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Told you that I’d get back on the ball. Isn’t the first time things get pear-shaped under my watch. Happens every other week to me. Won’t be the last. Fall down seven times, get up eight.
This article starts with the listing of the Sunken Fortress campaign documents from which the campaign will be assembled. Sunken Fortress part a deals with the setting up of the campaign, leading through Session Zero. There is another section at the end where I’ll show some of the texts you’ll find in the Starter Pack and the Vault. As I mentioned previously, these documents are not finalized parts of the campaign. There will be future revisions and even parts rewritten on the way to their placement in the module proper.
The URL for this file is: https://1drv.ms/b/s!AjNYReLtj6OIoR5qjTQZPYy2NkaH
Something for the record here: While parts of Sunken Fortress still contend with Chronicla, I’ll be stepping back from the other projects concerning Chronicla, especially Tablelake Arisen. That story’s been getting too much criticism than I can deal with at this time. Fortunately, there are other projects I can work on here, projects that will grant me a more positive and constructive response. I’ll get back to Tablelake Arisen at a later time.
As for how to share them, it’s doubtful that I’ll use spaces like DriveThruRPG for marketing. But I do have my own web space, even though it consists of a blog I’m not even using anymore. I’ll just remove the unused blog I’m not using anymore, completely clean up the web space, and build a new site. Not just with a blog where I can share ideas and thoughts that don’t fit with Tales of Penumaria but also would have a space to market my books, campaigns, and even games.
I don’t know everything about what I’ll put in here, but I do know that everything will be Pay What You Want. Due to the ‘transformative work’ nature of things like the Swifttail Rules and Sunken Fortress, Those two cannot be commercial projects, but others will come that can be. But for now, I would appreciate some funding so that I can buy commissions for some works, purchase Humble Bundles for assets, find various items for inspiration, and so on. And that’s not including how appreciating I’ll be for each donation. Even something as small as a cup of coffee will mean so much to me, it’s why I have a Ko-Fi link. Most of the items I will market on my page will be free, but the ‘Pay What You Want’ feature will work like a tip jar for use for donations.
Some Assembly Required
I also have to contend not just with where I’ll be sharing my goods, but with how. I’ll be having you download more than just a PDF.
My campaigns would have to be in a Self-Extracting Archive because it’ll contain not just the PDF, but also the Microsoft OneNote book version. While you can use a PDF like normal, Swifttail campaigns use OneNote to make things easier for the Storyteller, where they can modify, edit, move things around and search. Instead of having to flip pages (or flip pages from multiple books) you only need to click a mouse a couple of times or do a Control-F. The Archive file will also have The Vault in there, with all the handouts, forms, tokens, maps, and other things that need to be printed out and assembled.
Yeah. Assemble. That Dreaded Word. If you’ve read the document, you’ll know that.
It’s the sole negative that I’m stuck with when dealing with Swifttail Campaigns: Some assembly required. You will need to install the campaign into OneNote, and you need to deal with some initial files in The Vault.
This assembly will come into play in this document, which I’ll admit is currently all over the place. There’s a section that would go into a ReadMeFirst.pdf file that walks through this assembly, a part that is actually part of the campaign, and a third part that deals with various documents in The Vault. It might be confusing to some at this time, myself included. But the purpose for these campaign documents right now is to have everything out there in a manageable format on a Word document and then let the Kaizen process work its magic.
Most of the assembly process deals with some Starter Files from the Vault since it includes a set of generic tokens, as well as some starting material that needs to be printed out and folded up before you even think of Session Zero. I can’t get away from this even if I wanted to. It’s the price that must be paid to have it all there for free. The most I can do—and I will do this—is to have the assembly directions very easy to understand and follow (cut on solid lines, fold on dotted, tape marked tabs together, and so on.) Maybe later I’ll crowdfund something like a Campaign Case that would take the place of part of the Starter Set.
The instructions will start with the download page, where you will be instructed to download the self-extracting archive in a new folder on your hard drive and execute it, so it can unpack it all with all the subfolders. It’ll be recommended that you back up this directory, like in a USB file, for some added peace of mind.
You’ll find that you’ll have the campaign in a PDF, and not one but two versions of the Microsoft OneNote book version. A ONEPKG file that can be used for those with Microsoft 365 and OneNote 2016, and a copy in a full directory version for those who don’t have Microsoft 365 can use with the OneNote Notebook Importer. I hate having two copies of the same thing in these downloaded files, but until when Microsoft provides a single means to import and export for all OneNote users, regardless of whether or not they pay for Microsoft Office, there are no ways around it for me.
And then there’s The Vault. There will be a /Vault directory with the num-bered PDFs, which the campaign will instruct you to open and print out; and the /Starter directory with all the files you need to print out and work through before your Session Zero. The main directory will have a ReadMeFirst.pdf file with all the instructions to follow.
It won’t be too difficult. Cut on solid lines, fold backward on dotted lines, and tape tags together when indicated. Play some smooth jazz or something that puts you into a zen state while you’re doing this; you probably only have to do it once.
Three ways for a Session Zero
At first, I thought of two ways to start this campaign. But if your party members show up with their characters fully generated, they’re ready to just go and there’s no need for character creation, that’s a third. And by all means, just have them meet up at the tavern and give them the initial job post. But for those who want to do character creation in Session Zero, I have two ways to do it.
One is for those who’ve played the game before and just want to know more about the setting, the Normal Route. This will start with a description of the setting, and then have the characters roll up their characters…then a twist comes into play: Remember that in Penumaria there is a reincarnation feature. Some adventurers might be haunted by a past life! This is an optional rule here, but this option will allow for some interesting roleplay for at least one of the player characters would still remember a former life. It’ll make for a nice twist to an otherwise plain vanilla start of the campaign.
And then there are the ones that are brand new to the game, who shouldn’t be bogged down too much on character creation and just learn how to play the game. For those people, the Castle Route is for them. They don’t have to think much about how their characters arrived, because this route gives them that. In the Castle Route, the player characters are all orphans that Amaunator took in and raised in his castle and then trained into a band of adventurers for just such a time as this campaign. They will all have a shared background, and there will even be preconstructed characters at the ready for those who need them.
I hope that this, as well as parts of Wintersplinter, would be the last we’ll hear of Amaunator for a while.
Progress Update
I have three documents in the Planning Stage: Universally Preferable Behavior, Spelljammer, and the Sunken Fortress Worldbuilding Document
Swifttail Rulebook, Volume 1 is in the First Draft Stage.
Amber of the Woods, Episode 3 is between the First Draft Stage and the Proofreading Stage. I’m swapping a scene or two.
Villain Example: Winterspliner is at its Second Draft Stage.
Tablelake Arisen is on the shelf, and I’ll get back to this later.
Next Article
While I have Sunken Fortress in its own series, I still have the need for the more standard Four-Dimensional Spreadsheet style Worldbuilding Documents I use to gather my ideas and get them into some form of order. That’s what I did to Oakhurst. The next article will be for the Oakhurst Worldbuilding Document. I might also talk about more worldbuilding videos that inspired me.
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