The Resolutions of 2024

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For a variety of different reasons, 2023 was a big year for me. The biggest, even. It was a rollercoaster lemme tell ya, some of the highest highs and lowest lows I've experienced in a HOT minute. But now that it's all behind us I can confidently say that out of the 21 years I've been alive 2023 has probably been my favorite one.

— Me

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Skip to my Collection

Reflection

This year has been super random in terms of what I've published, for the most part it was an assortment of creatures. Beasts and Wildlife and the like. As well as a small collection of trinkets, gadgets, gizmos, and doodads. I also took a little dive into the manuscripts system to properly publish my comic Arm and a Leg and showcase The Vibes of Oniran. But I'm sure it's no surprise to anyone that I think the highlight of this year was finally completing the trio: Elves, Valkyr, and Knights. Oh and also Goblins & Trolls, that one specifically went hard.

I know I've said this multiple different times in multiple different places, but it really is unbelievable how much my work blew up this year and how many people seem to actually like it???? Like, to put it into perspective for most of December I had no idea why or how so many people were suddenly finding Arm and a Leg, until I was pinged on Discord and learned that I was Day 2 of the Advent Calender??????

When I first started I never could've imagined that my world would eventually hoard up 45 followers. Like, anywhere else on the internet that probably wouldn't sound like a lot but idk I just feel like, a sneaking suspicion if you will, that if you put me in a room with 45 different people all interested in my silly little passion project I would probably shit myself fbvkjhsdbvj.

Jokes aside, it genuinely means so much to me. Even as someone more or less on the outside, the warmth and kindness radiating from this community is easily the best part of this platform. I'm not gonna lie to ya, some of the shit you guys've been commenting and/or writing about me in your own resolution articles have legitimately made me tear up (Important Note: Out of Joy and Warmth and Happiness and all that good stuff). It's definitely made me more confident in my work, it's nice to know that what you're doing is working and there isn't really anything to worry about, y'know? I'd be lying if I said it wasn't what ultimately convinced me to finally attempt WorldEmber after like 4-5 years of lurking.

I said something like this in the Thanksgiving post, that it felt like this community has accepted me with open arms. It's a nice feeling, lemme tell ya. I just wanna thank each and every one of you for the support!!! I swear one of these days I'll come up with a way to repay it, but as of right now best I can do is just stick to reading and responding to each and every single comment. Okay I'll stop gushing and bragging about myself now bfksajfhjsfdv.

Resolution

Cooking

Despite not being able to write the Dragons article during WorldEmber I still feel like finishing the Ancestries was enough to give the world a firm foundation. With this being the case, I feel like I have a lot more creative freedom now that I don't have the constant worry in the back of my mind that I have unfinished business. So first and foremost I wanna make a better effort at fleshing out my world. This includes being more consistent with writing in the first place, broadening what I write about, and maybe experimenting with different mediums, who knows really. Essentially this is me not wanting a repeat of 2023 where I only post something every few months with radio silence in-between.

Pretty Pictures

Improving my art in general is pretty much my ever-present resolution every year even outside of worldbuilding. But in regards to worldbuilding specifically I want to make an effort to improve at different areas of design and composition, especially for the splash arts. If I remember correctly I only made one this year. I'm actually working on one as I type this, if all goes well it'll be both my first combat piece and my first piece completely focusing on Elves. Personally I think it'll go hard. Oh and also maybe a comic thrown in for good measure.

Community

I wanna be more active, hard stop. It's no secret that I'm a particularly shy and anxious person when it comes to interacting with people I haven't yet opened up to. Like, to give you an idea, if I post or respond to someone I'll re-read over the shit I wrote a minimum of 5 times and even then I'll hype myself up before hitting send and the message will be something like "Hey how ya doing". But with a community this nice and welcoming I've been convinced that I have nothing to lose and I should make an effort, y'know? Even if that effort is me popping into the Discord at 3am, dropping a "Hey how y'all doing", refusing to elaborate, and scurrying away like some gremlin who got caught eating shredded cheese straight out of the bag at the aforementioned 3am.

It's not like this is a to-do list that I'm gonna stress myself out trying to fulfill, but they're just nice to have as goals in the background.

The Sauce Awards

This is the first time I've ever done something like this so I might as well come out swinging without so much as a drop of subtlety or decorum. I'm about to gas up 10 articles from creators who absolutely COOKED this WorldEmber. The articles linked here are absolute bangers, peak fiction if you will, the shit that made me go
"DAMN, this right here is The Sauce."

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Strixxline

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I absolutely loved this. As someone who's still trying to come up with ideas for how to spice up my own primer, this was an absolute GEM of a concept. Introducing the reader as if they're a character in the world and maintaining the immersion by framing the article blocks as info you are actually being given in the story. This absolutely convinced me that a 1st/2nd person style of primer is the way to go. And as always, the art is top-shelf and fits the vibes EXCELLENTLY.

Stormbril

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I'm sure this'll show up on a lot of peoples top picks, and it's ABSOLUTELY 100% deserved I'll tell ya hwhat. The stuff they can do with CSS gives me the inspiration of a shounen protagonist looking up to one of the top dawgs in their setting and vowing to get there one day. I didn't even know a concept like this was POSSIBLE on WA, it just goes SO hard. Stormbril absolutely certifiably cooked this WorldEmber!

Emily Armstrong

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This right here is the sauce. I ADORE this article and the world it's a part of. Culinarypunk as a whole is a masterclass of taking a concept and/or aesthetic, no matter how goofy or insane it might be, and deciding to treat it with the utmost sincerity and care. Committing to the bit SO hard it ceases to be a bit and unironically becomes Peak Fiction. And if there was any article I could pick to demonstrate this style of worldbuilding it would be Butter Knights.

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Endrise

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This is EASILY one of my favorite styles of writing and worldbuilding. Being able to take a concept that's commonly used and, instead of doing away with or heavily altering the associated tropes, adapt and explain everything in a way that perfectly integrates it into your setting is a skill that I think WAY more people should embrace. And as a fan of high-fantasy settings with huge focuses on magic that can potentially double as RPG settings, I feel right at home when reading Endrise's work. Based and Pathfinder-pilled.

TJ Trewin

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I am SO glad I saw this article while reading other people's top picks. The vibes here are immaculate. Everything from the setting, to the writing, to the presentation just comes together to make something that just FEELS like comfort. And I absolutely love the stamp collecting idea, I'm sure it's no surprise but I'd say I'm somewhat of a professional hoarder. I know if I ever got good at CSS the aesthetic of this world will be one of my main inspirations! Peak Fiction from start to finish!

Spleen

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It is with great satisfaction that I say Spleen absolutely COOKED this WorldEmber but like actually cause this is a cookbook, y'know? The realization that this was a collection of actual recipes using fictional ingredients was delightful. There's just something about worldbuilding through food that REALLY gets the creative juices flowing and I can never get enough of it! Not to mention the aesthetic and presentation just tying the whole thing together, 10/10 would cook again.

Main Quests

Overarching goals, high priority, the "I should probably do this as soon as possible" things

World Homepage Rework

I think it's about time to make the homepage cooler. Do I have any ideas for how to go about doing that? No. Do I know what I wanna change? No. Do I know what I wanna add? No. Am I gonna do it anyway? Yes.

World Primer Update

What can I say, I like updating things. I think there's a good amount of things I can do to really make the primer go hard so this is where I'm most confident.

The Dragons

This goes without explanation, even if I didn't do it during WorldEmber I still gotta do it. This works in my favor though since I can dedicate as much time as I need to cook something nice.

Active Quests

These are what currently have my attention/interest in a chokehold. The ADHD is really good at making sure NONE of these are the shit I actually gave high priority.

RPG Questline

Okay hear me out. About 2 years ago an idea sparked for a questline I could run if I ever got to GM a game set in Oniran. I'm not saying that I've been developing it for 2 years, only that it's been passively on my mind and I write a little from time to time. That is, until WorldEmber. At some point it occured to me that if I really wanted to I could just write up a whole ass Adventure Module for PF2e on World Anvil, and even if it wasn't good for running a game it could still double as a regular story set in my world that people could read. This has occupied my mind ever since. To the point where it miraculously turned into developing a potential campaign seed/setting for when I don't feel like running a game centered around Stonewood. So if at any point in the future you see me publish something titled "The Dairy Crusader" without explanation, y'all know what happened. I lost the battle.

Monster Hunter

Nah this doesn't have anything to do with worldbuilding I'm just gonna be playing Monster Hunter World while I eagerly await the release of Monster Hunter Wilds in 2025, but knowing me all of this will worm its way into my writing/art. I mean, it already has since I spent the entirety of 2023 religiously playing Monster Hunter Rise and now Oniran has like 5 new apex predators.

Side Quests

All the misc stuff. Little ideas here and there that I think are neat.

Character Articles

I'm not gonna lie to ya, I have a lot of OCs. So many that I think they deserve to have a little lore. For Knights specifically my plan is to make the article for the Guilds instead of individual Knights, I've always written the Guilds (Runedom specifically) as if they were a single character split up into their most important traits and I think this would be a nice way to go about writing their articles as well.

Plants

I've been thinking of making a compendium like Ranger's Handbook for Beasts & Wildlife but for plants. And with that comes a new character who has to write it.

Dungeonomicon

Dungeons need more lore. They need an encyclopedia full of fun facts and enemies and NPCs and behaviors and settings and all that good stuff.

Slice of Life

Honestly there needs to be more stuff like Bees. Just chill wholesome vibes without any worry of dying chaotically at the hands of the aforementioned apex predators. I've more than established that Oniran is a dangerous place, but what about the day to day? What about people who don't adventure or quest or frolick in Dungeons? I think that should be explored more.

Better CSS

Yeah that's about it, I'm not completely satisfied with the current look.

Stolen Ideas lol

Yeah one of the biggest factors in picking articles for The Sauce Awards was if they gave me inspiration for new projects, I love reading stuff and immediately going "Wait that just gave me an idea WRITE THAT DOWN".

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Here's a picture of Story to fill the space

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TheDumbOwl

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The first time I visited this world I was absolutely blown away by the presentation and the writing, and this article is one of the many examples of that. To me, Vertinall has the vibes of a world contained exclusively in a high school notebook with a bunch of friends all coming up with ideas together, and I ADORE it. I'm obsessed with it, even. It reminds me of how I grew up tbh, and that's SUCH a nice feeling. This article in particular is the first time I've ever read a Spell Article specifically, and it absolutely opened me up to the idea of trying that with my own world.

Strixxline

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When it comes to articles explaining magic, this might be one of my favorites. It just goes hard. Be it their take on Leylines, how they affect the world, the names of the Domains and the Leylines that represent them, and the aesthetically pleasing art to tie it all together. I love me a good magic article, and this one convinces me that I can go WAY harder with my own.

Ninne

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I'm not gonna lie to ya, this was SUCH a pleasant read! Those who are familiar with my world already know I'm a huge fan of species articles so the vibes of this were right up my alley. The presentation is super cozy and the art is a perfect fit, the ducks are extremely cute. This read has also taught me some things that I've been neglecting in my own species articles, as well as the lack of more simple/mundane creatures to fill my world with that I need to get on immediately. Certified sauce!

Emily Armstrong

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I love this one so much, it's the first time I've seen an article that introduced a game played in the world only to then provide rules for playing it yourself. And the game itself seems like a LOT of fun. All I could think while reading, aside from "Oh my god I love this", was "Oh my god I want to DO this". I already have a few ideas for how I can go about doing that, most likely using PF2e as a base. This article is Peak Fiction!