittenberg University’s student-run newspaper, just before I graduated college and headed out to Minnesota to start as an Associate Roleplaying Game Producer at Fantasy Flight Games. Looking back, I think it’s still applicable to anyone who wants to break into a relatively competitive niche industry. I’m not entering a...
