In which we crank it up again

 After taking a two-month hiatus (so I could direct a show.  VERY well received)  we gather together to .... to what?  When last we left our intrepid crew they had scattered to four different directions  then come back together in Crysift to wait for Barty to heal.  I'm posting this three months after the fact so as to not throw any spoilers.  

I had NO idea what direction the pary would pick.  They had quite a few options.  And they surprised me - they picked something I hadn't explicitly promoted.  They opted to walk away.  I don't think they KNEW they were waling "away" but that's the direction they picked.  Rather than following any of half a dozen hooks/leads they had, they opted to hit the road.  Pretty much the one thing I was NOT really prepared to run!

Spent the first 45 minutes just catching up.  Then did some role-playing stuff.  One character was "retired."  Two new ones joined the party.  And then they decided to just head out into the wilderness, due east.  What followed was very little game play but a LOT of role play.  "You covered about 20 miles.  Watches as last night?  What do you two discuss?"

Cut it short by about 30-45 minutes but a good time was still had by all.  We'd reconnected.  And the party now had a plan.  A direction.  Something I could prep for.  Or rather BE prepped for.  And I've spent a few hours actually gaming out their travel, sending them an update of what happened each day.  These updates included a lot of "Adam did this, using his X knowledge while Bob used his Y to accomplish Z."  Everybody got some time in the spotlight.  And they'll have hooks (?) for next session and I'll be ready.

I felt bad about this at first.  Not being able to handle their choices.  But then I realized I DID handle them.  I didn't panic.  I know on the map where they were going and what was there.  So we didn't do multiple encounter rolls.  It's winter in the wilderness.  I'm ok not throwing something at them every day.  I hand waved a lot of things but didn't break anything.  Didn't disrupt the verisimilitude of the world.  XP's were earned.  Knowledge was gained.  Items were mended.  Just like on that drive from Ames Iowa to Lincoln Nebraska.  

ps.  Almost forgot.  There's something where they're going.  Coastal cities.  A trade road.  Hills and mountains and grasslands and swamps.  But the "planned adventure", with a BBG and cultists and a moving plotline?  That lies in the OTHER direction!  "On second thought, let's NOT go there.  It is a silly place."

In which we start over, sort of

I have another "starting over" post set for next week but this is kinda different. Different KINDS of starting over. First I spent some time re-evaluating my campaign. Players needed to "direction." Stumbled acrtoss Colville's old "lore delivery system" video AND Baron Garop's "Plan Your Campaign in One Hour" (or is it evening?) BOTH provided some GREAT suggestions that I'd overlooked. Or rather had SEEN and TRIED to implement but hadn't gotten done well. So I grabbed a trusty spreadsheet and FIXED things. List of populated areas. List of Towers. List of "other special locations." Then EVERYTHING got linked to at LEAST two others. Now wherever they go they SHOULD be able to find at least ONE piece of candy. The session immediately following this re-start yielded a LARGE lore dump, but it all fit into the role playing and seemed seemless. We'll see if these bits are enough to get them "back on track." The second "start over" is with my economics system. Gotta get a few kinks worked out. My various and sundry "metalsmiths" need cleaned up. Most other products are in good shape but I DID design a wonderful "harvested products" system that never got used and now I need to revisit it so I CAN implement it if it DOES come into play. Additionally I made some decisions when I set this thing up about what did and did not exist. I now want to flesh it out just a tad more. Example: horses are scarce (ie expensive) but mules and donkey's might need to be more plentiful. Need to address. Need to add a few resources like alabaster and obsidian. Third I need to "start over" with my mapping and infrastructure development. Hourglass will be a challenge. Probably have it done by spring: sooner if needed, put off if bypassed. Alexis over at Tao is doing yeoman's work. And my fourth project for 2023 is to work on a randome encounter generator. Been using the tables from Infinium Game Studio. Wanna automate it. Like I did with their Interaction charts. Enjoy yor year!