Whoa, whoa, what the hell- there's people here now?
Okay, okay, let me- let me just-
Whew.
A moment, taking a breath here, I wasn't expecting- I mean, yes, I did post about it on Twitter and on the Fandible Discord (have you heard of Fandible? We're pretty great.) and all but, y'know, heck.
I wasn't expecting people.
Well, you're here now, and that means you're here a little early. You've probably read me talking about THE VAULT, and thought to yourself: "Self,", you think, "I like the cut of this guy's jib, I'm going to check out this THE VAULT of his." And then you went, and you did that, and you clicked on that dope little link at the top of the page and saw that there's no actual way to get in there!
That's because I'm still putting the finishing touches on it! But I promise it'll be worth it, as there's a couple of extra little treats in store for y'all since you're here so early.
And just so you know there's nothing to fear, I promise, my design team is hard at work dotting every i and whatnot.
In the meantime, I suppose it's now on me to slake your thirst for ttrpg's and, hopefully, goblin shenanigans right here and right now. So let's hop right into it for today's short update, which, for once, I'm actually writing at least in part during the day job instead of just forgetting to do it until right before bed. This does mean, alas, that I am somewhat more coherent for this entry than I am normally- if this affects your enjoyment of my updates and you feel like the flavor really is only to be found when those brain drippings have been marinating about until the last second before the date ticks over, then, I beg you, run, don't crawl, to Twitter and yell at me about it there, for the love of god. Because I can, and I will, just keep doing that and banging out several hundred words each day while just completely fucking out of my mind with sleepiness and, most likely one or more of several mind-altering substances.
I'm very cool, is what I'm trying to say here.
Anyway, back to the game design. Where were we?
Right! Lists. A system with which to make lists. So, let's get to it. Let's define our MVP, our Minimum Viable Product inasmuch as it would be recognizable as a 'game world', within the framework we've already established. For this, we turn to the seminal text of the genre, the original 3 Goblins in a Trenchcoat. We'll take some time to examine each of the lists presented within, and what each one tells us about the game, the world, and the goblins within it. Then, probably on another day because really I'm not trying to write anything more than 750 words on any given day, look, I'm doing one of these daily and that's just a lot of words, it adds up, dear reader.
It adds up.
Ahem- on another day, we will then look over the lists from the expansion, 3 If By Trenchcoat. We'll compare the lists, and we'll witness the changes made from the original work to the sequel, and how those choices turned the sequel into its own separate game, even though it was formed of the same underpinnings.
And, finally, we will codify some rules- what is needed for a set of lists to count as a world? What about sub-sets? Say, just sets of lists for generating new and unique kinds of goblins, unrelated to the lists that define the world and the goals and challenges of the goblins within them? And vice-versa, lists of enemies, goals, and strangeness, divorced of goblin generation arrays?
Now, as the original author of the works being referenced, I have some opinions on this- I feel that in many ways both the goblin lists and the world lists are interconnected and, moreover, interdependent. Are not the goblins of each world created for it? And would the nature of the gobbos within a world, in turn, affect that world? To me, a full world must include both kinds of lists to form a coherent whole- but I won't hold you, dear reader, to such a limitation. In fact, by offering that approach, I am granting you an additional freedom- the freedom to take your goblins and move them to any world, any setting, and have them face any challenge.
Tomorrow, dear reader, we will witness what such a division can build.
Are you enjoying this bullshit? You are, aren't you? Hot diggity! Well, did you know you can encourage Dan to do more of whatever the hell this is by joining the Uncivil Union over on ko-fi? It's true! Not only is this a signal to Dan that people want more of this, but you'll also get immediate access to The Vault, where you can pick up free copies of every single game he's written, and exclusive access to the in-progress docs for upcoming games.
