Module Writing

Over the last month or so I've invested more time in trying to design your classic style module and encounter adventures than I think I've ever done before.

The process has been fun.  A little grueling at times.  When you are working on describing the contents of the second chest out of four chests and six barrels in the fourteenth room in a thirty some room module there are moments when you just have to take a break.  There are other moments where you've already taken as many breaks as you care to take for that day and you have to push on through.

At some point in the process though the vision you had for the thing finally begins to fall into place and you begin to find ways to add additional layers or twists and turns to the story contained within the module that you hadn't thought of before.

Finally there comes a point where most of the thing is written, at least in a first pass, rough draft version and you push yourself back from your desk and think...hey, that might turn out to be a really cool adventure when its all edited and polished and finished up.

So the work hasn't come to an end yet.  Not by a long shot but the couple of projects have moved through the general outline, vision in my head to something real stage and I have to say that is where things start to get more fun for me.

When I can finally print out a couple of maps, the forty some pages of text I've written for the module and put it all into a three ring binder and think...ok.  The adventure now exists.  There is a physical copy of it existing in the real world and not just in my notes or in my brain.

That is a really good feeling.

I pushed hard to get all that accomplished by today, finishing mostly what I wanted to accomplish a day early.  I am giving myself the night off from serious cartography or drawing or writing to just drink some tea and chill. 

This weekend, depending on what comes up in the land of clients wanting maps done and working on my own projects I hope to break from writing to work on my next 20x20 map and fill out more of the encounters to post up from the latest one.

All in all it has been a pretty good day.

Ed