Infinite Conflicts: Allen Varney on Gaming & Writing

Allen Varney is a freelance writer and designer living in Texas.  He’s worked on everything from Dungeons & Dragons (TSR) supplements in the 80s to Paranoia (Mongoose) in the OOs.  His Executive Challenge simulation game is still used at the University of Texas McCombs Business School.  Role-playing games, boardgames, computer games, Varney’s done it all and below he talks about some of what games have taught him about writing.

Varney contributed an essay on the game The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen to Hobby Games: The 100 Best.

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What has playing games taught you about writing (of any sort)?

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Allen Varney: Though it is a cliché that good fiction requires a conflict, playing a wide variety of games has helped me understand some non-obvious types of conflicts, and the infinite ways conflict can play out. Sometimes the nature of the game illuminates and dramatizes psychology in ways stories can’t. I think, for instance, of Finchley Central, one of the antecedents of Mornington Crescent.

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Is there a game every writer should try?

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Allen Varney: A writer can benefit by playing one or more of the many different games that inspire creativity. Virtually every tabletop role-playing scenario can help stimulate imaginative thinking. Among board and card games, I recommend Once Upon a Time: The Storytelling Card Game by James Wallis, Andrew Rilstone, and Richard Lambert.

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In what ways does playing games enhance your creativity?

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Allen Varney: Anyone knows the answer to this question who has ever wriggled through a dungeon deathtrap, let alone persuaded Turkey to ally with you against Germany in 1916.