Working on the PDF for the Odds are Against You, and I feel like I've managed to hit a wall. On one hand, I've got the base mechanics down (and thank you to those of you who remarked on my question about mechanics- it was some excellent food for thought!), and I've gotten the layout of the PDF itself to be passable, sort of. It's plain, which is fine by me, because it's very readable. Lots of bold print and very conversational dialogue and examples and big print and stuff.
Anyways. The problem is that, at four pages, the mechanics and character generation are done. The rest of the document is going to be setting-related stuff, and mostly broad brushstrokes for GMs instead of a laundry list of everybody in a settlement and all of their middle names or whatever other people use to fill up two hundred pages of book.
And I HATE writing setting stuff. It's such a pain in the ass. It always feels disconnected and bland, or overly referential, or dry. Setting stuff is hard.
But it'll get done, eventually.
I'd rather have a broad strokes setting than be given the Christian names of characters and all their relevant stats. Characters I can make. Just tell me if he is a general, a king, a jester or a priest.
ReplyDeleteI'm more interested in what color the sky is, how many moons there are, and what the average NPC's reaction would be towards seeing a dwarf, lizard-man, and centaur walk into a town.
Actually, Jeff's Gameblog has "Twenty Questions for your Campaign" that are pretty kick ass.
http://jrients.blogspot.com/2011/04/twenty-quick-questions-for-your.html
Thanks for the link!
DeleteNot everything applies, but I think I can translate the gist over. This is exactly what I needed.