Friday, December 18, 2009

A Writer's Block

I'm suffering from a writer's block/blackout regarding this campaign.

One side of the problem is that I don't know where to start or what, exactly, should I prepare. If I had a to-do list I would've be able to start working on it right away; but I don't know what to prepare for such a campaign. For a regular trader, exploration or even mercenary game I'd know exactly what needs to be prepared (mostly adventures and world-based adventure hooks), but this kind of high-level play is quite difficult to prep for, especially as its a roaming high-level campaign (so there isn't a permanent cast of NPCs as would be in, say, a palace).

Another side of the problem is that I'm not sure about the overall plot. Ideally this should probably be a political "sandbox", but on the other hand I don't seem to attach very well to the this setting's hooks.

And yet another side of the problem is the general GM burnout I appear to be suffering from in the last few months or so. So far it's mainly affecting our D&D game, but I fear that this burnout is causing problems with the preparation of this campaign.

Any advice for overcoming this burnout and this writer's block would be welcome.

Friday, December 4, 2009

Prep Considerations

A question which arises is "what should I prepare for such a campaign". A 'normal' trader campaign requires a starmap, UWPs, some plot hooks and passengers/patrons; but this one would be a political sandbox, so things would be different.

I was thinking about making one or two important NPCs per world, contacts if you will; each would have his or her motivations and his or her interests. Other than that, detailing the governments of each world using both Path of Tears and the MGT Factions/Cultural Quirks tables would probably also be useful.

Any additional suggestions about what I should prep would be welcome.