I started working on the first adventure for the "Nightwell Barony" last night. It is very much an event based adventure (ie a railroad). I'm writing it for fifth edition, but it will be easily convertible to an old school adventure. Mostly because I'm an old school dude. I've realized latetly (which I've realized before) that to attempt to sit and write something for mass consumption is a bad idea. It's like sitting down with a guitar and saying "alright I'm going to write a hit song". It's not going to happen.
see this: http://3toadstools.blogspot.com/2016/12/publish-or-perish-syndrome.html
I've had far too many "bright ideas" over the years, that I've posted about on this blog. I get going on them, and then get a new idea, and start that. And the cycle continues. In some cases this is because of the hit song analogy, or I see a void that could be filled. That and the fact that I have terrible ADHD.
What I've come to the conclusion is that I'm really in this hobby as a hobby. Last night I spent about an hour and a half with my old laptop, no distractions and a pile of nerd books covering the couch as I wrote. It was in a word, glorious. I've got most of the one shot adventure written (with no maps yet). I'm hoping to have it completed on Wednesday and run a game in the next week or so. I'm excited, I'm writing and its a lot of fun. The words flowed really well!
Nightwell is my version of fantasy, which is a mashup of all the fantasy I've read (including all of the OSR modules, 2nd edition etc). It's not tolkien, but there's bits of that in there, same with greyhawk, etc. It's inspired by the basic rules for 5e, and all of the other basic rules for osr games. Most specifically the monster section, I threw in some dinosaurs, cuz why not! Sure there's a lot of the "usual"troupes as far as races are concerned (grumpy dwarves, wise elves, hungry halflings etc) I mean if it ain't broke? But it's mine and the players to decide on what happens.
I started working on a players guide to the barony, which will become a living document. One thing I'm not going to do is write too much. I'd like the players to help create it. I've decided for example that there are 5 demigods. The actual gods have either been destroyed or lost in the void. I'm not going to name these demigods. I'll wait for the players to come up with something.
If you haven't guessed it by reading this, the whole damn post is ADHD!
Long story short, I felt like I accomplished something last night. And the reason was that I was doing it for myself and my players. Not for some fictitious gamer who may or may not run an adventure or world that I create. And I feel amazing.
If you would like to read the beginnings of this railroad, it's right here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hX00-nHfS9IqcOT-Hk-NsafGB3YerBL7dR2TFCOfj9Q/edit?usp=sharing
*It seems that there's been a mass exodus from facebook to Mewe. And I just decided to take a break from both. I'll likely jump back on mewe at some point. That being said I'm here rambling if you miss me.
I better get my butt in gear and go to work!
The USMC have a saying: "Doing something wrong is better than doing nothing at all."
ReplyDeleteOf course I can sit here and be cavalier. As I speak I am cleaning the pool (rum with coffee for breakfast) instead of finishing a commission called Not Exactly a White Wedding Dress. The title will change before my employer puts it up on Kindle/AMZN, but my comp has floated around for 17 months. At least I'm getting paid to create these idiotic 276-page mysteries!
Finishing junk is better than admiring potential.
And the first-take on that guitar is usually the one you keep anyway. Finish.
Get to work!
ReplyDeleteI find it very hard to stay focused as well. Removing myself from MeWe, The Twit, Insta helped significantly. Most of my family is on FB and because we do not live near them it will unfortunately stay active...but we will see!