Project : Overload

 When I used to run tabletop games there was a pretty firm rule that I followed. 
"For every hour of play time scheduled have about four hours of prep time ahead of time."
This came from knowing that players almost never followed the adventure, and if they did detours were inevitable.  How did the prep work go down...kinda like this. 

1st hour,
Focus on where the characters are.
What are they doing?  Who are they observing?  Who is observing them?  Do they have any goals for their current location?  What are some normal things going on?  What are two odd things goin on?  

2nd Hour
Where are the characters going? 
Make or get a map. 
If it's a homebrew you'll need to make one if it's an established world you can probably find one. Then look at the four cardinal directions from the characters locations and figure out what's going on in each of those directions. 
For example :
There's another town to the east, a Mountain range to the west, a coast for an inland sea to the North and a dense forest to the south.

3rd Hour
Why are the characters going there
 Judging from last session they'd be heading to the coast line to find a boat to get across the sea because "Plot" 
Ahhh, but one of the odd things in town was that a farmers Wife went missing in the woods a day before the characters arrived in town. 
A Caravan has stopped outside of town and is trying to hire protection from bandits on the road to the east. 
Rumor has it that there is a hidden Valley in the mountains where a witch lives.

4th hour 
Fill in the details. 
How far is it between the starting point and the possible destinations.
Where and what kind of boat will they find? Or is it a port they'll be arriving at where they can hire a ship. 
What happened to the farmers wife?  What clues where left behind?
Is it a good witch or a bad witch?  What does the witch have to offer the characters when they arrive?
Who are the bandits and why do they bandit?  Where is their hideout? Is their a reward?  What is the Caravan offering for these services.

Then (assuming it's a usual 4ish hour play session) for the next 3 blocks of planning you focus on each of your destinations and give them the same treatment.  Detailing the boat or ship and it's crew.  Figuring out what's going on in the next town over, outlining the dangers of the forest, building up the witches valley.   
And, don't forget, to look beyond each of these locations.  What if they just blitz to the boat and end up out at sea,  what if they go to the next town over and instead of going across the ocean they continue traveling with the caravan?  Do they find the missing farmer and discover some secret in the depths of the forest?  Do they get lost in the mountains?  What's on the other side of the mountains?  


Why am I bringing this up now?  
A number of reasons?   
For starts, what am I working on?  Why have I been so silent the past few months?  
Research, research, research.  
Planning ahead, just like if I were putting together an adventure for a D&D group.  

My projects? 

On the Fun Side
 outlining and writing scenes for t.v. shows and movies  I'd like to pitch or work on if I ever found my self in the position to do so.   
A sequel to Bumblebee set in early 90's Atlanta following Ratchet and Jazz.
What would an actual reboot of Firefly look like.
What is my idea for a batman series? (1970's street racing following a young Luscious Fox for the record)
Actually working on my little pet project.


On the Academic Side
Studying various online  games and the communities surrounding them.  Fortnite, Destiny, Star Trek Online.  What it takes to build a community within a community, etc.  
Game design, from single player to co-op, to competitive. 
If I designed and released a game what would I make and how would I make it? 
Answer - a co-op game built around exploration and adventure with quarterly story updates that could be played on or offline.  Think if Skyrim were two players but had the game play of the arkham games.
Looking what does the video game world have to offer the public library system and vice versa.


On  the "If I were president side"
How would I be handling the current national and global issues if I were president currently? 
If I were elected in 2024 and these issues were yet unresolved how would I work towards resolving them?   What might they look like if they were unresolved in the next two years?
What plans would I have for working with the national budget?
What projects are started?  What are ongoing? What would I like to see started?
What are my stances on the current issues being raised around the nation and what, if anything, would there be that I could do to influence them?  If in that position, should I influence them?
What would be the main issues I would focus on?
Infrastructure, Education, and Industry...and space...don't forget space. 
Moon Base!


Lastly, I have about four other posts for this blog that are about this length or longer that are sitting in drafts.  Partly because I haven't decided if they would be better served as blog posts or as part of some of the more focused papers I'm working on.

Like one detailing how the last year of being part of an active Destiny clan has gone.  
Short answer...I still don't people super well but it is possible to find non toxic people in a notoriously toxic community. (the shooter genre and online gaming in general) 

And another talking, more in depth, about streaming and telling stories within larger universes. I.E. The pitfalls and positives of using established story telling universes (I.E. Star Trek and Wars, Marvel and D.C.)  and the merits of reboots, adaptations, and retellings (I.E. Hercule Perot, Sherlock Holmes, Shakespeare, and any myth or story based around folklore) 

Ahh, but enough side tracking, back to study and research.  
My least and most favorite things simultaneously.  
I love the process, Love getting into details and building things and planning things.  But sometimes I just want to explore.