As I unpack and evaluate what I have built up so far, I find myself wondering which direction to go in when I have the time. Over the last couple of years, I have worked on many things, started some new things, but I have not finished anything. That is a horrible record, if you ask me, and I cannot say that I have a single playable force. beyond a limited skimirsh of addhock forces. for any project I have in the works.
The problem comes from a serious case of gamer ADD, "OOO Shiny", and actually a good amount of overplanning and analysis paralysis. I have a tendancy to overthink projects and in doing so, I think I may actually be killing the spark that made them appealing in the first place. So much time is spent on the hypothetical or theoretical aspects of the projects like background, layout, etc, that I find myself working my way to a stand still or stagnation.
An example of this can be seen in a recent project I started for a conversion of a toy into a spaceship for use as scenery or scenario element in 15mm scifi miniatures gaming. Before I got ahold of the toy, I started doodling and drawing what ideas I could come up with to make it look less like the toy it started out as and more like the spaceship that I wanted it to be. Nothing wrong with this part, just yet.
The problem really came up when I found myself pulling out graph paper and tryign to draw internal drawings of what the deck plan might look like inside the ship which, of course, is completely inconsequential for something that is essentially a pieceo f gaming table window dressing. It got so bad that that ship was all I was doodling. I'm pretty sure that, if I had them, I'd have tried doing mock-up of the ship in my mashed potatoes.
Bottom line, I have got to finish some stuff up, maybe even scrap some things. The problem is figuring out what projects really grab me and which ones I'm doing just to get done or to see if I can. I think it's important to be passionate about a project if you are going to be working on it, otherwise you'll just end up grinding your way through it.
Anyhow, enough self examination.
Take care,
-Eli
Posts
I've got gamer ADD as well my friend. A new RPG game/product will come out and I'll go "oohh shiney!" then away I go.
ReplyDeleteGood Luck on your quest! Remember the important thing is to have fun.
: )
i suggest the gygaxian method
ReplyDeletelist all your desired projects
roll a d20 for each
then complete them in descending order
Collect each of your projects and place them in a box or container, never open and work on more than one at a time so the others do not distract you.
ReplyDeletehttp://armoredink.blogspot.com/
Being creative has it's drawbacks. Namely the whole ADD thing. People who don't have a creative bone in their bodies are the folks who's lawn are always cut. I really like the box and the d20 idea. I have a disk's worth of unfinished stories and ideas. I think that I will number them all and roll percentiles. If you are doodling anytime soon I'm looking for a Mace pic for a Kobold submission. Your Morkoth drawing was awesome and set the article apart from the general background noise. Cheers.
ReplyDelete@Tom - Email me off the blog and let me know what you are looking for.
ReplyDelete-Eli