Game in the Brain

Part 2: How to Play and Adventuring, 8,055 words

1. Character creation walk through – Floating boxes of examples. Do this once I finish all of How to play. Probably take an hour to make, another hour for the sample character’s story write ups. I should use the NPC personalities generator for this.

2. Sample Play – 10 pages of conversation , triple column with illustrations. 2-3 weeks. ideally I would like a comic book, it would probably take me a day to write an outline, another to download all the pix i can find of gamers over their tables, another day arranging the drawing work flow, and a week sketching, and a week finishing up.

3. Starting equipment – Write ups of key equipment pieces, packages, and typical assets per status level. probably in a week. what takes the most time is figuring out what equipment needs to be in, packages and accounting, and compiling notes on art. A week for the art. What art will be important in explaining things.

4. Skills – write up description of skills and mechanics with regards to key skills. Most complex skills done. A week to organize, another week to sketch, and another week to finish up art.

5. Adventuring: Travel, Work and Effort Chapter – reorganize and finish up. finish up by tomorrow (at least the reorganization). will organize art needs, 2 weeks.

6. Combat – conclusively finish up, assess and critique short comings and write down decisions as to why. Probably next week, squeeze in a couple of hours for this. Next week, write up all art requirements or needs for explaining combat best. Practical and Illuminating illustrations about combat flow would probably take a week to organize and sketch, and another week to finish up.

7. NPC generator and typical encounter roster – very quickly generate personalities on the spot. I might probably write up several role-playing personalities and how the GM can randomly and less-predictably spin the personality to something different. reminds me of cooking where if you have elements of savory, fat, acidity, texture etc you have to always put a contrast. It should just take a week for the NPC personal variety generator. Art for this 2 weeks.

8. Creatures – A fantastic menagerie of creatures and their ecologies. Most earthly domesticated animals will be intact. A bit of xenobiology for some of the hazardous creatures. A week at most. The art will take a while. 3 weeks: organization, art (sketches and finishings) and write ups.

9. Character sheets – after character creation and combat has been tested to satisfaction. Character sheet and its art will probably take 2 weeks. female and male blank body templates for sketch over armor and weapons. another set for small bodied characters.

a week of art probably produces on average 2.5 sketches, and another week to finish up.

10. maps – Roman empire and the Mediterranean as my baseline is 7.5 million square miles. At 20km hexes and only the area of the Roman Empire 5million sq km that would be 120 PAGES! Oh crude. Being practical and considering how much time everything else is eating up: 2-3 weeks on the maps. a two page spread the area of the Roman Empire at its height. 2 page spread of a particular setting start up point and adventure.

Conclusion 26 weeks from this week. Half a year. That will keep me busy and entertained. Hopefully i don’t burn out. Along with these progress reports, this would be a fun ride.

Leave with some of the sketches I’m doing so far:

A rather plain drawing of a Kavad man… ick. but what the hell, might as well finish it.

This is for the character sheet armor profile. It is supposed to be an ambigous armor because textures like: plates, bands, lamellar, scale, mail, padding, cloth or leather is not that visible. Intended for players to draw over.

Basic Combat Shot.