Sort of an Update

I've been silent here because I've been posting about D&D over at my old school blog, The Nine and Thirty Kingdoms. However, this project hasn't been abandoned. The basic rules (the character creation and basic play sections in the summary) form the basis of what I call the Blanc character description and Paris effects description systems, which can either be combined with some story control rules to form a light game like Cursed and Rotting, or added to traditional RPGs to add detail without too much crunch. And I do have a detailed PDF for Cursed and Rotting in the works. I kind of set it aside for a while because it mostly needs trivial elaborations of the rules.

However, I am mulling over whether I should give detailed examples for every possible marine experience, or whether I should merely list possibilities for different categories. Some D&D people have expressed interest in this game, but I think they're looking for crunchy maritime rules, which wasn't my intention at all. I'll have to consider whether I can provide anything useful on that front.

Status: Summary

I don't think I will finish the summary today. I actually probably have all the text cut-and-pasted over to a summary document which just needs to be heavily edited and rewritten in a couple spots, plus add spackle and format for two columns in 1-3 pages. I'm just not sure if I will have time to finish. in the next 2-4 hours.

I'm still set for the full draft on Sept 14th, though. The reason why the summary is so important to get right is because it will become the sidebar text. This is a format I've been building towards: put the highly compressed, complete rules into the margins, where it's easy to flip through to find what you need; put the full explanatory text and setting info in the main body, where it can be read when convenient but easily ignored in play.

Plan of Attack

Here is my rough to-do list:

1. Create mechanics and structure for points previously described;
2. Complete summary of the game by the Sept 7 deadline;
   
3. Collect literary quotes for use in chapter heads;
   
4. Write very short original fiction snippets, much shorter than the fluff sample already posted;
   
5. Write fuller treatment of summarized rules, with examples and setting info;
   
6. Get minimal illustrations from public domain sources (probably a couple etchings from Gustave Doré;
7. Layout draft PDF by Sept 14th, with summary above as sidebars, expanded description as main text;
8. Get play testers for game;
9. Revise text of PDF for second draft by Sept 30th;
   
10. Consider publication and changes necessary for final version.

Sources to Contemplate

This is what is feeding into my creative process right now:

• Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, obviously. Particularly the concept of a man cursed with Life-in-Death for some callous, petty action.
• Tales of the Black Freighter, the comic-within-a-comic in Watchmen. Mainly the battle with the seabirds, the concept of the Black Freighter, and the way the protagonist is cursed to bring horror to the very people he loves.
• Pirates of the Caribbean, even though I've only seen a few minutes of the movie. It's mainly the clips of skeletal pirates I'm thinking of.
• Howard's "Hills of the Dead". Solomon Kane discovers a city of the living dead; the dead cannot walk in open daylight because the scavenger birds aren't fooled and swoop down to feast on their flesh.
• Hellblazer, "On the Beach". The only issue I've ever read. However, the image of the seabirds attacking Constantine's "child" mixes with similar images from the Solomon Kane/Watchmen stories above.
• Twilight Zone/Night Gallery/EC Comics. A bunch of stories about people who don't know they're dead coming back. Come to think of it, Lovecraft's "The Outsider" is a strong influence here, too.

Statement of Intent

The 2009 Game Chef has begun. I originally was not planning on participating, especially since the inspiration I had turned out to be close to two other designers participating... but they encouraged me to join, anyways.

I mainly participate in the Game Chefs and other design challenges because of the random inspiration, but also because of my theory that, if you do something 20 times, you might actually turn out something good one of those times. Practice, practice, practice.

Since the constraints are so light this year, I'm going to use very few of them. No, I won't be using the Intrigue theme. I won't be using most of the ingredients. Howevcr, three of the ingredients -- Dividers, Star, and Seabirds -- suggested something maritime, and Seabird in particular suggested the Albatross. That, and the special distinction badge for using zombie protagonists, made me think "I haven't done a horror game yet."

More to follow.