Summer Camp 2021 Imaginaerium: Day 18

Hello everyone!

Cryptids occupy an interesting place in society. When folklore, magic, and mythology falls away, have we replaced them with bigfoot, mothman, and chupucabras? Either way, I find them to be a fantastic source of weird world building ideas! The Cryptonaut Podcast covers a wide-range of mostly lesser known cryptids, like the Falkville Metal Man, the Poole Pyramid, or the Grinning Man.
Here's some episodes to get you started:

Besides the critters themselves, there's also plenty of inspiration to draw from these stories about how people can react to threats and boogymen - real or imagined.

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For today's Imaginaerium, we are going to peer into the brilliant minds of the Anvilites who are taking part of Summer Camp and see what advice they have for us. One of WA's greatest assets is its amazing community, so lets get better together.
Today, we're talking to CharonFox :D

Tell us about yourself?

I've been a roleplayer for 30 years, a graphic designer for ten, and I'm currently narrative designer for an upcoming mobile game. I'm a geek in every way possible!

What world are you working on for Summer Camp?

Two of them: Thorns, which is a modern day occult horror and urban fantasy world. A lot of inspiration from real-world mythology and concepts there. The other world is Lost Waves which is at its core a classic fantasy world, but I try to have a wide variety of cultures and bring in a lot of nuance and twists to make something unique, yet relatable.

What is your past experience with Summer Camp?

As in how I handle the prompts and such? I check them regularly and see if anything jumps out at me. I don't have the time or mindset to make something for every prompt, but I try to see if there's anything that would fill a gap in my lore.

What did you learn from the past Summer Camps?

If something could be relevant for games run in the setting, it's worth considering areas that I normally know too little about.

How do you go about generating ideas for the prompts?

I look to examples in mythology, real life, and other fiction — usually in that order. There is usually something that can be given a twist that both makes it unique and fir better with my setting.

What's your approach to this Summer Camp?

While my job has me working in WA several hours every day, all of that material is sadly under an NDA. That work means I have a limited amount of time and energy in my spare time and that means I won't write all the prompts. Since I'm also of the philosophy that I shouldn't build things that won't benefit game-play, I'll be more picky. I will most likely reach the 10 prompt goal, maybe a bit more if there are many prompts that suit my worlds. Maybe less if work becomes very demanding.
What's your tricks for staying on track? I block out time for working and just keep at it for that time. There is always something more, after all. Sometimes, the time slot is taken up by research, but c'est la vie!

How do you handle those bad days when we get stuck or can't seem to get writing done?

I write something easier or do research. We all have sections of our worlds that aren't very creative; they're scaffolding to hold other things together. It might be a category page, restructuring tavern menus, or create that master table for items. It makes you feel like you've done something without having to be creative.

How do you prioritise what to write?

I write my worlds with a very specific purpose: they are intended as settings for games. That means that there are things players need to know, such as what kind of people hang out in the pub or tavern they just got to, and things they are less likely to care about, such as the minerals on the moon(s). For Lost Waves, I'm specifically writing for my own games and can be even more specific in what it is that I need right now.

You seem very focused on preparing for games rather than a more general story. How come?

I'm lazy. My players can come up with so many fantastic parts of a story that I wouldn't have thought of, much less written. My goal is always to feed them interesting things to play with and see what happens.

Many thanks to CharonFox for sharing their wisdom :D

And finally, here's some music to keep you company while you write:

You can always edit a bad page. You can’t edit a blank page.

— Jodi Picoult