2020-On-My-Shelf-Refractions-of-Glasston

The Call of Cthulhu scenario Refractions of Glasston, written by the Taylor University Professional Writing students, continues to receive positive reviews. The students and I have been humbled by all the reviews thus far. We have two new reviews from RPG.net that offer some great insights for the students to improve their rpg development and writing. The second is the most critical review we have received so far and provides great info for the students and I to use as we revise this scenario. We are working to have a revised edition, including Print on Demand option, uploaded to Miskatonic Repository by end of March. We also have plans to submit this to the ENnies for consideration.

It’s something different, it’s nicely produced, and as a good exercise for the industry and the gaming audience alike, it’s a no-brainer.

This is a step forward in establishing RPG writing as at least as much of a creative professional discipline as screenwriting, or writing for PC games. Thanks to its origins, it also opens up “an atypical setting” for CoC gamers, and yields a scenario deeply rooted in local industrial and social history.

The physical quality of the production is on a par with most of the current generation of 7th edition products – that is, extremely good. 

https://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/18/18528.phtml

I cannot but congratulate Chaosium for supporting such an initiative. A theoretical writing course where only the professor and a handful of peers get to appraise the final result is not the same as a course whose product sees professional publication. These students took a leap and exposed themselves to the world. Great job, guys; few people show that kind of courage.

I enjoyed how the designers went on to write an adventure about the US state they live in. There are too many adventures taking place in bigger cities. A simple historical fact (the rise of the glass factories in rural Indiana) can be a great impetus for a scenario.

Conclusion: Refractions of Glasston is an average adventure by professional standards, yet this is only half the story. The fact that students managed to produce such a result is a victory. They have the ideas, the enthusiasm and the perseverance, and they put effort and hard work where others blabber. Even with its many weak points, it is still a better adventure than many professionally published ones in our cluttered hobby. I applaud their effort, and recommend that you download and run it. Keep working, young designers. You only succeed if you try.

https://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/18/18573.phtml

Thanks to everyone who has download Refractions of Glasston and provided us feedback. You are helping the students improve their development and writing of rpgs as well as assisting me in improving how I teach these game studies-related courses. I am already making notes for the second time I teach the Tabletop Game Writing Lab.

RPG.net Reviews Refractions of Glasston

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