Luso-Hispanic Sabbatical
First of all, work wise it's been insane, some major projects coming out of the blue plus a complete reorganization and some intense industry initiatives that focus on the solitary skills I have in the group. Alongside that family commitments, both nice and nasty, and the running of The Raspy Raven Discord, my second job.
So I was looking forward to two weeks of relaxation. A hidden away villa within walking distance of a beach/lagoon and a restaurant rated 4.x+
Whilst we went on some amazing trips and spent a well-deserved time with loved ones, this post focuses on what I intended to do on a few days of TTRPG writing.
Here was the list:
Write up The Dee Sanction adventure, Wisdom is Better than Gold
Convert The Heist from Those Dark Places to Cthulhu Hack 2e
Write up the Yellow King RPG scenario, Visible Forms
Write or at least create a seed for my biopunk Reboot the Future scenario
Organise the Raven Marches (Western Marches campaign using Knave 1e)
Organise games over July/August in lieu of any Raspy Raven seasons
Prep for Gumshoe Season II in Feb 2024
Think of games I want to run in 2023 including Cthulhu Hack 2e, Kult: Divinity Lost, Public Access, Yellow King (This is Normal setting), Swords of the Serpentine, Exuviae, Knave, Fear Itself
It was a long list and there was too much on it, but I find that writing a list is a brain dump of what I want to get out of my system.
Wisdom is Better than Gold has been in the top three for months, if not a year, so I grabbed a copy of The Hakluyt Society, The Third Voyage of Martin Frobisher to Baffin Island 1578 and got to work… and this is where it all went wrong and why I ended up barely managing to finish item one in my list and even then I'm not really happy with it.
First problem, it's based on an historical event, so I went down many rabbit holes making sure I got names, places, dates right, before I then tried to interweave a story into this. The words of Dee Sanction author Paul Baldowski kept coming back to me, to paraphrase, “Don't be a history pedant.”
This was day one and half of day two, as it also included investigation into Inuit myths and legends, which included listening to Inuit elders recount stories for a doctorate thesis into indigenous people’s cultural history. It was all fascinating and enjoyable but at the end of it, I didn't have anything approaching a game.
Another day and a half (spread over 14 days) and I had put things into a Google docs structure and had around 5000 words and 20 pages. I'd figured out a rough three part Act with a load of GM Advice to run it in a single one shot vs multiple sessions vs a campaign.
The original, inspiring structure was gone and it had in turns lost and gained elements I liked. But it was a gameable if derivative scenario with an interesting premise, some nice interwoven real historical events but a fairly limp final act.
The final day (three in total) was spent cleaning it up and sending it to a few trusted advisors to get their feedback. I was a bit sick of it by now and knew I had to do three things i) get distance from it ii) get trusted feedback iii) playtest the hell out of it.
Overall I didn't hate it, but neither did I love it or necessarily like it. It felt forced but it also seemed there was still great potential, which I saw in my original idea, and if I could link the acts in a more seamless manner, I'd be a lot happier. I was hoping that this would miraculously appear from feedback and play testing!
Lessons learned; good stories don't always make good scenarios / don't be a slave to history / don't be afraid to throw things on the fire and start again, the good seeds of an idea will always come through / don't be afraid to turn it over to others
So that was the end of my TTRPG efforts, I did dabble in The Heist conversion but got bogged down in CH2e conversions and also felt it was 80% there so it is more converting a system stat or mechanic from one to another, this is better to do with a decent internet and my home PC setup - I love The Heist!
I also dabbled, in the last few days of vacation, with Raspy Raven admin but was glad of the enforced break of around 10 days, it can be a bit like work keeping the RR active and the rest plus focused time on one TTRPG project, has injected me with a double dose of energy and enthusiasm for new Raspy Raven projects.