What is Oblique Adventures?

Candi: Grayson and I founded Oblique Adventures this year and are very pleased to share our launch with the readers of Electric Spec. We create resources for Table-Top Role-Playing Game (TTRPG) players everywhere to help your games be more fun, surprising, and memorable.

Grayson: Our guiding principle is "Play Your Dreams." All of our adventures, homebrew tools, and resources for players and game masters alike are meant to enrich your fantasy world and make your gaming experience more meaningful. We want you to have an imaginative playground to live out your heroic dreams... or battle your worst nightmares.

How did you start in Role-Playing Games?

Grayson: I wasn't quite there at the beginning of Dungeons & Dragons, but I was close. A friend of my older brother introduced us to the original D&D game way back in 1979. It was a completely different sort of game than anything I'd ever heard of. The game took place mostly in the imagination of the players, and the basic experience was like being plunked down into Middle Earth and having adventures in a world of fantasy and magic. I've been completely hooked ever since.

Candi: As a freshman in college, when my new friend group (that included Grayson) started playing Marvel Super Heroes (the Classic Marvel system, they call it now), I was drawn in by the imagination and storytelling. After the beginners of the group got better at Marvel, we also did some D&D campaigns. I love the bonding between players during a good gaming campaign.

How does being a writer/editor inform your gaming?

Candi: Being a writer definitely improves my gaming, especially when creating characters or writing adventures. I really love finding characters and making them unique and attention-getting. And I've learned about pacing my adventures, both in allowing downtime and building tension.

Grayson: I find there's a great deal of creative overlap between writing and gaming, especially when you're in the role of Game Master (GM) or Dungeon Master (DM). When you're a GM, you not only have to work out the details of what sort of traps and monsters your players will encounter. Your goal is to make an immersive world filled with a multitude of friendly and hostile characters. Bringing fictional worlds to life is the job of a fiction writer, and having that background has been a huge part of my approach to being a GM.

How does being a gamer change your writing?

Grayson: Role-playing games have greatly influenced the way I approach storytelling. They've helped me learn worldbuilding, improve my understanding of writing characters, and sharpen my improvisational skills. To create an immersive role-playing game, you end up getting intimate with the many details of the setting you're dealing with. That means learning about history, geography, folklore, mythology, psychology—and even things like cosmology, military tactics, or paleontology, depending on your game.

Candi: Being a gamer means I see fictional worlds as places I am having an imaginary adventure in!
Many fictional worlds are fun to visit, but once I start thinking about how the society works or the rules of the magical system, things that don't match up can break my immersion.
Say the writer has established that magic can only be accessed by the royal family. When they add one exception, it's interesting. But if suddenly spells are being tossed around by everyone, it doesn't make sense. It waters down the special focus on the one exceptional character, and it gets boring really fast.
So I'm probably pickier about believable world versus captivating drama issues in stories than a non-gamer would be.

What can we expect from Oblique Adventures in the future?

Candi: We are writing many small modules that will be available for small prices on our Patreon and on DMs Guild. And we are working on larger, long-format adventure modules as well. I am especially excited about a world I'm building where most of the battles the characters will face are epic musical performances!

Grayson: In the coming year, we're hoping to bring you videos, podcasts, and a newsletter, all devoted to helping gamers have the best experience possible at their tables. We're just getting up and running now, but we've got a ton of ideas and a lot of ambitions. We're excited to see just what we can achieve and are looking forward to sharing adventures with players everywhere.

Speaking of adventures, it looks like you've got a free gift for Electric Spec readers to celebrate your launch.

Grayson: Yes! This adventure centers around a fearsome monster called the Bugblatter Beast. Any fan of Douglas Adams and his Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy will probably recognize this creature as an intergalactic menace, with an appetite only exceeded by its mind-boggling stupidity.

Candi: The Bugblatter probably isn't the sort of foe you're going to want to tackle head-on, even if you do have a strong party. But don't panic! We'll be presenting several improbable options for leveling the playing field and giving players a chance to overcome this ravenous creature.

Sounds interesting! I better remember to equip my towel.

Grayson: A +1 Towel of Hitchhiking, if you've got it.

Candi: Not to mention an Electronic... or rather, Eldritch Thumb.

Get your free gift: here

For more info check out https://obliqueadventures.com/ here.