Developing the story..

Earlier, I commented that I want to recapture the feeling of those old D&D games we had back in the early 90s. I'd decided upon running a Dragonlance game, and using some D&D system or derivative to accomplish this.

Well, as I lay in bed, thinking before I fell asleep, I gave thought again to developing a world of my own. Clearly, I'm not Tolkien, but I've wanted to create a setting for my fantasy adventures for a while. Quite possibly, I'd even use the setting to write a real story.

I've toyed with story ideas for years, ever since I was in high school (where I used to write a lot of poetry). A lot of them were set in, or featured characters from, another novel (fanfiction before I knew what to call it? More like Mary Sue..). I still have them, along with a "short story" I wrote about 3 or 4 years back. The short story was simply an exercise, where I took a fantasy image, and described what was happening in it. I was rather pleased with the result, though it's buried somewhere on some CD in an archive.

My biggest hurdles in following through with this idea are sticking with it, and not fearing to make up something of my own. The former worry is self-explanatory, but the second is not. It's best explained with an example, I guess. The last time I got this urge to develop a setting, I wanted to make the Fey a major part of it; however, I didn't want to make it look like D&D's, so I expended way too much effort in finding out about the "real" Seelie and Unseelie Courts. By the time I had the info I thought I wanted, I had lost all interest in writing more.

I may even set up a second account on my computer for this, with only MS Word, iTunes, and Acrobat being readily available, so I can focus better. At any rate, it's time for bed, now.

Final update..

I just spent the last hour and a half or so, reading my original LJ entries (did you know that in one Harry Potter quiz, I was Lupin?). I find it odd, but my "voice" has changed. I also used to remember a lot more of the details regarding my work day (or perhaps I lingered on the bad stuff too much?).

I need to get some sleep, for I'm voting tomorrow. Also, if I have time, I plan on getting my hair cut. Needless to say, I'm going to be doing some laundry, too. Some at my mom's house, because I'm taking her to vote too, and some here, because our washing machine has spontaneously begun to work again like nothing was ever wrong.

I'm going to work on improving my "voice". I'm also going to work on that world idea I had. For now, though, it's sleepy-time. Honest. :)

T3h Intarwebz r evil!!!!!11

Ahem. Quite simply, I sat down this morning to begin messing around with the whole campaign setting thing. I had a basic idea where to start (from an outline I did months ago, yet which no longer works for what I want), but thought about checking ENWorld for new info regarding 4th Edition.

From there, I found out about Confessions of a Part-time Sorceress: A Girl's Guide to the D&D Game, by Shelly Mazzanoble. Intrigued, I read about the book, and checked out her web page. Forty minutes later, I closed the browser, only to realize that I no longer remembered the angle I was going to begin from in working on the setting. So, I closed Word, and I'm going to go fold some laundry instead.

Hopefully, it'll come back to me later.

Grr..

I'm a posting whore now! :-p

Folding laundry didn't take NEARLY as long as I'd thought. Now, I'm feeling restless. My brain feels like it's too big to fit in my head, though I'm JUST this side of a headache. I keep getting up and pacing around the apartment. I know I should take a shower and head to my mom's, but since I have laundry washing and drying, I want to get those done first.

I think I'll work on making some LJ icons out of some Hammerfall album covers. That should work for now.

EDIT: The company that handles my water bill has listed our account on their website as "moved out". Odd, since the water's never been cut off, and we renewed our lease. When I called about it, the rep said they'd check with the property, and have an answer for me in 5-7 business days. Oh yes, it's important to make sure someone's living here, right? After all, I might be trying to pay a bill that isn't mine. *sarcasm* Well, at least everything else is paid, and I SHOULD be able to get our water balance from the rental office. (Paper bills get thrown away, since I can check and pay it online.)

Got work?

I do, tomorrow. Today was a nice low-stress day. I got my laundry done, because our washing machine wasn't broken after all. I also reactivated my WoW account. I blame my roommate, who was playing tonight in one of my favorite areas. I think if I hadn't been so eager for something to do, I might have resisted the urge.

That said, I don't know that I'm going to keep it going past this new month. I just wanted something fun to while away my day off. No worries there, of course. I refuse to let the game take me over like it did last time. It's a diversion, nothing more. That's why I'm not going to play my highest level characters, but my level 32 hunter.

I talked to dragonpurr quite a bit today. I really enjoy chatting with her. Hopefully, I'll be able to play in the D&D game she's in (her roommate's running it). It'll be interesting, because it'll be the first game I'd ever played in where males were the minority at the table (female DM, 2 female players, and if I play, 2 male players). I'm eager to see how it works.

Now, I'm going to bed, because I have work tomorrow morning. After work, I'm going by my mother's, to drop off some DVDs I'm giving her. I might just run by Barnes & Noble on my lunch, too, to grab that book I mentioned earlier today.

In the meantime, enjoy my new default icon: the knight from the cover of Hammerfall's "Threshold" album.