Adventure Creation

Tonight I did a in-house bookstore night where I push the table in another corner of the room and set up like I was at the bookstore.  I need to do this every so often to help me focus and it allows me to write without getting distracted for a few hours. 

Tonight I started with a blank state.  No map or plan.  So I grabbed +Richard LeBlanc's d30 DM Companion and his d30 Sandbox Companion  turned to random tables in the DM Companion and then did a few rolls on the adventure tables in the Sandbox Companion.  Here's what I came up with.

• Treasure Finding Potion requires the imbiber to consume 3x the food and drink for the next week.  Used, but tweaked the side effect.  See the adventure for the new version.
• Wooden coffer trapped with a magic symbol that does 3d4 damage of frost damage and the target is slowed for the rest of the day.  Kept it as is.  I added the slow affect.
• Hobgoblins (5d4) = 12  If the patrols are used I think there are 16 total hobgoblins
• Stirges (5d4) = 17  I went with 13 stirges.
• Gnolls (3d6) = 12   I dropped the total to a single gnoll.
• Trigger: Vision  Dropped.  I tried to write it as a vision, but it sucked.
• Major Goal: Investigate Location  Not the major goal, but just a needed aspect.
• Obstacle: Aquire Knowledge  In an indirect way this is the major goal.  The potion grants this.
• Location: Ruins  Kept, love me some ruins. 
• Location Feature: Chapel  Kept, love me some ruin chapels.
• Phenomena: Shadows  Dropped.  Just didn't fit in with what I wanted to do. 
• Villain Goal: Greed  To be determined.  This will end up being at least a two part adventure.
• Artifact/Relic: Potion of Treasure Finding  Used.  I like the slant I used for this one. 

 So this was the seed of the adventure I wrote.  I liked having the adventure revolve around getting an item, but not just an item, but rather a tool for something bigger with a side effect when used.  Now of course I did not use everything exactly as rolled, but it helped guide the writing.

While I didn't have a map I put the chapel in some barren hills, party encounters a patrol of hobgoblins before reaching the chapel.  There are two ways to enter the chapel, through the tunnel which is infest with a nest of stirges or through the chapel itself where more hobgoblins await.  The chapel itself is made of a single room above ground, and then two room underground, a basement and a well room where the goal, the treasure find potion is kept.  

When I write an adventure I usually write it three, four times.  I had three false starts with this one until I settled on my current version.  I will draw the map and edit to become one of my micro-adventures.  Here is the raw copy of the adventure.  I very pleased the way it turned out.

Untitled Adventure

Suggest a title and maybe you'll get a copy of the adventure when I'm done.

Prison of Gallus

I completed my 35th micro-adventure last night, Prison of Gallus.  My 42nd piece over all for my Patreon.  I finally cracked 70 patrons!  Ivy likes to let me know when I get a new patron. 

I often overwrite my micro-adventures which is easily done given the restricted space on a 4"x6" notecard.  Or if I go bit it might be on a half sheet, from and back.  Or my largest is a full sheet, folded, front and back.  Often times I need to rewrite an adventure, on average, three times.  I kept doing over and over again this past month.

I was working on this one idea, but the problem was I had a great title and great cover, but the adventure I wrote for it did not fit the...I don't know, the importance of the title and cover.  So I had to put that one aside to go at it another day because it wasn't clicking.  I've got a folder on my desktop full of partially written adventures to come back to. 

So to give my mind a rest I binge watch Netflix (and there are so many good shows on right now) and draw maps.  I think I've drawn 5 or 6 maps recently.  Fodder for later use.  The map above was one I drew while watching an enjoyable episode of Arrow.

To get things churning again I often have to dial it down.  Think more of an adventure situation than an adventure setting.  These micro-adventures actually can produce an amazing amount of ideas to rift off of.  With Prison of Gallus you have the following situations:

• An unborn child was cursed to be a flesh eater, a living ghoul.  
• The noble lord who is embarrassed and ashamed of the situation and uses his power to sacrifice others in the hope of curing his son.
• The mysterious person who curse Gallus and what was the reason.
• The criminals are vanishing from the dungeons, even those who are guilty of minor crimes.
• The disappearances of people on the street.  

There are many strings to pull upon that are suggested in this micro-adventure.  These strings can be developed into much larger situations/adventures.  The seed, the beginning of something much larger.  That's why I like writing the micro-adventures because even though they are small, they can develop into many things.

Prison of Gallus is free for everyone.  Just hit the link and you'll be teleported to where you can do that.  If you are a patron or become a patron at the $2.50 level or above, you'll receive a laminated copy of the adventure in early November.  I huge thanks to my 71 patrons.  Their support has been a huge help over the past couple of months. 

It is Monday.  Time to make the doughnuts. 

The Day Butter Died, a Dragon Age Adventure

I'm leaving here in about 15 minutes to GM a Dragon Age game.  Looking forward to test driving this system.  I got my 3d6s ready to roll.  I expect deaths today.  The adventure I created is not to be completed in one session or at least at low level.  If the party tries to clear out the area they will probably find themselves assuming room temperature. 

Instead of using a canned adventure I went ahead and made my own, The Day Butter Died.  I learn systems by writing adventures and playing them.  I'm the one running it so I wrote this.  The other reason, is I like the practice of how to layout different systems.  How will it look in print.  Dragon Age has larger stat blocks, maybe not as 3.5, but they do take up a significant amount of space.

I used their style of stat block in the Core book instead of the box sets.  The box sets stat blocks were clumsy, these are better. 

Okay, off to kill some PCs.  Wish me luck.

Laminating Adventures & Locations & Wondering What To Do Next

This month's micro-adventures, The Bastard Baron's Hideaway and It's a Trap, and micro-location, Execution Corner are being printed and laminated, are prepared to launch by the beginning of next week.  But there is work to do.

Above is the freebie this month.  Those at my $2.50 or above pledge level will receive Execution Corner and It's a Trap, which is not pictured because I haven't printed it yet.  But I've got a good jump on EC.  They are almost complete.  The layout on this one came out a little odd, the borders around the map are off.  Overall though, I think it turned out nice.

In addition to the above, my patrons at the $5 and above level will receive The Bastard Baron's Hideaway.  A cardstock, zine like micro-adventure.  I think it looks sharp.  I hope my patrons do also.

I've not been gaming for a bit.  I've played in one session in the past two months. I decided to take a break from the game sessions back in the beginning of May.  I'm glad I did, but I am missing it now.  But I'm not sure what I want to do when I go back.  Still figuring that part out.  Where I want to put my energy and available time. 

My writing continues.  Writing micro-adventure for my patreon gives me a quick, well sometimes not so quick, outlet for my creativity (some of you may argue the lack there of).  And the money I've collected from it has helped a lot with making The Manor a paying zine.  Supporting other Patreon campaigns.  Doing giveaways.  And supporting my gaming book addiction. 

The 9th Manor is coming along with the help of contribution from +Simon Forster and +Rob Conley.  I've got two pieces of my own getting ready.  Getting +Kristian Richards, +Boric Glanduum and +Joe Johnston most recent releases has inspired me.  Speaking of which, I plan on doing reviews soon for Kristian's and Joe's products.

So I might be slapping together a on-line game soon.  Some sort of pick-up game.  More information plus maps coming soon.

A Lesson in Adventure Writing

I've been blathering on about my micro-adventures for the past couple of weeks, about my Patreon page and getting people involved or at least grabbing a copy of my latest creation.  I like folks playing my adventures.  It's a cool kick.  When I read about game sessions where the players have run through my adventure and how the GM has tweaked the adventure to fit their world/party/system, that's what it's all about for me.

But I'm not here to write about that.

Writing these one-page micro-adventures has been a fun challenge.  I love drawing the maps.  It allows me to do grown up coloring.  But trying to fit a fun, interesting adventure with possibly larger implications on half of a page, forces me to be concise.

Here's some examples from my most recent mico-adventure, The Crypt of Volkov.  It originally was going to be a page and a half, but I went through and slashed the shit out of it.  Waaa!

Here's the initial entry for the room #2 Tomb of Victor Volkov.  The stat box has been removed.

The door to this room is locked.  Opening the door will trigger the pit trap.  Inside the room is stone coffin.  It is carved from the natural stone.  There is a copper plate (long turned green) with an inscription scrawled into the metal.  Also in the room are two gargoyle statues.  They are made of a different, darker stone.  They are perched on pedestols.  The inscription is an archaic form of common.  Any player with a intelligence over 14 can read it, Risen from the ground.  Returned to the ground.  May the ground accept and protect you.  If the statues are attacked or if the party attempts to remove the coffin lid they will attack.  The statues are small, stone golems.  When attacked they get an roll at the same time.  If the golem scores a ’hit’ they grab the weapon.  If it’s a normal weapon it will be broken.  If magical the golem will take any damage the weapon normally does, but they player will need to win a contest of strength to use the weapon again.  The golem’s have an effective strength of 19.

Once activated they will remain so for one day.  They will chase the players to the entance of the crypt.  If destroyed, both have Golem Hearts (valued at 1000sp each) inside.  The coffin lid can beremoved with a combine strength or 30.  Inside is Victor Volkov.  He is dressed in rusted platemail and helm.  Grasped in skeletal hands is a two-handed sword covered in a calcium crust.  If grasped, the sword will transfer some of Victor’s experiences to the first one who touches the sword.  The sword’s name is scawled on the blade, Inviktum Viktorium.  Under the corpse is a secret compartment that contains four gold bars (valued at 100gp each).

Here is the final version.

The door is locked. Opening the door will trigger the pit trap. Inside the room is a stone coffin and two gargoyle statues. The statues are made of a different, darker stone. The statues are small stone golems that will attack if attacked, or if someone tampers with the coffin.  Once activated, they will remain so for one day. They will continue their attack even if it takes them outside of the crypt. A combine strength of 30 is required to move the coffin lid. Inside is Victor Volkov. He is dressed in rusted platemail. Grasped in his skeletal hands is a two-handed sword. The first to touch the sword will gain some of Victor’s experiences (gain 3d6 x 100xp). The sword’s name is scrawled on the blade, Inviktum Viktorium (see below).

Here's what my thinking was.

1. This is too long for a micro-dungeon.  The whole theory behind it is being concise, be interesting without being generic.  I mention the natural stone...doesn't make a damn bit of difference.  A GM can make the call on that if it comes up.  It has no bearing on the room.  It's out.
2. The copper plate with the inscription, while I like the nuance of it, it takes up a lot of space.  Three and a half lines.  While I did like that detail it needed to go.  Why?  Because it had nothing to do with what's going on in the room.  That darling needed to be killed.
3. For some reason I thought it would be cool if the stone golems caught and broke the weapons swung at them, but it isn't a know skill of a golem (probably too slow for that anyway) and it took up a lot of space to explain how they would use it in game.  Four freaking lines.  This one needed to go again.  The golems are going to be difficult enough.
4. Golem hearts.  I like the sound of them and thought they'd be an interesting find, but there was already a cool magic item to be found in here and I would need to go into a long explanation for a new magic item.  This got slashed due to it being redundant in this room, but stored in the memory locker to be used at another time.
5. And I got rid of the secret treasure beneath Victor.  Again, another redundancy that took up too many lines.

With those five edits  I went from 20 lines to 9.  This room alone would have put me over my allotted space.  This is one room out of the six.  All of them had cuts.  In the end I think the adventure is better for it.

A micro-adventure should be something the GM can read through in a couple of minutes then be prepared to get the game going.  I appreciate a long adventure, but I'm lousy at digesting that much material unless I run it over and over again.  These adventures you can pop into your head with no prep time.  And the reason why I need to keep them short....unlike this post.

That's a glimpse into my brain while I write these adventures.  I've got some good ones on the assembly line.  I hope you stick around to see what's next.

Why I Publish (or Piggybacking Off of Dylan)

Yesterday, Dylan over at his Digital Orc blog posted Why Publish?.  An excellent post that goes into why he publishes and what he learned along the way.  If you haven't read it please do.  Mine can wait.  I warn you ahead a time, this is a bit of a ramble.

I can blame a lot of it on +Rob Conley for my gaming publishing bug.  I'd been tinkering in short fiction for years.  Rob and I used to get together on neutral territory and go over the writing we'd done for that week.  Fast forward a few years, Rob worked on a few projects with Goodman Games, I helped a bit.  It was the first time I saw where our ideas, from our game could come to life in print.

I published Knowledge Illuminates back on February 2011.  Hard to believe its only been three years.  Seems longer.  I hesitated putting it out there.  I was still a newb and for some reason I think there was some flame wars going on at the time.  No idea what it was about, didn't care either.  But after some discussion with friends Rob and Dwayne I released it and cringed.

I was hoping to sell 25 copies.  Thought that would be cool.  If I reached 25 then I'd do another.  Rob kept saying I'd sell 100.  I told him to give me whatever he was smoking so we could both enjoy the delusion.  I put it out there and a lot of cool people were very generous with their praise.  I surpassed my 25 in a short amount of time and before the year was out I'd sold 100 copies.  Hell, it hit #1 on RPGNow for a few moments.  It gulls me to say Rob was right.  What I learned from this was the amount of support I received.  To not worry about people liking it or not.  Just to trust yourself, make something you like and share it.

Then +Christian Walker...Mr. Walker...I know he'd been putting out zines for a long time.  Before I knew him.  My first experience was when he did 1 square = 5'.  I thought it was very cool, but it didn't trigger a light bulb.  Then he released Loviatar.  The sky opened and lightning struck.  Holy shit, I can do this.  I got a long armed stapler, a new printer and a crap load of card stock.

I can't draw a stick unless I photo copy a real one.  I needed art.  My budget for the zine was next to nothing, but I had a few coins rattling around.  +Jason Sholtis was someone I'd met and did the art for Rob's Scourge of the Demon Wolf, I asked him if he would be merciful on me and do the cover.  He did and drew me a incredible kickoff cover and then +Johnathan Bingham said he would do a picture.  And Mr. Walker himself helped me a great deal with finding my footing.  Again the support was fantastic.  It got a ton of reviews.  This one again showed me that people could get behind and get excited about something I did.  I received support from folks I didn't know.

By this time, I'd been out long enough that bad reviews started filtering in.  Bad reviews don't bother me, not everyone is going to like your product.  I appreciate the time they took to review it and hope they like the next one.  I think I only had one negative review where the person obviously hadn't read it and just complained about random things.  In those cases I just ignore it.  He didn't put much thought or time into his criticism so I just don't respond.  No need to.  And the great thing is most of the folks that have given me poor reviews I've spoken to and they are all good guys with honest opinions.  That is a good thing and some have bought follow up products and liked them. 

Most of those who read this blog know I'm very open with sales, costs, numbers.  I like sharing that hushed part of  the business.  Sometimes it gets to be a touchy subject about folks want to make a little money.  Ignore the nay sayers and booers.  I want to let people know it can be done.  Not that I'm the guy that will show them the way, but give them my experience and hope to see them release something. 

Lastly, the money itself.  I am a lousy accountant/record keeper other than the number I sell.  I know I spend more than I make on other gaming products.  And that's it, I mainly do this to get something I like out there, get the excitement of making a little cash for something I love doing and getting some extra scratch for all the cool stuff I want to buy.  Recently I've been saving a little more of my money off of projects so I can start paying my art dudes and dudettes a little more, pay people who contribute or help out.  I call it pizza money.  And the thing of it is most of them don't want any money, they just want a comp copy. 

The publishing thing doesn't happen in a vacuum.  I think nearly everyone needs the talents of others to get them to a good, completed product.  The OSR doesn't seem to have a limit of talented individuals.  I'm always fascinated by all the backgrounds and job skills people use to improve their gaming experience. 

I publish because I love to game.  To gather with friends and share something I put so much time and effort into along with the help of others.  I publish because it gets me revved up.  When I release a product I get adrenaline pumping and stay up late and painstakingly watch my email for orders.  I publish because I really need the creative outlet, and while I can do this in the privacy of my home there is a certain satisfaction you get when another person talks about it.  And I publish because, for me, the OSR is a community of folks who love sharing their ideas for a hobby they spend significant time (and money) on that invades nearly every part of their life. 

Falling Short

Yesterday, Day 5...I didn't get to my 1700 words.  Nope.  I wrote 1059 words for the Village of Bad Water I'm working on.  It's okay.  No one panic.  I got this.  Today I've been writing, but also working hard on the layout of Issue #5 of the Manor.  I need to give a thorough once over and then hand it to my very capable proofreaders.  While I can't count that as writing I'm pleased with the progress. 

Back to work.  I need to produce.  And I think I've got a pretty good idea for some of the villagers...

Day 4 and I Already Hit the Wall

I'm a fricking lightweight.  Last night was the 4th night and I already wanted to pass on doing my writing.  Tired from work and just wanting to watch Netflix...nope.  Whisk coached me into starting.  Grind.  Grind.  That's me grinding on my writing...not the other kind.  I know, TMI.  Fast forward, around 10:30pm I had the b button buried in my forehead from falling asleep and hitting my head on the keyboard, but I got my 1700 in last night.

What I worked on is the village of Bad Water.

I believe I posted this map a little while ago.  I'm going through and adding who is in each building their background, secrets and possible adventure hooks with the hard working villagers of Bad Water.  I got through 11 buildings last night and just started working on the next batch.

Back to work.

Home Ruling NaNoWriMo for Gaming

Like a good game system that gets house ruled, that's what I've done to NaNoWritMo.  I've taken the concept and skeleton form of it and then applied my own house rules.  I am not writing a novel.  I did this in the past and while the exercise was interesting and fun, its not something I'm interested in right now.  What I am doing is applying those 50k words into gaming.  Yesterday for example, I wrote nearly 2500 words for the 5th Manor.  The first draft is nearly done now.

Some of the other areas I'm applying my 50k words is the campaign world I've been tinkering with.  I've done some work on this morning, a few hundred words, but tonight I'll need to sit down and pound out at least another 1500 words.  No revising.  No editing.  Just producing now.  I can second guess myself in December.

I'm using NaNoWritMo to develop a writing habit.  An expectation of myself.  I love to write, but rarely give myself the chance to do it.  NaNoWriMo focuses your attention on the writing and makes it a priority.  While I may not have a novel at the end of the month, I will have a lot written for my gaming world.  Some will be for publishing purposes, but most of what I do this month will be for me and the Monday Night crew. 

Off to work.  Hope to get some good writing time in afterwards.  Either way I will be hitting my minimum goal of 1700 words.

A Practice in Self Flagellation

Day one of NaNoWriMo started off shaky.  I thought I had an idea of where I wanted to start, but when I sat down everything seemed simple, stupid and worst of all, boring.  But I kept hitting the keyboard until it stopped boring me.  Yes, I will blame my keyboard for now. 

I have a timer I use when I write so I can keep track of how long I've been at it.  Especially when doing the 50k words in a month.  That breaks down to 1666.666 words a day.  See, even the devil own NaNoWriMo.  That's why its such a pain. 

After two hours I got in 1700+ words.  I'm looking to get a minimum of 1.7k words a day.  Ideally I would like to get in 2.5k words a day so if I need to take a day off I have a little breathing room.

Do I like what I wrote so far?  No yet.  I think there are kernels of some fun characters, but not enough there at this time.  As for place, it's so generic.  I need to get into more details of the area and a little background. 

I plan on going back and writing for a little while longer.  The great thing about NaNoWriMo is it is focused on producing.  I, like many people get caught up with the details, get hung up on small problems, fiddle with crap that doesn't matter.  This month its about producing content.  The details be damned now.  Your job is to apply ass to chair and keep typing until the blood drips from your eyes and tips of your finger snap off.  Or for most of you, until the coffee runs out. 

Blog Ambush and NaNoWriMo

Looks like the whisk has redecorated my blog while I was at work.  She giggled behind me as I brought up my page.  She likes that I don't like the spiders with the bows.  Then I found out she changed my icon when I comment on other people's blog.  And the title of my blog, Halloween Manor.  Apparently she had a lot of time on her hands yesterday.

At least there are no falling witches and ghosts.

Tomorrow starts NaNoWriMo.   I plan on doing it this year.  A few days ago I had no idea what I was going to write about, but now I've got a few ideas I think I'll run with.  It'll be a story based in the campaign world I'm building and this exercise will help me flesh out the world in more detail.  When I free write I come up with the nuances of cultures and customs that bring a world to life.  I won't go into much detail, one, because its bad mojo to talk about it before hand and two, I still know very little of what/who I'll be writing about.

Anyone else out there feeling brave and going to join this masochistic exercise?

Oh, and almost forgot.  Have a great Halloween!

Back Into Writing

Truth be told, gaming got me into reading and into writing.  The first things I ever wrote, on my own without the barrel of a loaded grade book at my head, were adventures for my friends to explore.  Sure they were basic graph paper dungeons full of ninety degree angles and room randomly plotted.  Sure there may have been four blink dogs in one room, Tiamat in the next and seven ogres at the end of the hall.  Did it make sense, nah, but holy frick'n shit was it fun.  Friends had fun.  I had a beat up old briefcase with manilla folders holding my adventures.  When we wanted to game they could pick which adventure they wanted to go through and off we went, rolling dice and never asking if it made sense. 

Game writing I've been doing.  Writing adventures and a campaign I've been doing.  But I want to get back to writing fiction.  I used to write short stories all the time.  When you're a college kid who has no money, doesn't drink and lives alone in the country writing was one of cheapest ways to entertain yourself. 

There is a difference between writing for a game and writing fiction.  But there is lot in common.  Use one to strengthen the other. 

Right off I can think of creating characters for your story compared to creating NPCs for your game.  Needing to make some interesting ones the players will remember. 

Creating a setting for the story and for the adventure.  If done correctly can add another dimension to your story or game.  Think of all the incredible places in fiction and in gaming that have been created.  Think of a book you've read and thought I would love to adventure through that world.  Or went through and adventure and wanted to know more about the setting.  I know in my yester year of gaming I always wanted to know what Acererak's story about how he went about building the tomb of horrors.

And developing a plot.  These two are very different to me when I create a story or an adventure.  For a story you fill out the details and drive the story by using the plot.  In gaming you let the players drive the story, but it may follow a completely different plot than you expect.  While the players may not have taken on the undead army invading the town, they may have decided break the damn up the river and flood the town and washing the undead into the sea.  Why not?

I enjoy writing in both mediums immensely and need to get back to writing more fiction (don't worry I won't bore you with them).  I am toying with the idea of joining NaNoWriMo this year to get me kick started again.  I know when I'm trying to improve my writing in one area it will improve in other areas.  I want to write better adventures.  I want to write better stories.  And I want to have fun doing it.  I don't mind the struggle and frustration that comes with it, that's the fun of it. 

Self-Censorship

Note: Just read through this and it is a bit of a ramble.

Censorship.  A mild topic for an early morning wouldn't you say?  I'm focused on self-censorship, what you think should stay in and what should stay out because of content, not necessarily quality reasons.  Maybe its sexual content, a graphic description or something that maybe just didn't jive with the vibe of the project.  Example, B2 is a straight forward adventure, here are the good guys.  Here are the monsters.  Just a fun romp of hacking and hauling.  If someone would have written in a rape room or explicit sacrificial scene it wouldn't have matched the tone of the adventure.

I have a long background of working with others, especially children.  Because of this work I censored myself a lot during the early years of my game writing.  I kept my writing light, fun with a touch of sarcasm.  Okay, maybe more than a touch.  For the past few years I've been working more with adults and that automatic self-censorship is fading.  If you've downloaded Faces Without Screams you'll find it more graphic and kid unfriendly.  It's not something I choose to do before hand, it's brutality fit the tone of the work I wanted to write. 

I don't like things that are weird just to be weird, or gross to be gross, or sexualized just to add an edge.  When I read these kind of things I get bored.  There is enough room in RPG writing to explore all these subjects without needing to reach for them.  Connected to this thought is people who try to censor others.  More often than not when this happens, those who wish to censor something end up driving more attention towards the product.  I remember back when the 2 Live Crew got all their attention because of the explicitness of their lyrics and cover.  It was a shit CD, but because other censor wishing people wanted to ban it, the CD blew up.

Quality sorts out what should be on the shelves more than the content.  While I can't stomach a lot of mutilation, rape, or any violence against children I would never tell anyone else they couldn't.  If the details fit the context of the adventure and well done its a lot easier to take.  When its written just to be shocking the quality often sucks and uninteresting.  That is, unless someone gets self righteous and thinks it should be banned from the land.

I'm thinking of this because of the writing session Rob and I had yesterday.  We are working on a sandbox setting for LotFP.  It's set in England and I thought of having an incarnation of Jack the Ripper show up centuries before he gets big.  Jack the First, I call him, is a traveler, he targets women, drugs them with a sleeping potion then slips on his cock blade to murder them in the act of sex.  While not the most imaginative or gruesome it was graphic enough to make me hesitate.  That self-censoring kicking in.  Years earlier I wouldn't have written it.  But even today I bounced the idea off of Rob and asked if he thought it was too much.  (I'm also aware of the nature of many LotFP adventures and know that my encounter is well within its bounds.  I wouldn't write the same entry for a product for Goodman Games or Brave Halfling Publishing.)  Rob thought it was an interesting idea so I kept it in.  Whether it is written well enough to stay in when we start editing is another matter. 

I'm not really sure how to end this entry.  It feels like I should have some sort of summation, but I don't.  I guess I'll end it with a question.  Are there boundaries you won't cross in your writing? 

RPG Writing Session

Let's step in the Wayback Machine...

...come on in there is plenty of room. 

We button a few buttons, lever some levers and whoosh we head back to 2003.  Ten years.  +Rob Conley and I are sitting in our local library writing.  Rob wanted to get more fiction savvy and I needed to knock off the rust off my prose.  There we were, before blogs, before iphone, tablets, and I could still go to Borders cafe and get a javanilla.  Man, I miss those. Neither of us were blogging.  I hated the word blog.  Back then it was the noise a wet fart made.  OSR?  Retro clones?  I think 3.5 just came out.  Not sure. 

We're sitting in the library.  Talking about what kind of stuff we would like to write.  RPGs always comes up.  What we could write?  How we would get it out there?  Neither of us had much of an idea.  I was writing more fiction than anything at the time.  Stories lingered half written on floppy discs.  Rob was more involved in the forums.  I wouldn't go on them.  Didn't like the noise.

Okay back into the Wayback Machine...

...back home.  Back to today.

Oh look, there is Rob and there I am.  Sitting in the same seats at the library.  This time Rob is surrounded by technology.  He's got a tablet, laptop, external harddrives and I think he has a bionic beard.  I'm sitting there with a notebook and pencil.  Ten years later we are working on a gaming project.  We've got several under our belt now.  Rob asked for a bit of assistance and I'm always glad to help. This time instead of talk about how we can do RPG projects we are talking which ones we want to do.

It took us a while, but we did some things we talked about ten years ago.  We got our gaming ideas out there.  We continue to have more ideas.  We've did what we set out to do 10 years ago.  Tonight we're sitting there and bounce ideas off one another.  "I need a name for a witch hunter."  "Do you think a cock blade is too much?"  "What spell system is being used?"  I really enjoy the process. 

Here's to the next ten.  My guess is I'll still only have a pencil and notebook. 

Adventure Writing Unexpected Turns

I've been working on the 4th issue of The Manor for the past month.  In a later post I'll let you know about the great mini monster manual inside, the art done by +Jason Sholtis .  It's fantastic.

The first part of the next Manor was going to be a straight forward adventure that featured displacer beasts.  I didn't realize they were in the group of ultra protected monsters of WotC.  Product identity monsters.

Turn one.

Since I already have the art and idea I changed the name of the monster to Shadow Manus.  Manus means hand or paw in Latin and I believe it means cat in Hungarian.  If ever I need a exotic sounding name I go to the English/Hungarian translation dictionary and find a word that sounds cool and alter it so I can pronounce it.  In addition to changing the name, its powers changed (it no longer displaces, but shadow travels).  I got the idea of shadow traveling from a Google+ game with +Zzarchov Kowolski where my mage had that ability.  I thought it was a great idea and it fit.  So while the Shadow Manus has its roots in the displacer beast, it is now its own thing.

Back to the adventure writing.  I reread my adventure.  Boring.  Snooze fest.  I dare say it sucked.

Turn two.

Adventures should not be boring.  There should be something in them that makes the players get excited, or baffles them, or sends them to their knees in awe!  Actually I just go for "Oh, that's cool." and I consider it a success.

So I decide to rewrite the adventure from a different perspective.  This perspective is much more interesting.  And it will put the adventurers into some precarious situations.  I like that.  One of the things I added was a bit more of a description of the village instead of hand waving it in the introduction.  It was all going great until the ultimate judge said no.  Space.

Turn three.

I don't have the space to do that.  I've already increased the zine by 8-pages.  I've already knocked the weight into the next bracket so my shipping charges are going to increase.  So now I have about 10 pages, kinda, to  get the adventure to fit in.  I read back through the adventure and the first thing that will get axed is the introduction.  I wrote it in a narrative over a page and a half.  The village is 4 geographical locations and 20 residences and then 10 areas in the cave.  While you might think 10 pages is a lot it gets eaten up quickly.


I'll probably write out the adventure and village the way I want and not worry about space.  Once its done then I pare it down and see if I can get it to fit.  I have some great art pieces I need to fit in also.  I'm looking forward to the challenge and something tells me I haven't hit my last turn in this adventure.  It's a puzzle.  Not just writing an adventure, but getting it to fill up the space you have.  Whether its too much or too little. 

Rewriting a Classic

I've been writing and layout for issue #4.  I think I also have the proper software to bookmark PDFs.  I didn't realize it was so easy.  So I am sure I'm missing something.  I've also been taking notes and preparing to do a couple playtests of an adventure Greg Christopher gave me.  And in a few minutes I am head to Staples to get some supplies.  I got one of the 20% off everything in the bag (this is a non-existent bag) coupons and going to get some better paper.  I'm not digging how the images are bleeding through the paper.  I'm upgrading to the 24lb, 98 bright for the next zine.  It will look better and feel better.

If that wasn't enough I am looking at doing a rewrite of a classic module.  Nothing new, but something I never attempted.  I am going to tinker around with rewriting the Village of Hommlet to fit my gaming sensibilities.  I know without even looking at it I know there were a crapload of magic items in the villages.  I got some pruning shears to trim a lot of them out and those that remain will become unique items.  I'll post the entries here.  Just doing that one as an old exercise in writing.

Well off to the store.  Need anything?

To Write is Human, To Edit is Divine

I believe Stephen King said that in his book, On Writing.  Even if he wasn't the first its the first place I read it.  While I am just a minor fan of the King, I am a huge fan of On Writing.  Great book about writing.  A straight forward approach with none of the stardust of inspiration bullshit.  The reason I am bring this up is last night I received feedback from my proofreader/editors.

Wow.

Boric G gave me a seven page, point by point detail of edits.  He'd tell me right now there should be hyphens in point-by-point.  It was fantastic.  It was like a verbal treasure map to all my mistakes.  He provided fixes and great suggestions.  Plus, having not read the manuscript before he was able to point out discrepancies of names and where more clarification was needed.

I have a fiction background and I tend to have a loose prose style.  Fragmented sentences.  Wandering thoughts.  Grammatical hand waving.  After reading through his editorial suggestions I could see how he was making what I was trying to say clearer.  Just fantastic.  It is one of the best edits I've received in my three decades of wasting paper and ink. 

Onto the other editor that's helping, Ken Harrison aka The Rusty Battle Axe has sent me his edits and his suggestions while not as detailed as Boric's he pinpoint some weak prose and gave great suggestions. 

With these two guys helping with the edits I have no excuse for The Manor #3 not to be great.  If it isn't great its all me cause these guys have really went out of their way to help.  And for that guys I thank both of you. 

The Manor #3 will be ready for release this Friday.

Oh, and one more thing, Jason Sholtis sent me a kick ass piece of art.  I want to print it on a professional grade paper and frame it. 

It's In the Details...Or Not

I'm continuing on with my posts about providing more details within an adventure, or the term I use describing a third magnification.  This post isn't for those who don't like too much detail.  They want sparse text, minimal description and run with it.  This type of adventure design is for those groups that like to get into the minutia of the world.  Little details thrill them.  Because of this, it made me want to dig a little deeper into the way an adventure is presented.

I've never been fond of people who are weird for the sake of being weird.  It's boring and not weird.  I am not giving details to be detailed.  That would suck and also be boring.  The development of an object or person or place, to give it detail is there for the players to interact with if they so chose.  If a player comes across a silver candlestick its worth 20sp either way and that can be the end of it.  Or it can be a candlestick made by Bo Duke from Hazard County and worth a lot more.  This single candlestick can become a plot point.  There could be a collector of Bo Duke silver wares.  And it being such a known item, maybe it belong to a noble who was robbed and would pay to have it returned.  Who knows.  But adding a single tag on it of history/backstory it can become more than just a 20sp trade in.

But here's the cool thing, you can completely ignore this if you want.  I won't take away from your game one bit.  It is there for players who like to fiddle or GMs who like to fiddle.

Not every candlestick will be made by the famous Bo Duke.  Most of the time its just going to be a 20sp trade in.  Done.

In the example I gave in a previous post, everything that was given more detail is for the players to explore, to use or manipulate.  Just because more details are given does not mean the prose goes off on tangents.  If anything it means I/you/the others who write this kind of adventure has to be terse and discipline.  Edit and then reedit.  That's what I find challenging and something I enjoy.

While I may not be an expert at writing adventures I'm fairly confident at what works and what doesn't.  I also know not everyone is going to like that style.  It's not written for them.  As the writer I still have an obligation to do the best I can for those who will enjoy it.  Being able to execute the style is critical.  So when it does leave my computer and waft into the ether its done as well I could do it.  So if the people who are interested in that style of adventure tell me its not good then I am the problem and need to do a better job.  If done correctly people will have fun.  I'm cool with that.

Playing with Adventure Construction, Part 2

Here is the example of what I posted about yesterday.  Write a description of a room or situation and take elements mentioned (bolded) then follow up with more detail.  I like the suggestion of implementing random tables in the details and plan on including them fairly often.  This is what the text section would look like.  I didn't do a map yet, but I think most can imagine it. 

1. Example Room

Torches in wall sconces illuminate this 20' square room.  Hanging in the center are two blacken corpses and a woman, blindfolded and gagged who struggles against her bonds.  Under them is a large circular grate with a lever off to one side.  To the north, arguing can be heard.  To the east is a door.  To the south is a passageway partially blocked by a pull cart with a broken wheel.  

Corpses, the two corpses were adventurers caught outside the entrance.  Gorum (room 3), stripped them of their possessions and died during questioning. 

Woman, Mayla was captured yesterday trying to break into the locked pantry (12).  Gorum questioned her, but he was afraid to touch her fearing he would be seduced.  He had her blindfolded and gagged.  She was trying to poison the food supply.  The vial poison (save vs. death) is hidden between her breasts.  She is working for Veloria (room 48).

Grate, the lever opens the grate in the center.   It drops 100’ into the  ancient sewers below.  There is a 20% chance that a thunderous guttural roar will issue from the pit.  Gorum is afraid it will crawl out of the pit and seek food if he does not feed it.

Arguing, at the end of a short passageway is an open door.  The men are arguing about whether the woman should be cut down for their entertainment. 

Door, locked.  Heavy wooden door.  Simple lock.  Gorum has the key.  

Pull Cart, contents.  Roll twice. (d8)

1. A cracked cask of ale.  A few tankards worth is still at the bottom.

2. Four broken spears and three broken shields.  

3. A coil of 10' rope.

4. Two sacks with several goblets and dinnerware that bare the mark of Blothsum's Froth Tavern. 
5. Extra straw for bedding.
6. The corpse of a large rat.  One of the bandits stashed a small pouch inside the gaping wound.  He found it in the rat's nest and didn't want to share.  There are 21cp in the pouch.
7. Baskets of food not yet put away in the pantry (12).  Potatoes and carrots stolen from local village gardens.
8. A bone scroll case stuck between the slats.  It contains a small picture.  A portrait of a woman.  At the bottom a Y and a T are intersected.  This etching was created by some one practicing their forgery of Yrum Tuttbom, royal artist.  If this were one of his etchings it would be worth 1000sp.

So you can see the room is fairly straight forward then it funnels down into more minute details.  Knowing who Yrum Tuttbom or Blothsum's Froth's tavern might not be important, but it adds details that can lead into other plot points and provides ample opportunity for role-playing. 

Playing with Adventure Construction

I am going to go against the minimalistic sensibility the OSR values, that I value.  Being concise is a wonderful thing.  Providing just detail enough to allow the GM to fill in the spaces.  There are several popular adventures whose entries are no more than than a sentence or a series of fragment sentences.  The following examples are from Michael Curtis's Stonehell Dungeon. 

2. Wrecked Seraglio: Ruined bedding; erotic frescoes; smashed water pipe.  Empty.

1. Ancient Gallery: Remains of old furniture & smashed sculptures.  Gnolls (6) bundling harvested plants to bring back to their lair.  Each has 1d10+1ep & 1d8gp.

You can't get much more concise than that.  There are a list of details the GM can rift off.  Ten different GMs are going to come up with ten different ways to influence and accentuate the room.  Everything is right there at a glance.

I've been playing with doing the opposite.  Lots of detail.  With details about the details.  Each room would have its own accompanying map.  Depending on the details provided there would be the text on the left hand side and the map on the right.

My reasoning?  Hmm, I guess there are times when I am playing that I like each room to be its own puzzle, own contained adventure within.  Especially when running short sessions or competitive sessions (tournament style) it makes sense in my brain.  A lot of adventures are written to the second magnification.  Meaning the first would be the obvious.  Using the examples provided, old furniture and smashed sculptures. And of course the gnolls.  Second magnification would be the money they carried.  Something that needed to be investigated.  If there was a chest or sack in the room, second would be what is inside.  Hidden or less obvious.

What I am writing is something that takes it to the third magnification.  These are details that knowledge or skill is needed to discover.  Let's continue using the examples above.  The old furniture might be the last remaining pieces that belonged to the baron before his castle was sacked and burned.  The baron valued craftsmanship and hired Misrol of Glendale.  While a normal table and chairs would sell for 50sp, but if sold to a knowledgeable buyer they might fetch ten times that amount.  The gnolls gold pieces might be from a rival kingdom as are the weapons they wield.

While most gold pieces are generic hunks of metal, sometimes adding a small detail to them can enhance the depth of an adventure.  Like anything it can be over done.  Minimalist style can be overdone.  And what I'm messing with is probably overboard, but I'm curious to see how it works out.

The layout I am working with a room description.  Some details will be bolded to indicate there are further details.  It makes for easy reference.  And another reason I don't want to make any descriptions longer than a page.  Although stats might prove a space problem.  Again, I'm playing with idea and seeing how it works.  I like the idea of it and of course it all comes down to execution on whether it will be playable to me and possibly others.