Category Archives: Geek and Sundry

Link Salad

It’s been a while since I posted up a blog full of random interesting links.

Here’s a few having to do with my books:

It’s odd to me, showing up on the same list as Aldus Huxley, Angela Carter, and Margaret Atwood.

Again, very flattering company. And I like the quote they used. I remember writing that one and being proud of it.

Over the years, I’ve been described as the next Tolkien, the next Scott Lynch, the next George Martin…. And while it’s flattering, I’d really rather be the first Pat Rothfuss. I have much more experience being that.

Now that I post up these three links, I realize they’re all lists of some sort. Which makes me feel kinda awful. My only saving grace is that I didn’t find these by clicking through horrible clickbait websites. (You’ll never believe what these authors did! Number 5 will surprise you!)

Speaking of, have you seen The Onion’s new parody site? Clickhole?

Clickhole

(Click to Embiggen. Seriously.)

It’s lovely as only The Onion can be.

*     *    *

In other news, here’s an article on Facebook being a whole new kind of dick.

And a blog where Vi Hart is being a whole new kind of cool.

Lastly, many of you remember Tabletop episode where I played Lords of Waterdeep with Wil Wheaton, Brandon Laatsch, and Felicia Day.

(Don’t know what I’m talking about? You can see the original, delicious half-hour episode over here.)

I laughed my ass off at the original episode, but the game was edited down considerably to get it to be 35 minutes long.

If you were ever curious to see how the whole thing played out in detail. If you ever wanted more owlbear jokes. If you ever wanted to watch my terrifying strategy unfold like a delicate flower made entirely of razor wire and the screams of angels….

Well, now you can. Because they released the extended version of the episode. More than two hours of solid gaming goodness. 

Fondly,

pat

P.S. Have I mentioned something kinda awesome is happening on July 7th?

It is. It very is.

Stay tuned for details.

Also posted in Beautiful Games, cool news, cool things, Felicia Day, hodgelany, videos, Wil Wheaton | By Pat35 Responses

Tabletop

As some of you have already seen, I was a guest on Wil Wheaton’s Tabletop a while back.

We played Lords of Waterdeep, and I had a great time.

To be completely honest with you, I wasn’t planning on watching the episode. After all, I was there. I know how the game played out. I bought the proverbial t-shirt.

But I wanted to hear Wil’s introduction to the game, so I started watching it.

And then I started laughing.

And then I kept watching it, and I kept laughing.

The truth is, I’d forgotten a lot of what had happened in the game. What’s more, they did an *amazing* job of editing it together.

And most importantly, Wil, Felicia, and Brandon were a fun group to play with. I love hanging out with quick-witted sharp-tongued people.

I ended up watching the whole thing eventually.

Here’s the episode if you’re interested….

My very favorite part was at the end when I screw up my cue….

Alternately, if watching cool, awesome, funny things isn’t really your bag. Here’s a little interview I did after the show. I talk about how I feel about board games and tell a cute story about my little boy, Oot.

Share and Enjoy,

pat

Also posted in Achievement Unlocked!, Felicia Day, gaming, videos, Wil Wheaton | By Pat39 Responses

Storyboard: A Call for Questions

For those of you who haven’t seen it yet. Here’s last month’s episode of Storyboard:

Not that I haven’t been proud of the other episodes, but I think we finally hit our stride with this one. It’s my favorite so far…

For episode #6, we’re doing something a little different. Since it’s happening on Jan 2nd, I know putting together a full panel of four writers will be tricky, as everyone is going to be either traveling because of the holidays or hung over from New Year’s. (Or still drunk from New Year’s).

Pat’s Edit: Sorry. I meant to say we’re doing this tonight, on January 1st. (At 8:00 PST)

So I’m going to team up with Mary Robinette Kowal this month. Together, we’ll be answering any questions people care to throw at us.

So if you happen to have any questions about the craft of writing, or the business of writing, or pretty much anything, post them in the comments below, and I’ll use them for Tuesday’s show.

Fire away….

pat

Also posted in calling on the legions, concerning storytelling, Machine Gun Q&A, The Story Board | By Pat75 Responses

Episode 4: The Play’s the Thing

Here’s this month’s episode of StoryBoard, for those of you who haven’t caught it yet. Episode 4: The Play’s the Thing.

This month we broke with tradition in several ways. We pre-recorded the show in order to avoid election night bandwidth issues, and we invited four guests instead of the regular three.

Both experiments were a qualified success. Shooting the show earlier in the day allowed us to bring in parents and east-coasters Peter V. Brett, Myke ColeSaladin Ahmed, and Naomi Novick. We also managed to avoid running into election coverage by scheduling a week before the election.

The downside is that there was a *tiny* little hurricane going on during our hangout. I don’t think that helped our connectivity very much. We lost a few of our guests for a couple minutes here and there, but since all the authors involved were experienced speakers and tabletop RPGers, none of them were thrown too far off their game.

Did I mention that this month our focus was storytelling in roleplaying?

Here it is….

Share and Enjoy…

Also posted in gaming, geeking out, the craft of writing, The Story Board, video games, videos | By Pat14 Responses

Showtime

Okay folks. It took some doing, but I’ve finally got everything lined up for the first episode of my show on Geek and Sundry.

What’s that? You want to know what the name of the show is? The name we picked from thousands of suggestions?

After a lot of deliberation, we settled on The Story Board.

We’ve got a logo and everything.

It’s got Latin in it, so you know we’re all kinds of posh.

Our first show is going to be about Urban Fantasy and our guests are Emma Bull, Jim Butcher, and Diana Rowland.

Jim will be joining us from the deep woods, where he is tucked away, LARPing. He’s said he’s not responsible if a sudden zombie invasion erupts while he’s online. I said that sounds perfectly reasonable….

If you want to watch the show live, it’s tonight, August 7th, at 8:00 PM Pacific Time.

I’ll be putting up a link on my Google+ account when we launch.

And yes. I know that time is different than what I said on the blog before. That’s because I was wrong on the blog before. This is the right time. 8:00 Pacific.

If you can’t catch it live, rest assured we’ll be posting up the footage on youtube before too long.

You know what the weirdest thing about all of this is? I can’t get the opening theme from the Muppet Show out of my head….

It’s going to take an extreme effort for me *not* to sing that when we start the show tonight…

pat

Also posted in the business of writing, the craft of writing, The Story Board | By Pat64 Responses

Cool news and a desperate cry for help…

Some of you might remember that when Felicia Day launched Geek and Sundry, she did a 12 hour live Google Air subscribathon in order to help spread the word.

I helped out in a small way, bringing in some other authors to talk about writing. Specifically, we talked about what makes for compelling characters.

I had a blast, partly because I’m terribly fond of the folks involved in the discussion: John Scalzi, Felicia Day, and Amber Benson.

But mostly I had a good time because I love talking about stories.

You see, this stuff is what I think about all the time. That’s a bit part of the reason I write the blog, so I can talk about stories and how they work.

It’s also a big part of the reason I go to conventions. I love getting together with other writers on a panel and talking about the craft of writing.

So after the subscribathon was over, I mentioned to Felicia that if she was interested, I’d love nothing better than to do that sort of thing again.

It would be like the sort of panel you get to see at conventions, I said. I could bring in whoever I wanted. Funny, clever people. Good talkers. People who aren’t afraid to argue a bit. Even better, the audience wouldn’t be limited. A lot of people don’t go to conventions. They can’t get time off work, or they can’t afford it. But if we did a series of these hangouts on Geek and Sundry, anyone could show up and enjoy the show. Y’know, because of the interwebs and the youtubes and such…

(I’m paraphrasing, of course.)

Much to my delight, Felicia took the idea her fellow producers, and they thought it would be a good idea.

So… yeah. I’m going to be doing a show on Geek and Sundry. I get to go play with the cool kids.

It’s going to be a series of hour-long discussions about storytelling. We’ll probably focus on novels a bit, because that’s where I live and breathe. But I have plans to talk about other types of stories too. I want to bring in people to talk about storytelling in videogames. In comics. On the web. On TV.

It’s all story, you see.

So that’s the good news. We’re doing this. It’s going to be cool.

The bad news is that I have no fucking idea what to call the show.

I originally pitched it as Storytelling 101. But I knew that was a shit title as soon as I came up with it. It’s boring. Plus cliche.

I’ve been wracking my brain for a month now, and I still haven’t been able to come up with something I like.

You see, names are important things, or so I hear. I’d like to have a really good one for my show. I’d like something catchy, clear, and a little bit sexy….

But so far, everything I’ve come up with has been mostly crap.

Writer’s Roundtable? –  Clear enough, but lacks panache.

Ars Fabula? – Slightly clever, but mostly wankerish.

Narratavores? – Confusing AND wankerish.

Wheaton’s show, Tabletop, has a great title. It’s clever. It’s catchy. And most of all, it’s informative.

So what’s your point, Rothfuss?

Over the years, y’all have proven to be remarkably clever, so now I’m turning to you for help.

What would *you* call a show about storytelling?

Please make your suggestions in the comments below. Feel free to comment on other people’s suggestions, but please keep it polite.

If someone comes up with something I can use. Or makes a suggestion that leads to me having a brainstorm of my own, I’d be ever-so-grateful…

And…. go.

Hit me with your best shot.

pat

Also posted in calling on the legions, the craft of writing, videos | By Pat1,192 Responses
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