This year's tale of Gencon started WAY before I ever set foot in Indianapolis. Indeed, this story begins around the start of the year, when the Gencon submissions came about. At that time, it all seemed so far away. It seemed like there were still long moments to work and complete the three adventures I committed to writing.
It was a time of excitement and wonder when I could roam wild and free, wondering about all the cool things I could do, when I put down some outlines with things like “fight with un-mounted Janus Hordesmen”, “creature an NPC that does [this]”, or “add a new creature”.
It was truly a time of innocence and happiness.
Then Origins flew right by me, like storm clouds upon a summer’s day. Suddenly, I could count the time between Gencon and myself not I months, but in weeks, and sooner days! These dark times were compounded by my day job’s schedule that left me emotionally drained when I got home.
Try as I might, all I could do was poke around my drafts, changing bits and bob, but never rarely going anywhere with them. I knew WHAT I wanted to do, the words just didn’t flow. My C-Sharp (that’s a programming language) – infected mind could only figure out data structures, parameter validation, and unit test methods.
Finally, about two weeks from Gencon, I decided I had to finish what I started. So I bucked up, stopped crying over the lost innocence that made the days before Origins seemed like paradise lost.
Yup, I kicked myself in the butt and started writing. Now I’ll admit that I still have far to go: patron notes, a rewrite of a better idea hit me as I was nearly done with one of the adventure, a special that kept growing and growing with all the elements I wanted to add to it, and time growing ever shorter.
With the deadline looming, I stupidly – like most gamers – opted to join a couple of online games to clear my mind before Gencon. Indeed, more gaming! Thus, I played on Saturday, Monday, Tuesday AND Wednesday night before Gencon. Good games, too!
My son, upon seeing my luggage ready to go, burst into tears. Not the crocodile ones, the full-on "Daddy is never coming back" type of tears, the waterworks going on full blast. The girls were more calm about it, telling him "Don't worry, he's only gone for a few days."
My last Arcanis game, I dropped out of at 12:30AM and went to bed. Less than four hours before I had to leave.
To be continued tomorrow!
JP
No comments:
Post a Comment