Well, I have had a great start to the Gygax ’75 Challenge, and am making good progress. The hardest part so far is not jumping ahead to the future tasks!
What Were This Week’s Tasks?
Just as a reminder, the tasks for the first week of the Challenge were to:
- Get/create a notebook.
- Develop my pitch.
- Gather my sources of inspiration.
- Bonus: Assemble a mood board.
So how did it go?
I got my notebook, a Think Ink leather notebook, with lined paper. I have to say–this worked out far better than I expected. Even though my penmanship leaves a lot to be desired, the ability to have the notebook with me all the time, even at work, makes it much easier to jot down ideas when they come to mind. My only complaint is the notebook does not lie flat. That would make it easier to write in. But otherwise–spot on.
I also have been transcribing my daily notes into my note app (Bear). This really does make it easier to wordsmith text. I am keeping my notes as-is, without editing, for my own personal history, but some things you just need a word processor to edit.
I also had to resist the temptation to work ahead. I was not entirely successful there, but I kept forcing myself to go back and improve what I had developed for my concept. Ray Otis will tell you to resist the urge, but go back and refine what you have done that week. I really tried to do that, but found myself doing some things ahead of time, like creating a map, just to make sure I could create something I wanted.
Honestly, one of the hardest parts was sticking to the Swords & Sorcery theme. For the setting I envisioned, I had to really look hard at what that meant, and keep things in that dark, grim tone. In a normal worldbuilding process, I would just do whatever I wanted that seemed need to me. Here, though, I wanted to stick within the boundaries of the concept that I started with. And that leads to…
What I Created
So here is what I completed this week:
Concept Main Bullets:
- The Vales is a land nestled in the arms of a large mountain, spreading down to the sea. There are various areas in the land known as "Vales." Ever since the fall of the High King a century ago, the Vales have warred with each other for control of the entire valley.
- The Vales setting is a swords & sorcery, low magic and dark fantasy setting. The setting is dark and grim. Magic is known, but dark, unknowable and risky. Wizards are distrusted by most people, but are seen as sages and advisors to kings.
- The culture has various Anglo-Saxon, Irish and Norse elements. It is similar in feel to Beowulf and Joel of Joiry, rather and Mesopotamia. The people of the Vales are a generally homogeneous race, but there are barbarians that live in the mountains beyond the Vales who raid the valley.
- Monsters are real, and are known to come from the mountain lands beyond the Vales. Dragons are legendary, and greatly feared, but unknown today. Giants and ogres are known, and come from the mountains beyond the Vales. Undead are uncommon, and feared. Ghosts and spirits of the dead are known and accepted, but corporeal dead are rare and greatly feared.
- The two main religions of the Vales are that of the Wolf and the Raven. Their priests vie for control of the Vales and the souls of their peoples. The Dragon is an ancient religion, from the civilization that occupied the valley before the current peoples. It is only a degenerate cult now. The religion of the Swan is an upstart cult one along the coast.
- Most dungeons are found in the mountain walls that line the valley, or in leftover ruins from the previous civilization. These have an almost superstitious dread by the peoples of the Vales, because of their association of the Dragon with the underground.
- The system I will use is Blades & Black Magic and Wizard. I am sticking with my favorite game system, but I am adding in Wizard for magic for now. I have not finished a custom magic system for Blades yet, but Wizard will work for now.
Sources of Inspiration:
- Karl Edward Wagner. The Kane stories had a huge impact on me growing up, as I experienced Swords & Sorcery in particular, and fantasy I’m general. Still my favorite author, and still one of my biggest gaming influences.
- Robert E. Howard. The Conan stories were another huge influence on me in my youth, and still one of the most perfect examples of the Swords & Sorcery genre. Forget the later junk–stick to the real pulp stories written by Howard himself.
- CL Moore. I am a latecomer to the Jorel of Joiry stories, but love the setting and the feel.
- Beowulf.I think the poem can be hard to read at first, but I do love the story. The idea of a local king and heroes to help him is somewhat how I envisioned the Vales and heroes there.
- Best Left Buried. This RPG does a fantastic job incorporating horror into the dungeon crawl. I really like the idea that adventuring in the underground leaves mental scars on those who go there–I think that was an opportunity missed in. The early days of gaming.
- Downcrawl. This is another great RPG that really cranks up the idea of a world underneath the ground. There is a lot of room to create the tone or feel the Referee wants, and I need to decide how to do that.
- Nancy Springer. I loved Nancy Springer’s novels as high fantasy stories, but one in particular made a mark on me: The Black Beast. The setting was in a valley surrounded by mountains, with a culture not too different from what I envision here.
Finally, my mood board can be found on Pinterest. I’m still adding pins to it, but that’s part of the fun, too.
What Next?
Next week entails making a detail-level map, with a town and a dungeon. I have to admit I have already worked ahead on this… Before I committed to the concept of the mountain valley, I wanted to make sure I could make a map that looked like what I remember I had and that I liked. More on that next week!
Anyway, that’s it for Week 1 of the Gygax ’75 Challenge! I hope you stick with me as I continue on through this fun exercise…
Marko ∞
