Armchair adventuring | Karavansara

4 June 2014
by Davide Mana Leave a comment

Getting ready for the Media Desert

As work on various projects continues, the dread Soccer World Cup approaches.
I’ve nothing against the sport itself – despite the fact that’s polarizing too much attention in my opinion – but not having an interest in it, I’m facing a long stretch of intellectual desert: nothing on the telly, cinemas closed when the Italian team is playing, 90% of the news focused on who’s winning, who’s losing.

The upside?
The pleasures of the desert – no people around, silence (punctuated, admittedly, by demented screams). Continue reading →

29 May 2014
by Davide Mana 2 Comments

Happy birthday to me

Somewhere along the way this writer business took a wrong turn.

I mean, today’s my birthday.
The brochure… yeah, I’m pretty sure there was a brochure somewhere. Anyway, I’m positive it said I should be lounging by the pool, wearing an aloha shirt, a big silly drink with a paper parasol in my hand, surrounded by beautiful women, while the huge royalties for my highly successful books pile up in a Swiss bank.

Continue reading →

14 May 2014
by Davide Mana 1 Comment

Writing with Google Maps

Isn’t technology great.
I was doing some map research yesterday, and the trip advisor utility on Google Maps caught my eye.

So I calculated – better, I had the software calculate and draw the route from Castelnuovo Belbo, Italy, and Ulaan Bataar, Mongolia.

And the software planned my trip – mentioning passingly that it does include some roads that might be interrupted, and it will require me to cross a few national borders.
My very own, on-demand Silk Road, if you will. Continue reading →

7 May 2014
by Davide Mana 1 Comment

A community to back my heroes

I’m doing some work on a forthcoming sourcebook for a roleplaying game.
Savage Worlds being the engine, the rules are not a problem.
As long as I do not re-invent the wheel, I’ve ample margin for trying new stuff.

Now, in most “heroic” stories – no matter if we’re talking fantasy, science fiction, historical, western – one of the key elements is, the hero speaks for a group, for a clan or tribe or culture.
It’s a simple mechanism, it has lots of anthropological implications (the hero as everyman, etc.) but it also has a very good, simple effect on storytelling: the hero (or heroes) have somebody they care abut, and that cares about them.
Maybe non even in a personal, one-on-one way, but community is important.
Think about the way in which Spiderman is an expression of New York and its people… Continue reading →

10 April 2014
by Davide Mana 1 Comment

Lost and found

A very short post – just to announce that while trying (uselessly) to bring some order to a bookshelf, I found my old Tarot deck .
Yes, the one I mentioned as lost/misplaced in a post a few days back.
It was hiding in a metal box, originally housing a bottle of Ferrari bubbly wine, and currently full of old postcards.
Clearly I stuffed a lot of odds and ends in the box while packing before I moved, and never looked inside in, ehm… five years .

It was quite a surprise.
Now if this is not a sign from destiny, I do not know what it is.

9 April 2014
by Davide Mana 1 Comment

Across the age divide

Sometimes we have the sheer luck of being witnesses to something wonderful – and I think when it happens we should share it with others.

Cover of "Necessary Evil (Savage Worlds; ...

Cover via Amazon

For the weekend I was in Modena, lovely city, at the local gaming fair, Play – I was helping the Savage Worlds Italia crew, giving game demonstrations.
Short Savage Worlds RPG sessions, two hours to help interested parties to get an idea of the system, the settings, etc.

It was my last game in the very intense two-day event.
I was tired, my voice was going, and I was mastering a game called Necessary Evil – a super-heroes game in which super-villains are all that stands between humanity and cruel alien invaders.
The game is fun, tongue-in-cheek, the sort of game in which to save some innocent civilians, the “heroes” burn down the city hall, blackmail the chief of police, start a huge brawl against alien shark-man warriors and on their way out, they rob a bank.

I had a good solid game ready – some investigation, some devastation, great opportunities for roleplaying.

Continue reading →

11 March 2014
by Davide Mana Leave a comment

Everything about the French Foreign Legion

A very quick post to poit out to all interested parties the wonderful blog Mon Legionnaire.
Maintained by a gentleman going by the name of Jack Wagner, the blog is dedicated to “The classic French Foreign Legion in Wargaming, Literature, Pictures and History”.
And it is just great.
I can only say I am awed by the sheer quality and richness of it- a veritable treasure-trove of narrative, history and other wonders.

Mon Legionnaire is a priceless resource for writers, gamers and anyone out there looking for some fun reads or off-the-beaten-track literature.

Be sure to check it out.