SC2024 Reflection & Reading List

This is the first summer camp that I really participated in, and it definitely helped me flesh out a lot more of my world. I work as a private music teacher for saxophone and clinician, and the end of summer is always tough for writing due to the plethora of band camps that start up. While I didn't jive with a lot of the prompts, and a lot of the articles were just barely over the required word count, I am overall happy with what I was able to accomplish. Especially with how busy I got near the end of July.
For next year I am hoping to get to Gold! But now that Summer Camp is over there are a few articles that I am super excited to write that didn't necessarily fit into the prompts. The rest of this article will include all of my Summer Camp submissions as well as my reading list of other Summer Camp Articles. I am super excited to see what everyone has written!

My Summer Camp

For those that are interested, here are all of the articles that I wrote for Summer Camp. I did not do them in order, but rather wrote what inspired me. I think next year I will focus on going in order to see how that helps me. One thing that I found that helped was writing stubs for an article as soon as I had an idea for one, so I knew where to start as soon as I sat down to write that article.
I know these are not in order of "bronze/silver prompts." I am organizing them by my first 8 and my second 8 articles in order of completion.

Bronze Articles

A Conflict that Involved a Changing Environment

From the early days of working on this world, I have had this battle in my head. It was really satisfying to work on it for SC2024 and solidify something things about these fateful days in Eltuira's history.

An Environmental or other Large-Scale Natural Disaster

This is another thing I have had in my head since the beginning of working on this world. The idea of powerful mana storms that leave dead magic zones in their wake seemed like a super interesting thing to put into a ttrpg setting. Currently my players are trying to find a way to harness the power of one using Kradore. Really cool to see this stuff play out in the game.

A Character Who Goes through a Great Change or Metamorphosis

I was torn with this prompt on whether to write about one of the legendary heroes of Elturia, or the fallen god. As you can see I settled with the fallen god since they went through a more drastic change. One of the plot points in my game is trying to find a way to fight the corruption of this diety seeping into the world.

A Sickness that Caused Societal Upheaval

This article weas a little difficult for me since I wrote an article super similar to this several months prior. However, this has turned out to be one of my favorite articles so far. I am interested to see how it will come up in my game.

A Unit Dedicated to Guarding Someone or Something

The Wolf Guard have an interesting history in my mind. I had thoughts of them early on in my world building. I had the race of Arkine from a previous world building project so I wanted to find a way to bring them into Elturia. This prompt helped expand those ideas!

A Displaced People in your World

I was really dissapointed at first with this prompt, because I knew exactly what I wanted to write for it. BUT, I didnt realize that article already had several hundred words in it before the start of SC2024. No matter, I was able to flesh out my ideas of the Alkquan instead. This article, and those tied to it, ended up being my favorite ones that I wrote. I wanted a race that was tied directly to the elements like the 5e genasi, however I didn't want them tied to Genies. So, the Alkquan are tied directly to the primordials of Elturia.

A Settlement Considered a Refuge

This settlement was the refuge for the Alkquan. I was really excited writing this article, and discovering their relationship with the kingdom as a whole. I really want to find a reason for my group to make their way out here, and see a night of Lycans attacking the fort.

A Tradition that Gives Comfort

This tradition was shaped by the presence of Sackrym and his necromancers. A member of my group a playing a follower of the god of death, so I was able to send this to him and it became immediately relevant!

Silver Articles

A Building Associated with Joy and Fun

This prompt was fun since I had worked on the the Kaalier some time ago. This theater is there home, and the public facing part of their organization.

A Building Considered a Refuge Against the World

For me, it was difficult to differentiate between this prompt and the settlement considered a refuge at first. However, when I finally landed on this it wasn't too difficult to write about. I had seeded some ideas of this place in my home game, and it was nice to flesh out some of the secrets and clues into a full article.

A Technology Used for Defense or Protection

I also had a hard time dilineated between this prompt and the personal item that keeps you safe. So, I decided to go with a piece of Armor since the use of the material marked an advance in technology.

A Settlement that's Known as a Party Town or Pleasure City

I decided to use this prompt as an opportunity to prepare for the city that my group was travelling to. This helped me put a spin on what would have otherwise been a boring port town. My group has been loving it so far!

A Tumultuous Region Prone to Natural Disasters

I have left the out regions of the map, and the lands beyond the map intentionally vague. This prompt gave me an opportunity to describe why people have not explored and mapped this region out.

A Personal Item that Keeps You Safe

Since this prompt was similar to a technology used for protection, I wanted to take a more folklore approach to this prompt. Each culture within Elturia has their own take on the Illward, passing it don from one generation to the next. Some may even hold magical propertie due to the belief that has been poured into them over generations.

An Evil Spirit or Divine Antagonist

One of my players is from the the town that this spirit antagonizes. We discussed having some strange being in the lake that haunts the denizens of the town. I wanted to bring out La Llarona vibes, but have it tied to the vast amount of grief that occured at this lake when the city of the Alkquan was destroyed. It was also super fun writing a little poem at the beginning that the people of the town would know.

A Document that Changed the Course of History

I struggled with this last article for a time. While short, I am happy with how it turned out. It has already helped me make the motivations of some NPCs in the world more dynamic.

SC 2024 Reading List

For my reading list, I am trying to find articles that either have no likes, or less than fifty views. I am also trying to gravitate towards prompts that I was interested in writing for but didn'd end up doing. Mostly to see what other people came up with where I was missing inspiration! I am also going to be focusing on fantasy themed articles, but I may have a few others in there.

Reinadorn Chariots by The Winter Salmon

Rocktoad by Tanai Cuinsear

Assassination of the King by Avalon Arcana

Proof of Music-Based Casting from Ethnis

Dame Louise of Glass by Amélie I. S. Debruyne

Stoneguard Mountain by Szeipusz

Knights of the Finders by Kwyn Marie

Lantern Festival by nnce

Divine's Folly byOwen Davies

Sapsucker Wood by Evie Magpie