WHAT HAPPENED
The text for Mine is done! That means I’ve done all the writing that I need to do (save a few item entries, so I guess it’s not done), and I am focusing on the tedium of corrections. Andrew has been kind enough to point out things that I didn’t or can’t see at the moment, and I go through his lists of whoopsies tackling them one at a time. At least that’s what I was doing until late last night. All the corrections piled up to the point that the file lost page parity with the source, and things weren’t in the specified locations anymore. God that’s annoying. But I did make it all the way through Act II without any trouble. Now I’ve got an absurd spacing error that I’m going to check today with fresh eyes against a PDF to be DAMNED SURE I haven’t lost my mind and deleted or hidden necessary text. Half pages of blank space don’t just appear, and I’m pretty sure I made a mistake somewhere. This will be a page-by-page comparison, and I haven’t even begun work on the layout. Tedium indeed.
NEA GAME FEST 2023
I’ve got 11 games scheduled for this convention over 4 days from July 20th-23rd. I have exactly NONE of this prepared. The events are submitted and I’ve got a few seats spoken for, but nothing like I had back in 2020 when I had to bow out for health reasons. People have forgotten me in the missing years, and it’s time to make them remember! I can feel the game rising and gaining mindshare again. It may all be in my head, but I think it’s a good thing to have up there.
WHAT’S TO COME
I’m going to do my damn level best to get Mine ready for layout today, but I’ll likely have to wait on those updated corrections from Andrew. I have to stop by Sunday so I can get my act together for NEA Game Fest though – none of that is ready. After Mine? Hmm. I think I’ll start making progress on the Bestiary, and I don’t mean the text-only developer version I’ve got here, but actual illustrated pages with stat cards. Without actually checking, I think there are around 260 unique monsters for this system. That’s not really comparable to the 600 that were in the 2nd Edition AD&D Monstrous Manual, but it’s a start. If I can get it to 300 entries then I’ll be more than happy with that. People are clamoring for both that and a “DMG”, no matter how much I tell them there’s no need for a Loremaster’s Guide. But you know what I’ve realized?
People have no idea what they want.
That said, perhaps I should make such a thing. If people are going to buy it, then why not put it out there? I’m not making a D&D clone here (at least I don’t think I am, although I’ve been accused of it), but if there is demand for a product filled with charts and tables and obscura, I think it might be a fun challenge. That said, I really don’t like the idea of being tied down to a list of written-in-stone tables for “how stinky is my fart” based on a character’s diet and other such nonsense. Then again, do I even get to complain about nonsense in a game where there are talking puppies and bunnies? Perhaps not.
CONCLUSION
I’ve done a thing and I’ve got even more things to do after I do even still MORE other things. This is the job I’ve always wanted. I love it.
- Alan