Author: Megan Pedersen

Hey Wheel Tree friends!  Time Cellist got a nice mention on the latest episode of the Going Last podcast.  Check ’em out!

http://goinglast.net/session-146-tabletop-news-and-mike-selinker-is-back/

Hey Chicagoland Wheel Tree friends!

I’m proud to present Improv Techniques for the Gaming Table, a quarterly series of workshops to help roleplaying gamers take their tabletop experience to the next level!  Each session combines an intensive workshop of improv techniques used by actors on stage with a practical example of play at the gaming table.  Our instructors not only have extensive performance and teaching backgrounds, but also well-established nerd credentials. Expand your roleplaying horizons with skills to create kickass characters, establish meaningful relationships and develop stories that sing.  Great for both GMs and players!

All sessions take place at Strawdog Theater Company’s Hugen Hall. Lunch will be provided for all participants.

Here’s information on our first two workshops – our first session is coming up soon, so save the date!

Group Storytelling  

Instructor:  Steven Townshend 

Saturday, March 14th 9am – 2:30pm

In this cooperative storytelling workshop, participants use improv techniques to level up their narrative skills, both as players and as game masters, in tabletop role-playing games. Through theatrical improvisation, players explore ways to add to the game story beyond the margins of their character sheets, while GMs tap the powerful creative potential of the group mind. Through creative play, participants learn techniques to walk both sides of the screen as players become GMs, and GMs become players, each sharing the responsibilities and the joys of a well-told story.

About Steve Townshend

Steve Townshend is a freelance writer for the Dungeons & Dragons game for Wizards of the Coast, and has written for Paizo, Sasquatch, Pelgrane, Schwalb Entertainment, and Four-in-Hand Games. Before writing games, Steve worked in Chicago as an actor. He studied with Del Close at iO and traveled the U.S. and Canada performing classical theatre with companies such as Repercussion Theatre (Montreal), American Players Theatre, and the Utah Shakespearean Festival.

Playing Well With Others: How to be the companion everyone wants on their campaign

Instructor:  Pixy Belmont 

Saturday, June 13th 9am – 2:30pm

In this skills based workshop, participants learn a variety of techniques to quickly and effectively support and elevate choices made by other players at the table as well as making and using relationships to spur storytelling and problem solving in game.  Participants will be encouraged to take action – just do it, don’t talk about it!

About Pixy Belmont-Leo

Pixy Belmont-Leo has been both and improvisor and a gamer since her own awkward adolescence.  With training from both Second City and ComedySportz, Pixy specializes in making improv easy, accessible and fun, using games and exercises that set up the players for easy success while teaching specific skills in a stress-free environment.  As a gamer Pixy is a renegade and a rogue, delighting in departing from the quest to see what’s off the beaten path.  She often rolls up tiny, nimble characters whom invariably get drunk, mouth off to an ogre, and get squashed before they can reach level 10.

An advance registration link will be up for both workshops by tonight!

Hey Wheel Tree friends! Time Cellist was one of the Kickstarter Pickstarters for the Roll For Crit Podcast this week! Check it out!

http://www.rollforcrit.com/category/podcasts/

Hey Wheel Tree friends! Megan had an opportunity to talk with Sarah Richardson over at the ConTessa blog about Time Cellist and game design stuff in general. Check it out!

http://www.contessa.rocks/contessa/interview-with-megan-pederson

Hey Wheel Tree friends – exciting news!  The Kickstarter for Time Cellist has just gone live!  We’re raising funds to create a really cool finished product and the money will be mostly used to pay our collaborators on the game book.  +Kyle Bice is a Chicago based freelance artist that will be creating our cover and interior artwork, +Nathan Paoletta is our layout specialist who will be tackling the book design and +PK Sullivan is an author that will be creating several unique historical primers to be used as supplements to the game book. 

Todd and I are very excited to launch this project – please take a moment to check it out!  If you aren’t able to back us financially, please consider giving this project a signal boost on your own page.  Many thanks!  May your time stream be free of dinosaurs (unless that’s your jam, and then may T-Rexs fall from the skies)!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/wheeltreepress/time-cellist-rpg

Registration is now open for EnWorld Gameday 39. I will be running a game of Time Celiist during the afternoon segment. Want to play? Register now before spots fill up!

https://warhorn.net/events/chicago-gameday-39

Hey folks – I will be running a demo of Time Cellist at EnWorld Chicago Gameday 39 in the afternoon slot on Saturday, September 13th at Games Plus in Mt. Prospect. Player sign up begins on the 2nd – you can follow what’s up with the Gameday event at the link below!

http://gameday.buzzmo.com/

Hey LARP fans that are also going to Big Bad Con – Tess Aquarium and Colin Fahrion will be running a session of my brutal little glitz beauty pageant LARP “Sparkle Baby!” For more info or to sign up to play, visit them online at the official event website. ‪ 

If you are not going to Big Bad Con and would like to run your own game of Sparkle Baby, an updated draft will be available by the end of August.  Keep your eyeballs here for updates.  

http://www.bigbadcon.com/events/sparkle-baby/