Summer Camp 2023 Reading Challenge

And now it's time for my retrospective on Summer Camp 2023. The annual Summer Camp is my favorite World Anvil event and this year is no different. Despite this being my 4th (!) Summer Camp, I still learned a lot about world building and writing this year. As I worked on articles, I felt like the process of how to deliver and structure information really unlocked for me. I feel like I leveled up this year, but not sure if that's going to show up in my writing until I see if it applies to my old work.

Like the years before it, I've really enjoyed seeing new and excellent work take place in worlds I've visited before. I'm especially happy to see new articles for Qurillion's Megacorpolis. Worlds I'm continuing to enjoy include E. Christopher Clark's Literary Universe, Annie Stein's Solaris, and of course the dark giant Stormbril's magnificent Cathedris.

Last Half of 2023 Worldbuilding Goals

I started this year and got all the way through summer without any real goals for the World of Wizard's Peak. I've been enjoying building content for my ongoing campaigns and writing articles to stay just in front of the speeding train of my two (sometimes three or four) D&D campaigns.

Now that Summer Camp is done, I've started going through my "cornerstone content" and I'm rewriting and restructuring it. I've realized that some of my articles are literally 20+ years old from a previous version of wizardspeak.com! Some of my articles are from when I first started on World Anvil and my ideas have matured since then. There are also "bullet point placeholder" articles for a lot of important areas that need real articles for them.

Lastly, I'm going to work on putting together a setting book for my world that I could possible sell on the various places that RPG books sell. I have enough worldbuilding to make something, I just need to make statblocks for various game systems. I already do this for 5E for my ongoing games, it just doesn't make it to WA usually.

So in the interest of making it concrete and putting some online accountability out there. Wish me luck!

1. Re-write old/outdated content
2. Turn "bullet point" articles into real articles
3. Make a sellable RPG product

My Judging Shortlist

Article Sharing and Commentary

This year I'm taking a slightly different direction on the Reading Challenge. I'm a regular on the Summer Camp channel in World Anvil's Discord channel. I asked for people to send me articles to read a week or so ago and I received a lot of wonderful responses from people I know and from relative newcomers. I'm going to highlight their articles here.

Nonogawa River Valley Float Festival and Race

by shyredfox

"A popular summer tradition that involves art and creativity"

A really fun article based on a real life Japanese tradition that shyredfox has imported into her fantasy version of Japan. Lots of attention to detail, images, and fun iconography from one of my favorite worldbuilders.

Kyr's Hand

by Nimsy

"An organization for which recruiting or proselytizing is important"

This article focuses on a cult in a science fiction world that worships an all consuming extra-terrestrial slime. They seek to become one with it. I'd be happy to let them join their master, but they seem hell-bent on bringing everyone else in with them!

The End of Humanity? Legion Pushes Bizarre Limits

by Stormbril

An important public announcement that one person addressed to many

I'd been saving Stormbril's Summer Camp articles as a reward for when I finished my SC judging. He sent me this one and of course it's great! I love the newspaper style and voice here. I was most amazed by the revelation that there are "Good Guys" in Cathedris!

The Loreweavers

by MelissaPlaysRPGs

A job that takes its practitioners to remote or faraway places

A nice little article about the most important job there is: storyteller! Here Melissa brings in threads from other articles that gives a nice overall view of her world.

folotopi

by Kbignell

A species known for its mischievous personality

A fun article about a mischievous and super sweet species. They look like enormous hairless camels that can fit 3 to 4 people in their folds of skin. Everyone should have a folotopi of their own!

How the Wire Rat Got its Name

by Those2Nerds

A children's tale or song based on a real event

A sweet story for young folks about accepting who you really are. Rin is a new-to-me worldbuilder and I look forward to seeing what they build in the future.

Dreamers

by DreamCartographer

A historical culture whose influence is still felt today

This article introduces a lot of concepts for another "new to me" sci-fi world. It has a cyberpunk feeling and I'm not sure if the Dreamers are flesh and blood people or sentient AIs.

The Dalremian Power Cycle

by TinkerTech

A ceremony that represents a transition or transfer

The article opens with a beautiful bit of prose that describes a city's lights going out, then the streets traced with blue as each block comes on one by one. Set in another unfamiliar world where the people are trying to rediscover lost technologies.

A Workman's Breakfast

by MissIzette

A resource that provides fuel or power

Miss Izette packs a lot of world building into this article about breakfast. There's an opening quote and closing vignette that centers the article in a person and their point of view, and that's one of my favorite writing techniques. Well worth a read.