Reading Challenge 2025
August is here, so it's time once again to wrap up the Summercamp experience with the opportunity to see what others were doing while I was busy mining another diamond! This year's reading challenge asks us to find at least 10 summercamp entries by other Anvilites. Then after hopefully getting some fresh perspectives and ideas from those, I'll be sketching out a plan on where my new world, the Perseus Arm, is going for the rest of the year.
So... let's get started!
I read through several articles for this category, and there were several tavern-related entries. But this one... this one! There's even a minigame built in to let you meed Surlin! If the judge of the category is reading this review, know that my vote is for this to be the winner!
I may not need a Tex-mex chain with a functional spokes-doggie in my Traveller setting, but a huge military tech corporation? Definitely! I could even see several of these rising in different regions... and perhaps even clashing in the lawless Borderspace.
Reading these articles, and skimming over quite a few more, made me realize that the most likely reason I had trouble coming up with "worthwhile" responses to these prompts is that I took them too seriously. I was overthinking - something I wish to try and avoid in the future. Overthinking leads to the dreaded "Elven Shoes Syndrome", a.k.a. Worldbuilder's Disease. As I continue developing Perseus Arm, this is something I need to be extremely conscious of. The RPGs it is intended for tend to work best as "sandboxes", so while providing lots of information about lots of things will be helpful to gamemasters and players, providing too much information only wastes their time - and mine.
(How was that for a segue into the next section?!)
I do have summercamp to thank for one important deviation from my original plans: instead of focusing on building out one of the major human "empires", I will instead be focusing initial efforts on the region called Borderspace - an expanse that sits in the middle of the three main human polities, but is essentially unclaimed. This region features pioneering settlers, outcasts, criminal elements, and even a few independent multi-system "kingdoms". Corporations from the "big three" may be present as well. In brief, focusing on this area will allow me to build regions with lots of adventure while also allowing me to start shaping the elements I'll need when I start to address the "big three" in the future.
Some of my plans are unrelated to the Perseus Arm as well - I still have Laurels & Loot (my TTRPG rules system) to work on. And I've started nursing some seeds of ideas that may take root in Novelember and Worldember at the end of the year. We'll see.
So... let's get started!
10 Articles
I approach Reading Challenges as an opportunity to broaden my approach to worldbuilding by seeing how others think about things. I'll be selecting one or more articles from each of the six prompts that I didn't tackle myself. While I had a couple of vague ideas for these, I couldn't get anything to develop in my mind, so I want to see how others approached the prompts.by Hanhula
How does a single prayer become the foundational document for a religion? By being the primary way of bringing people into the fold! A wonderful "stretch" of the prompt.by Dazzlinkat
A few interesting expressions used by reptilian races that tend to involve body parts humans are unfamiliar with. Some were obvious, but a few were fresh and interesting.
by ThePinkGM
A ritual that used to have some deep, spiritual meaning now reduced to a drunken tavern game. This was the sort of approach I envisioned for this prompt. I couldn't think of a good ritual though... this author did.
I read through several articles for this category, and there were several tavern-related entries. But this one... this one! There's even a minigame built in to let you meed Surlin! If the judge of the category is reading this review, know that my vote is for this to be the winner!
by Absinthe
I'm going to need at least one of these somewhere in a Traveller campaign setting: a good mutant-creating radiation-induced sickness. Finding this article reminded me of this.
by Doomhark
The Dwarven expressions were fresh - not any of the myriad cliches found in every game involving Dwarves ever - but the misinterpretations by humans really made this piece stand out.by Javak
A Traveller game condition! Exactly what I couldn't think of! I had to check this one out - and I'm glad I did. Ideas are starting to flow.
by eccbooks
Another idea that I could use as a starting point. If this can happen just from internet exposure (and the real world shows that it can), it can certainly happen in a sci-fi world where vast stores of information are just a data wafer away, and folks have wafer readers literally plugged into their cerebral cortices.
by Chrispy O
A corporation at least as powerful as the major governments in the Perseus Arm is possible. I don't necessarily see a Tex-mex taco company being that corporation, but it is giving me ideas. Either way, though, this article just had to be included in my Reading list... it's just that good!
I may not need a Tex-mex chain with a functional spokes-doggie in my Traveller setting, but a huge military tech corporation? Definitely! I could even see several of these rising in different regions... and perhaps even clashing in the lawless Borderspace.
Reading these articles, and skimming over quite a few more, made me realize that the most likely reason I had trouble coming up with "worthwhile" responses to these prompts is that I took them too seriously. I was overthinking - something I wish to try and avoid in the future. Overthinking leads to the dreaded "Elven Shoes Syndrome", a.k.a. Worldbuilder's Disease. As I continue developing Perseus Arm, this is something I need to be extremely conscious of. The RPGs it is intended for tend to work best as "sandboxes", so while providing lots of information about lots of things will be helpful to gamemasters and players, providing too much information only wastes their time - and mine.
(How was that for a segue into the next section?!)
Plans for the Rest of 2025
During the reminder of the year, I hope to get the first subsector or two of the Perseus Arm ready for gameplay. This is quite ambitious as it means completing at least skeletal information for approximately sixty systems, with more details on a handful of "key worlds".I do have summercamp to thank for one important deviation from my original plans: instead of focusing on building out one of the major human "empires", I will instead be focusing initial efforts on the region called Borderspace - an expanse that sits in the middle of the three main human polities, but is essentially unclaimed. This region features pioneering settlers, outcasts, criminal elements, and even a few independent multi-system "kingdoms". Corporations from the "big three" may be present as well. In brief, focusing on this area will allow me to build regions with lots of adventure while also allowing me to start shaping the elements I'll need when I start to address the "big three" in the future.
Some of my plans are unrelated to the Perseus Arm as well - I still have Laurels & Loot (my TTRPG rules system) to work on. And I've started nursing some seeds of ideas that may take root in Novelember and Worldember at the end of the year. We'll see.
If you wish to learn more about the Perseus Arm, visit the world homepage.
You can check out my full Summercamp 2025 journey here as well.
You can check out my full Summercamp 2025 journey here as well.
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