Plan C or AARRGGGHHHHHH!!!!

It's obvious to me that my plan to focus on the Kinship project isn't going to work, and has in fact caused me some stress.  The kind of stress that may be the cause of the chest pains I've been having.  So I'm taking a step back, rethinking things, and have fun again, because trying to create a professional product isn't that much fun.

I wanted to turn Kinship into something other people might get some use out of, have fun with, and hopefully I would make a little cash on the side.  However, as I worked on Kinship I was writing the kind of stuff I probably wouldn't even read in a commercial project, and I want to create a professional,  polished, useful product.  It just wasn't happening.

Plus with no budget there was no way I was going to get some decent art for the book.  Now, I could probably do it without the art, but I think a good gaming book needs art.  The maps weren't a problem; I can create the maps.  The more I thought about the art the more I worried about it, which created more stress.

So for the past few days I have been "banging my head" on the desk, until I read this over at The Lands of Ara , and I had an AHA! moment...

This sort of stuff has been on my mind lately due to my decision to abandon the megadungeon project on the grounds that it was being "force fed" rather than organically grown through play. In the same post in which I announced the megadungeon's temporary cancellation, I mentioned my interest in other projects such as the Lands of Ara Compendium 2011 (due early 2012) and The Tower of Death (due 2012) -- both of which HAVE grown through play. That is why they remain viable.

The bold lettering in the quote above is my doing.  I have been trying to force the creativity, and that just doesn't work.  Well, most of the time it doesn't work.  Sometimes you can keep plugging away, and come away with useable gems, but it's rare.  If I write something on the blog it's because it's been boiling around in my brain for a long time, sometimes years, and it finally gets to the point where I have to write it down.

So is this the end of Kinship?  No way.  I am going to keep working on it as a campaign.  I like the concept, and I will keep writing the fiction.  I think I have a better chance of completing a novel about Kinship than I do a game book.  I do plan on creating something I can run at a local con.  A Kinship session would be a good thing.

Thanks to all the people who volunteered to do some proofreading and play-testing for me.  You guys are still on the list, and if I get some "campaign ready" material completed, I will send you the PDF.

I already feel better.  Tomorrow, more fiction...