Summer Camp Hub 2024

Prep Week 1: Get Yourself Organised

Assignment 1

Consider what kind of changes would fit in with your world's themes, genre, and other foundational points.

Tanera has been in a fairly static state of peace for the past several hundred years...but with the players having just hit level 15 it's all starting to simmer towards a climactic world-rocking event worthy of a campaign conclusion. While the Major Upcoming Plot Events aren't going to be suitable for articles written ahead of time, there are plenty of smaller changes leading up to it to pick from.   There's also plenty of scope for filling in the gaps of the world's last cataclysmic event, and many hundreds of years of history that I haven't yet dug into. I don't think I'll struggle for subject matter!  

Assignment 2

Decide how many prompts you'll go for during Summer Camp. Then, download the pledge document and fill it accordingly!

With a full time day job, non-Tanera writing and art commitments, and the usual weekly prep for running the game, time and energy are always an issue. I have been working more on articles this year than previously though (where many many months can pass without me even opening WA...), so I think I could commit to the Silver Badge (see above!).   It'll still be a stretch (sixteen is so many articles), but it's maybe just about doable - assuming I can crowbar my ideas into all the prompts.  

Assignment 3

Get your categories and tags organized!

A few months ago I did a big overhaul of my categories and tweak them fairly frequently, so I'm not too concerned about that right now.   I have never used tags! I have struggled to decide how best to use them, and though I've done a bit of research on how other worldbuilders are using them it got pretty overwhelming pretty fast. I'll probably just start with tagging the #sc24 articles, and maybe it'll expand organically from there?   ETA 09/06/24: I have now used tags to make an article index.  

Assignment 4

Take a look at your meta, primer, and any other high-level document and update it according to the current state of your world.

The world meta was fleshed out a few months ago, but needed a little bit of revising, which I have now done.   I have considered writing a separate primer but I'm not sure it's really necessary in addition to the meta and front page summary. But I'll think about it this week.   ETA 08/06/24: I thought about it and decided to do a primer, which has been a huge if satisfying amount of work, and is now about half done!

Prep Week 2:

Assignment 1

Consider what kinds of refuge would fit in with your world's themes, genre, and other foundational points.

I don't think I've written any articles about specific buildings, because I usually prioritise putting a little detail in articles with wider scope (eg. a list of notable locations within an article about a city or country). This is purely practical, as the articles I work on tend to be decided by what's happening, or about to happen, in the game.   But for Summer Camp, as a treat, it might be nice to give some places their own articles. The Lean Inn is a tavern in Cannis City that the PCs frequently revisit when they need a break. Equally, their home base would be a good candidate. There are a number of organisations too that could be considered a refuge for their members that don't have fleshed out articles, such as the Temple of Persana, or any of the Colleges.  

Assignment 2

Find a community and/or accountability buddy.

Oh no, accountability...my greatest fear.   I don't know about formalising this one. I am in the discord, but tend to lurk. I might just commit to posting updates on the community dashboard?  

Assignment 3

Find ways to improve styling and layout in your world!

A dangerous quest. I already spend far, far too much time tweaking css (and sometimes then tweaking it back to how it was before) that I think delving further into that might be counterproductive. Ultimately, I think the overall design of the pages is fine for now.   What I do think would be a significant improvement is more images. Creating images for articles or layout has always been deprioritised because it takes a lot of time and isn't as crucial for game prep as the writing part.   So I think it would be good to focus on at least getting some custom header or background images. The current ones, which are hasty crops of maps, have always been placeholders in my mind (just placeholders that have lasted, er, six years).   ETA 15/06/24: I've done a fairly rough and ready background pattern that hopefully adds a bit of interest without being too distracted. I also began a design for a new world cover, but it's probably going to be a bit too complex to finish before the end of this month.  

Assignment 4

If you’re a CSS wizard, maybe take the time now to give it a polish!

See above answer: I think probably the most useful thing I could do this month is commit to leaving the CSS alone. Let it rest! It's so tired!  

Prep Week 3: Belief

Assignment 1

Consider what kind of beliefs would fit in with your world's themes, genre, and other foundational points.

Well, Tanera is full of gods and cults, with the pantheon varying at different points in history, so it shouldn't be too hard to find something to fit the prompts on this theme. Depending on what the prompts are, it would be good to finally flesh out The Fallen Alliance article which is becoming increasingly relevant to the campaign. I also don't really have any cultural or religious festival articles, apart from Fioch, so it could be a fun opportunity to go in that direction too.  

Assignment 2

Create a bank of inspirations! Quotes, music, description of experiences and shower thoughts, etc.

I already have a campaign playlist and pinterest, which I add to fairly regularly. I'm a very visual person so if I'm lacking inspiration the pinterest boards are usually where I go first. It could probably do with a bit of a tidy though, so maybe I'll add that to this week's tasks.  

Assignment 3

Find art and pictures that inspire you, and grab a map if you don't have one (and need one).

I unintentionally jumped the gun on this last week, and as a result have already completed a new world background and am working on a new world cover image. I also mentioned last week that my articles aren't image-heavy because I want to make them all myself and it's hugely time consuming.   I do think this would be a good opportunity to at least start working on a proper world (or technically, continent) map; the current one is another longstanding placeholder which was really just to give a general idea of locations for both myself and my players, and isn't really up to scratch aethestically.  

Assignment 4

Check your inspirations again. Are they still relevant? Can you find any that better represent the current state of your project?

I think I probably covered this under assignment 2!  

Prep Week 4: Decay

Assignment 1

Consider what kind of decay would fit in with your world's themes, genre, and other foundational points.

I can immediately think of a few articles that might fit this theme, the top being Undeath which I've been wanting to flesh out (no pun intended...?) for a while. I feel like Orcus, who is becoming increasingly relevant to the campaign, would be a good fit too.  

Assignment 2

Optimise your environment.

Well...I recently implemented a site/internet blocking schedule, does that count? Otherwise just trying to be more organised generally is something I've already been working on.  

Assignment 3

Review your world homepage to hook potential readers!

I tweaked the homepage within the past month - it's far from perfect, but it'll do for now. To be honest my primary reader is me right now, so I'm not overly concerned!  

Assignment 4

Take a look at your author profile and pillar articles on your world and polish them!

This is something I've updated fairly recently too!  

Completed Articles