I've been working on an adventure and its been wandering from theme to theme as they are wont to do at times. Lately, I've been going back through it trying to bring these disparate pieces together. Some of it comes together easily, but I've reached the point where there are parts that feel out of place.
Basically, as I was building the adventure, I placed an encounter with bugbears that led to their cave. Then, I skipped on to another section and started working on it. Looking at the whole, it feels like the bugbears would offer more of an interface with the party, and I'm trying to think of how to expand that.
I have a madman that is operating in the wilderness, and it struck me that he could be serving as a makeshift shaman leader for the bugbears. He doesn't feel any real attachment to them, but finds them useful for gathering information and ingredients. In return, they set themselves up near his base as their headquarters.
The fun of this will be that they look to him for guidance and direction, and he gives off the cuff advice. As a result, they start behaving very oddly for bugbears, and having strange ideas and "missions" into the surrounding area.
Wednesday, January 15, 2020
Friday, January 10, 2020
Fighting Ennui
Every year brings retrospection at its translation from last to new. I internally declare my intentions to do "more," create "more" and so forth, but then fight the post-holiday letdown that invariably comes in January. This is only accentuated by working in retail, where the frenetic pace and hours of December turn to languid stagnation overnight with the passage of Christmas.
I have been working on a campaign arc for higher level characters, but while it occupies my thought daily, it doesn't always evolve at a uniform pace. Basically, I want to get on here every day and add something based on what I'm working on, but there isn't always anything to show. Often it is just thoughts ruminating in my brain.
One of those thoughts is about what to do daily with D&D that isn't strictly playing or building an adventure. I noticed an article on the official site today about DM's Guild and their Adept program. I don't know the full details of how it works, but it feels like their way of promoting popular or prolific contributors from the previous year by focusing on them. This makes it even more important in my mind to finally get past the barriers I've erected and produce sellable content. I'm not suggesting I should be made an Adept, but it is relevant that they didn't get there without producing. I want to produce, so the prospect of gaining some attention or recognition is certainly a fine carrot to dangle before me. If it motivates me to create and contribute.
Each year of reflection brings the understanding that work and life will always suppress the opportunity for me to play as often or in as many adventures as I would prefer. So, we create stories that never get told, and that is a shame. Someone surely can find the time to play even if we can't, and if we can give them ideas and moments to enrich their games, it can feel as rewarding as playing. In the end, the adventures I think up get played, even if by others. That is why I make them up.
I've never been big on resolutions, but there is definitely something to be said for having goals. I think my goal for 2020 is to create a complete adventure that I can post to DMs Guild for someone to download and play. It doesn't need to be more complicated than that. It's not about how much money it makes or how many downloads it gets. It is about building a series of encounters within a story, pushing it to completion, editing and polishing its most glaring blemishes, and passing it on for someone to actually play.
It won't be easy for me to do. Already, I'm struggling internally about whether to take something I already have and finish it up, or to start from scratch and build an adventure with the clear result in mind. At least, for now, I have time to think about it. As long as I remember to act before the time is all gone...
I have been working on a campaign arc for higher level characters, but while it occupies my thought daily, it doesn't always evolve at a uniform pace. Basically, I want to get on here every day and add something based on what I'm working on, but there isn't always anything to show. Often it is just thoughts ruminating in my brain.
One of those thoughts is about what to do daily with D&D that isn't strictly playing or building an adventure. I noticed an article on the official site today about DM's Guild and their Adept program. I don't know the full details of how it works, but it feels like their way of promoting popular or prolific contributors from the previous year by focusing on them. This makes it even more important in my mind to finally get past the barriers I've erected and produce sellable content. I'm not suggesting I should be made an Adept, but it is relevant that they didn't get there without producing. I want to produce, so the prospect of gaining some attention or recognition is certainly a fine carrot to dangle before me. If it motivates me to create and contribute.
Each year of reflection brings the understanding that work and life will always suppress the opportunity for me to play as often or in as many adventures as I would prefer. So, we create stories that never get told, and that is a shame. Someone surely can find the time to play even if we can't, and if we can give them ideas and moments to enrich their games, it can feel as rewarding as playing. In the end, the adventures I think up get played, even if by others. That is why I make them up.
I've never been big on resolutions, but there is definitely something to be said for having goals. I think my goal for 2020 is to create a complete adventure that I can post to DMs Guild for someone to download and play. It doesn't need to be more complicated than that. It's not about how much money it makes or how many downloads it gets. It is about building a series of encounters within a story, pushing it to completion, editing and polishing its most glaring blemishes, and passing it on for someone to actually play.
It won't be easy for me to do. Already, I'm struggling internally about whether to take something I already have and finish it up, or to start from scratch and build an adventure with the clear result in mind. At least, for now, I have time to think about it. As long as I remember to act before the time is all gone...
Looking Ahead at 2020
Finally a year made for D&D fans... 2020!
It's a new year and time to reflect on the past and look to the future. Last year ended up mildly disappointing overall. We never got the Roll20 game going beyond about two sessions, though that is mostly on me for putting it off for ages. Nothing seemed to go our way when it came to playing regularly. We did get to play many games through the year, but couldn't get any real rhythm going.
As I look back at these blogs, I see the same thing... early promise of activity, then long gaps of nothing. It is frustrating. Still, I only say mildly disappointing, despite how grim a picture I've painted. In other ways, the year was great. We continued playing our Thursday game in Augusta, and have been able to find a real comfortable style of play that is fun week to week for all of us.
There have been loads of new minis released, and we have scooped them up wholesale. For the last month, I've gotten a renewed interest in an idea I started working on this time last year, and feel like it is finally taking form as an adventure. It hasn't been perfect, but we are in a good place, and 2020 promises to send more our way.
Best of all, the malaise I felt last year (partly from taking a new position at work with no training) is gone, and I have a better energy this year. This is a brief note for now. I hope to be here more frequently this year, and with more content to offer.
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