Dungeon23 : my approach
A little thing about me that I have to disclose to put this post in the right light: I have ADHD. I am so very distractible. I have troubles with long term undertakings.
So, why oh why embark in a year long project that requires literal daily commitment?
Because it looks like a ton of fun, and because I need the kick in the butt to actually start working on a bunch of ideas that have been marinating in my brain for months, if not years.
But! I know myself. If I want this to go anywhere, I have to approach this with a carefully studied method. A procedure, if you will.
So, here we go.
General principles, in no particular order:
- Make time for journaling. Early morning, lunch break, before bedtime. Be flexible. Cut something else out. Corollary: sleep is not something you can cut out, neither is family time. You know you would regret that later;
- Plan ahead. Start working now. Ride the wave of inspiration and save some work for when the tide recedes. If you have it in you to write 2/3/4 rooms, just do it, publish one and keep the excess for a rainy day;
- In a pinch, just go for an interesting empty room. Interesting being the keyword there. No broom closets and such;
- Make notes. Lots of them. Always have some kind of medium on you to record new ideas;
- Steal a lot. Novels, science and nature articles, #osr blog posts, everything;
- Don't get lost in the weeds of mechanics and rules. Lots of time to flash those out later;
- Don't be afraid to go back and update older rooms with new details as you go. Always mark those later changes;
Writing procedure:
- If you have a flash of inspiration, use that. If not, check your notes for older ideas you have jotted down. On an empty tank, random generators are your friends.
- Write down what's on your mind. You can make it pretty later. Or not;
- Look at the other rooms on the level. Can you add interesting connections with the rest of the material? Have you got a new faction on your hands? Some kind of multi-room puzzle? Either expand or just store your ideas for later use;
- Publish on the blog, seep good tea and congratulate yourself (note to self: add a step regarding the making of said tea somewhere);
Finally, a note on mapping and art: I am emphatically not an artist. I can barely draw circles and squares. My maps will therefore be composed of badly drawn circles and squares, and I will provide no other illustrations. Sorry! I promise I'll try to “paint the scene” with my words as much as my bad English allows me!