MeFi Projects

In the past year or so, I've added several new translations and comments on games that have mostly been left out of the history of roleplaying, story games, fantasy games, etc. Highlights include seven classical mythology games from the late Renaissance (including the mildly LARP-like "Game of Ceremonies," in which players make sacrifices to Venus and Cupid), a translation of the novel Jeux d'esprit written in 1701 by Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de La Force (who gave a complete version of the collaborative storytelling game "Le Jeu du Roman," along with other games depicted in the novel), and trying out a new format, "Kriegsspiele, Parlament, and Prince Albert: light roleplaying in German, 1796-1893" (a blog post on parlor games and live action military-themed games with roleplaying elements).
posted by Wobbuffet on Dec 27, 2023 - 4 comments

I've started a newsletter about influential passages in fiction as they relate to the craft of writing. One post every Tuesday. Each a five-minute read. [more inside]
posted by mr_bovis on Dec 1, 2022 - 3 comments

A few months ago, I posted a rough translation of the rules to a collaborative fairy tale storytelling game more than 200 years old. I've now put that onto a Neocities site with many additional translations: a total of 5 variants of the same game re-published many times between 1801 and 1867, several variants of a game the same age that involves role-playing, and several variants of even older poetry and nonsense games related to the Surrealist game "Exquisite Corpse." There are also pages and translations explaining the history of the games' penalty phase, offering advice on running demos of the storytelling game especially using motifs from the earliest "secondary world" fantasy novel, and possible round-robin storytelling from the 1600s-1700s, as well as links to many additional sources for parlor games from 1551 to 1899.
posted by Wobbuffet on Aug 5, 2022 - 3 comments

I worked up a rough translation of one of the collaborative story-telling games linked in this post: Pre-Surrealist Games. It's called "The Impromptu Tale," and there's a lot to it that modern tabletop gamers may find familiar.
posted by Wobbuffet on Mar 25, 2022 - 0 comments

My short story, MOSKVA, is featured on Hobart Pulp today. Described by one reader as "gritty realism," the story chronicles the 2003 adventures of a gaggle of young American college students who have taken to the streets of Moscow after midnight.
posted by whimsicalnymph on Jan 19, 2021 - 0 comments

You might also like... A crowd-sourced short story MetaFilter meta-collection spreadsheet! Anyone can add to it directly. Or add to it by filling out this form. Sort by publisher, author, word count, audio, buyability, and more. [more inside]
posted by aniola on Nov 2, 2020 - 3 comments

I've helped put together a blog on personal finance. It's written by Andrew Reeves, a 28-year-old retired multimillionaire wunderkind who may or may not exist. [more inside]
posted by Number Used Once on Sep 21, 2017 - 2 comments

This is a (longish) short story about brand strategy and revolution, published by Fireside. Deeply informed by being nose-deep in the never-ending election/political threads since, what, July? ...Content warning for contemporary politics.
posted by Andrhia on Feb 21, 2017 - 3 comments

Original weird and wonderful art and stories in the mail - snail mail or email - fortnightly! [more inside]
posted by lriG rorriM on Aug 26, 2016 - 1 comment

A short story game about being lost in an unfamiliar place. [more inside]
posted by davejh on Jun 29, 2016 - 0 comments

My story, A Thousand Solomons, is up on the Baltimore Science Fiction Society website, as a winner of their Amateur Writing Contest. The contest is held every year, there are cash prizes, the winner's work is published online (for a year), and the winner has the opportunity to read their work at Balticon.
posted by newdaddy on Nov 22, 2015 - 2 comments

Refugees and migrants have traveled over two billion miles to seek asylum in Europe this year. Follow the journeys yourself, and make choices along the way, in this interactive video narrative.
posted by takeyourmedicine on Nov 4, 2015 - 0 comments

A short story about your first day working at Hunter, Brown & Shen, told over the course of a single morning via several emails and a few text messages. Once you've registered, it begins for you at 9am the next day. (For extra verisimilitude, sign up on a Sunday so it plays out while you're at work of a Monday morning.) Call it an ARG without the G? [more inside]
posted by Andrhia on Feb 17, 2015 - 8 comments

"In the near future social networking has moved out of the virtual world and into the physical. A confronting portrait of a world we may soon know too well. Welcome to the evolution." Winner of the Jury Prize Best Sci-Fi Short Maelstrom IFF 2011 - Winner Best Screenplay Dark Carnival Indiana IFF 2011 - Official Selection 14 International Festivals including Fantasia Montreal, Bermuda IFF, London Lift Off 2012, Chashama New York, - Eng - 19mins - Director: Richard Williamson- Online Release May 6th 2014. Hope you like it.
posted by neonmuse on May 6, 2014 - 1 comment

For a modest price I will insert you, or a loved one, into the fictional universe of your choice via a short story. Or, seeing as I am a classically trained composer, I will compose a piece of music for you based on your life and your interests. Terrific Valentine's Day gift! [more inside]
posted by bfootdav on Feb 2, 2014 - 1 comment

Send me an email with your manuscript attached, and I'll print it out and mail it to your publisher for you. [more inside]
posted by jsturgill on Jan 27, 2014 - 5 comments

What are the 100 objects that future historians will pick to define our 21st century? A javelin thrown by an enhanced Paralympian, far further than any normal human? Virtual reality interrogation equipment used by police forces? The world's most expensive glass of water, mined from the moons of Mars? Or desire modification drugs that fuel a brand new religion? [more inside]
posted by adrianhon on Dec 9, 2013 - 1 comment

It's Good to See You: How do you react when you find your ex-wife is traveling with you to the same interstellar colony?
An Honest Man: The narrator reveals himself as very unreliable on the first sentence.
She Wakes Up: Chick-lit (written by a lad).
posted by ShooBoo on Nov 2, 2013 - 1 comment

My digital short story Waking Up launched today on Amazon, and to accompany the 14K-word ebook is a hellaciously difficult Minecraft map (by evil mastermind Vechs, of course) based on the world of the story. [more inside]
posted by mothershock on May 14, 2012 - 2 comments

I've been running Mirrorshards, my daily microfiction site (previously), for over three years now, relatively quickly closing in on publishing my 1000th story. [more inside]
posted by Scattercat on Nov 19, 2011 - 8 comments

I've written and self-published a book. This is my first try, so I decided to go with Amazon Kindle self-publish. This is part 1 of a multi-volume work that I'm planning on publishing in the same manner. I've priced it as low as Amazon will allow (2.99). The River Caller is a story centering around a boy named George, who lives in Ogdensburg, New York, in the late 19th Century. It is primarily a story about life on the Saint Lawrence River, but there are things about George that are a little out of the ordinary. [more inside]
posted by thanotopsis on Apr 15, 2011 - 3 comments

Wanderlust is a new way to tell location-based stories on smartphones from Six to Start. Instead of readers having to be in specific physical locations (like setting a Sherlock Holmes story in Baker Street, London), Wanderlust sets stories in classes of location. Act 1 might be in any cafe in the world, Act 2 in any museum, Act 3 in any bar. It's more like atmosphere-based storytelling. [more inside]
posted by adrianhon on Mar 12, 2011 - 0 comments

This is a music video I directed about a bank robber who falls in love with the beautiful teller he tries to rob. Would love to hear your brutal opinion. Thanks. [more inside]
posted by Bobby Bittman on Feb 15, 2011 - 7 comments

ToonBee allows you to share a story graphically, artistic ability not required. Do you have a story to share? Something to gripe about at work? Want to poke fun at your friends? ToonBee is a place where you can freely express yourself.
posted by ironghost on Oct 22, 2010 - 1 comment