New Year's Resolutions 2024

Introduction

Howdy, one and all, and welcome to 2024! 2023 is fading over the horizon, but, even as we look to the future with grand designs and prepare for success on upcoming projects, it's always good to reflect on what came before. In this article, I will lay out my own plan for success in 2024, then dive in to a selection of articles from this last WorldEmber to see what can be gleaned from the wonderful, wierd, and wild worlds of my fellow Anvilites. Without any further ado, let's get started!

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Learning From Experience:
New Year's Resolutions 2023 in Review

Last year, I participated in the 2023 New Year's Resolutions challenge, wherein laid out some of my major goals for that year. Of the ones listed, I completed three out of four major goals, but none of the five stretch goals. While I might normally consider it disappointing to fail at six out of the nine things I set out to do, I have to remind myself that there was a clear reason that I set those goals aside as a category unto themselves. Overall, I'm pretty satisfied with the progress I did manage to make on worldbuilding projects, but there's definitely room for growth.

Things I'm Proud Of

My Summer Camp 2023 submissions were probably my most well-liked body of work for the year and, in fact, that Summer Camp progress report page wound up making its way into my top nine most liked articles alongside the 2023 resolutions page. I actually only feel that around half of these articles are worth digging deeper on with regards to future worldbuilding, but clearly I was doing something right in terms of reader engagement - whether it was simply how hard I was pushing directly for that engagement or there was some aspect of the writing that people really connected with. I will have to analyze what happened here and see if there's a useful lesson to be gleaned for future content creation.
There were a couple articles that I felt represented some of my best work of the year. Operation: Sacred Steel is probably my most playable and feature-rich Adventure April submission to date. The High Hedgemont artice has my most detailed map and article integration since the Manifold Sky and, overall, I think it made for a pretty good place to start my group's 'West Marches' campaign. The WorldEmber submission Forensic Large Dataset Model probably has my best prose of the year, in which I try my hand at writing a tear-jerker scene for the first time. Lastly, I'm always eager to put together at least one reader-playable experience (usually a full game, but perhaps a rules variant) per year, and, for 2023, this was Virtue-Walker.

Room for Improvement

My Spooktober 2023 participation was marked by low motivation and low inspiration. As you may have observed, this is manifest in the fact that I don't actually have a progress report article set up for Spooktober 2023. It isn't so much that I didn't like the articles I wrote for Spooktober, but I just didn't have it in my to put together an article for every prompt for some reason. This also served to spoil the completion of a stretch goal, which was a real bummer. As mentioned above, there were also a few articles in my Summer Camp collection that were kinda just lackluster for my own tastes, and, really, I think September was where that particular bout of worldbuilding fatigue really started. In the future, I will endeavor to pace myself and make time for edits and research between articles to ensure that the articles I put out will be more consistent in quality.

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Learning From The Greats: WorldEmber 2023 Articles in Review

It's a common axiom that, in order to write well, one should read well. Sometimes, one's own private experience isn't enough; it's important to look at what other people in the field have done to achieve the heights of immersion and emotional engagement if we want to develop those same faculties in ourselves. In pursuit of that end, and in no particular order, here's a few of the wonderful articles I've encountered over the last month and the lessons I learned along the way.

Dreams (by Hanhula)

Dreams is a Physical/Metaphysical Law article that could easily double as a Geography article and provides numerous 'trailheads' for future exploration into the world of Istralar via judicious use of the referrence system. The presentation is clean and visually appealing, including the apropos use of Midjourney images to convey the not-quite-natural landscapes of the dreaming realms. I want to make more of these 'hub'-style articles for my own worlds because, when I've made them in the past, they've always provided inspiration for more articles and a nucleus for categories to improve world organization.

Crkija (by Alishahr)

I enjoy Language template articles that delve into the details of the language discussed, especially ones that strike the right balance between having a unique and out-of-the-norm phonology while still maintaining a degree of comprehensibility. In Crkija, Alishahr accomplishes this well and also shows us an aspect of linguistic worldbuilding that isn't usually deeply discussed: unique regional dialects.

Nomads of Mercury (by Nnie)

Nomads of Mercury has a nice retro post-apocalyptic sci-fi vibe to it. The article is well-organized and does a really good job of conveying a sense of culture and place in a comparatively small number of words. I appreciate the overall aesthetic of Solaris, with its spare CSS color palate, custom wiki-style content boxes near the bottom, and artwork that, while it is clearly made with a deft human hand, has a pixely quality to it that would also be at home in a stylized adventure game. There's a conciseness and visual flair to this article that I would very much like to emulate in my own work eventually; I tend to lean into purple prose when left unchecked.

The World-Traveller's Cookbook: Recipes of Etharai (by Notahumanhand)

The World-Traveller's Cookbook: Recipes of Etharai is one of those worldbuilding articles that just gets deeper and deeper the longer you read it. I like articles about foods because they tell us a lot about the species and cultures of the world they come from. The World-Traveller's Cookbook actually gets into the reeds about how each dish is made, who makes it, and, interestingly, the fact that not all of these dishes are edible across all species that inhabit the world of Etharai. The author here makes the right call in resisting the urge to turn each individual recipe into a separate article, instead using clever formatting an images to give the impression of an actual recipe page. I respect the level of writing discipline and careful consideration of the lore that writing an article like this would require, as my own natural inclination would be to gloss over such details in the interest of expediency.

Magic Rot (by Ninne124)

Magic Rot was one of the only condition articles I read over the course of WorldEmber. I like this one because it says a lot about the magic system of the world and provides for stakes that can drive a story about the amateur or incautious use of magic forward. This article was also interesting because it gets into second-order effects (i.e. necrosis due to poor circulation), something that not every writer will do and which suggests that Ninne124 really thought through the ramifications of this condition. The Condition template is one that I haven't thuroughly explored - which is a shame because it can serve to flesh out the ecology of a world on a level similar to species - and I would like to do more with it going forward.

Giant Mushrooms of Emycelium (by Mochimanoban)

Unfortunately, the Giant Mushrooms of Emycelium article was inaccessible for referrence at the time of this writing. From what I recall, this article was neat because it included its own worldbuilding about each species, but also block links in a three- or four-column arrangement linking to articles with more in-depth information. I've become something of a student of the art and science of the hub article over my time on WorldAnvil; I always like how they provide ample jumping-off points for deeper explorations of the world and, in time, world-building 'branches' upon which new article 'leaves' my grow. Even when the articles in the blocks are stubs, this still represents a solid plan for future expansion.

Hydrocarbons (by Chrispy_0)

Hard magic systems definitely feel like they're in vogue right now. Still, it seems like we don't often see hard magic worldbuilding that's quite as detailed as what you'll find in this article about how magic interacts with Hydrocarbons in the world of Vreathe. I'm impressed with how each of the various chemicals listed has a set of new physical properties and a little quote about what they're like to magic wielders in the world.

Wavebinder (by KummerWolfe)

I've never personally played Blades in the Dark or any other Forged in the Dark product, but, as an aspiring TTRPG designer, I appreciate the level of work that goes into building out a new character class or archetype in a way that feels thematically cohesive while still abiding the balance restrictions imposed by the game system under which one works. I like the idea of this possibly nautical clockpunk explorer type roaming the world and uncovering arcane secrets to enhance their own magic. I'm not sure if it's a function of the game system itself or simply a clever addition, but I also like the potential the list of potential contacts and rivals in the sidebar holds for sparking interesting character interactions.

Danho Type-D 'Duster' (by The Archmagos)

The Danho Type-D 'Duster' article is comparatively unadorned, but it makes up for it's lack of visual flair with a realistic description of a military vehicle and, more importantly, a surprisingly in-depth description of the cultural and historical milieu into which it was produced. The writing here has a documentary quality to it that reminds me of good lore/history video content; I would love to see some hand-drawn pictures or computer renderings of these vehicles to give this article the last little bit of 'oomph' it needs. Reading about the Duster taught me about some of the vehicle worldbuilding 'blind spots' I have developed, especially when it comes to contextualizing the production, market demand, and end-of-life consideration of vehicles.

Bards (by ECCbooks)

As many of you may know, I'm a complete sucker for playable games and similar DIY immersive content (i.e. ARGs) as an element of fiction worldbuilding. Bards: Create Your Own Sitcom Episode is only as much of a game as one is willing to make it - ranging in complexity from a simple madlib to the prompt for a rules-light TTRPG experience - but I'm still amused by it. As a sort of alternate reality version of Friends with a musical twist, Bards is a pithy way of telling us, the reader, something about the world in which it was set without the meters of dry text that some authors (me) are prone to pumping out. I find the Clarkwoods presentation style informative because its reliance on quality over quality with regards to distinct visual elements makes it extremely easy to read.

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My Goals For 2024

The spirit of my resolutions from 2023 hasn't really changed, and I think the format then is just as good now. One aspect I will change this year is to include alternative completion critera for some or all of these goals to encourage keeping up with the intent of the goals. As some of you may know, I couldn't decide whether or not to consider the BCGR-centric goal for 2023 a success because, while it wasn't ready to publish as a printed work, I had it put together here on WA well enough that it was ready for beta testing. Giving alternative critera will help provide clarity with regards to such edge cases.
Without further ado, my goals for 2024 are as follows:

Complete at least one State of the Manifold journal entry per month

Alternative: Complete at least 12 State of the Manifold journal entries (limit 2/month)

Stretch A: Include promotion for other Anvilites' articles that I found interesting.

Stretch B: Create a weekly or bi-weekly mini-update

Journaling is useful because it helps me gauge my progress, helps in determining what did and didn't work with regards to the preceeding month's output, and promotes engagement with the WorldAnvil community. At the same time, I want to grant myself a little bit of flexibility so that I don't experience more of that mad dash to get the monthly journal post done before the calendar rolls over; the lessons of the previous month are no less fresh for the delay of a day or two. The first stretch goal has to do with giving back to the community and is something I've been meaning to do for a long while after seeing other Anvilites do it. This stretch goal serves more as a reminder to do this, but the overall loosening the time restrictions frees up time and/or focus to pick some good articles to show off before the deadline.

Complete at least 100,000 words of worldbuilding content across all worlds

Alternative A: Complete at least 50,000 words of worldbuilding in any single world

Alternative B: Complete at least 50,000 words of contiguous prose in the Catalyst OR The Fortress of Salt manuscripts

Stretch: Complete at least 200,000 words of worldbuilding content across all worlds OR 100,000 in any single world

This goal functions like a 'mini-NaNoWriMo' for me, but the extended time frame ensures that I have a better chance of finishing it unhurriedly and with time to apply extra polish. Including manuscrips will encourage me to work towards gettings something publishable done, and specifying prose in the alternative will encourage me to break the habit of worldbuilding as a form of procrastination (a.k.a worldbuilder's disease). New worlds will be added to the wordcounts as I update them, but, for now, the primary sources of new content will likely be the worlds Manifold Sky, Sealed Kingdoms, Matrioshka Multiverse, New Generica, and Ten Sword Tales. See the block links in the sidebar for details on these worlds.

Compete in every major WorldAnvil community challenge

Stretch A: Complete every prompt in Summer Camp, Spooktober, and WorldEmber

Stretch B: Win at least one special competition with a really well-made article

This resolution remains largely unchanged from 2023 and has to do with maintaining a healthy writing habit. The stretch goals are about pushing myself for the multi-part challenges or, conversely, raising the quality of individual articles where there's plenty of time for editing and the addition of visual flourishes. Admittedly, it's pretty hard for me to think of a suitable alternative goal at the moment, so I'll leave this one as it is for now.

Bring at least one manuscript or TTRPG rules document to a publishable state

Alternative A: Bring at least one other tabletop game (i.e. Triortan or Vyozha) to a publishable state

Alternative B: Complete at least one computer game or utility program involving Manifold Sky or BCGR content.

My social media profiles list me as an aspiring writer and games designer. I really want to take the 'aspiring' out of the equation someday, and that means getting some kind of long-form creative work to the level of polish that someone else is willing to potentially read it on their own time. The alternatives instead reframe the goal as a matter of visual presentation (for tabletop games) and/or C# programming (for computer games), two spheres of creative work that I would like to get better at alongside writing.

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Closing Thoughts

A new year presents us with new possibilites - new opportunities to grow into our best selves as creators of all stripes. I look forward to journeying into the future with you all as we continue to pursue the cause of worldbuliding, writing, and gamemastering excellence. Good luck on all your future endeavors, and I'll see you all in 2024!
Regards,
BCGR_Wurth

IGP Tournament Committee Seal by BCGR_Wurth

Table Of Contents

My WorldEmber 2023 Submissions

Previous Resolutions

Current Major Worlds

Current Wordcounts

Manifold Sky

Start: 635,982

Current: 670,853 (+34,871)

Matrioshka Multiverse

Start: 43,947

Current: 46,858 (+2,911)

Sealed Kingdoms

Start: 129,886

Current: 173,950 (+44,164)

New Generica

Start: 23,890

Current: 57,569 (+33,679)

Ten Sword Tales

Start: 5,564

Current: 9,808 (+4,244)

A Peripheral Space

Start: 4,544

Current: 8,175 (+3,631)

Net Words Typed: +123,500
_{Last Updated 8/11/24. See My Goals for 2024 for details.}