Good Friday Morning: Inside the Forge – Challenges & Breakthroughs in Rebuilding Our Worlds

 

Good Friday Morning: Inside the Forge – Challenges & Breakthroughs in Rebuilding Our Worlds

(Imagine a compelling image here: perhaps a stylized design blueprint, a half-finished map, or a pile of dice next to a coffee cup on a desk bathed in early morning light.)

Good Friday morning from Shreveport, Louisiana! It’s 8:26 AM CDT, and the cool air, coupled with that unique quiet that often precedes a bustling day, has me reflecting on the immense journey of creation. For many, Good Friday is a time of reflection and anticipation. For me, especially in the world of tabletop role-playing games, it’s often about the constant act of building – and the fascinating challenges and breakthroughs that come with it.

As you know, our mission here at the blog extends far beyond just playing games. We're actively engaged in designing and developing our own Quick Start Guides and new settings, primarily for the adaptable Open D6 and the classic Monsters! Monsters! (MM) RPGs. This isn't just a hobby; it's a dedication to bringing passionate, unique content to life – the kind of content that might sometimes be "passed on" by mainstream publishers, but which we believe wholeheartedly deserves to see the light of day.

It's a process filled with its own distinct trials and triumphs.

The Challenges of the Forge:

1. Distilling the Essence: Creating a "quick start" guide is deceptively hard. You have a sprawling world and robust mechanics. The challenge is to distill all of that into a concise, immediately playable experience without losing the soul of the setting or the elegance of the Open D6 or MM rules. It's like trying to put a hurricane into a teacup – fascinating, but tricky!
2. Balancing Familiarity with Novelty: When building a new setting, we want it to feel fresh and intriguing, but still accessible. How do you introduce players to cosmic dread while ensuring they can grasp the fundamentals and jump straight into the action? It’s a constant dance between the known and the delightfully unknown.
3. The "Blank Page" Dread: Even with a clear vision, facing that initial blank page for a new section of a guide or a new setting concept can be daunting. Where do you start when you're literally creating a small universe?

Breakthroughs in the Process:

1. The "Aha!" Moment of Simplification: There's nothing quite like finding that elegant solution to condense a complex rule or lore point. For instance, figuring out how the insidious Nocturnis Swarm's psychological effects can be handled through a series of escalating Open D6/MM Saving Rolls rather than complex sanity tracks – it just clicks, making the horror visceral and immediate.
2. Playtesting Revelation: There's no substitute for getting your creations to the table. Seeing players react, finding out what works (and what definitely doesn't!), and watching them bring your characters to life in your nascent settings – whether they're SWAT officers in a haunted district or street-level investigators – provides invaluable breakthroughs that reshape the final product.
3. Connecting the Threads: One of the most satisfying breakthroughs is when seemingly disparate ideas, like the multi-generational impact of your Tiger Force Shadow Saga or the cosmic influence of the ether dragons and the evacuation to Zimrala, suddenly find a new, unexpected home within a new guide or setting. It’s like the universe aligning, right on your design document.

Our Worlds in the Making: The Campaigns on Our Workbench (Chronological by Setting)

These challenges and breakthroughs are all part of the journey in bringing our various active campaigns and settings to life. Here’s a glimpse at the worlds currently taking shape (or reshaping!) on our workbench, presented chronologically by their primary setting:

• The Tygerian Isles / Zimrala Campaign (MM RPG): An ancient land deeply tied to the Monsterary of Zimrala, where creatures and unique cultures abound. The Tygerian Isles, home to the Children of Waghoba, are an ancient land that is part of the Zimrala setting, now serving as a sanctuary for the recently evacuated troll world, brought by the ether dragons. Our work includes specific adventures like those on Tuslan Island.
• 1550s Nocturnis (Open D6 - Fantasy Sci-Fi): A unique blend of historical fantasy with subtle touches of alien technology and cosmic anomalies from a bygone era. Imagine a world of magic and intrigue where ancient secrets hint at sci-fi wonders.
• 1890s Gothic Earth Lovecraft Variant: A chilling campaign concept that blends the atmospheric dread of late Victorian Gothic Earth with the sanity-shattering cosmic horrors of Lovecraft. This campaign uses the intuitive and often deadly mechanics of Ken St. Andre's RPG design, akin to the Lovecraft Variant for M!M!.
• 1920s Nocturnis (Open D6): A dive into the Prohibition era, featuring powerful criminal gangs, the pervasive influence of the city's enigmatic founding families, and the creep of cosmic dread amidst the speakeasies and back alleys.
• Tiger Force Shadow Saga Campaign: A sprawling, multi-generational epic that begins in November 1965 during the Vietnam War. It follows the lineage of soldiers through Desert Shield and Desert Storm operations (1990-1991), right up to the present day. This campaign weaves together intense military history with elements of Lovecraftian horror, including the clandestine operations of Tiger Transit and even a crossover with Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell setting.
• 1970s Nocturnis (Open D6): Exploring a period where the city's founding families maintain their grip, with the rise of organized crime factions like the formidable Blue Print Family Mafia, blending urban grit with emergent horrors.
• Modern Day Nocturnis (Open D6): Our contemporary take on the city of cosmic horror and corruption. This includes the high-stakes tactical action of the Nocturnis SWAT Campaign Quick Start (inspired by 70s TV!) and the gritty, investigative mysteries of The Streets of Nocturnis Quick Start Guide, exploring the Neo-Noir urban landscape and its lurking terrors.
• Star Trek: Voyagearl (Open D6): Our personal Star Trek series, charting the formative years of Starfleet Academy cadets (beginning circa 2291/2292) before their adventures aboard the USS Urland. We’re deep into outlining the Academy series, introducing key characters and the pivotal role of Captain Hedges XI and Admiral Kirk.

Every quick start guide, every new setting, every campaign is a labor of love, driven by the desire to share unique worlds and innovative ways to play. It's a continuous process of learning, iterating, and pushing the boundaries of what's possible in tabletop gaming.

What creative challenges are you tackling this Good Friday? Share your own "designer's log" thoughts in the comments below!