Caution: Contains Traces Of Geek
Mar. 5th, 2004 01:18 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
morslaSo, it's almost 1am, and I'm not tired enough to sleep.
Okay, that's not entirely true - after training today, and all sorts of running around, I'm absolutely bloody exhausted. Something forgot to let my brain know, though, so I'm still sitting up with a notepad - jotting down ideas for all manner of Stuff(tm).
As it's my least immediate worry, the most obvious bit of procrastination currently involves writing this game... and I'm happily fleshing out all sorts of weirdness to populate a Melbourne-that-isn't. Apparently people are getting enthusiastic about playing it, which led to the current batch of ideas - it's probably poor form to let the players get more enthusiastic than the storyteller...
I'm still planning to lift the Traditions from Mage, and various supernaturals - but it's not a World of Darkness game in any other sense. By dumping all the rules in the metaphorical bin, I realised how much fun I can have building a setting for the game; consequently I still have ideas to write down at this hour of the morning :-)
I find it strange that an almost-real-world setting feels like it brings out more creativity than a completely unreal landscape. I don't need to worry about all the grey, dreary details that highlight the levels of fantasy in the setting - all those bits that give reference points, and help make the setting come alive. Rewriting Melbourne uses a more child-like imagination. All the "what if this could happen" and "I wonder what's in there" thoughts can be fleshed out, and everyone already understands the basic setting. This way, I get to work on making the place interesting, instead of making it easier to believe in - working back from the other end of the spectrum.
And so, I fill my notebook with ideas for just what might lurk down the end of narrow laneways; inside the Customs building; underneath Bourke Street; visible only by moonlight in the Treasury Gardens, or high on the rooftops. Places down those other passages in the city loop. Jungles inside office towers, and bank branches that contain an endless expanse of lifeless rocky plains...
Really, what good is sleep when you can daydream with your eyes open?
Okay, that's not entirely true - after training today, and all sorts of running around, I'm absolutely bloody exhausted. Something forgot to let my brain know, though, so I'm still sitting up with a notepad - jotting down ideas for all manner of Stuff(tm).
As it's my least immediate worry, the most obvious bit of procrastination currently involves writing this game... and I'm happily fleshing out all sorts of weirdness to populate a Melbourne-that-isn't. Apparently people are getting enthusiastic about playing it, which led to the current batch of ideas - it's probably poor form to let the players get more enthusiastic than the storyteller...
I'm still planning to lift the Traditions from Mage, and various supernaturals - but it's not a World of Darkness game in any other sense. By dumping all the rules in the metaphorical bin, I realised how much fun I can have building a setting for the game; consequently I still have ideas to write down at this hour of the morning :-)
I find it strange that an almost-real-world setting feels like it brings out more creativity than a completely unreal landscape. I don't need to worry about all the grey, dreary details that highlight the levels of fantasy in the setting - all those bits that give reference points, and help make the setting come alive. Rewriting Melbourne uses a more child-like imagination. All the "what if this could happen" and "I wonder what's in there" thoughts can be fleshed out, and everyone already understands the basic setting. This way, I get to work on making the place interesting, instead of making it easier to believe in - working back from the other end of the spectrum.
And so, I fill my notebook with ideas for just what might lurk down the end of narrow laneways; inside the Customs building; underneath Bourke Street; visible only by moonlight in the Treasury Gardens, or high on the rooftops. Places down those other passages in the city loop. Jungles inside office towers, and bank branches that contain an endless expanse of lifeless rocky plains...
Really, what good is sleep when you can daydream with your eyes open?
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-03-04 10:07 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-03-05 03:59 am (UTC)I'm after fairly basic info at the moment - what sorts of things you want to be able to do; major things in your background; what you're doing at the moment.
no subject
Date: 2004-03-04 11:52 pm (UTC)I've also been toying with a Wraith/Neverwhere like version of Melbourne. Special haunts and strange things about the city.
It's fun, like you said.
Almost Real
Date: 2004-03-05 01:00 am (UTC)I recommend a play with a Melways, and just looking at random maps, especially through the city - there are a range of very odd things through Melbourne.
http://www.custommaps.net/images/mwyedn1.htm
is a link to edition 1 of the Melways - who's to say what ghosts of places still exist...
Also the historical plaques you see from place to place are worth stopping and reading....
no subject
Date: 2004-03-05 04:05 am (UTC)Playing with a Melways is a good idea - I might photocopy a few pages, and scribble ideas all over them. *sneaks off to steal
I'm seeding the city with story hooks at the moment - the plan is to keep loading it with detail, and then throw the characters in and watch what happens :) It's the most enjoyable part of running a game, I find - seeing what other people do with your setting...