eddyfate

I just spent an hour or so talking to greebotrill and cresida, and another twenty minutes writing down some initial pros and cons of continuing on my anticipated path in the RPG industry. I've been looking at things from a variety of angles, but my goat nature keeps rising up and pointing out that the return of any investment (be it a project, relationship, or life decision) should exceed the costs.

( Lengthy update on my projects )

Recently I was asked how I can keep track of all of this. The short answer is that I don't. I have an elaborate system of notebooks, binders, folders, computer files, and index cards that I use to keep track of scraps of ideas as I get them. At some point, the ideas reach critical mass and I have enough material to start a project, but it can sometimes take years to reach that point (or, like in the case of "Domhan," over a decade). I then use email, my Palm pilot, a wipeboard, and just leaving crap on my desk to help me stay on task with the projects I need to do. I have scores of ideas and projects that will never be more than a couple of notes in my notebook, and another handful that I have good notes on, but will likely never see the light of day. These are completely aside from the projects that are self-generated: they aren't based off of ideas that have been bubbling in my head, but are developed to fill a market need. Sadly, I even have a few ideas that are completely developed, but will likely never be published (like Carjackers).

Stupid fucking muse.

Project "ONS" is back on the blocks to be stripped and completely overhauled again.

More silly links.

Print your own Monopoly money

Print your own non-specific game money (like for Cheapass games)

Print your own play money, checks, etc.

Jotted down some ideas for "Children's Fantasy" (since the original working title was... unsuitable), and worked on some research for Domhan. Then, greebotrill and garchangel went to see a screening of Doom -- she only had two tickets, and I wasn't as excited about it as garchangel was, so I voluntarily bowed out. I was going to work on something creative, but I was brain-dead, so instead I logged a few more hours on Knights of the Old Republic. I'm really enjoying the game, but I'm getting to the point where I just want to get to the end so it will stop eating my brain. After they came back from the movie we chatted some more, and I started to get a trickle of ideas again for CF. This morning, I had even more, and now I have a number of different avenues I can take for the game. For some reason, I'm really stuck on making it playing-card-based; partially to get that Victorian/Edwardian feel, and partially because card games feel more common for children than dice games. Since I'm in a bit of a lully between projects (a lot of things are kind of on hold at the moment until Midway City gets released), I'm taking the opportunity to poke at the idea.

This idea has come up twice now, so I'm noting it for my future reference. I've had a vague idea for an RPG tentatively titled "Magic in the Broom Closet." It would be a game based on Victorian and Edwardian British children's literature, like "Five Children and It," The Chronicles of Narnia, the Winnie-the-Pooh stories, Alice in Wonderland, and so on. Basically, it would be a fantasy game where the players are all playing British school children who get involved in some fantastic land. There are enough similarities in these kinds of stories that you can count them as tropes, and it could be an interesting RP challenge to play children in a fantasy world, instead of more cynical adults.