My PhD is now (finally) written and submitted, and I have had the subsequent, obligatory three week period of doing fuck-all creative. My batteries are recharged. I have no other responsibilities except my day job. It's time to finish a publishable version of my Yoon-Suin campaign setting.
Don't worry - there'll be no Kickstarter.
My plan has increasingly moved towards a tool-kit rather than a fully-fleshed out campaign setting: the conceit that I am aiming for is that you, the Reader, will be able to Create and Run Your Own Yoon-Suin with the use of the tools provided (a shitload of random tables, setting fluff for inspiration, and sample maps, NPCs, and locations). Most of these tools already exist for some areas of the map - the Yellow City and surroundings, and Silaish Vo and the Mountains of the Moon. They don't exist for others, however, so I have some work to do on that front. But in its complete form, what I produce will, I hope, enable a willing DM to take an overview of the entirety of the Yoon-Suin map, pick a region he likes the look of, and create his own version of it in which to run games - with a little bit of work and lots of dice rolling.
My thinking behind this has two strands. First, I want to steer away from the ridiculous obsession with setting canon which can overcome these sorts of endeavours. And second, I want to avoid "doing your imagining for you" while still providing inspiration, ideas, and useful things.
But there will also be ready-to-go hex maps and dungeons for those who are lazy.
So watch this space. I've been posting in this blog about Yoon-Suin for 3 years now, by my reckoning. That's altogether too long. It's time to get this thing done!
Is there a nice precis post that outlines what the core idea of the setting is?
ReplyDeleteThese are all the ones tagged with the label: Yoon-Suin.
DeleteThe setting in 25 words or less is here: 25 words.
I look forward to it!
ReplyDeleteWas it just a coincidence that Zak mentioned you and Yoon-Suin in that G+ "who should write something for LotFP" thread yesterday?
Just a coincidence. I have a fat notepad, about 300 A5 pages, which is half full, and I grabbed it the other day and vowed to fill it.
DeleteMake him do it. Yoon Suin deserves pictures
Deletenoisms, are you doing this for money?
DeleteI'm doing it for adulation and general ego-boosting primarily. I also like money, though, and I'm not against getting my grubby mitts on as much of it as I can.
DeleteYes I can see. Not so much no-isms as whatever isms zak says are ok.
DeletePretty much. I basically model my life on his - I even have my very own WWZSD wristband.
DeleteMake who do what?
DeleteCongratulations, noisms! Do you have to defend before getting your PhD, or was submission with signatures sufficient to win the title?
ReplyDeleteThanks! I have to defend it - should be before Christmas.
DeleteWell, take a moment to rest on your laurels. Having written a dissertation myself, I know exactly how you must be feeling now . . . lots of relief and exhaustion, but also a good amount of pride. Which is well-deserved!
DeleteA toolkit is more useful to me than a specific setting that I would probably hack anyway. Sounds great! I'm looking forward to it!
ReplyDeleteThat's what I expect: I want something people can hack, because I've never used a campaign setting "as written" myself either.
DeleteThis sounds really good!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your play reports and like the overall feel of Yoon-Suin, so count me in, even if you do it as a Kickstarter.
I know you spent some time in Japan, was the setting inspired by other travels?
Not really. The whole thing is very, very loosely based on Tibet, Nepal, Bhutan and North East India, but the connection is extremely loose and mostly aesthetic. The inspiration is something I don't really recall, except something along the lines of "I wonder why nobody has done 'fantasy Tibet' before?"
DeleteI excitedly look forward to the final product -- I think Yoon-suin is a real achievement.
ReplyDeleteAny plans for art? (no offense, but the slug sketches you posted years ago didn't really do it for me ;) ).
My slugmen pictures are wonderful, what are you trying to say!?!?!?!?
DeleteNo concrete plans for art. I have had some communications with artists in the past and there was one guy in particular, Thomas Fitzgerald, who did some fantastic concept art. For whatever reason we sort of fell out of contact - it was a few years ago now.
There are also some people who have expressed interest who I haven't confirmed anything with. We'll see; at the moment I'm keen to get everything written down and art can come after that.
Jeremy Duncan (of dandy in the underworld)draws a slug-man of the first order.
DeleteRemember, the first thing you do when walking into the PhD viva is roll for initiative.
ReplyDeleteMy assumption is that I've already lost initiative. I just have to hope they get low rolls on their first attacks.
DeleteI found that turning up 30 minutes early for my viva helped a lot. I got to greet the examiners and my supervisor as they came into the room, instead of vice-versa.
DeleteLooking forward to it, and I really like the direction you're taking.
ReplyDeleteAnd congrats on finishing the PhD!
Congratulations! I'm very much looking forward to what you produce, I have a section of my game world that I've been thinking of as "Yoon-Suin" for about six months now. There's only been a few NPCs hinting at its existence thus far; you can never really tell what the PCs are going to get up to next though.
ReplyDeleteSo that's one person then!
DeleteCongratulations on finishing your PhD! (And having more time for Yoon-Suin, of course.)
ReplyDeleteAwesome! Go for it man.
ReplyDelete