Thursday is my busiest day of the week with my current schedule, and with me having next to no energy by the time I get home lately, I didn’t accomplish much beyond adding a few items to the list, which I didn’t think was enough to warrant a post. My schedule was much more open today, but it was shocking how little I accomplish. For whatever reason, I was working on the map of Korush for CoP a while, then I did a little bit on Chapter 10 of RttW, but I got distracted detailing a relevant key item, then similar items (specifically, contracts and such). From there, I started thinking about the Trade Guilds. In the DnD scenario I was building for my niece a few years back, I drew up the guild structure for the setting, and I don’t intend to reinvent the wheel, but there are some bits that don’t fit the setting of RttW, so I need to account for that, but I didn’t get farther than reviewing the guild list for that setting (there are 108 guilds there with numerous subordinate companies) and thinking about how to work out the Trade Skills system. (I’ve already developed a simplified version for my alternative game system, so I have to decide if I want to go along those lines or do something a little different.) Of course, none of that gets me across the finish line, so we’re going to have to just move the cycle along and come back around next time. I intend to continue working over the weekend, but don’t expect the chapter to be finished just yet. Stay tuned.

I said I was going to focus more on story writing, but I ended up digging into the World’s sumptuary laws (prompted by me expanding the list of clothing items) and revising the section on taxes and such. I did get a little writing done on Chapter 10 of RttW, but by the time I got to it, I was actually writing with my eyes closed as I was struggling to make at least a little progress before crashing out. We’ll see how things develop in the coming days, but at the rate things are going, I may not make the deadline. Stay tuned.

I didn’t get much done in either the story or the peripheral materials, but I did write a little bit on Chapter 10 of RttW. (Once again, I made the mistake of trying to write in the evening and conking out shortly thereafter.) I added a few more articles of clothing to the item list, so you’ve got some more options there. I’ve got a busy day ahead of me, so there may not be much to report in the next entry either. Stay tuned.

I mentioned pockets last time, so I was going through adding storage space to different articles of clothing (and adding some items to the list). Now, unlike a lot of modern clothing, pockets aren’t all that common, so it doesn’t apply to that many items. A particular exception is the Smuggler’s Set, which is loaded with pockets.

I was further developing the mechanics I was working on before and laying some of the groundwork for dealing with things like weather and terrain. (Until now, I’ve only accounted for temperature thus far with some notes on certain items about waterproofing.) Lots of things to deal with.

I started to do a little writing on Chapter 10 of RttW in the evening, but I didn’t last long before conking out. So it goes. I’ll try to focus more on story progress for now. Stay tuned.

I made some more progress on Chapter 10 of RttW, but not enough to finish it. I’m going to give it another week, but now that finals are over, I won’t have as much free time in the office as this week. As you might imagine, I was also doing work in the peripheral materials. I’ve added socks. That may not sound significant, but to the degree I’m trying to replicate reality with the World’s game system, it’s no small thing. You’ve got to take care of your feet, after all. Before there was just one layer to feet armor (the “armor” category applying to most coverings for the body, not just what we would conventionally regard as armor), but I have made it three layers now to accommodate socks and to allow the wear of regular shoes or boots under sabatons for heavy armor types. I’m also starting to sort out the characters’ equipment and realizing that because gear is going to change somewhat frequently, the current spreadsheet is going to be expanding a fair bit. Some other mechanics are bubbling into my head, so that’ll be other things to account for. Oh, what fun complexity addiction is. Anyway, I’ll be keeping you posted. Stay tuned.

I made some progress on Chapter 10 of RttW and did some work in the peripheral materials, settling on the XP scale and adding some items to the list, namely accessories to gauge things like HP, MP, and XP. You see, in the time period the main story is set, Players are issued magical devices called “Player Slates” that are magic tablets similar to the Sheikah Stone in Breath of the Wild, but you can’t be looking at your Slate while in active combat and there’s no magic HUD to display for your convenience, so there needs to be another solution. I might do a commentary post at some point to explain how the gamey aspects of the World are handled to give it a little more verisimilitude than just having holographic popups like you see in a lot of game-world stories. Anyway, I’ve still got a fair bit of work to do before the chapter’s ready to go, so I need to focus on that. Stay tuned.

I only managed to get a line or so written in Chapter 10 of RttW as I was mostly working on the site. I also started trying to figure out the XP requirements for levelling. The idea is to not make the requirements too steep or too shallow to maintain a reasonable timeline for advancement. The XP yields for mobs are already rather low, which gets reduced further when divided among party members. If you’re industrious enough, you should be able to advance at a decent clip, but I need to make sure the math works out because I’m being so autistic with the details of the system instead of just glossing over the details.

Here’s an example of the rate of progress for an active Adventurer that I use as a baseline:

Lvl 10 – 6 months
Lvl 20 – 1.5 years [1 year]
Lvl 30 – 2.5 years [1 year]
Lvl 40 – 5 years [2.5 years]
Lvl 50 – 8 years [3 years]
Lvl 60 – 12 years [4 years]
Lvl 70 – 16 years [4 years]
Lvl 80 – 20 years [4 years]

As I said, the trick is to make the numbers work, which requires a bit of wizardry. God help me if I feel compelled to track every encounter and quest for every Adventurer character. If I’m not considered certifiable now, I will be by the time the series is done. (For the sake of what shreds of sanity I have left, I may want to dial things back a bit, but I don’t know if I will.) With that happy thought, I need to get some actual writing done so I can meet my deadline. Stay tuned.

I did a little writing on Chapter 10 of RttW, but mostly worked in the peripheral materials. I need to account for the purchases made during the market visit, which led me to fiddling around with the item list (which is only going to keep expanding and expanding). I’ve got a lot of work to do, but I need to juggle site stuff and story progress. Fun, fun, fun. Stay tuned.

I had to do some reworking of Chapter 8 of RttW before publishing it as I realized that I was shifting perspectives between Arjun and Pawel. While there are plenty of authors who fluidly move among their character’s POVs, it’s not what I like to do. I like to maintain the third-person limited and not switch POVs without at least doing a section break. I do occasionally flub it, but I try to avoid it. I also did a little checking over Chapter 9 and started in on Chapter 10. I’d like to get more done, but we’ll see. Stay tuned.

I did some writing on Chapter 9 of RttW. I could probably have it finished with a little more work. I could use the lead time, so I may stick with it rather than switching over to TWH. Stay tuned.