Game Diary Summary - March

3/1/2008
Yesterday I sent out the Newsletter, which included how the game is going and the Feb. game diary. After I sent it out, however, I realized that i hadn't actually signed, which is kind of embarrassing.

Before yesterday, I was working on Dharmesh Monastery, and wrote up descriptions for all the rooms on the main and second floor, and started on the basement. I still need to flesh out those rooms a bit though, and I also need to figure out exactly what's going on in the crypt. I think I'll be adding psionic phantasms that are ancient monks that have died but still remain in spirit form.

3/3/2008
Yesterday and today I worked on new creatures to populate the locations in Aldorus. I had been thinking the Encounters chapter had been a little light, so I'm adding some generic creatures and some specific ones, including a few for the Dharmesh Monastery. My wife asked me yesterday if I was just adding things so the game would never be done. NO! I just want it to be complete. So, it'll be done when it's done and you'd better like it or I'm going to have a huge hissy fit! ;-)

3/4/2008
I've been hard at work today getting the Dharmesh Monastery section done. Using the creatures I created the last few days, I've fleshed out the rooms of the monastery and set the stage for player adventures there. Next, I need to add the creatures to the rules (so far they are in note form) and also write up some adventure seeds. After that, I'm largely done with this last chapter.

3/5/2008
Today I redid the Poison section Chapter 5 that had been lost last week I think (when the file got corrupted). I actually like what I did today better than before, so I guess it worked out okay. I also added all the creatures I had created notes for. I put most of those in Chapter 10, but I added a couple general ones in the Encounters chapter. I still have more to do notes on so I'm not done quite yet.

3/7/2008
Yesterday I created three new guys for the Si-Sawat Syndicate, and today I added them to the rules. It may seem like a no-brainer but I had originally made them Humans, even though the boss is an Akiak and the syndicate is named after a cat breed. But, never too late, I changed the new guys to Akiak as well, so now the whole gang is run and operated by kitties (okay, tough kitties)!

Today I also reformated the headings for Chapter 10, which meant moving things around a bit. Not a big deal but it took me a while to get it right.

3/9/2008
I spent yesterday working on the Crazu, the native race of Aldorus that the Human largely exterminated when they adopted the planet as their own. This is one of the original ideas from when I was still working on the computer game so I'm recycling it a bit here. All along I've been using a particular model I got from Daz3d for Poser, but my wife suggested (since the model has black "skin") that people might view this as racist. So, per her suggestion, I changed the texture in Poser to a dark green color instead. This makes sense since they live in the Shadewood Forest and could camoflage better. However, the idea that something you create for a game (full of imaginary people) might be viewed in a very real sense in the real world is one of the hazards of doing this kind of stuff.

3/11/2008
Today I worked on misc. stuff: I wrote the descriptions for the dharmesh monks (ice and fire) and rendered some ships for the starships chapter. Yesterday, I worked on the table with all the different abilities, and made a few adjustments. I'm still worried about how well some of these abilities will work during play testing.

3/13/2008
Yesterday I was slacking some (although I did get stuff done), but today I was back to work and added several new creatures to the Encounters chapter. I also added a description for the Si-Sawat Syndicate in Chapter 10.

3/15/2008
Well, I've been slacking some more but I have a good excuse: my wife bought me a new computer game for my birthday and I've been playing that. Okay, not a very good excuse, but I have gotten some work done on the side, including some new renders. Today I've been thinking again about adding Loot Tables to the Encounters chapter. That way characters can get stuff from killing creatures which they can turn around and sell. Not sure I want to add yet more stuff to the game, but I think I could do it fairly easily if I did decide to do it.

3/17/2008
Today I added the Griefers to the game: the Hoodlum, Gank, and Cutthroat. I only have the Crazu to add, and then I'll be done with that section.

I also redid the front page logo for the game. I thought the old one, which is featured on the webpage, was too small for the cover so I increased the text for the title. I ran it by my wife and she seems to think it's an improvement!

3/18/2008
I added the Cruzu today so I only have the adventure seeds section left for Chapter 10. I had some writer's block this morning while trying to write the Crazu descriptions, but after awhile I was able to work through it.

3/21/2008
I've been brainstorming ideas for adventure seeds, which I'm calling "Odd Jobs." I've written over 20 so far, but I'm not completely happy with them. They're okay, but not great. This weekend I'll be out of town, so I won't be getting much work done.

3/23/2008
Friday I took some of the seeds and expanded on them. I've done 7 so far and would like to do 10-15. I was pleasantly surprised with how they turned out, so I hope the rest will be as good.

3/25/2008
Very frustrated today. I was trying to work some more on these adventure ideas, but the creative juices were fickle once more. Grrrrr. On the bright side, I got to practice my swearing, although I doubt my wife thinks I need any more practice.

3/27/2008
Today I wrote another couple adventure seeds, which brings me to a total of 14. I'm basically done, unless I can think of any more seeds to add later. This also means I'm done with Chapter 10.

The rest of the day, I've been working in PhotoShop to create a character sheet to add to the rules. It's been pretty tricky since I have to know all the things to include in the sheet and then how to arrange everything so it's not too messy or ugly looking.

3/29/2008
I worked some more on the character sheet yesterday, but it's really taking a long time. Not sure if it's because I'm using Photoshop and not some other program, although I really don't have anything else I can use. I also printed the sheet out on a laser printer in both gif and png formats to see how they look. They both look the same, although it's not as sharp or crisp as I would like. Not sure whether I should just continue and live with it or try to find some other way. Blah.