The Reds invite their Mystery Guest: DreadPirateRoberts

[Narina Menderlin]

Reds and Red Friends please welcome the Illuminators very own [glow=red,2,300]DreadPirateRoberts! [/glow]

 

He is invited here as our Mystery Guest. At the moment he is running the writing competition over at the Illuminators. Perhaps you could tell us a little about that Dread?

 

Here Reds and Red Friends can ask questions to get to know this mystery better.

 

DreadPirateRoberts you may ask questions of any of us at any time.

 

This thread is a good place to get to know someone outside of the Ajah.

 

Let the knowing begin!

[Raeyn]

 

Welcome, DPR!  Care to tell us a little bit about your home life, sir? :D

[Dwynwen]

Welcome to the WT!  What do you like to do in your spare time besides coming to DM?

[Barmacral]

Wes, perhaps you can tell us a little about the effort and ideas behind the creation and implementation of your mafia games?

[Mystica]

*snugglebites the Wes* Welcome, Oh Mysterious VIP Person!! And fabulous newspaper reporter!! :D

 

What's been happening in your life the last year?

[DPR]

 

Hello Reds & friends! Let's get started. *rolls up question answering sleeves*

 

Thanks to Narina for inviting me, and it's only fitting that we talk about the Illuminator Idol writing competition first! It's a contest (with real prizes) designed to inspire people to write. Week to week, I will post two stories to be compared on a vote thread. The story that gets the most votes wins.

 

The rules are simple:

 

1. The stories are posted without the author's name.

2. The stories can be from any genre and I do my best to try and group them by theme.

3. So far, I have asked for Flash Fiction (1,000 words or less) to keep the reading manageable. But I think we're going to have to expand the wordcount.

4. When the contest is over, the winner may claim the prize by PMing me and may take credit for the story om the thread.

 

There have been over 20 stories submitted so far! The idea behind the contest is simply to get people to write. I love towrite, as do many of the Illuminators, and this is a way to share that with everyone else on DM!

[Elgee]

Hi there  :D

 

Have to ask: where did the handle DreadPirateRoberts come from?

 

And what made you join DM?

[DPR]

Hi Raeyn! A little bit about my home life, huh? Let's see...my wife and I recently celebrated our 10th anniversary and are expecting our first baby later in the summer. We have two dogs (and I'll throw in a plug for adopting rescue dogs here - there's nothing better!). We are movie and book junkies, workaholics, and I spend a ridiculous amount of time writing. ;D Which neatly ties into the next question...

 

Hi Dwynwen!

 

Writing is my big passion right now, so most of my free time goes to that. It's funny, I've always loved to read, and somwhere along the way, I came up with a few ideas for my own stories. Then I started writing. When I read the stuff I had written, I liked the ideas but the writing needed improvement and ever since then I've been wracking my brain to figure out how to do just that. There's a lot that goes into it - too much on most days - heh. Sometimes I feel like I've picked up a trick or two, and sometimes I look back and think that I've just written the worst drivel of all time.  But I love it, so I guess I'll keep trying or drive my self crazy first!

[DPR]

 

Barms! You'd love to know the secrets behind the games, wouldn't you!

 

Heh, seriously, who knows? I've got this thing where everything that I write about has to have a structure, a story arc, all the components of a professional work. And then there is Suras, which for whatever reason, is like a playground where there are no rules - which I love!

 

So that attitude filtered into the first Suras mafia game and I realized that the games could be alot more entertaining if there were features outside of the normal setup. So I started thinking...

 

What that turned into was a quest - to design a game a that is not too easy, but not impossible to figure out, with lots of room for players to influence the game with clever play.

 

Some things have worked, others have tanked, but it's always a blast. The other day I was thinking about what the next Suras game will look like...

[DPR]

 

Mystica! Wasssuuuup!

 

I've mostly been absorbed in writing the serial novel my sig is liked to. Work takes up a lot of time these days (for everybody, and I'm not complaining, just saying.) and we are putting together the baby's room.

 

What have you been up to?!

[DPR]

 

Hi Elgee!

 

I think that your question is best answered with a quote:

 

"Then he explained the name was the important thing for inspiring the necessary fear. You see, no one would surrender to the Dread Pirate Westley..."

 

That pretty much sums it up. heh

 

I found DM one day when I was looking for info about RJ and the next book. As soon as I saw the thread about the world-building project, I was in.

[Narina Menderlin]

lol. As you know you could post more than one reply in one post....

 

What kind of genre do you like to write?

[Naeann]

Dpr!!!  It's my favorite Mafia mentor!  Congrats on the baby coming!  I'm happy for you.  I know a bit about you anyways... from your fiddles questions and just conversing with you.  So I will leave the questions to the others.  Just wanted to congratulate you on the baby.

[Narina Menderlin]

BTW Congratulations on the baby Dread! *smile*

[DPR]

 

Nae! I've been busy and haven't been able to play in the last few games...I'm going to get rusty if I don't jump back in soon! Thanks for the congrats!

 

And thank you Narina for the same!

 

What kind of genre do you like to write?

 

In a word, horror! I like fantasy as well, but that tends to run dark as well. I'm infatuatd with monsters (any kind will do...) and literary horror. Anything by Poe, Howard, Lovecraft is right up my alley. Modern Urban Fantasy is fun, but not quite the same.

[Bursius]

Greetings Dread Pirate Roberts and the new baby!

[Narina Menderlin]

Cool! I've always found horror challenging to write. You don't want it to end up cheesy.

 

Don't be shy to ask more than one question! This mystery is still not unraveled. ;)

[Verbal32]

Hey Wes!  I'd like to ask when the next Suras game will be....?  Your games are VERY entertaining, so I'm looking forward to more of them.

 

And congrats on the coming baby!

[DPR]

 

Hello Bursius!

 

Hello Verbal! I miss playing with you guys - I've got to make some time to get back into a game soon!

 

The next Suras game is in development - but it's not exactly clear to me yet.

 

The last one completed the Pirate Brotherhood of the Hall trilogy, so the next one will explore all new territory. At this point, I really don't think we will see any of the same characters or nations. I'll definitely update as it comes along!

[Narina Menderlin]

Do you have a name for the baby yet??

 

Do you have any pictures of the babies room to share?

 

What are your dogs names?

 

What's your serial novel about? - I'll check out the link and have a read of it once i've got more time!

 

Could you give us a detailed explanation of the Suras mafia games?

[DPR]

Do you have a name for the baby yet??

 

Do you have any pictures of the babies room to share?

 

What are your dogs names?

 

What's your serial novel about? - I'll check out the link and have a read of it once i've got more time!

 

Could you give us a detailed explanation of the Suras mafia games?

 

We do have a name, but it's a closely guarded secret. ;) heh 

 

The room is still a guest room atm, but will be transformed soon. This will also include a repainting of the entire upstairs. According to my wife, there is no way that we can bring the baby home without repainting first...

 

The dog's names are Pax and Poe. We named Pax, but Poe came that way, which was how I first noticed her. She's awesome.

 

My novel is about...well...how to sum this up? It started as an explanation for things that go bump in the night. I wanted it to be a ghost story, but based on real events that are creepy - feeling like something is watchig you, or empty houses that spook you - that kind of thing. Then it turned into a world where there are multiple types of "others" including ghosts, demon-like beings, and beasts that live in our world, but are just out of reach of our senses.

 

But some people have ways of sensing them snd suspect the truth. I have a centuries old cult that works to bring the "demons" into phyiscal form, a host of people that can see or feel the demons and ghosts and a monster hunter who goes after the beasts that come into our world from the other.

 

It's part of a trilogy and there are also a lot of short stories about some of the characters. I need to work up a better summary of it, I know, but I'll work that when the first draft is done.

 

A detailed explanation of the Suras mafia games would take a while ;D, but I can tell you that they are mafia games gone a little haywire. They are set in Suras (this is the world that the Illuminators collborated to build and have been woring on for over three years now) and they are a combination of the mafia game with storytelling. Every player has a role, just like in a regular game. But then they each face decisions and situations outside of a regular game that fits into the plot of the story. It's kind of like a mafia RP, if that makes sense. heh

 

 

[Elgee]

Did you have any preconceived ideas of the (DM) Red Ajah. If so, did you think we would be the same as the Book Reds, somewhat the same, not even close?

 

Has your opinion changed at all?

[Barmacral]

You are gonna give us baby pictures when the baby comes along right?

[Naeann]

Good luck with that... he won't even show himself.

[Mayleigh Aes Sedai]

Hey hun sorry I'm Late!

 

I second Nae DPR is the legend of mafia games!!

I have to say I took a shine to DPR straight away purely because of his name and If you look anything like Wesley from princess bride then your wife is a luckily woman!! I love him in princess bride and Robbin hood men in tights hilarious.

 

hum so I shopu8ld probably ask a question...lets see... what country would you like to visit and why??