I have a habit that I haven't been able to figure out for years. I've collected notebooks and journals. Any nice, high-quality, usually hardback or well-bound notebook or journal, if inexpensive enough, finds its way into my collection. And once in a while I'll spring for Moleskine notebooks. Often, I will also buy composition books (like the ones we all used in high school and middle school for writing assignments) if they're unusual or the covers are especially nice.
Why do I do this? I have no idea. I'm assuming it's somehow connected to my grade-school dream of becoming a writer. Back then, in the 1980s, unless you were rich, writing within a program on a computer was pretty much out of the question, and since my family was poor, writing in notebooks was really the only option, unless I somehow was able to learn to use the old typewriter my mother left accumulating dust. The keys required a lot of pressure, and I can't count the number of times it made the tips of my fingers smart, or the number of times I managed to get my fingers stuck in between the keys, resulting in skinned-up fingers around the first knuckle area. A few of the letters wouldn't work properly, either, the arms being bent or too close to the surrounding letters. I played with it, but that was it.
For a long time, I wanted to upgrade to an electric typewriter. I thought it would solve my writing problems, since I was stuck with the low-tech option of pencil, pen, and paper. That was the desire for a while, until I learned to type in middle school in our computer classes (which tended to simply be games of Oregon Trail on an old Apple computer). The typing instruction did help, though, and my speed was built up by re-typing old articles from the Polyhedron Newszine issues I had laying around, to compile them for use in a campaign that never happened. I now type 80-100 words per minute, or thereabouts. The classes gave me the basics, I did the rest.
The dream then became owning a computer, and I managed to get one for 500 dollars or so after I had graduated high school and moved into my first apartment when I was 19. Yes, I moved out and supported myself when I was 19. On 7.50 per hour. That's an impossibility today. But in the year 2000, it could be done. I learned a lot about desktop publishing, Word, and other programs. This is a self-education that continues to this day.
But I digress. Obviously.
I've come to realize that with about 100 or so notebooks in my collection that it's time I do something with them. And, since I also collect vintage and high-quality pencils (think Mitsubishi, Nataraj, Apsara, and the incomparable Blackwing), I figured I must once again put pencil to paper to start collecting my ideas in some sort of organized fashion, rather than a jumble of computer files.
In this act, I have found peace. I am putting to use old things that people donated to thrift stores (I get some fantastic pencils and notebooks from thrift stores in Holmes County, Ohio when I venture there). I am practicing an act of resurrection in this way, taking the unwanted and unused and pressing them into action once more. It's satisfying, and therapeutic. Satisfying in that there is visible progress as you turn the page, and therapeutic in being able to touch the book and the paper in it, hearing the scratch and scribble of the pencil, and even in the sharpening of the pencil to a perfect point.
But how does this relate to roleplaying games? I hear you asking that question if you've read this far. Here's the answer - in each notebook, I am choosing to record ideas for each separate campaign I choose to dream up. When I have enough material written in them (meaning they're full), I'll take those notes and begin the process of putting them into a manuscript on the computer, collating and cleaning up the ideas and presenting them in a cohesive fashion, either for my use, or for possible publishing projects.
I'm currently working within two separate notebooks.
The first is taking form as an apocalyptic modern fantasy horror campaign that focuses on the war between Heaven and Hell on earth, sparked by the return of the Ark of the Covenant to earth, which awakens magic and the supernatural on Earth. There will be demons, angels, magic, and a war-time footing within the campaign, and multiple other supernatural elements. A fantasized pseudo-Christian theology is the basis for the milieu. The characters will experience the return of magic, the arrival of the forces of Heaven and Hell, and be the focus of plots to either stop the war, or turn it one way or the other. Intrigue and special quests will feature large.
The second notebook contains my scribbles for a dark action horror campaign in a modern setting. It may sound somewhat related, but the tone and content will be different. I haven't decided the details yet (it's still early in the notes stage), but the world has been overtaken by different supernatural creatures in the aftermath of the war between Heaven and Hell. The Rapture occurred, taking all the worthy humans to Heaven (it's assumed so, anyhow), and those left in the wreckage fight for survival on a daily basis. Creatures that took part in the war that did not leave Earth for whatever reason have set up their own domains, and factions have formed. The human characters will exist in a sort of "points of light" setting, but the points of light are few and far between. It will be bleak and hellish, with fantastic supernatural creatures abounding. Exploration and shoot-em-up action will abound.
I just had an idea today for a third campaign, so I'll break out a new notebook this evening and begin making notes. I have a ton of OSR-produced modules for OSRIC, so what I figured I would do is scour them, placing all the lost cities, dungeons, and forgotten tombs and temples in a sandbox-style campaign, so that anywhere the characters decide to go, I have the material to handle it with little work. It will be gonzo, anything-goes fantasy, a sort of RIFTS approach to D&D. I think I'll use the BECMI rules or possibly Swords & Wizardry as a base, and since it's so easy to bolt on aspects from AD&D or other clones, it will be anything goes, dream up the craziest thing possible, and clear dungeons. But, I'll put a high mortality rate into play. That sounds fun.
I hope I haven't bored you. This particular entry is mainly a way for me to organize my thoughts and do a little introspective self-reflection, but sharing this with you, dear readers, is satisfying to me. As I fill notebooks, I'll keep you up to date with my progress. It may be interesting to see how it progresses.
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