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George Krashos
Master of Realmslore
Australia
6646 Posts |
 Posted - 26 Aug 2014 : 01:39:44
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This hasn't received much attention on the boards so I thought I'd give a bit of a rundown for those who weren't there and some impressions/thoughts.
This is my second Spin a Yarn, the first being 7 years ago when I attended my first GENCON. My first Spin a Yarn experience wasn't particularly enjoyable as I thought the concept was brilliant but wasted on the fans that attended and shaped the story. I believed (and still do) that Spin a Yarn represents a unique and special opportunity to get Ed to write a canon story about the Realms and (in my book) reveal hitherto unknown information and realmslore. Bluntly, the first Spin a Yarn I went to was IMO an exercise in puerile sexual innuendo with no rhyme or reason to it save for audience members engaging in an escalating "arms race" of silliness and ridiculous premises. In other words, a total waste of time. But hey, everyone's mileage likely varied.
It's a testament to Ed's cleverness that he ever managed to craft a tale of the Realms out of such dross. But I digress ...
My second Spin a Yarn experience was altogether more satisfying. Erin Evans was on the writing panel with Ed and our own Brian Cortijo (Garen Thal) was master of ceremonies and scribe. Spin a Yarn actually had ground rules put in place and the presence of children in the audience (who gave some great suggestions - hats off to them) meant that some of the more lewd predilections of the audence were tempered to a degree. Sure, there were plenty of silly suggestions - that's what Spin a Yarn is famous for after all, for good or ill - but there were enough interesting and sensible ones to craft and interesting story IMO.
For the record I gave two suggestions: I wanted the story to mention the spell "Spell Shear" used by Mythantar of Myth Drannor in his fight with the Starym archmages in "Elminster in Myth Drannor" and I wanted to see the tomb of a dead zulkir of Thay. Westgate appeared to feature broadly in some of the suggestions so I wouldn't be surprised to see the tale set there.
In terms of Spin a Yarn going forward, whilst I know that it is considered a "free for all" to an extent, I believe that it would benefit from even greater focus on the subject matter and topics to be included in the story. In other words, it might be nice at the get-go to give those present three places in the Realms to vote on at the start (i.e. Rashemen, Calimshan and the Great Rift, for example) where the story would be set. I think then that further suggestions would be moulded by knowing that the story is going to be set in the Great Rift etc. This would IMO result in a tighter, hopefully brigher and more focused tale that could feature realmslore that Ed and Erin would like to reveal or create, rather than having to shoehorn in a halfling paladin wearing the Srinshee's nightshift travelling with his were-bison sidekicks. But heck, what do I know ...
-- George Krashos
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"Because only we, contrary to the barbarians, never count the enemy in battle." -- Aeschylus |
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The Red Walker
Great Reader
USA
3563 Posts |
Posted - 27 Aug 2014 : 15:19:45
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What do you know?
Loads and loads my friend (and I think you know how highly thought of and respected you are here at the keep).....I just think your taking it a bit too serious.
We get massive amounts of lore direct from Ed right here at the keep. (is it enough....well for some there is no such thing ) And everytime Ed speaks about the realms it is canon that adds to the realms.
So after all is said and done, I think the Spin a Yarn gives Ed a chance to cut loose and just enjoy creating with no expectations, pressures from the "powers that be" and just have fun with his fans.
When I take him to his core, that's how I see Ed...a guy who loves to have fun and make others happy.
He is so aware and so appreciative of his fans...I truly think he loves it, just the way it is.
Just another opinion. |
A little nonsense now and then, relished by the wisest men - Willy Wonka
"We need men who can dream of things that never were." -
John F. Kennedy, speech in Dublin, Ireland, June 28, 1963
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Gary Dallison
Great Reader
United Kingdom
6351 Posts |
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Garen Thal
Master of Realmslore
USA
1105 Posts |
Posted - 27 Aug 2014 : 19:22:10
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I got a hearty hug and 'thank you' from Ed for running Spin A Yarn this year, and for keeping things (relatively) orderly, (slightly) cleaner, and more cooperative than years past.
At its heart, Spin A Yarn is not about making Ed perform; it is about a group of people engaging in a fulfilling exercise of cooperative storytelling. In the past, it has turned into a display of narrative gymnastics whereby Ed is forced to reconcile countless disparate story elements into a cohesive tale, and (out of both space and storytelling necessity) dismiss a number of contributions with off-handed remarks, rumors, and "that can't be so!" declarations. What we all wanted out of this time around was something a little more substantive.
Just as a clarification, the only ground rules were: no real-life modern technology, brand names, or identifiable persons; no using characters of authors not on the panel (i.e. no Drizzt, no Cale, etc.); no use of items or elements that have specifically been used and over used in the past (this being my 10th Spin A Yarn, I'm quite familiar with the track record, but candidates for this included rods of lordly might and any variation on "pudding"); and a ban on items which (intentionally or not) change the wearer's gender.
We did have periods where we asked for specific types of contributions (characters, locations, and so forth), and we also encouraged participants to build their story elements off of one another, rather than coming back to the same item they themselves contributed earlier and building off of that. This was to avoid the half-Halfling half-tiefling (quartiefling?) dragonblooded were-pony sorcerer riding a warpig backwards into battle whose name is Jim and who has a brother named Daryl and another brother named Darryl and when he gets to the tavern the barmaid asks him "why the long face" problem. All three of us, as a group, decided that the seminar could either be a free-for-all where people could go fishing for their contribution in the final story, or it could be an experiment in cooperative storytelling where we all created something fun and meaningful together. We chose the latter.
I have thus far received nothing but positive feedback from anyone that attended, but if anyone that participated has any comments at all--negative or otherwise--I am certainly open to hearing it. |
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dsaraujo
Acolyte
Brazil
2 Posts |
Posted - 29 Aug 2014 : 15:49:00
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| It was my first event, and I loved it. I read previous stories, and got inspired but the suggestions. Thank you guys involved in the organization of such unique event. |
Daniel Salles de Araujo
2nd Level DM. [v|b]logger and podcaster: http://www.rolando20.com.br |
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GENCON Spin a Yarn Seminar 2014
