H.P. Lovecraft Games

My first H.P. Lovecraft game that I played for PlayingWithWords was an indie game made on GameJolt, by Cloak and Dagger Games, called The Terrible Old Man. Of course it was based on the short story by Lovecraft himself.

Watch the video here.

The first interaction with H.P. Lovecraft was probably the huge geeky icon that is Cthulhu. More specifically, my cousin was explaining the entire concept of the tabletop game Call of Cthulhu. It blew my mind that there was so much behind another short story.

I’ve got several Lovecraftian games in line up for PlayingWithWords, so I hope fans of his readings will stick around to see them!

Remember to keep writing, keep reading, and keep gaming!

PlayingWithWords

What is PlayingWithWords? It’s a YouTube channel based on bringing together the common ground between gaming and writing. There are dozens, if not hundreds, games that are based on writing, writers, authors, books, short stories, poems, etc. My goal is to bring entertainment for gamers, writers, and readers.

You can watch my introduction here.

As an author of two books, I not only draw my inspiration from the obvious (reading), I also gather it from video games. I’ve played video games for as long as I can remember. Even before I started writing short stories in kindergarten, I was playing my N64.

I never really hear about authors playing video games, at least mainstream ones. I know writing is always number one priority for writers, but you can’t really get inspiration if you are always writing, can you? If there are others out there, I want to show them that video games are a great way of getting inspired and be entertained, outside of books.

I know gaming takes time, as does writing. Personally, gaming can easily take over most of my free time. So with PlayingWithWords gives me short bursts of gaming and commentary that give me the inspiration to write more.

I love being a writer, and I will always be a gamer.

Remember to keep writing, keep reading, and keep gaming!

(YouTube) First writing game is up! Type:Rider #1

Uploaded my first Let’s Play! It’s the game Type:Rider which tells the history of writing over the years with different cultures.

The game is fun so far. Loads of reading, so hope you enjoy my terrible reading out loud skills!

Check it out here and subscribe for future Let’s Plays and games about Writing, Reading, Authors, Writers, Books, and more!

Links

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_mFACZ5rdM

Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMkCXJrSslJYgafXkJrE9wA

PlayingWithWords (YouTube Channel)

I’ve started a YouTube channel that is going to be based on vlogging and gaming. The key to this channel is it has a “theme” of sorts. I plan to only do let’s plays on games about writing, reading, writers, books, and authors. The theme can be stretched broadly over those subjects, but my main is goal is to give entertainment to those people into writing, reading, and gaming. No author I know has ever mentioned playing video games as a pass time, probably because writers don’t have that time to.

“Keep writing” are the two words that I see plastered all over writing groups on social medias. The thing is, what if one draws inspiration from not just writing? I, for one, love to read and play video games to gather most of my inspiration. Sometimes, it’s hard to force myself to write when I don’t know where to even go in my stories. So yeah, I may take more time than most writers to finish a piece of work, but at least I have a hell of a good time doing it.

Subscribe to my channel here.

Videos coming soon!

Keep writing, keep reading, and keep gaming!

Writing in Steam!

I have discovered apparently that Microsoft Word is the “worst” word processor to use for writing. Many articles state that fact. For the longest time I’ve been using word, for my first two novels, on my 4 year old laptop. My gaming computer didn’t have a decent Word so I figured my laptop could be my writing computer.

One day, on my gaming computer, I was looking through the Steam sales. I immediately saw the word “writer” and my eyes fixated on it. Nimble Writer. A Steam based word processor. I thought to myself, “Well, I’m in Steam most of the time anyways.”

Nimble comes with Steam Acheivements(always a plus in my book) and is distraction free. You can open all your documents from within the program, no extra windows needed. You can even export your files/stories to wordpress and others. I know other word processors have that cabability but Nimble is cheap, and in Steam. I think it’s a perfect processor for Steam users who are also writers.

I’ve messed about in the program a few times and love it. It’s simple to use.

I’m actually using my second Tumblr! (AKA links, links everywhere)

I have two tumblr blogs set up. One is my popular DisneyTronBlog with almost 700 followers! (I don’t know if that really is a lot or not)

The other is a blog I made when I converted the first one to a Tron-based blog. It’s where I’ll post more personal stuff, like my poems, Alan Wake stuff, writing related pictures/posts. and non-tron things. Doctor Who pictures/gifs and other BBC shows will be shared on to there as well. It’s easy to find too. It’s just BrandanChapman. I’ll post my blog and journal updates on there as well.

If you’re a fan of Tumblr, this would be an easier means as to follow me, if you lack a Facebook, DeviantArt, Twitter, or even Google+. You can follow me just about anywhere online! If you like games, I like to stream on Twitch. I’ll post any of my decent streams on Youtube. I want to also start making vlogs. More to come on that. I may even read my book prologues for videos.

You can also get my books here, for the readers out there.

(Poem) Pits of Ice

Venturing into the pits of ice,
shivering in the lonely black.
It happened at a throw of dice,
losing the warmth somewhere back.

Whispers in her voice flow with the wind,
it’s all around to escape such a heavenly noise.
My chilled voice follows all of those sinned,
with the absence of all of our joys.

What comes next, after the forges and now the pits.
A fortress of despair? Castle of sorrow?
I push on, continuing takings the icy hits,
wishing to make it, hoping time will let me borrow.

(Poem) Into the Depths

The darkness at the bottom engulfs me.
I search for safety.
I’m pulled into the light by a helping hand.
She pulled me into a tunnel, drained of water.

Light lit the small rooms.
The girl led the way, like a older sibling.
Other people were here too,
But I couldn’t bare to look at them.

I can’t stay this way here forever.
She led me to the core of this city.
She says there is only one escape.
To the surface, from this city of Rapture.

(Short Story) Ace in Night Springs Part 1 (Alan Wake/Shattered Soul Crossover Fan Fiction)

Ace Venx, another Warrior of Light, travelled the difficult path of one who uses Light as his weapon. His darkness usually involved that of a family known by the Lokar, but recently, Ace finds himself in much different surroundings.

Night Springs, a town with strange occurrences. Ace awoke on a road outside of the town. Trees were all around. The dark forests loomed over him. His purple pupils gleamed in the moonlight as he scanned the forests.

“Where am I?” He asked out loud, his English accent breaking the cold air.

Ace decided to walk down the road. Each step brought a subtle cracking of tiny bits of the road. He ran his hand through his white spiky hair. He was only 22, but his white hair came with his burden of being a warrior of light.

After about half an hour, Ace saw a sign in the distance. It didn’t take long to see what it said.

“Night Springs…” Ace read aloud.

Just then he heard a crunch of twigs to his right. Immediately, Ace looked towards the noise. He readied himself with a surprise that his Element was working. His expression changed.

“What the?”

A bright light shined onto him. He assumed it was Benediction.

“You must keep moving, warrior of light. The Taken are not far behind.”

It wasn’t Benediction. It was a new voice. It was younger sounding, with a bit of an echo. While Ace was in thought, he didn’t even noticed a man running at him from behind. The light faded from the sky.

“You will die now!” The man yelled, sounding distorted.

Ace’s eyes widened as he quickly ducked out of the way of the oncoming swing from the man’s axe. “Oi, mate! What are you doing?!” Ace yelled.

The man continued to swing his axe towards Ace. Ace decided to run towards the town. He looked to the sky, hoping for that light to reappear. It gave him comfort.

“Why are you trying to attack me?” Ace shouted back to the man chasing him.

The man didn’t reply. Ace noticed that he had a shadowy aura about him, almost similar to a Lokar, the last family of Dark Elementalists. Ace didn’t want to ask. Without his Element, he wouldn’t stand a chance against a Lokar. They were ruthless when it came to Light Elementalists.

Ace was much faster than the man. He had managed to lose him as he reached the town. He wasn’t sure how to take in what was going on. The town was primitive compared to his home. The buildings were only two or three stories tall, and the street was wide.

The first street light he came to started to brighten. Ace was used to bright light. His eyes didn’t wince or struggle looking at it.

“Standing in the light will help you. It will give you the power you need to defend yourself from the Taken.”

“Who are you? What are the Taken?”

“They were once people. They are now just puppets of the Dark Presence.”

Ace stepped under the street light. The light warmed him from the cold air. He felt his fingers tingle as he knew his Element was back. His hands lit up with the power of Light.

“The light will ward them off and break the power of darkness. It will make them vulnerable.”

Ace felt weight around his neck again. It was his pendant from his father. It was called Penance. It was his weapon of choice. Ripping it from his neck, it quickly transformed into his blade. He had to defend himself until he knew how to get back home.

“The Dark Presence is coming. You must be ready.”

Ace looked behind him to see a storm of darkness approaching from the road he entered from. The street light flickered and busted. Ace looked up and then looked back to the storm. His left hand lit up with his Element and his tightened his grip on Penance.

“I’m always willing to fight the darkness,” He said with a smirk.

Writing and Steam Gaming

I have recently discovered a pretty cool group on Steam called The Finest Writers.You can post poems, stories, and talk with other gaming writers in the group. I’ll be posting on there as well as on my blog here.

Check out the group here: http://steamcommunity.com/groups/TheFinestWriters

Check out my steam profile here: http://steamcommunity.com/id/brandanchapman/

Feel free to add me on Steam!