Happy Saturday!

We have a shorter update today as progress grinds forward. The biggest change to report is how the Key-Lock Scenarios are being formatted. After playtesting them and reading through previously released zines I decided that a single page needs to be dedicated to give a how-to and example for playing the scenarios. I think that will help new players be most successful when using the premade adventures.

Currently, I am playing through one of my favorite systems, Warhammer Fantasy 4th Edition. Fairly crunchy and jam packed full of narrative goodness, the WFRPG has a free scenario (If Looks Could Kill) that at first blush seems fairly easy to solo. If so, I would love to offer this up to newer players who enjoy the prewritten content.

Designing the Games

We are fully involved with playtesting my narrative samurai drama and while very fun, I can see why designers look for more players to help out with the testing. This is very tedious. There was a point where I had replayed the same start of the game for days in a row and began to wonder 'Is this even fun?' After a short break where I focused on something else, I put together a more sustainable playtest schedule and am back at it. And yes, the game is still very fun.

Next in the queue, I am spinning up the framework for a single page space exploration games designed to be told in bullet points and help guide the solo storytelling process. Players will track events using a 'Ship's Log' which will look similar to the random event tables systems that Mythic uses for tracking an encountering story beats during sandbox play. The actual system will lean heavily on a d6 pool generated from things like Crew, Gear, and Culture and has variable levels of success. Overall, very excited to begin giving this my full attention soon.

A Great Lesson

In my attempt to push out loads of content by myself I created an environment that was geared for failure. Two things i identified that fed into this were: 

1.  No schedule. I had no design, playtest, or writing schedule and therefore could not forecast my production or track my progress. I became anxious wondering 'am I doing enough.'
2. No breaks. I did not schedule breaks for myself and creatively became very fatigued, pushing myself to create even when I was tired late at night or distracted by other responsibilities.

All this to say is pace yourself and build a schedule that allows for things like breaks and periods of focused work. Find a time during the week that can be dedicated to playtesting or writing or designing. Think about the project, but don't allow it to dominate every though you have, because after stressing about something all day you will be loathe to sit down and actually face it when the time is ready. It's better in the long run.