WorldEmber Pledge 2024

First Assignment

1.11.24

My goal this year will be to write 10,000 words of new worldbuilding for my project New Dark Age. Specifically I'm looking to expand the cultural details for all of the common factions players may interact with. This will take the shape of both the different species that are present in the world and the organizations they've formed. I may also expand a bit on the city of San Gabriel which is the generic city location for players who don't want to set their story in a real-world location. That said 10k is a tall order for me during the holidays, especially during the holidays and immediately following 50k from NovelEmber, so if inspiration strikes to write something else, expand on something I've already started, or jump into one of my 2 other world projects then I'll do that.

Also as a quick side note, the meta for NDA was updated for Summer Camp so I'll be leaving that as complete for now.

Second Assignment

8.11.24

Oh my, so a primer for NDA. That really is something I should get to writing, but right now I'm still trying to feel out how this setting will grow and present itself. I know I want it to be an urban fantasy setting so there's a certain degree of genre tropes I feel need to be included for the setting to work as intended from a gameplay perspective, however as my years of gaming has taught me the things which stand out amidst the ocean of settings are the ones that make things that people truly come to love. Yeah, ol' Jolkien Rolkien Rolkien Tolkien might've created a beloved world but the things that made his setting special have been mimiced to the point of genericization. There's countless fantasy worlds that feel just like poor photocopies of Middle Earth, but then consider worlds like Tamriel of The Elder Scrolls franchise. There's some WILD lore in there that has resulted in thousands of hours of online discussion and analysis. Dark Souls, Star Trek, Game of Thrones, Berserk, Star Wars, Gundam, hell even Magic the Gathering has prodced some weird lore that makes their settings unique despite their foundational genre tropes.

I'll play around with this idea a bit, see if I can produce something worthwhile, though I'm also still theoretically working on Novelember so not sure if these notes will become a primer article or just more notebook scribblings. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

One thing I know is not up to snuff at this point is my CSS. I've played around a bit with it, and honestly I should be far better at it than I am given the kind of work I've been doing for my capitalist overlords the past decade or so, but so far I've not really made NDA my own yet. Part of that is the fact that when I do get the time and motivation to work on my worldbuilding at the same time I'd really rather be creating or editing something than decorating it, but there is value in presentation. I'm going to need to figure out the trade dress for the setting when I eventually collect enough together to publish anyway so might as well take another poke at it.

What I have not and I'm pretty sure will not be setting up before December is the community features of NDA. Perhaps I should open it up to subscriber groups, particularly for things that merit playtesting, but for now it's not something I really want to spend my time on so it'll just be a no for this round.

Anyway, that's 2 assignments at least partially addressed so we'll see what week 3 brings.

Third Assignment

15.11.24

New Dark Age is openly inspired by several urban fantasy series so I've definitely been brushing up on the relevant media, though admittedly the project I had been working on for NovelEmber is very different thematically so it's been a bit of a split. Still, the most valuable thing a writer can do is experience things in great quantities and varieties so I've got that going for me which is nice.

I did go ahead and create a moodboard by way of Pinterest. Feel free to check it out. Honestly, I'd love more recommendations for inspiration since this setting is meant for publication rather than my own hobbycrafting.

Likewise I've started a Spotify playlist to try and match the tone of NDA. Not as sure about that, but it's worth a try. I do worry that the music that suits the setting isn't really what helps my brain focus on writing, but I guess we'll see.

Fourth Assignment

22.11.24

My community for this one is going to be the lovely folks over at Green Ronin's Atomic Think Tank, the AGE Appropriate Discord Server, and the Fantasy Age subreddit, plus my usual circle of friends and family. I think I'll do spend some time with them now.

Fifth Assignment

30.11.24