My Iron Vow

I have always loved writing!" says pretty much everyone here. It's no less true for me.

I was one of those kids who often enjoyed writing stories as much as, if not more than, watching TV or going outside to play with my friends. It was fun and enjoyable, and occasionally offered a release from pent-up feelings that I didn't want to express elsewhere. It was also one of the few things that I felt I did reasonably well.

Unfortunately, I eventually stopped writing almost completely. Given that it was one of the few things I took pride in, I became increasingly defensive about it as I was told by various people that there was no future for writers and that I would never get anywhere because writing was "too competitive."

For a time, I got my creative fix with roleplaying games. Like most people, I started with Dungeons & Dragons and I loved making characters and adventures, so I tended to always be the Dungeon Master. When my group split up, I had no other players, so I didn't play again for a couple of years until Shadowrun came out, when I started to play with some guys from the local comic shop who went on to become some of my best friends (even 31 years later, though I don't get to see them very often anymore).

After Shadowrun, we moved on to Vampire: The Masquerade and the other games from White Wolf. I originally wasn't the Storyteller, but took over the role at some point and stayed there for several years.

Eventually, life conspired to have this group stop playing, which was sad. I still miss my gaming nights with "the boys." I never found another group to game with, but a year or two later, the MMORPG City of Heroes was released and that became my new game of choice.

I loved making new heroes, from designing the costumes to creating their backstories. I was extremely lucky in that my wife started to play as well and we made a few friends who became our regular group.

One of the other players also enjoyed building backstories for her characters and as we started bouncing ideas off of each other, it finally motivated me to start writing again, resulting in two novellas and countless shorter posts on a Yahoo group we made to tell stories together.

Unfortunately, City of Heroes was shut down and I stopped writing again.

I still plotted out stories in my head, but actual writing? Nope.

That brings us to today. Over the past couple of years, my desire to get back into RPGs has grown and I have been reading and rereading several game systems. I have been creating characters in my head. City of Heroes has returned. It's great.

I recently discovered a solo RPG called Ironsworn. I never knew there was such a thing as a solo RPG, so I was intrigued. I read the book multiple times and I think it's great. It's also available for free should you want to check it out (which I recommend). It inspired me to start creating stories again and I really want to play.

On top of everything, I joined Vocal as an opportunity to start writing and sharing stories and noticed the Gamers community. That just seems so perfect. Many Ironsworn players seem to enjoy sharing their stories, so I feel inspired to do the same.

In Ironsworn, characters make Iron Vows, which are powerful oaths that they swear to follow. My Iron Vow is to start posting the adventures of my character perhaps once a week. This is both for my own amusement, but also to help me get back into the practice of writing regularly. Hopefully, it will be of interest to some of the readers here. The image accompanying this post is inspired by the setting for the game.

RPGs have allowed me to continue creating characters and stories throughout the years that I wasn't writing. I think they offer many opportunities for writers and anyone who wants to develop their creativity. Thanks to them (and now Vocal) I am inspired to return to my first real love. And since stories are meant to be shared, I hope some people here will enjoy what's to come.