2013: A Quick Review

In almost six hours it will be 2014 in my little corner of the world. So there’s still time for me to do a review of 2013!

The year didn’t start well for me, with me being ill and having trouble doing things I really enjoyed – like blogging. In July I came back to this blog and started writing Three Sad Wizards. Most of the posts I made in July and August were about this module. I really like how it turned out and, judging from reactions I got, other people do as well.

In September I completed the 30 Day Challenge. Not all questions on the list were interesting, but I tried to make something of every post, and most of the time I succeeded. And after a year of not being able to blog, this did feel as a real victory.

I also started a series inspired by the Planescape book Uncaged Faces of Sigil. I did six entries in the series Faces of Pretomournon. So far I’m pleased with how the series is turning out, but I think the entries may be a bit too long. Faces of Pretomournon will return in the new year.

In October I wrote my most popular post from this year: Orc Babies. It was a commentary on D&D Next’s “story elements”, that threaten to be completely uninspired and boring. To put money where my mouth is, I showed how I do orc babies in my campaign. Apparently, people liked that.

In November I participated in NaNoWriMo. I hoped I could continue blogging, but that proved to be unrealistic. However, I did write 50K words on my novel that is now almost finished.

So what will 2014 bring?

I’m writing a module called Lost Library of the Death Speakers, which is on hold until I figure out a way to make it less boring. I’m also outlining Valkyries vs. Amazons, an module which can be summed up as Female Fighters in Unreasonable Armor – the Module. However, I also have my Nanowrimo novel to finish, so it may take a while before I have time for it.

I’m also writing the DSA game, a clone of the first edition of Germany’s most popular roleplaying game. So far, I have most of character creation, about half of combat, and a lot of spells done. Still a lot to do though, so it will take time.

Happy new year to everyone, and see you next year!

November: Nanowrimo & The DSA Game

This november, like every november for the past seven years, I'll be participating in National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo for short). The goal is to write a novel of 50,000 words in one month. So far, I've "won" 3 times and "lost" three times, so my chance of completing the challenge this year is about 50%. In years I didn't complete 50K of words, I still wrote 20K - 30K, so it's still a boost for my writing, and so far I've completed three-and-a-half novels this way.

This year, I'm also writing a game. To be precise, I'll be writing a clone of the 1st edition of Das Schwarze Auge. I'm including both the Basic Set and the Expansion Set, so it will be pretty complete, and despite the bad rep the game has in some circles, it will actually be pretty good. (And it will be nice to have a version of the rules without Ulrich Kiesow's childish writing voice).

For this blog, it means posting will be light next month. Hopefully, I can manage to post at least once a week.