This is my brain on Kapcon
So, before Kapcon, I had a vague idea for a scenario that consisted of the following:
1. The system was Tenra Bansho Zero.
2. I had two film inspirations - Seven Samurai and Princess Mononoke.
3. I wanted to broadly cover all the Japanese genre tropes I liked (hard boiled samurai, ninja action, fantastical manga, and Japanese supernatural (and horror) elements).
4. I had a bunch of PC and NPC pictures.
5. I had an elevator pitch for the core narrative of the scenario.
6. I wanted to keep this scenario simple and open, without sacrificing depth and flavour.
Using the energy from Kapcon, I have been allowing my mind to run over these elements without any focussed thought or discipline; just getting myself comfortable with the elements and seeing how they fit together.
Yesterday, I moved to thinking to the story arc. This is the one thing that elevates a story concept into a playable scenario IME. I normally do this by focussing on either the narrative journey of the PCs or the antagonism that the PCs face. I worked through some stuff but still really was at a loss other than a strong feeling for the opening scene.
Anyway, last night I proceeded to tell Sam of that scene and as I talked I found myself narrating the remainder of the game almost without thought. I actually surprised myself as it seemed fully formed (both in terms of story and meeting the practicalities of Kapcon), fresh, interesting and meeting all the requirements I started with before Kapcon.
I went quiet and spent the rest of the evening being my mind's worst critic, interrogating each and every point that it had come up with, trying to poke holes in the choices. My lazy mind had not expended any effort, so its ideas must be paper thin! My mind remained calm and answered all my questions quickly, clearly and with confidence. It even revealed detailed reasoning that I had not even been aware of that supported its choices.
Defeated, I returned to speak with Sam at the end of the evening. I was kind of hoping for her aid against my mind but she seemed to really like my mind's idea. So, I decided to shut the fuck up and let it do its thing. At least, one of us knows what its doing.
The above may sound exaggerated, but it is actually a pretty accurate account of what happened - at least from my perspective :) I now have a blurbable scenario concept (no, Idiot, you can't have it yet) to start writing in April, when I get clear of some of my other RPGing commitments.
I am pretty happy with where I have got too. I have been, of late, feeling like I had told the last of my big stories that I wanted to tell, with Arnimor being the end of line of ideas that I have had for some years. I surprised myself with Rejectamenta earlier this year, but that scenario remains quite different to my other scenarios. It's a much smaller story, almost a whimsy, that came out of the blue and remains untested. However, Glade feels much more complete and new - a scenario of the scale of those I have written previously. I just have no idea where it came from.
1. The system was Tenra Bansho Zero.
2. I had two film inspirations - Seven Samurai and Princess Mononoke.
3. I wanted to broadly cover all the Japanese genre tropes I liked (hard boiled samurai, ninja action, fantastical manga, and Japanese supernatural (and horror) elements).
4. I had a bunch of PC and NPC pictures.
5. I had an elevator pitch for the core narrative of the scenario.
6. I wanted to keep this scenario simple and open, without sacrificing depth and flavour.
Using the energy from Kapcon, I have been allowing my mind to run over these elements without any focussed thought or discipline; just getting myself comfortable with the elements and seeing how they fit together.
Yesterday, I moved to thinking to the story arc. This is the one thing that elevates a story concept into a playable scenario IME. I normally do this by focussing on either the narrative journey of the PCs or the antagonism that the PCs face. I worked through some stuff but still really was at a loss other than a strong feeling for the opening scene.
Anyway, last night I proceeded to tell Sam of that scene and as I talked I found myself narrating the remainder of the game almost without thought. I actually surprised myself as it seemed fully formed (both in terms of story and meeting the practicalities of Kapcon), fresh, interesting and meeting all the requirements I started with before Kapcon.
I went quiet and spent the rest of the evening being my mind's worst critic, interrogating each and every point that it had come up with, trying to poke holes in the choices. My lazy mind had not expended any effort, so its ideas must be paper thin! My mind remained calm and answered all my questions quickly, clearly and with confidence. It even revealed detailed reasoning that I had not even been aware of that supported its choices.
Defeated, I returned to speak with Sam at the end of the evening. I was kind of hoping for her aid against my mind but she seemed to really like my mind's idea. So, I decided to shut the fuck up and let it do its thing. At least, one of us knows what its doing.
The above may sound exaggerated, but it is actually a pretty accurate account of what happened - at least from my perspective :) I now have a blurbable scenario concept (no, Idiot, you can't have it yet) to start writing in April, when I get clear of some of my other RPGing commitments.
I am pretty happy with where I have got too. I have been, of late, feeling like I had told the last of my big stories that I wanted to tell, with Arnimor being the end of line of ideas that I have had for some years. I surprised myself with Rejectamenta earlier this year, but that scenario remains quite different to my other scenarios. It's a much smaller story, almost a whimsy, that came out of the blue and remains untested. However, Glade feels much more complete and new - a scenario of the scale of those I have written previously. I just have no idea where it came from.