Along with nodes within each of the major nodes, we have edges joining them. This is where we really get the payoff for this work. These are where many of the adventure hooks come from. Certainly, you can simple walk from the town to the mines, but you’re not getting …
So far, I’ve got about 10 nodes. This is a good start, but only a start. I’m not going to make the arena bigger, though. Now I make it deeper, and add a layer of detail that gives me more to work with. Every one of the nodes present in …
You may have noticed that so far, I have used only labels for nodes. There are no proper names. There are some good reasons this is so. First, they simply don’t matter yet. I’m mostly focusing on what the entities are and the relationships between them. A name can certainly …
I was originally going to write something about nodes tonight, but since I’m still thinking about ‘M’ and I think my Midpoint Check-In is a bit of a cheap post, I’m going to write about something else. Microscope is a wonderful cooperative tool for world building. The primary focus is …
As usual during the A-Z Blog Challenge, here is my midpoint check-in. I’ve been late a couple of times, usually as the weekend approaches. I kind of expect that, partly because I get tired toward the end of the work week and partly because I have to be up at …
Almost all my attention so far has been on the adventure nodes themselves. I have completely neglected the links between them. This ignores one of the critical elements of this design practice. As with my entity template, nodes without links are merely curiosities: they might have some interesting elements, but …
A brief follow-on to yesterday’s diversion. In discussing the idea of jade daggers, it was pointed out that jade is not a particularly good material for weapons. Historically it was used for axes and the like because it was relatively easily ground into shape and was pretty durable, but as …
I’ve always liked special items that are distinct, sometimes even unrealistic, in description. Not Final Fantasy-style “really freaking big sword”, but with various ornamentation and other features. This is part of what I was planning to write I explored ornamentation some time ago, but have never finished the research for. …
In expanding on the adventure nodes in yesterday’s post, I stumbled on an idea I’d like to explore. This isn’t truly part of building the adventure, but it was sparked by an observation I had while doing so, so I’m considering it fair game for inclusion. For now, I’ll refer to …
… but perhaps a great place to set an adventure. In my last post I started developing the adventure nodes in more detail. I switched from the original Scenes of Chance icons (with associated tables of explanations) to using World Architect Cards and the keywords on each. The results look promising. They …