Behind the Scenes: The Vial of Tears
Ok, so, first of all, I want to tell you that I was eagerly waiting to write the behind the scene of this story. I do not know if everyone will be familiar with Role Playing Games, so I will briefly tell you what they are about. What does this have to do with the Vial of Tears ?, you may ask. Be patient, I promise you that it is totally related.
Role-playing games like Dungeon and Dragons, Pathfinder, Seventh Sea or RuneQuest are kind of a board game, in which each player plays a character, and there is one of the participants who‘s in charge of directing the story and telling what is happening. Each game can last one day, or extend for months and even years if the players are consistent and the game master is creative and patient. Role Playing requires a lot of imagination and predisposition, and of course you must lack all kinds of shame (or lose it little by little).
I am telling you this because The Vial of Tears originated in a Pathfinder game that I prepared for some friends (one of the few times I directed a game, to be honest …). I will not delve into details of the plot in general, as one episode in particular inspired the story that came to form part of Red Sheets. The tale of the honorable holy warrior Jerome, used for the background and setting of the game, fascinated me and I didn’t hesitate to write it down. I didn’t know how to use it, but it didn’t want to forget it.
The problem that came to me when I decided to use the story for a Red Sheets story was how to tell it. Because I was sure I wanted it to be part of the ten stories, since Jerome’s tragedy struck me as shocking enough to be worth it. I honestly do not remember how I came up with Professor Bennet’s character, but when I did, the rest of the pieces fit together. What’s more, I have to admit that Bennet, Peter and Pearl have left me thinking a lot and have made me want to write even more stories with them as protagonists.
And there is a detail of The Vial of Tears that I like a lot and I do not know if you’ve noticed it: its space-temporary location isn’t specified. It could be in our world or in a fictitious one, it could be a story that happened a thousand years or five hundred, it could be a current university or one of a hundred years ago… And this is what lures me to create a whole universe of stories around these characters. I’m not saying that I will do it in the short term, but it is a project that I would like to keep in mind in the future.
With this I close this article and I wave goodbye to you. See ya next time, hope you enjoyed it!
Duilio Giordano Faillaci
