Newbie in dire need of feedback and motivation.

[My Name is Coco.]

Greetings Coco. My problem was not just finishing but getting started. I had an idea that was festering in my head (for over 10 years) and when I was planning on sticking the twig in my ear to scratch it (figuratively) IRL it got interrupted with travel for work. But I did start writing more and more for a bit and put it down for a bit and picked it back up again. Finally, I said enough is enough and started to build out a map of the realm in which I want the adventures to happen and as soon as its done I will go back to the writing portion. I agree with the suggestions that XCali makes.

My map is actually places that I have a close connection too but only have some details for maybe 3 populated areas. That is because when I do finally get the time and people to sit down and play some of the adventures, I hope to have them provide me some details from their backstories to build out the rest of the area. Now it might sound like I am saying this is my ball and If I donÂ’t like the way its going I will just take it home. Not the case at all, but I am not going to include everything they provided in my final map. What ever they come up with that while playing the campaign will stick but if another group forms then they also get to contribute building it out.

Although my map is showing the 500,000-foot view it doesnÂ’t mean it has to stay that way. Write your lore and then look to see where it fits and if nothing jumps out then adjust the world to help it fit.

Either way I hope you find the motivation and inspiration to keep moving forward with or without the feedback (everything I have been working on has been for my satisfaction only and being able to share and have it accepted is a bonus but not a necessity). Feel free to reach out if you need a sounding board and will do my best to provide feedback.

Thank you so much! I would certainly love to have someone to use as a sounding board, but unfortunately, I don't have the 5 posts required for DMs yet

Perhaps I misspoke when I said "feedback". I'm not really craving the critique part of the feedback, I do so for my own satisfaction too. What I mean by that is that I love to be asked questions about my world, whether it's the map or the general world-building aspect of it. "How does Magic work?", "What kind of government does this country run on?", "How did this ancient civilisation fall?". Those kinds of questions I love to hear and love answering. Of course, critique is welcome, I am constantly trying to improve and critique from a third-person observer is a great way to improve.

I, too, love to build my worlds around my players. But unfortunately, with so few players in my games (2, discluding myself, as of now), I find it difficult to motivate myself to bother finishing any lore I write. I know some people are going to say, "2 players are better than none." but with my players so thoroughly disinterested in world-building to the point where I know that I can write a novel's worth of lore and none of them will read it, I find it difficult to keep that motivation to keep going since nobody will read it.

I've recently learned to keep my lore building as a separate exercise from games. And just write about them for fun and imagine myself being in those worlds and how they interact. It has certainly helped

[Edward Tait]

Maybe just ask simple questions during the game about their character and add it to their story and before you know it they will have built enough of the world around them and may wish to continue or at least give you bits to build up on.

Yeah the 5 Posts before PM is a smart move to keep spammers and bots out but you are almost there. LOL.