Status Updates of Various Projects

So, I was ill for a week and then the DayJob got intensely busy for a week, making me remiss in my postings. Therefore, I’m going to cover several projects here to get everyone up to date.

Blood, Gold, and Lizards

My new Fantasy Hero campaign will kick-off this month. Characters have been built for everyone but one player and we will be building his character this Friday. Both groups have five players with one player floating between groups as his work schedule permits, for a total of eleven players active in the campaign.

The first Saturday session will be May 18th. This group of adventurers is starting in the rough and tumble town of Lucan’s Clock. Beyond town are hills and dry valleys leading up to the Draken Spire Mountains.

The first Friday session on May 31st. This group starts in the more settled New Zwicke. Beyond town here is a dichotomy of sorts: heavily forested adventure to the west and a sea of grassy plains to the east.

I’ll post details on the characters in both groups in later postings, one for each group.

The Speedwell War

Not a lot to report here. I’ve put the novel work on hold so I can get the campaign up and running. I finally received the last of the feedback this past weekend – two pads of paper worth. My next step is to compile all the comments into a spreadsheet so I can track them as I address them.

The odd part is that most of them will go by the wayside as Draft 3 is going to be a major re-write. The majority of the feedback boiled down to “I like the story, but it is very difficult to keep track of all the characters.” This stems from two things:

1) Draft 2 lays out all the action that happens during the story arc, but doesn’t go deep on the characterization.

2) There are a LOT of characters, some of which only show up for a scene late in the book.

So, to address this, I’m re-working the story to follow 6-7 characters and getting the readers deeper into their heads. I’ll be adding why the things happening are significant for the character in question and what their reactions and thoughts are. My goal is to resume serious work on the novel the first week in June (if not a bit sooner) and finish Draft 3 by the end of the year. I feel this is do-able as I have the story arc written out already, what I need to do is show the readers that the events are personal for the characters.

That’s it for now. More next week.