I’ve been meaning to do this for a few years now. On this random ass Tuesday, I do this.
Do What? Why, “Blog” Of Course
Here's the skinny: basically all I can think about are cool ideas for tabletop games. A lot of those thoughts don't get shared. It's tragic.
For some reason, I think a “blog” will help with that, and more. Here are my main goals:
- Develop and share my cool ideas
- Talk about current projects
- Discuss what I'm learning
- Get used to sharing longer form stuff
- Chitchat games… with YOU!🫵
And here's some tenets I’ll try to uphold as I work toward those goals:
- Done is better than perfect
- No shame in being earnest
- Write like you talk
- Make for making's sake
More TBD as my mind opens.
That's the main takeaway: I want to open my mind by sharing and discussing creative thoughts about tabletop games, so I will begin (and hopefully continue) posting here about that. Dismissed.
Craving more details? Read on, interloper...
Why Are You Doing This
When I was working remotely, I pledged to lock the fuck in on writing and creating to see where I ended up in 2 years. I planned to launch a blog, join some game jams, write some zines, the works. Sadly, I never did end up locking in, and now it’s 23 months later. Shit!
So here we are, locking in.
And not a moment too soon... that arbitrary deadline is right around the corner.
(breathy perfume ad voice) Table Scraaaps….
That’s the blog name I came up with so long ago. (I went all in and commissioned a logo! More on that TBA...) Maybe it could be the catch-all name for my whole online tabletop presence? I’m so surprised it wasn’t taken. Originally I picked it because I wanted to purely make stuff- "scraps"- for people to use in their games, but now I see it also fits my general design ethos for tabletop stuff.
It boils down to this: when I make something for a tabletop game, I like gradually piecing together a bunch of distinct bits, like stitching quilt squares together (I assume). Start with well-defined anchors that other things will revolve around: people, places, plans, powers, and so on. The big names that you feel define the setting or situation. (Make sure to cut up existing things for their reusable parts- that's a big part of the scrappy code.) Over the course of play. finer details will come naturally to you as your focus shifts to follow the action; how the anchors interact, how X feels about Y, how to get from A to B, etc. That's how it all stitches together.
It's similar to something I learned in my public speaking class, called “extemporaneous" speech. Instead of a script, you've got index cards with your main ideas bulleted out. You glance at them, then talk from off the dome. You prep enough to make improvising the rest easy.
There's countless thought models in this hobby for fleshing out ideas. This (admittedly loose) scrap analogy is just one I like. Although, come to think of it, I guess I haven’t actually been the game master since like 2022. So it’s all conjecture then, and might suck! Well, there's other stuff to talk about.
Okay sounds good
Thank you for reading this lil’ primer. Up next, I think I’ll talk about my current projects instead of work on them. From there, just whatever I’m learning or rotating in my mind.
Love,lolt64
