12 to Midnight

Before I get into the weekly update, let me just remind you of our Facebook page. If you haven’t “liked” it yet, please take a moment to visit and do so. I try hard not to spam  your news feed, but I do occasionally share items of interest that don’t make it on our official website. This week I’ve been sharing info on the Kickstarter campaigns of 12 to Midnight’s friends. More typically, updates are limited to once a week when I share the news from this page. So if you want to keep up with these posts but aren’t into RSS, following our Facebook page is the next best thing.

And now, on to the news. Last week I mentioned that Ed returned to teaching and thus I would be finishing up the rest of the edits. Back in the mists of time, we’d broken up each chapter into a separate file to keep from stepping on one another’s toes during editing. Last week I stitched the edited files back together into one book, which was a really good feeling. It has also already made it a lot easier to jump around and leave notes for myself in the various chapters. When writing goes well, you want to keep writing. That’s how the last week has been for me, which is good news for Degrees of Horror.

Last week I also mentioned that I might set aside the last plot point and let ideas percolate while I move on to the Midnight Tales chapter. I did, and as I suspected this chapter has been way easier on my brain than the plot points. In the plot point chapter (which I wrote) the problem was a ridiculously complicated plot arc, which I had to streamline (and in some cases scrap and start over) during edits. By contrast, the Midnight Tales (which Ed mostly wrote) are just the opposite.  As written, many of the Tales might be more accurately called “events”. That is, the plot catalyst is resolved within a single scene OR the follow-up and resolution was only sketched out and left open-ended for the GM and players.

In addition to some structure/formatting stuff, my job in taking over the revisions for this chapter is to flesh out the details beyond the plot catalyst– including resolution of the conflict. As I work on these Tales my goal is for the GM to have enough material for a one-night session without having to resort to random encounters or other filler. Oh, you’ll still have plenty of room to elaborate or customize. We’re just giving you a broader platform as a jumping-off point.

That’s it for this week. In summary, the revisions are going well. Ed wrote some truly creative, inspiring Midnight Tales. That makes my job a whole lot easier.