I have nine projects I would really like to get my teeth into. Starting new projects is really exciting. It involves re-reading the rulebooks just to check that I am playing the game as written and not my own house rules that I just imagine are RAW.
It then has me making characters, I often make five or six possible characters using different life paths. One will be my character, the others will be possible NPCs or walk on cameos. Some become replacement characters if my primary character meets a grizzly end.
Then I need to play. Obviously, this is the hard part. It is really tough having to play games all the time…
I have my own preferred way of playing and I generally revert to type, but as I play I start to refine my oracles to make them feel more like the game I am playing.
Then comes the writing up. layout and art direction.
A typical solo supplement in on a par with writing an undergraduate dissertation every week. I normally read about 500 pages of information, and then write ~6,000 words and the supporting tables.
This week I have been procrastinating. I think I have too many choices that I cannot knuckle down and get started. Luckily for me, I procrastinate productively. I have laid out two fanzines, Zweihander and Rolemaster, and written a Zweihander adventure, and started another.
When I was writing the Zwei adventure I had to stop myself. I started writing and suddenly thought that this one-shot adventure could be the prologue for a seven-part series. If I gave in to the temptation that would have exploded my list of outstanding projects yet again.
I think I am going to try and take it a bit easier for December and take the time to play for the sake of playing, rather than playing knowing that I need to take notes and test drive every part of a game.
Games are meant to be fun, right?
This time last year I broke out my Champions rules and kicked supervillain butt for a couple of weeks. It is almost a Christmas tradition. Admittedly 5th of December is a bit early for breaking out the Christmas games.
If I cannot stop myself from working, I will try and limit it to just reading. A well-written rulebook is a thing of pleasure in itself. I have quite a stack of them to read. I think I know what I want to read next.