Phase 6: Writing
Here we now focus on giving some depth to the random scribbles we so far put down. It’s not going to be a finished work, but a working set of paragraphs. In some cases, simple bullet points work as well.
Brevity is the Height of Wit
So you may have noticed by now I may be a touch verbose. I have a lot of words and tend to use them freely. For someone who is as wordy as I am, Shadowdark is my polar opposite. Where I can use a paragraph to explain a bit of detail, Shadowdark can condense an entire description into a single sentence.
It’s one of my greatest weaknesses and Shadowdark’s greatest strength. It makes writing for Shadowdark a particular challenge for me. A challenge that I need. Shadowdark makes me a better writer. This tight writing is something you MUST remember when working with Shadowdark games. The greatest strength of the game is also our greatest ally. Tight Writing. When you have 8 to 16 pages to work with, tight writing is a must.
Getting it onto paper
Still, that’s a problem for tomorrow me. For now, current me is all about getting the ideas fleshed out. Okay, so I can skip page 1. That’s my cover and the information there is going to be tight by default. The only thing I do here is start writing down some name ideas.
Jungle Bungle. Primordial Panic. Descent into an Ancient War. The Curse of Fire and Death. Gods Rising. Ab-Ba’s Last Breath. I jot down name after name for the potential game. I’m trying to capture the NES game feel at the same time as the Shadowdark Module feel. For now, let’s use the working title of Ab-Ba’s Last Breath. Moving on.
Fleshing More Out
Next, I write out a paragraph about how the games inspired what is going to follow. I could write a series of blog posts (see what I did there?) about how the games inspired me and what I did to pull it all together. I don’t have that kind of space. Instead, for now I just bullet point a few things like element and art choices.
Now for story elements. I’m getting half a page to a page worth of space here. I need to make sure some of this falls into items, locations, etc. Use those to expand the story. The core parts a person will need to get started are going to be twofold. One, who the gods were and two, what led to the way things are. I leave the god of fire and darkness unnamed and of course, the goddess of primordial life is Ab-Ba. They fought, they left powerful beings to continue, then they fucked off. Probably dead now. Doesn’t matter.
Good, two pages down. Maybe a little overflow. Next, let’s dedicate half a page to a rumors chart. It drives the Shadowdark nature in right away and can count as expanding some lore. Let’s pick elements I couldn’t mention like the resurrection mechanic or the ‘Dragon-eater’ that will be our big map. Good, next!
NPCs need to be tight. I only allowed myself one page for them, so let’s say 3 total with limited info. Even though I didn’t focus on factions this time, we can use the NPCs to imply them. I’ll add a Methuselah guy surviving on residual goddess energy, an undead generator golem sort of fellow, and a former crawler with a reason to be stuck here. I won’t bore you with details, but each gets a few sentences about them, some stats, their tactics and their agenda. Also, let’s give each a 30×30 pixel image. I’ll also tie the scoring system into the old man NPC, so it should be fleshed out here too. That one takes me a bit.
Layout Concerns
Anyway, you get the idea. I jot down ideas about different elements. I’m only getting between 6 and 8 random roll options per area, so I can write a few dozen and narrow them down later. Same with my monsters. With 2 pages, I’m not going to be able to flesh out many. At best, I can get 12 total assuming I don’t reference the books at all. Still, I am going to set them down and thin them later. Remember, this is about fleshing out, not tightening up.
Still, keep the layout in mind. It’s going to be a real pain to thin down if I jot 200 ideas and have to narrow it down to a dozen. I do the same thing again with some item ideas and try to limit myself to 3 potential spells.
Conclusion
With quite a bit written down, I now have a very solid world ready to put to paper. The next task is going to be preparing my document and getting ready to shoe-horn everything in. Next phase is all about working out the design elements I am going to use in greater detail.
