Month: November 2007

Regular readers will recall that my playtests of FAR WEST didn’t pan out like I had hoped, leading me to abandon the FATE rules system for that project.

This is not to say, however, that I don’t like the system. I just didn’t like it for FAR WEST.

In fact, there’s been a bubbling and a burbling at the back of my mind regarding a possible nifty use for the system — a super-spy game, in the mode of James Bond. SPIRIT OF THE CENTURY used the FATE system to good effect in handling the pulp genre, and the super-spy genre is very much a form of modern pulp. Plus, the first RPG I ever played was TOP SECRET, and my favorite of all time is Victory Games’ JAMES BOND 007.

Something to consider, maybe. I’ve already got the beginnings of an in-play, player-defined gadget system, rolling around in my head. Hrm.

So, I decided that follow-through, as I said in the post below, is one of my biggest problems….but I’m also not happy with the work I did this weekend.

So, I’m addressing both problems at once. I’ve returned to work on an earlier project, rather than start something new. It allows me to follow through on that earlier project, while at the same time abandoning the unsatisfying work that was bugging me.

Revised word count progress:

5580 / 50000 words. 11.16% done!

No worse feeling in the world than looking at 3K words written over the weekend, and coming to the distinct realization that you’re not at all happy with any of it. Worse yet: It bores you.

ARGH.

I know the goal is to overcome one’s “inner critic” and plow through until completion, but ferchrissakes, how are you supposed to generate any bloody enthusiasm to put words on page if you don’t like what you’ve done?

On the other hand, “starting something new” is a life-long failing of mine. I’m great at starting. Not so much with the follow-through.