SDM Design – The order of things (2/4/2015)

Just after recording Narrative Control 82 with Vincent and Rob, Thor and I got on the horn to talk about Stone Dragon.  We scoured through comments in the text and came up with this list.

Salt Terrace
Salt Terrace

Meeting Goals:

  • Trimming down the intro (way to long)
  • Giving better motivations to the characters met as wandering monster encounters (Deepti, Lakpa, Zopon, and Sampat).
  • Contents of the new locations (Salt Terrace and Monastery)
  • Pacing of exposition (through NPCs, from the monastery, etc)
  • Plan for changes on the inside locations. Redesign the society and factions on the inside given our changes.
  • The Sharwa gods don’t have to be different than the Immortal Lords (leave that idea open)
  • Make sure content matches it’s header/subheader
  • Antagonist pursues an agenda that you admire but do it with a method you abhor. Or vice versa.
  • What if Jhala wants to go to the lowland and leave the mountain, but Deepti wants to stay?

The information, as it stands right now is all over the place. Re-order int he following sections:

Stupa
Stupa in a Monastery 

Part 1 – Intro to the setting

–Ancient History
–Recent Events
–Factions
–Bringing It All Together

Part 2 – People of the Mountain

-Mikra
-Sharwa
-Monks
-Lowlanders

Part 3 – Setup in for the GM

Playtest Version
Setup
Goals

Part 4 – Running Stone Dragon Mountain

Wandering Monsters
Locations
The End

Results

Lots of head scratching from me. Lots of good ideas from Thor. Mostly what I’m impressed by is how much invisible world building we’re doing. Like any story, there is way more behind Stone Dragon Mountain that whats going on the page (and even that is a lot), but knowing the background of it all helps me understand the world the adventure takes place in!

SDM Design – Tell the GM what is going on (12/3/2014)

The adventure… as I presented it to Thor had a lot of history and a lot of challenges, but not a lot tying those two together. Reconciling this first required a lot of discussion between Thor and I about what actually did tie everything together (which meant filling in a lot of mental blanks of my own) and then adding these sections to the adventure:

Note to the GM

This [insert topic] is a touchstone to play off of. Feel free to add in your own details and make it yours.

What’s going on

A barebones version of the history on the mountain, recent events, the factions on the mountain, and their motivations.

Religions

The followers of  Kisha, Rava, Anala, and Namakambhari. The gods edicts and exceptions of their followers. The way the gods exist celestially (as myth and legend) and corporeally (as the physical mountain, the sun, the lakes, etc.)

Sharwa (people of the mountain) – Synchratic path of pulling in lowlander religion with their existing worship. Wearing artifacts that would not appear on the mountain (glass, tropical wood). Making them religious symbols.

What happens to the monks who shepherded the old ways when the Sharwa’s practices change based on influence from the lowlanders? No more clothes, tool, food, etc.

Some personalities withing the order. The abbot, his sister, and the cast out.

Personal Motivations

What does every NPC want? What do they need?

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