Blog Post #18 An Oulde World
T. 2/25/2025
My improv show was a *smash hit*. It was so much fun, and a lot of people came. About half of my housemates showed up, as well, which was much appreciated.
I just realized that I didn’t submit my blog post from last week— so I just did that.
I’m watching this video on YouTube right now. Fantasy Maps Should Be Weirder. It is making me think of how maps can be an art form, and not necessarily be moored to realism and geographic accuracy. Apparently, geographic accuracy is a relatively new concept for maps. And since most fantasy maps are based, technologically, in medieval times, they should reflect that.
I get that a lot of fantasy media with maps is heavily hard-worldbuilding-based, and surreal, impressionistic maps wouldn’t feel intuitive for those stories. But for me, for my stories, that’s not the case. Like, for my projects based around Pearl Manor— the 2D sidescroller, Bound, and the gamebook accompanying it (title still up in the air)— the whole point is that it’s not consistently accurate. Pearl Manor is an amorphous setting; always changing; always something new to discover. And it’s not hard worldbuilding; it’s soft; it’s thematically consistent. (Still working on that.) So what if the gamebook has a map in the front, but it’s made of different pieces? And the reader can separate those perforated pieces and rearrange them for each time that they go through the adventure. There will be many rooms that the reader does not interact with each time through the book, and that’s the point.
It reminds me of this character sheet that I made for one of my favorite D&D characters I ever played, Bo Silvertongue. Let’s see if I can find it.
Bo used to be a halfling witch (this sheet), but he experimented on himself with lycanthropic blood, transforming into a tiefling barbarian/wizard/paladin. He was, at the time, the most I’d ever multiclassed. Lucy Weirdbeard, my current pirate PC, broke the record; they are a rogue/sorcerer/warlock/fighter. But Bo’s original character sheet, shown here, had all of the relevant information, but was dramatically more of an art piece than the standard sheet. And not just because it contains character art. It has shapes and colors that foreshadow Bo’s inevitable transformation— and his hunger for power at any cost. It’s been a while since I made a visual art piece quite like that.
Today, I fed my inner artist a bit. I took out my largely-empty black page sketchbook, and sketched my other current D&D character, the masked imp known as Baker Gyld. He wears a bright red, gold-accented frog mask, and a double-tasseled blue hooded cloak. I’m dedicated to creating more concept art for whimsical characters— I have redefined the gameplay layout for Pareidolia:Unbound’s demo/vertical slice, and I’ll need lots of memorable characters for it.
Essentially, I had previously planned to make it a defend-the-abode scenario, defending against an onslaught of Folk. But that would be both a lot of work (that we might not finish) and, simultaneously, a bad representation of the larger game. The player wouldn’t be able to utilize the combat mechanics (like alla prima), the traversal mechanics (like alla prima), or the inventory-based advancement system.
So now, I’m thinking that the player character finds himself in a part of the Wyrdwoods with red stone ruins scattered throughout an enclosed area, and the player has to explore and battle each round, accruing folkparts (which are a kind of currency/ingredient that I developed last semester for the game; they are unique parts of Folk characters that they drop when you slay them), which can then be used after each round in the ring surrounding the arena space. The enemies will primarily be pareidolias, with some larger boss Folk interspersed. So the player will have to gather folkparts and other ingredients from the environment— because after each round, you can exit the arena area (which is still rainforest/swamp) and enter the outer ring, which has Folk and humans alike. You can then interact with those characters, and trade and craft, improving your abilities through the inventory-based “tag” system— and you re-enter the arena with those improvements.
It’s a roguelike— no other way to put it.
I wouldn’t want the larger game to be confined to that— I want it to be an adventure game— but for the purposes of demonstrating the alla prima mechanic, the pareidolias, and the inventory system— all while showcasing the whimsical characters that I cook up— this seems best.
So I want to create a daily habit of sketching whimsical characters.
Back to maps.
What if the map of Pearl Manor has relatively-sized sections, depending on the significance of those landmarks? Just an idea.
That video that I just finished watching had some examples of dual-maps— pairs of maps with one being realistic, and the other being representative. Someone in the comments (goddamn I hate YouTube comments, but this one is fine) suggested making that pair for worldbuilding— one for the writer, and the other for the characters— but for Bound et al., I really only need one: the representative one. Because that is the layout.
I wrote down an idea for an RPG progression system that I might use in Bound. Essentially, you organize your skills and stats and such in a visual, neural net. And the level of organization— and the layout you design— skews certain skills and stats. This could work for Bound, because the player character is a ghost, and ghosts notoriously struggle with remaining true to their fading memories. It could also take inspiration from Elegy (my trading card TTRPG), with certain boons and debuffs granted by certain organization strategies.
This is from Elegy:
Anytime you roll a 1 for an Attribute, you gain one of the following tags:
• Xenoth-kin. If you place your 1 in Mortal, this represents your character’s limited connection to the material realm, and a higher abundance of otherworldly power, be it magical or otherwise. You gain a +2 bonus to Social rolls made to influence creatures of the non-Beast and non-Mundane types.
• Savant. If you place your 1 in Social, this represents your character being socially inept to the degree of fault, but also reflects a more direct, efficient mind. You gain a +2 bonus to your Ghostly and Occult Scores, but only when resisting mind-altering magics.
• Soulbound. If you place your 1 in Ghostly, this reflects a spirit grappled to your body. Whenever you would reduce your Stamina in response to an attack or spell, you can subtract 1 from the amount of Stamina reduced.
• Mired Essence. If you place your 1 in Occult, this demonstrates a mind not graced by arcanum in the slightest. Instead, you are bogged down by the burden of reality. You gain a +2 bonus to your Mortal Score, but only when resisting spells.
Th. 2/27/2025
I just sent in my form to withdraw from Procedural Art. I went to the Office of Financial Aid this morning before Procedural was set to start (I got there like 20 minutes before the office opened at 8:30am) to follow up on whether I’ll have to pay any money as a result of withdrawing. I do not! So I did not go to class. I messaged Ezra, and he made an insensitive comment, “You need to decide”, saying that my grades in the class are fine— they’re not; with my two late assignments, I’m failing— but that is in the past! I don’t think I’ll take another of Ezra’s courses. Just personal choice.
Let’s see, what else?
Oh yeah, I almost didn’t go to Seminar yesterday. I did, though, and I participated in discussion (perhaps too much). It *vexes* me when people get so set on their ideas that they are obstinate in resisting feedback.
I didn’t go to Studio. I went to the Office of Financial Aid and the Office of Student Accounting, instead, yesterday. I have not been doing well! I messaged my Studio lead— saying that, and that I don’t have much to share for Sprint (which was yesterday), and the steps that I’m taking to improve my workflow (withdrawing from Procedural and finishing my Marvelous Designer Udemy course). I made this banner!
Last semester, in my previous team, I was sent home on a Sprint day, because I was so obviously, visibly unwell. And it sucks.
But taking care of myself is more important.
When I was in undergrad, after I came back from being sick, I took classes only part-time. I had hoped that I wouldn’t have to do that here. And three classes is still full-time— I just wish that I could function at the same arbitrary measure as my peers.
I decided upon a concept for my thesis! It’s relevant to the last line. I want my research to benefit myself, and I want it to benefit other people— and the quality that I value most in myself and others is creativity.
So, I’m thinking about writing about how to optimize creativity— specifically for neurodivergent people.
My sister shared something with me during our last call that really comforted me. She said that neurodivergent people process the world at a more intense level than others, so the brain requires more rest. And people recognize that there’s a minimum amount of sleep that people tend to require— around eight hours. I had been thinking about my oversleeping as just that— oversleeping. But my brain really does function creatively higher than the standard person— and even more than someone with the same diagnosis. So it’s not excess sleeping. It’s what I need.
So I just need to make sure that I utilize my waking hours more preciously. That is what I’m going to research for my thesis— how to do that.
My mum told me to write about a hypothetical person, but I don’t really care about personal privacy; if I can improve, function at a high level, and help other people in similar situations, I want to use my story to do so.
I started working on a new creative angle for my new setting— or rather, an old angle. I reached out to Ampersand, my D&D friends from undergrad, who wrote me a letter of rec for grad school applications— and I asked who would want to participate in a oneshot set in this new setting. I immediately got five people interested.
The setting mixes elements from Dark Sun, the Wild West, and Mad Max. It’s the kind of game that I have wanted to run for years. If it goes well, maybe we’ll run a campaign with the same premise over the summer. I’ll just link the info doc here (it’s much too much to transcribe, especially since I already have it more eloquently laid out).
You might be thinking, “Mason, you just withdrew from a course for reasons including that you couldn’t handle the workload— why are you planning to run a D&D game, even if it’s just a oneshot?”
And that’s kind of it. I need to create something that is not tied to anything other than the joy of creating it. I don’t have a set date for the oneshot— it might not be for weeks— but I am hoping to have Session Zero this upcoming week. And I just want to make an interactive story to play with some of my closest friends.
It’s going to have a wagon chase (they’re called “viscera wagons” in canon) through an environment of gray stone ravines and gulches, “howling with the voices of the wind”, as the Dying Sun sets over the sandblasted horizon. I’m going to have a set of layered maps that I’m going to show via screen sharing— one is going to have like a satellite view of the environment, which I’m going to model and texture in 3D; another layer is going to have topographic elements.
And the coolest thing?
I’m going to boil down the rules for Gaslands: Refuelled, and the player operating the escape wagon will use it— choosing movement layouts, rolling Skid Dice, all of it. I definitely have to thank Trent Holbrook from Miscast for the inspiration. A while ago, he came out with a video providing rules for a DM-less D&D game— including rules for incorporating rules from other systems— referencing Gaslands, specifically.
Anyway, I’m going to publish this right now, so I can get on with my night and not worry about forgetting.
The rest of the night, I’m going to work on my Marvelous Designer course, I’m going to watch the weapon refraction trail video tutorial all the way through (it doesn’t have clear auditory instructions, so I want to get an idea of what I’ll need to do), I’m going to work on formatting Wanderer’s Guide to Dromknost, 2nd Ed., including some patterns to put on the endpapers, I’m going to sketch another character, and I’m going to play a game (probably Avowed).
Later.
I watched the weapon refraction trail tutorial all the way through. My god does it go fast! And there’s no verbal instructions. I’m going to need to extend my screen onto my monitor for it (my phone is too low res) (hopefully Unreal doesn’t crash), and slow it down at least 50%.
A couple things that I’m going to need to modify:
I will need to modify the textures so that it isn’t so jiggly. I want it to look like brush strokes— complete with the fine lines that brush hairs leave, and the reference tutorial is much more gelatinous and fluid in nature. I don’t know exactly how to go about doing this, yet.
I won’t need to add the orange color. I’m considering replacing the orange with black— it only colors part of the trail, and then, maybe it will evoke ink vibes. Not sure yet! I might just keep it purely translucent. It’s a small edit, so I can test it out and remove the coloration, if necessary. Ooh wait! There could be item tags that alter the alla prima! There could be tags that alter the coloration/opacity (for various effects on the mechanic), and tags that alter the type of stroke (like a palette knife stroke more bluntly affecting the environment/dealing more damage to Formidables, for example).
