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Middle-of-story NPC, that sage who grants tiny-yet-significant boons from his hideout in plain sight in the village where he& #39;s disguised as an ordinary poopsmith. https://twitter.com/jephjacques/status/1282653726424084486">https://twitter.com/jephjacqu...
True story: A young man came up to my table at GenCon several years ago and said "Mister Tayler, you are my hero!"
That& #39;s a tough one to respond to, so I started with "Thank you. You& #39;re very kind."
That& #39;s a tough one to respond to, so I started with "Thank you. You& #39;re very kind."
Mind racing, my inner sage-wannabe grasping for something—ANYTHING—I could send him away with, I repurposed a bit of writing advice on the fly.
"But I& #39;m not the hero here. This is YOUR story. YOU are the hero. I& #39;m just the weird old guy you were told had the magic thingy you needed, and the fact is, I& #39;ve got no magic at all. But I& #39;m sure you& #39;ll figure something out, because this is your story, and you& #39;re the hero in it."
His eyes went wide, his jaw dropped a little, and in that moment I knew two things:
1) I now had a template for the correct response to "you are my hero"
2) That young man was about to SERIOUSLY RUIN A DRAGON SOMEWHERE, and it would be just a tiny bit my fault.
1) I now had a template for the correct response to "you are my hero"
2) That young man was about to SERIOUSLY RUIN A DRAGON SOMEWHERE, and it would be just a tiny bit my fault.
Life& #39;s narrative is complex, and imposing an external formula only makes things weird. We& #39;re all part of each others& #39; stories, and our roles are ambiguous at best. I won& #39;t refuse a walk-on part as a hero, but I& #39;d much prefer being the wise sage who stays out of the line of fire.
Ran out of characters there at the end.
"wise-ass sage," obviously.
"wise-ass sage," obviously.
