Worldember 2023 Preparation Article/Idea Bank
December 20th milestone
At least one short story or novelette
Expanded dragon lore
Localized kobold groups Grey Forest Gilgren
Figure out how camazotz and kalazotz fit in outside of West Colassia.
Proclamation of Welcoming to the Kalazotz
Different feast customs
Minority mortal races of Scaraqua
Minority mortal races of Scarnoctis
Gratuitous family tree building
Developing provinces/ethnic divisions for Codenya
Flesh out Kantoc as a potential adventure setting
Flesh out Uskala as a potential adventure setting
Flesh out Penarchia as a (large) potential adventure setting
by me using imgflp
My idea bank for Worldember articles
Things I plan to Expand on for my current RPG campaigns
Lady Delyth ap Gorisonad Fleshing out Fumayan Counties Fleshing out Swynfaredian duchies Undead plants Expanding the Gruffyl family tree Fleshing out the Gorisinod main investigator, ReeseThings I plan to work on for my long-term plans to make an RPG book
Lunar months, and why they don't sync with the year More magical items Articles fleshing out Scarterran economics so my incomes and costs for items makes sense and mesh together How ordinary mortals worship the Nine (a major tentpole of Scarterran lore) More beasts and monsters Crafting a narrative version of the Scarterran creation story Fleshing out Scarterran clothes and fashion (so I can give direction to artists later)Things I want to expand for fun but are not immediately useful
Why names that start with "D" are politically charged in Swynfaredia Satyr footwear Crown Time Drain Sir Pie Eater Full Moon Declaration Events tengku cross-race sales tacticsNon-Scarterra Stuff
Filling the Lustria map with more pins. Maybe a few more Lustrian flora and fauna too. Adding geographic locations and characters to WesthammerWorlember Homework
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Week 4 Homework, Last Minute Prep
I did a little bit of tidying up. I don't have a lot more than that pre-wise I haven't already done. I talked to my friends who visit the site and gathered a little bit of pictures.Week 3 Homework, Reviewing the Homepage
The Worldember Homework for Week 3 is to review homepage. I had two RPG campaigns on the page. One is an active RPG campaign I continue to run and the other is for second RPG campaign that never started. I removed the blank campaign. That technically improved the homepage a little bit removing the dross. I am planning to make a narrative (from a Scarterran narrator), covering the basics for the Divine Rebellion and the immediate aftermath and when I get that polished up to put it prominently under my homepage. Eventually I might make or purchase some art for that, but that won't happen till after December. Hypothetically, I could make more tentpole narrative articles later, but I'm not sure what to write them about. The cover page image is the Symbol of the Nine that a friend made for me. Hypothetically I could revamp it, putting on a stained glass window, or a medieval tapestry, or a silver pendant, or stone carving or branded leather. I could replace the simple arrow-like ends with mini-symbols of the individual Nine. But I cannot do any upgrades with my own limited art skills or AI art. All my attempts to alter this with AI tools has bellyflopped. Much like how AI tends to screw up fingers and toes, it miscounts the nine spokes and/or it mangles them. I could do a commission for a revamped image of the Symbol of the Nine, which I could do but I have to be 100% certain of what I want it to look like before shelling out real money for it. Other than that, I cannot think of any major changes. I'm open to any and all constructive suggestions for how to improve the curb appeal and utility of Scarterra's homepage.Week 2 Homework, Establish a Mini-Meta
I'm going to do a mini-meta to flesh out Scarterra's economy in much greater detail. Conveniently I recently got a finished commission for a Scarterran haggling scene that I can use as the cover art for most/all general economic articles.Scarterran haggling scene by Zeta Gardner
Week One Homework, make the pledge and idea bank
I pledge to write at least 50,000 and enter the maximum number of category contests that i am allowed. I plan to enter the maximum number of contests I am allowed and put in extra TLC to make these articles well-polished and visually appealing Last year I passed 100k words, but with my increased work commitments, that is not practical this year. I may try for 100k anyway because I am not a very practical person.I muse on my previous three Worldembers
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I write 20,000+ in a normal month, so hitting the 50,000 mark for Worldember is not much of a stretch, but the more developed Scarterra becomes, the less virgin territory remains. I don't know if I'm going to chase after the top 10 this year. This year I have more work commitments than the previous three years, so it's not practical for me to chase the top ten this year, but I am not a practical guy so who knows.
I couldn't find the leaderboard for Worldember 2020 but I id clear 50,000 words and I think I managed to cling to a spot in the top ten. I had only recently joined Worldember and I had a lot of disorganized notes on Scarterra to compile into articles so getting a high word count was relatively easy.
In Worldember 2021 I wrote 80,963 words and I was 11th on the leader board.
In Worldember 2022 I wrote and 100,476 and I was 11th on the leader board.
I muse on my visual improvements
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The last year or so, I have made a serious effort to improve the graphic design of my articles with more dynamic formatting and more pictures.
I've made lots of pictures of characters on Heroforge and my players have made many for me of NPCs they like or like to hate. I have a made a few standards and icons with Worldspinner, MS paint, or a combination of the two. I have long used many open source photos and have dipped my toe into the water of AI art generators.
I also paid some artists for a few commissions. I'm not made of money so I can only get this art for a fraction of my articles, but you can see all the commissioned art in Putting the "Art" in ScARTerra.
I am continuing to expand on my commissioned art, and I have some art in the pipeline, but it is a slow process and won't have much bearing on Worldember.
Whoa! 50,000 word target! Nice one! I wish you all the luck during World Ember to achieve that goal, and I am really looking forward to seeing what you come up with.