Extra Life

Tomorrow, I'm participating in the Extra Life gaming marathon to help raise money for the Children's Miracle Hospital Network. The idea is that between 8am tomorrow and 8am on Sunday, I'll be playing games with friends, streaming live and folks can donate money to see us lose our minds. All proceeds will go to help kids.

I don't have a personal donation page, but my friend Kellen is organizing things, so you can donate to his page here and watch the stream here. 

I'm both excited and terrified, which probably means it will be good.

Back in the Saddle

Wow, it's been nearly two years since I last updated here. Seems like a good time to start it up again.

As some of you know, I'm taking some time off from school this fall for personal reasons. While this was definitely the right decision, it has left my days rather wide-open and that's scary. I deal with life a lot better when my time is structured than when it's formless. So I'm going to use this blog as an anchor for my days.

Here's the plan: from now until at least the end of December, I'll be posting here every day. Although this started as a purely game-related blog, such a demanding schedule will mean that I'll be writing about whatever thoughts pass through my head. A lot of those thoughts will be about game, just because I am who I am, but I'm certain to write about the other myriad topics that catch my interest.

I'll definitely be writing with an audience in mind – not much point of a blog otherwise – but because this is more of a personal mental health project than a means of self-promotion, I don't much care if people actually do read any of it. Of course, I'll be happy if anyone does and I'm receptive to feedback and critique. Just understand that anything I write here is meant as practice and therapy. I'll try not to sound authoritative and hope that nobody assumes that I mean to be.

Speaking of structure and routine, it's appropriate that my first returning post should be a link to a story I wrote for Elephant Words. Elephant Words is a website that provides an image prompt for writers each week and then shows of the writing the image inspired. Anybody can submit, so when I saw a call for more participants last week, I decided to take a shot. The only stipulation is an 800 word limit. (In my day, a picture was worth 1000 words, but I guess that's inflation for you.) That's just a maximum, but because I write best under strict limitations, I've decided that every piece I write will be exactly 800 words long.

My first submission, titled “A Piece of the Sky,” fits that self-imposed rule. It's a short story, and most of my entries probably will be, but I'd like to try other forms too.

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. Reading over it again now that it's been posted, I can see a few things I'd change. I probably could have varied the sentence structure more to get a better rhythm and I wish I hadn't repeated words so much – the sixth paragraph is only three sentences, but I use the word “through” in each of them. My vocabulary could be broader. But that's what practice is for.

I'll be posting links to my pieces once they're put up on the Elephant Words website. I also recommend that anybody else interested in the site submit their own writing, or at least check out what others have written. My favourite piece from last week is Isle of Spice by Amanda Bird.

To Be or Not to Be

Sorry this one's so late! Guess I underestimated how much of my time school would take up. To stop this from happening again, I'm going to reduce my posting schedule to twice a week, Mondays and Fridays. That should be easier for me to stay on top of. Anyway, here's the article.

#8 - Battle Line:

Commitments are tough. We're all scared of them, in one way or another, whether the commitment is to a partner, a job, a pet or a wedding invitation. It's always risky to put your whole weight behind a decision. Committing too early or too strongly can be dangerous: you might break up or lose your job or end up living with a tiger rather than the tabby you thought you were getting. Games are especially good at reminding us of the dangers of commitment. Do I start down this strategic path or leave my options open? Do I make my big play now or stall to see what my opponent does? Decisions about commitment are some of most interesting ones to force on players because of how they can lock you into or out of a strategy.

Battle Line, my favourite game by the prolific Reiner Knizia, is a great example of how games can play with

issues of commitment. Its setting works particularly well for this: both players are generals, sending out troops, trying to win several battles that take place, predictably, in a line. This immediately makes

commitment a focal point for the game. We're all familiar with images of generals huddling over maps, deciding where, when and how they will deploy their troops. A wrong move – too many soldiers this way, a flank left open at the wrong time – can cost lives, battles and wars.

Hello and Welcome!

Hello and welcome to Analysis Paralysis, the only blog where you can read my thoughts about tabletop games and the culture surrounding them. “Wait a second!” you say. “Who are you and why do do I care about your thoughts on tabletop games and the culture surrounding them?” Well, the first question is silly, because you almost certainly got linked to this blog by me personally and therefore know who I am already. But in case you're some future person who's come to this blog after I've become Internet Famous, I'll clue you in: my name's Thomas Berton, I'm from Toronto and I think, play and work around games way too much. Want to know more? Read this blog! Want to know even more? That's creepy, get out.