Tonight! is layout city

I've been working on a layout project for a friend of mine (which I've talked about on and off the past few months).  The gist of which was "I can't figure scribus" etc.  I'm using openoffice for this, and it allows me to embed fonts properly.  Anyways, as I've been slowly procrastinating, this evening I'm going to get down to business!

Last week I wrote up a fairly deadly adventure for Matt Jackson's Barrow mounds.  You can get more info here: https://www.patreon.com/msjackson

After doing a quick proof on Matt's adventure, I was filled with inspiration.  So I started writing.  Which was nice, as I've been in a back and forth slump for a bit.  I have a few maps to draw, and one to redraw for it.  The premise is simple "go get rid of the bandits".

Here's some screen shots.

It'll probably be stated out with S&W I think.  Just for ease of use.

There was a few shane-isms in the first draft that I'm going to have to go and deal with.  But for a creative spurt I'm happy.

It probably won't up being any kinda release other than "here! here's a download, have fun".  Which IMHO I really enjoy doing.  Hopefully I'll get it done by Christmas.  First up though, is finishing out the layout project.  As it is 6x9 I've been looking for inspiration in RPG books.  I've settled on basically looking at anything lotfp I can get my hands on and B/X Essentials.

Wish me luck!

I took a u turn last night

Normal rules don't always apply when writing about alternate planes of existence.  Things like gravity, life (or lack thereof), resources.  Unfortunately I can't always chalk something up to "well it's fantasy, so get over it".  Rooting concepts in real world mechanics continues to crop up in my brain when I'm writing.  Example "The world is covered in fire, and the land is scarred".  Alright that literally sounds like hell.  But how will the PCs manage to find water? I mean if the world is literally covered in fire, there can't be any water right? They of course need it to survive? Well simple, give them some kind of magical item that provides that.  That is a bit of a cop out though.  These are the types of things that derail me.

The thing I was working on, it took a U turn.  And I already did a rewrite.  What I've noticed is the following statements are so very true.

Write drunk, edit sober.

Write what you know. 

Write drunk, edit sober.  Obviously you don't have to be fall down drunk when writing.  What you need to do is switch your analytical side of your brain off for awhile, give it a rest.  Just be creative.  Edit later, and figure out how these things are going to work.  I'm taking my own advice on that.  Last night I stayed up late writing, and writing.  When I finally did go to bed, that's when the editing started happening.  I didn't sleep well. 

Write what you know.  This is fucking obvious isn't it.  Let's say your a huge fan of comic books and superheros.  You don't have a real clue about Ancient Japan, other than a cursory knowledge.  Trying to write a epic RPG based around Ancient Japan isn't going to be easy.  Unless of course you do research.  If you want to write the Ancient Japan thing, get a few ideas peculating and then do research! 

Onwards! 

The 10,000 hour rule

The 10,000 hour rule is a strange thing, I was thinking about it this morning and then did a few google searches (it seems to be slightly debunked, I'll provide links). 

Here's the rule:  A common theme that appears throughout Outliers is the "10,000-Hour Rule", based on a study by Anders Ericsson. Gladwell claims that greatness requires enormous time, using the source of The Beatles' musical talents and Gates' computer savvy as examples.  LINK


However I believe in it.  I personally don't think I've got anywhere close to 10,000 hours writing RPG material.  Same goes for mapping.  This year I think I will try to get a few more hours into it.  I doubt strongly that I will hit that 10,000 mark.  (A perfect example of this is probably +Dyson Logos , I'm sure he's put more than 10K hours into mapping.)

I can say for certain that I've spent that amount of time engineering recordings (and I've got decent at it).  I've definitely spent that time playing guitar (although maybe not the right kind of practice which is probably the key to the whole thing!), I believe that I'm the "world's okayest guitar player" at this point.  I can't really rip, but I can learn a song pretty fast (from memory) and I've laid down acoustic rhythm tracks to a click on more occasions that I can count. 

As far as writing/mapping is concerned I'm going to keep working at it.  Try and practice the things that I need to work on. 

For writing I need to really work on the following: 

Writing better descriptions.
Making sure that everything is open ended (not railroads).
Trying to not fall into the usual traps/troupes
Being creative with traps, rumours, monsters

For mapping 

I need to start drawing buildings not just underground dungeons
I need to work on overland maps, come up with a interesting style (I quite like what +Deven Rue does!)
I need to put some more weirdness into dungeons, more natural traps, holes, cliffs etc.

So here's my sorta random 2018 plan, spend more time working on the above.  Maybe I can even come up with a schedule for myself (I tend to stick to schedules if I create one).  I'd like to find a half hour a day to work on either/or.  That doesn't seem like a lot, so hopefully I can stick to it!

Random Debunk links that I haven't actually read: 
https://lifehacker.com/the-10-000-hours-rule-is-a-myth-1819512038
http://www.businessinsider.com/new-study-destroys-malcolm-gladwells-10000-rule-2014-7

PS:  Totally random, but I think I'd like to do another collaborative dungeon again in January!  Quite possibly a sequel! "Return to the blue baron's palace".  I'll need a few more ideas about how to get it going.  Hit me up on Google plus to discuss your ideas.