New Starts

It is a new year, and a chance for new beginnings. It is always tempting at this time of year to start a journal or a diary, begin some project or diet, etc. I've been neglecting this blog of late, but not the concept. I've been able to do something with D&D on a daily basis for some time, although the holidays have slipped a wrinkle into that. The bonus is that when I haven't been able to work on a game, I've generally been able to play in one.
The Christmas holiday means a busy two weeks of jumbled schedules and relatives in town, which means less time online, less time developing any of my games or ideas, but compensates by giving us a chance to sit at the table with real dice and play. That is the best distraction.
Now, the holidays are passed, and the new year has begun. So it is time to start fresh. I've been having trouble focusing on one thing over the last few weeks. Our regular online game has been interrupted, and with separate face to face encounters filling the space, it is easy to get distracted by all the other projects that have been floating in my head. I thought this would be a good way to combine several elements to mutual benefit.
I'll be back to regular play in another week at the most, which will tie my attention to that one campaign for a while. Taking advantage of the urge to journal with the new year, I can develop other concerns concurrently, and use the forum to focus my energies on them. I think for this project I want to develop a dragon adventure, The Expedition to Scarred Peak. This was the basis for my NaNoWriMo project this past November, and has some good features to it that will make a good game. That was a story, and this is a game, but it gives me a framework to start with.
Today is an introductory piece, a planning session. I'm not fully sure of how this will work or develop, but I needed to start with an idea. I have several locations sketched out, and that will make a good opening. There may be a week's worth of entries related to that, starting with an overview of the location, key points along the campaign's journey, featured groups and monsters, and magical items. Subsequent entries can explore some of these more deeply. The key isn't to drag it out unnecessarily, but to give everything the space it needs to be explained and developed without trying to cram too much into any one post.
For now, the adventure is set in the far north, beyond the Iron Teeth Mountains, and features a red dragon living in a temperamental volcano towering over the mountains at the edge of the sea. Unfortunately, the route to the dragon's lair is by land, and runs through a more circuitous route. Tomorrow, we'll start with the geography of the area, and highlight some of the key locations.