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Let's share writing advice!

A topic by OffworldHometown created Sep 08, 2021 Views: 219 Replies: 4
Viewing posts 1 to 2
Submitted

Here's a place to ask for advice on writing Wanderhome content, or to share helpful resources (either about Wanderhome specifically, or relevant TTRPG advice in general.)

I know there's a Discord where these kinds of conversation probably happen, but Discords usually make me anxious- no matter how friendly they are, it's just the nature of the platform. So I wanted to offer another space in case anyone else is interested in sharing on here.

To start, here are some resources I found interesting, written by Jay Dragon, the creator of Wanderhome:

Submitted

I wrote some Natures and now I'm trying to revise them, but I'm kinda stuck. My idea of what I want Natures to be is basically, "It's a literal place, but also an invitation to feel and act a certain way. And those two things should each be interesting and fit together well." Which I think is a pretty good goal to aspire to, but I don't know how to tell if what I've written is actually doing those things or not. Granted, I've only ever played the game solo in a journal, so maybe I'll understand this better once the group I found finally meets, but in the meantime does anyone have any advice?

I'm especially lost with how to write folklores and I don't know if there's something I don't understand about them or if I'm just overthinking things. I wrote some weird and magical events, which is the basic thing folklores are, but I don't understand how they contribute to a Nature. I think I get how the "can always do" list basically gives you ways to make the place have influence on its people and the main characters. And also how the "aesthetic elements" list helps you imagine what it's like to be there. (These are just my own interpretations, and also kind of simplifications, but that's the basics of how I read those lists.) But I really don't get what folklores contribute to play. Do they just need to be any kind of weird event, or is there a more specific way to say "will this work in a game or not?" (And again, I know there's not one right answer to the question of "does this make for good play?" But if anyone has their own feelings about it I'm interested.)

I feel like I answered a couple of my own questions in there just by writing my thoughts out, at least partially. Having spelled out what a couple of the lists do might help me decide whether the things in those lists could do what I wanted them to do. But I'm still curious whether anyone else has their own ideas about Natures and how to write them.

Host

I feel like a good Folklore entry helps connect the place to the larger story of your world, in a very lightweight sort of way...

Submitted

That makes sense! I'll go back over the folklores I wrote with that in mind

Submitted

I'm still wrapping my head around folklores too. In my drafting ideas I called them a Journey, which I may still return to, but for the argot of Wanderhome, I think folklore makes sense. 

Your writing it out helps me think about it too, so great. I feel like by experiencing a folklore (like any of the festivals included), the event creates a new perspective available for players, kith and kin, and natures to be viewed in a different way and provide impact towards those changes. That's the direction I'm going with mine at least, though I hope to have some specific ways of how playbooks or mantles of playbooks can influence that more directly.

Specifically, I'm trying to introduce a very introspective play style that may or may not work in Wanderhome (I think it can or I wouldn't be trying--but it might make things weird too). Best way to know is if the writing makes the play work and try it out.