I finished the last of the to-do list for DOL today, which means it is ready to open. I’m going to be out of state from Friday through Sunday, though, so it’s officially opening on Monday, the 25th. I am exceedingly excited (mostly because I keep forgetting about the worst parts of opening: advertising and waiting.)

I also started working on the next game that’s going to open up: it’s called Bexleigh Glen, and it’s set at a renaissance faire. I’m being good and only having minor characters- Anya and Richard. I could make them main characters, but I’m going to have four characters at the HP game (there aren’t main or minor characters in that game) and two main characters in the horror game, one at each school, so I decided two minor characters in this game would be fine. Anya is a rose girl, and Richard (Rich to his friends, Dick to everyone else) is one of the pickle guys. There’s still lots and lots to do, and it’s probably going to take a while to get done once I actually open DOL since I’ll have other stuff to do, but that’s okay. No rush.

I’m still a little unsure of the details for the horror game- which is fine, really, since there’s a good chance it won’t go up until after the HP game. Part of me wants to do zombies because it would fit the details better, and part of me wants to do vampires, but there are so many ways the vampire game could go wrong. For one, the Twilight hordes could try to make them sparkly. Or the Anne Rice fans could try to make them all apparently instantly gay once turned. Mostly, if I do vampires, I don’t want them to be cool: I want them to be horrible, terrifying undead things. Maybe if I don’t make vampires a playable character type? People would be forced to be terrified humans. It’s a thought.

I’m also fiddling with my HP game idea. It’s going to be set much sooner to the present than AVA was; probably the grandkids of the “New Generation” we met in the Deathly Hallows epilogue. I’m also going to do a much more restricted game play this time around; new characters have to start off as first years. Any older characters- older students, professors, ghosts, paintings, etcetera- will all be NPCs. It’ll sort of go back to the Harry Potter books of learning about the world as you grow up at school, which I think will be neat. It’s also the reason why there aren’t any main or minor character distinctions for the HP game- characters and NPCs only. I’m going to have to fiddle with post requirements, too. I admit to being very excited for this one, so it’ll probably end up being the next game to go up after Bexleigh Glen, with the horror one following it.

I am really, really not looking forward to advertising, and I really hope that it doesn’t take me three months to get a few dedicated players. Ames looks good for NOTW, though- her character is made of win. I only hope I continue to attract such players.

At any rate, I’m heading to bed. More plotting tomorrow, I’m sure!

Autumn // Kat

I got a link up to my character, Belle, from Young Man Dead. Well, she’s not wholly my character; she’s a premade for the site. Not actually a canon, despite what they’re calling them, but oh well. There’s a link to her profile in the character page link in the sidebar. I intend to get similar links up for my various DOL characters, but I’d like to wait until I’ve actually written something for them besides their profile. I just put up my first thread for Belle tonight, so I thought it was appropriate.

We’ll see how long I last at the site- it’s really going to come down to the members. I really like the idea, but the forum rules weren’t finished when I signed up, and they’re a bit stupider/more elitist than I’d like. It’s a brand new site, so either it’s going to crash and burn pretty quick, or the other members are going to decide whether I stick around or not.

DOL is coming along well- only 17 more things on the to-do list. This is a very big improvement from the original 50+. I was slow yesterday and today, not getting as much done as I should have, and tomorrow is going to be taken up by faire and the ensuing exhaustion, but I intend for Sunday to be productive. We also got a new member- surprisingly, through a Google search and a blog entry here about Sabriel rpgs. Whoo! Pretty exciting stuff, if you ask me. I’m pleased, at any rate, that Google got me out there.

Anyhow, I’m about to pass out at my keyboard, so it’s time to log off for the night!

Autumn // Kat

I’m very excited to say that Lost in a Dream is almost done! Take the Sky is going to go pretty quickly, since it’s a fandom game, which means I can open pretty soon! Yay!

I’m finishing up my profile for Daniatia, who is the last character of mine for LIAD that needs to be done. I just need to finish up the primary locations info, through all of the ooc info into a player’s guide, and then LIAD is pretty much done. (Well, except for the ad, but I haven’t done that for NOTW, either. Ads are going to be last, because I am terrible at them.)

My to-do list for DOL has also dropped below 30 items, which rocks; it’s been hovering around 50 for the past week or so. As much as I hate advertising, I’m eager to get started for DOL. I want to share it!

Autumn // Kat

NOTW is done, LIAD is very nearly done; that means I just have to get TTS done, and we’ll be ready to open! I am super excited. If you’d like to take a look, you can check it out here. Yay!

I finished off the other main character profile for LIAD- Seretia, the Oracle. I still have to do Daniatia, her temple servant, and Henry, who is Glenn’s best friend. I have three characters to do for TTS, that don’t even have names yet. Oh boy! It’s going to be fun.

One thing I’m really excited about for my games, though, is that I’m setting up games where there are few pre-existing relationships. In most cases, we’re getting to know each other’s characters just as much as we’re getting to know our own. I like games where everyone doesn’t already know everyone else; I think that in-between time where relationships begin to form and define themselves can be a lot of fun to play.

If you like what you see over at DOL, feel free to sign up. Dan is already over there, yay! I hope this all turns out to be as much fun as I’m imagining it will.

Autumn // Kat

I’ve been doing a lot of blogging about my new multi-game rpg site-in-progress, Dreaming Out Loud, over at So In Love. As Dan said, it really belongs over here, but since I really haven’t been doing anything else, it ended up over there. Oh well.

Right now, North of the Wall justs needs a map and it’s all set. Lost in a Dream is the game-in-progress; I’m trying to write up the plot in an interesting way and failing miserably, at the moment. I have 9 other items left on that particular to-do list before I can move on to Take the Sky. I spent a really long time rewriting the abilities list and trying to organize it in a manner that made sense; it’s made a little difficult in that I’m not using names for the various abilities. I’ve gotten it into something workable, though, so I’m happy enough.

I’ve also joined a site in progress- as a member, not staff. It’s a crime rpg set in New York City, revolving around four different mob families, the cops, the press, and the various civilians that get involved in the mess. I’m playing a ‘canon’ (I hate when they call premades canons) civilian named Annabelle Graham, Belle for short. She’s this hesitant, shy, awkward girl, and I think she’s going to be a lot of fun to play. I haven’t finished my application yet- there’s several “list at least four” sections that still need to be filled in, and I haven’t written her general personality yet- but it’s pretty much complete. Though I do somewhat question their choice of a pb in Blake Lively for a very shy girl, I’m running with it.

I think what I’m going to have to do for the LIAD plot is just write it, leave it alone overnight and then rewrite it. That’s essentially what I did for NOTW, though it sat and stewed a lot longer than overnight.

I’m also debating when exactly I want DOL to go live. I mean, I’m not going to estimate an opening date, because I don’t know how long the rest of this stuff for LIAD is going to take, and I haven’t even started on TTS, but I have the feeling its not going to happen until after the Maryland Renfaire trip. Which is a crappy time to launch a new rpg, as school is just starting for a lot of people. So I either rush to have it all set before Maryland, and have to leave it alone for three days, or I open it when school starts, or I push it off until people have settled into their school routines and are ready to play again. Sigh.

I guess I’ll leave that decision until after it’s all set, and just do my best not to slack on it. So I guess I’m going to go take a stab at that plot, again.

Autumn // Kat