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:

1. 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.
2. Write down what's on your mind. You can make it pretty later. Or not;
3. 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;
4. 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!

#Dungeon23