Research and fiction writing
Filed under Writing Journal on June 7, 2004
Tagged: Forgotten Realms, psionics, Realms of the Dragons II
I started working on my short story for RotD2 yesterday. I actually didn’t do any writing, just research. It’s funny how much reading I’ve done prior to writing any of the FR stuff. I hated research papers in school, and swore, much like algebra, that I’d never do anything in the real world that used the skills learned by writing research papers. Who would have thought that as a fiction author I’d be forced to eat those words.
My sources in this case were the Draconomicon and the Expanded Psionics Handbook. I spent a good deal of time reading up on dragon physiology and combat tactics. It was interesting stuff. I’ve never DM’d a dragon before. I’ve had planned encounters with them, but the campaign never reached that point. The supplement was better than I suspected, though there is plenty of game rule stuff I won’t ever use. A couple of PC prestige classes were fairly similar to one I had created for Chronicles of Arunda. I had submitted it as open content a while back, and the class features were made up of logical conclusions any good designer might come up with, but it was interesting to see nonetheless.
This was my first introduction to Psionics in 3E. I had read the appendix in the old 1E PHB, and summarily dismissed them as a mechanic I wasn’t interested in and would never use. I’m still not interested, though the Power Points are something I may adapt for the mana-based magic system I’m creating for the CoA campaign setting.
There are still some basic plot issues I need to resolve as well. I’m not sure if I want to set the story in the past or present, which would affect several character motivations (not to mention characters used) as well as the final outcome of the story. The opening scene will be the same, regardless, and I’ll probably write that tonight.
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