Can we start in a month?

After visiting Surefour and being coerced into committing to a date when he can play again, I reluctantly told him one month from now the next Myriad campaign will be ready. That would be July 21st as a date for character creation for the returning original group. A month sounds like not a lot of time to me right now, but it is entirely realistic to have enough done by that point. It is important that I set the scope of what I can accomplish in that time and continue to grow from a stable foundation once we start. 

If July 21st rolls around and I feel the system is not stable enough, I will unfortunately delay again. I am keenly aware of how overwhelming it is for me to work on the system while also preparing weekly sessions and am trying to avoid that at all costs. Delaying for an additional month to avoid that scenario will ultimately be a lot more efficient than grinding my mental health into dust and putting everything on pause. However, I am doing everything I can to meet this goal.

The next campaign is currently planned to be returning MoonMoon, Surefour, and Strippin -- still exploring options for the other player slots. I'd like it to serve as an introduction to the new setting of Highsword Island, so I expect the start of the campaign will include their travel to this location by boat with a slower introduction of areas while more of the island is prepared. I want more to be prepared than they are likely to visit because all campaigns will take place on the same island and influence the other games more directly. This will only make running games in the future easier as all the maps and environments overlap. Easier doesn't mean worse here either, this overlap of different groups has always been one of the most compelling parts of streamed games to me.

What about the short campaign with Jerma that I said would be next? Well, I realized it would be easier to start a larger campaign and find the time during that to plan a short one. I still want it to happen, but I think doing things in this order is more efficient. The last group has waited long enough and I really want to play with them again. I recall telling MoonMoon last July that it would be ready within 3 months. Oops.

There are a lot of plans I haven't talked about much because it is starting to feel like a No Man's Sky situation, where it will be really easy for me to overpromise what I want to have compared to what I can realistically have. I think it will also take some experimentation with the first group to see what actually feels natural. My understanding of how games should be run will improve after.... running some games. It is probably better I do not go fully overboard on prep and then realize some of the planned mechanics are better in thought than in practice. The most important thing is starting a game at all. Adding on to existing features is a lot less concerning than needing to fix things that already exist, so I am focused on being certain what I have is flexible for the future and works in the present.

A big thankyou to everyone who has stayed interested and supportive on patreon. Though I have not had much to share, it has helped immensely to get to the point where another game can start.