3000 Words in !
I am now deep into The Grind on the Bootcamp project, first 3 chapters have been written into the first draft and i still got 3 more to go plus appendix that include npc descriptions, maps and important items. Today i should be finished with the first draft, so i am running abit behind, which i expected since i am unable to get writing done every day.
I’m thinking of having some open ended side quest plotlines at the end of the adventure to be expanded upon in the future. As a GM you can run with them by yourself but i suspect i will also follow up with second adventure 🙂
I am finished writing up my TOC (Table of contents), even in its wip state it will serve as a tool for outlining my adventure. Outlines helps you structure your writing and the TOC is a list of what i want to write about, so thats a nice synergy.
Structure decisions
I will write 6 chapters, loosely based on 6 encounter ideas. I find that im my write up of encounters includes more information not directly related to having the encounter than anticipated. So it is not going to be “6 orcs are blocking the road ahead, when the fighting starts 1 orc will…. ” I am not going to dictate your encounter that much, i do have an ambush where i set it up with 2 archers in trees and some melee on the ground with a small idea for tactics.
blurp example:
The Howler ambush group consist of the following mercenaries:Twis – archer
Ralknar – archer
Jylie – sorcerer
Viz – Nimble Melee fighter
Siri – Nimble Melee fighterThe two archers are hiding up in the trees as well as the sorcerer, ready to assail the party with ranged attacks, while the two nimble fighters are hidden in the bushes near the road ready to flank attack once the ranged assault has worn them down abit.
I have decided to put a flowchart overview of the entire adventure at the start of the book, who can argue with a fast overview that does not include thumbing through the Whole book?
Appendix will as mentioned above include NPC descriptions, agendas, equipment, affiliations, MAPS, Items of power and im thinking of throwing in a monster or two. I am also debating if there is going to be some history of featured locales or people in the appendix, just for background fluff and possible sidequests or future adventure hooks.
Writing the story
I want to give GMs more freedom with the particulars and keep my focus on the background story, the agendas and the bigger picture. I find that writing without putting in crunchy details of difficulty checks and the like, allows me to focus on telling a story, which is what i really want to do.
The scope of my adventure story sometimes creeps on me and containing it to the original idea can be hard Work, but im putting ideas aside in seperate notes so maybe there will be an update, follow up adventure or alternate version coming up in the future.
Thats it for this Thursday… I’ll be back with more BootCamp next Thursday!
Gork ya later!