GMII: CRD 001

Ah, divided nations, how storytellers love thee.

Ukraine is roughly half in favor stronger ties with Russia, who supplies their natural gas and kind of controls their survival as a modern society in the process.  The other half are pissed about their President just signing a deal that allows the Russians to maintain a military base of some importance [correction: extends Russia's lease of the Black Sea Port of Sevastopol] in exchange for reduced fuel prices, essentially.  In the parliamentary chambers, opponents were actually pelting the president [correction: Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn] with eggs and throwing smoke bombs.  This makes our own breaches of protocol ("You lie!") seem quite civilized.

[And here's how I transferred this real world situation into game development.]

[QUESTIONS:]

A. What issues would divide fantastical populations?

B. How would each side treat the other?

C. Where would the debates take place?

[Example Answer] GOBLINS:

A. Eat the dangerous humans, taking their buildings and livestock, or just steal the livestock and run away?

B. Greedy and reckless vs. cowardly and self-preservationist.  The former would threaten while the latter would deceive.

C. After reaching the human community, not having planned much beyond "invade and eat."

I'll do more of these and call them Creature Resource Development, or CRD.

Game Mastering Idea Incubator

I used to journal regularly, almost daily.  That ended with the increasing responsibilities of adulthood. Once my outlook became more practical and refined, I couldn't reproduce the freedom of expression existing in my earlier entries.  It's taken about a decade for me to reclaim my former frequency of journal entry, thanks to gaming.

In the last month, I've logged 16 entries in what I have dubbed my Game Mastering Idea Incubator (GMII).  That's a drastic improvement on previous journaling.  This book works because it has so much more focus than the random "what did I learn today" approach of earlier journals.  I write about work, family, politics, and many other topics commonly found in journals and diaries, but the goal is always about how to build a better game.

From April 9th, 2010:

"... this book is not the bible of my story settings.  It's an incubator of ideas, a workshop where the spare parts and failed experiments reside amongst functional and innovative creations.  Most of the material I choose to use on the field, at the game table, will be housed online, printed out when necessary."

By online, I was referencing the plot outlines, chronologies, NPC spreadsheets and other usable source material I keep in my google documents.  But, now I suppose it means here as well.  Any writing I think is appropriate to this blog may very well get posted, in edited form.  Just as diaries are often kept from prying eyes due their personal nature, my game idea incubator is full of ill-formed notions I wouldn't want to represent my creative output.

Stayed tuned for the first GMII journal post.