Status: Dreaming of the World...

 

Hello, fellow adventurers! I've been less prolific than usual on my blog, and for that I apologize. I'm currently taking a class in philosophy, a philosophy that focuses on believing in yourself and the power of your will and using that to change your life. Sounds like mumbo jumbo? Well, let me put it this way: I've tried it the other way (i.e. not believing in myself) for most of my life, and much of my life has seemed like a struggle. So, what do I have to lose?

 

This new focus on positivity and the power of the will has opened my mind to some new opportunities for my life, as it pertains mostly to the future of my career. So I've been giving over much of my free time to some new endeavors to reshape the course of my working life. All of this has given me a new vigor for life that is incredible.

 

I'm still on hiatus from running RPG sessions at my FLGS, but I haven't been able to attend the sessions run by my group for some weeks now (due to the class I'm taking). I'm missing roleplaying like crazy, I have to tell you. But the class will soon be over and I know I'll return to game night.

 

In the meantime, as it always has (even over the years when I wasn't roleplaying), my mind is swirling with inspiration regarding gaming. So thus far, the break I'm taking seems to be clearing out the burnt parts of my brain.

 

As I stated in my 2013 resolutions post, I'm working on my own campaign world, for the first time in well over a decade. I've been intimidated at times, but I really want a campaign world that I feel is worthy of my time investment. And published settings weren't doing it for me anymore. But the act of creation, for me, adds that element of becoming invested in the setting...and serves to feed my need to do something creative (a need which roleplaying itself feeds as well).

 

Published worlds may have the advantage of providing ready-made setting details, but getting to know said worlds can sometimes become too much like studying a world history text. Who has the time or patience for that?!

 

So, what advantages of world-building are attractive to me, besides the sheer joy of creation? Well, I can make up setting details on the fly, via my own flashes of inspiration and the decisions that players make in-game, especially with regard to the encounters they...well, encounter. Also, I'm not too proud to admit that I'll be injecting ideas that I get from reading fiction and non-fiction, as well as watching films, documentaries, etc. That's very appealing to me, actually, and is something that's harder to do with a published setting.

 

Yeah, just knowing that I'll be truly collaborating with players to not only create the events of the game, but also the game world, is really exciting...an excitement I haven't felt in a long time.

 

So, I hope to start blogging about the setting details I'm creating before I start running my next campaign. I don't intend to flesh things out too much, because that's just too much work that doesn't need to be done before a campaign starts. That's something that you wonderful folks in the blogosphere have reminded me about again and again, and for that I'm grateful!

 

Until next time, kindred spirits, I wish you happy gaming!