I may be quiet, but development continues. My wife and I ended up on a 10-hour car trip last Saturday, and almost all the time went into Alyria. I'd share some of those details with you here, but I left the notebook at home. Ah well.

However, there are two developments that I'd like to share with all of you, based on a conversation that I had with Scarlet Jester.

Name change contemplated

I am almost positive that I am going to be changing the name of the game from Alyria to Legends of Alyria. Jester suggested this change, and I think that it is a good idea. It puts the focus of the game on the "legends" (stories) being told, and it also suggests the style of story being told. It also feels like a "grabbier" title. Input is welcome.

Adventure-based manuscript

The other suggestion that Jester had, based on past experience and the feedback that has been received so far, is to include a large number of adventures in the manuscript and make use of them for exposition. This would be more than the "sample adventure" that is included in many RPGs. Rather, I would want to include a couple completed story preps (i.e. characters, situation, and storymap) for each setting element. There are a couple of reasons for this. The first is that these will answer the question, "Great concept, but how do I play?" Also, having these in place will enable players to run one-shots or introductory games without having to teach their players all the intricacies of the setting or the concepts required to do successful prep work.

Now, input on this idea is welcome. However, I am even more interested in your story prep work. I could sit around all day and make up my own story ideas, but I'd rather use story setups that were developed and used successfully in play. Therefore, if you have an Alyria story setup that worked well in play, send it to me. I'll consider it to see if I want to include it. You will be credited appropriately if I do use your material (although I'm not paying :) )

So, the next time that you sit down to play, consider that you have the opportunity (in more than one way) to help write the legends of Alyria.

GreatWolf wrote: I am almost positive that I am going to be changing the name of the game from Alyria to Legends of Alyria. Jester suggested this change, and I think that it is a good idea. It puts the focus of the game on the "legends" (stories) being told, and it also suggests the style of story being told. It also feels like a "grabbier" title. Input is welcome.

To be honest, I don't really like either of the titles. I just think you have more going on in Alyria than the "homebrew D&D" title suggests. Adding "Legends of" makes it worse, IMO. I would try for a title than actually describes the game and not just names the world.

But that's just me.

Hi Seth,

Moving away from the title issue (I am allergic to "best title" debates), I am preparing a couple of pages with the storymaps for my sessions. One is the modified version of the second - which I think demonstrates some neat things about the game.

I'm also including the basic situation/conflict for each one, which I emphasize were both created by the players, as well as a complete list of characters.

Should take me a couple of days.

Best,
Ron

As far as titles go, how about something more evocative like

"Under the Weeping Moon"

Added advantage...ties right into the Diverse Lunacy game mechanic.

I have to agree, "Legends of Alyria" just doesn't cut it. It sounds like a Heartbreaker, not like an original piece of work. Both Ralph's and Jared's titles are preferable IMO (discounting facetious suggestions of BicapitalizatioN).