SummerCamp 2025 Prep
Welcome back, explorers! Once again, we beat the heat with SummerCamp's treat, girding ourselves for a month of writing and worldbuilding.
Before we get into the meat of the prepwork, we want to take a moment to share some of our recent experiences and accomplishments!
For Ademal, the year began with a trip to Japan with her now-fiance, while for Barron it began with the wonderful news that he's going to be an uncle! We painted our rooms to be more inviting and festive. We got the Ethnis TTRPG, ENCORE, to a printable stage. Barron released an update of his book, Gruesome Endings; New Beginnings and began work on the sequel!
We're both still neck-deep in our projects — we're deep into the process of creating and playtesting a to-be-released starter dungeon for introducing new Players and Narrators alike — but we still plan to take on SummerCamp! Albeit... tactically.
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ENCORE Playtesting is Live!
The city of Canopal reels from quakes deep within the reef the city was built upon. Seasonal flooding exacerbates the crisis as emergency responders attend to wounded citizens and malfunctioning infrastructure. You have been called upon to delve into a neglected corner of the undercity to gather critical data about potential aftershocks from a geosurvey station deep within the reef mantle.
Keep your wits about you and your environment suit intact.
ENCORE uses an unmodified deck of poker cards to resolve actions. You may take as many actions during a round as you have cards in your hand, but each additional card you draw increases the base difficulty of all actions that round. Your action economy is your own to control, so draw wisely! Card counting is encouraged.
Cherish your deck. By the end of a good campaign, it and the character it represents may be a bit weathered. You are holding their life in your hands.
Gruesome Endings; New Beginnings
Faced with a future of indebted labor, human Gearheart Calhoon boards the abandoned space-freighter Resolute Roar, hoping his salvage finds will buy his freedom. He is not alone. Beyond the scrap and valuables, a threat prowls the vessel’s metal halls, hunting for its next meal, while an alien warrior fights for his survival against impossible odds.
Their fates are soon entwined, and Calhoon and his unexpected warrior protector forge an alliance to navigate the perilous ship. As they dodge the lurking horrors in the Resolute Roar’s dark corridors, they discover something far more valuable than scrap: a deep, mutual attraction. Embracing their alluring bond transforms their fear into a fierce love that might be the key to their salvation.
Together, they must unravel the freighter’s mysteries, confront the lurking dangers, and find out if their newfound love can conquer all before the ship claims them both.
Homework
Week 1: Nourishment
What is your current project? Consider where you've come from and how far you've come. What are your current motivations as a creator, and how have those motivations changed with time?
Ademal
As Secondhand has correctly diagnosed, Ethnis is my paracosm. I cannot be separated from it without a lobotomy. It is a journal for my thoughts and a sandbox to model my understanding of the world.
Looking back at my grade school journals, I've found fantastic starships, hulking robots, warrior-poets, intricate magic, and brutal warfare. In that regard, Ethnis is unchanged. What has changed is my understanding of the world and my perception of communities. I no longer see empires as innocent, a rabbithole of awakening which I have been chasing for well over a decade and which is culminating in the tale of Malcolm, a wasteland girl who grows up in the dusty hills of the Exclusion Zone of Aempian-Occupied California in the year 2250.
Aside from Malcolm's story, my focus is on ENCORE, specifically on creating a tutorial dungeon for players and Narrators alike.
Expand the spoiler below to see the resultant maps I'm going to be expanding on!
Barron
So I got two major projects ongoing right now. First one is Book 2 of Gruesome Endings, New Beginnings. I've got some scenes I'm real excited to write and characters that need fleshing out.The other goal is the multiple Encore sessions I have going on, keeping players entertained with a good story is a newer motivation of mine, but I find it quite addictive.
As for my motivations, well I just want to make things that folks get a kick out of reading. Ethnis is a special world to me, and I wanna represent it the best I can!
This year, I'm hoping to temper myself to a few good articles that stand out. I don't want to go for gold, I just want to go for some solid articles worth reading. I'm expecting Copper!
Pledge
I'm a little apprehensive this time around. I'm committing myself to a solid Copper run of all bangers, but I have a feeling I'm going to go feral for diamonds the moment that starting bell rings.
Either way, I really have to try and keep my entries on-topic instead of being tempted to wander away into totally unexplored lands. I want to keep my prompts focused on Malcolm's story or on entries for our tutorial dungeon. Barron's been saying much the same about wanting to keep focused on either his book or the dungeon.
Week 2: Roots
Look at the cultures and areas you’ll focus on for Summer Camp, and think about how their past shaped them.
Ademal
Time, distance, disaster, and scarcity have fractured the once united regions into city states and tribes.
My main cultures of focus will be: the outlanders from the exclusion zones, such as Malcolm; the denizens of the Pomo tribe north of Sonoma, who resist the occupation; and the residents of the Bay, who live under the occupation and are the least resistant to it.
Outlanders
Anyone unfortunate enough to live in the Exclusion Zone. Their lives in the wastelands are difficult and unforgiving. Malcom is an outlander.
Pomo
Humans who have made a stronghold around Clearlake, to the North of Sonoma. They are led by the native Pomo, who have made the land bountiful despite the Holocene Collapse.
Indiginous Sonomans
Once allied to the Pomo, a wall divides the Sonomans from the Pomo. Many of them are grateful for the infrastructure and stewardship of the Jadey family despite the occupation.
Occupying Colonists
Offworlders from Aempis who have come to Earth in search of opportunity or in service to their lords among the Jadey family. They are wary of humans.
Barron
So I'm working deep into some of cultures that I'm mixing in right now. While I could go deep into the subcultures, I'm going to stick with the main Banners, since they are going to be the 'base' of the culture.
Now the Andromeda Syndicate always has a personal place in my heart while I work a corporate job. They are corporations, built upon thousands of years of labor and office politics. But, after they were booted from Earth by angry independence-hungry mobs, they had to form an entire government. And so Fundamental Meritism was born.
Their worlds are built using their special strength in mechanical technology. Where habitable, they will build great independent cities of concrete and brass; where not, they build great biodomes.
Now the Pact is the alien Banner. One that I'm slowly picking up through my chats with Ademal.
The Pact was born on a young world rife with alien life and megaflora that outspans the continents. The Sazashi who founded the Pact always had to be at war against nature to survive, while also contending with others eager to make power grabs.
When the Verin freed themselves, the nations of Sazashi unified into the Pact.
Workin' on the Federation is always fun for me. It's an absolute wildcard in terms of what cultures you'll find. This is due to a very 'decentralized' way of living. They rose up from the Syndicate and Pact, a band of freedom-seeking planets unified by several individual political powers. Their history embellishes their fights for freedom and independence, but despite this, they are also heavily capitalistic, which leads into two major classes of citizens, "has and has-nots."
Week 3: Metamorphosis
What transformations and adaptations have the people in your world gone through? What changes are going on right now… and who is trying to stop them?
Ethnis is not a very friendly world, and sophontic life is never on top of the natural order, despite its technology and scale.
There are so many city-ending threats; giant fungal infestations, mass hauntings, Sathiid outbreaks, and city-splitting corralum quakes. And the list goes on and on.
The good thing about all these threats is the number of heroes that rise to quell them. Ethnis is a universe filled with legendary feats because it is a world where survival is always in the balance.
Choose a new genre, style, or author, and take a look at their art! Write what you learned from them and what inspired you.
Ademal
Since last SummerCamp, I finally started getting back into anime for the first time since ~2010 and have since watched Dungeon Meshi, Dandadan, the remaster of Ranma 1/2, Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, and the first 80 episodes of Naruto. Frieren's story has especially struck a chord for me. I love how it deals with time, loss, and connection.
Barron
I've been getting into a lot of Legend of Avantris lately, especially the hilarious animated shorts. Honestly, it was a great reminder that so much of what makes a piece of art good is the characters and interaction behind it.
I'm going to be taking that lesson and try to write many of my articles this year from someone's specific perspective. I'm hoping it'll be a fun way to add mystery and a bit of humor to the articles.
Barron
Cathedris by Stormbril
Whenever I get to see an update by Stormbril, I get real excited cause he always makes his new articles a treat. Not only is the hand-done art fantastic, but the way that they wield CSS and BBCODE to meld the text into a beautiful piece of work just always floors me.
There's some worlds that *need* to be followed, and Cathedris is one of them. If Stormbrils worldbuild were a book in a TTRPG, it would be at *least* a purple super rare item.
Stormbril has taught me to stay humble, and to never be dissuaded by the beauty in other folks' works. Be inspired, see what you like, see if you can improve yourself off of their unique perspective.
The Yonderverse by Mochi
Watching Mochi rise from the ranks from winning best newcomer to best world of 2025 has been pretty wild. It kinda makes me feel old, but in a good sort of "Golly I'm so proud of that whippersnapper!" vibes.
Their world is artistic, fluent, and when looking back on some of the articles, the word "Consistent" came to my mind. And that's something I feel goes a long way to forging a worldbuild that can win Best World Awards.
Mochi is also an unbelievably fantastic person. Like one of those people who are always interested in what you have to say, and always willing to help. I think in a way, that is Mochi's true superpower.
Week 4: Tomorrow
Think about current events that will impact the future. Who is working to create a specific kind of future?
Ademal
The main force shaping the world around Malcolm is the Jadey Family, who won the bid for the Southern Cascadia region after Aempis conquered Earth during the Advent War. They are deeply invested in reverse-engineering the technology of The Vow, much of which is far in advance of their own.
While the Jadey family may control the region, they still rely native humans for labor. To appeal to the locals, and in preparation long term settlement, Jadey has launched efforts to depollute and renature the area, converting it to a rich pastoral valley.
Their occupation's primary organized opposition comes from the Pomo Tribe, who ferociously protect the dams upstream of Sonoma. Jadey has built a protective line between Sonoma and the North, but dares not enlist the help of Aempis directly lest they lose dominion of the land in favor of a competing clan.
These dynamics shape and reinforce my story, and will be the focus of much of summercamp for me.
Barron
Well, considering how Ethnis is my escape from thinking about the real world current events, I'm gonna focus on the current events in the areas of the world I'll be working on.
Gilgamesh's Rest is currently under the ownership of the current Hedonite Baron based out of Gommorah Sands. While the planet itself is under Federation control, several other Banners are vying for control over the territory.
The upcoming adventures covered in Book 2 of Gruesome Endings will play host to the flashpoint events between major players each looking to guide the Rest's future./p]
Good vibes for your Summer Camp goals!
Homework And Camp Progress
andMy World
Thank you Dazzlin! Here we go for another year!
Come check out some of my SummerCamp work if you need some inspiration ;)
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