thread: 2006-02-16 : Throwing It Open: Pulling the Plug
On 2006-02-18, Curly wrote:
This thread is to actual creative process
what 'Actual Play' is to actual play.
So here's my 'Actual Creative Process' post:
In the past I'd graze the internet for rpg talk, for hours.
When my blood-sugar got low from hunger, all the strange jargon & concepts would become an exciting manic overload. I imagine that this William Blake mode is what it's like to be Ben Lehman, all the time.
Then I'd step out for some fresh air & cheap food. Calming down, 1 or 2 notions would remain clear-enough not to evaporate.
So I'd head home & try to type those ideas into rules text. The goal was to flesh out the notions clearly-enough that I'd understand what I meant. And, hypothetically, so would some stranger reading the text.
After a few hours of this, if I was still enthusiastic about the game-sketch; I'd head outside again and show it to a bartender friend. We'd kill slow hours of his night shift, hashing out the esoteric ideas.
Then we'd either stop, satisfied. Or stick with an idea=du jour-longer; if we both still were intrigued. Often, what seemed revolutionary turned out to be only New To Us. Becuase you other fuckers have a tidy headstart & never stop trailblazing.
The above routine ended a few months ago, but already I'm nostalgic about it. Nowadays, I don't have a routine. So I don't have a creative process. Just creativity minus productive methods.
