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Ogre11

Beer

4 years ago
Prompt: 16) For your services to the crown, the king has granted you valuable lands near an important crossroads in a recently conquered territory. Now, it's time to retire and fulfill your dream of operating a renowned brewery and tavern ... but it may be wise to keep your sword-arm ready.

I think this is mostly going to be about the beer...
Ogre11

Beer

4 years ago
Random thoughts:

Debating style for this one. Could be a wide spread with a bureaucracy option, fighting option, political options... internal struggles for control vs the two different factions... could there be freedom fighters? Maybe the tavern could be a secret meeting place for the resistance? Would the protagonist have to choose? Could they be forced to choose?

Trying to decide on the starting point... lots of backstory for the start setting up the scene? That sounds crappy... Does it start with the protag arriving at the new location and slowly have reveals for the past? That could work...

Maybe one major branch actually turns into a total game like the old lemonade game where you have to try and operate the brewery and make money? Could that be integrated into the political story? Whoa, that could be neat, but tough to pull off...
Mizal

Beer

4 years ago
Excited for Innkeeper 2.
Ogre11

Beer

4 years ago
Well, I don't have a title yet... :)
Bucky

Beer

4 years ago
We don’t have nearly enough stories about beer.
Ogre11

Beer

4 years ago
I'm pretty sure this is really going to be a story more about beer than anything else...
Ogre11

Beer

4 years ago
Also, based on @Mayana 's suggestion, I'm going to try out Manuskript with this one and see how that goes.
Bucky

Beer

4 years ago
Oh, writing software stuff? @Mayana please elaborate.
Mayana

Beer

4 years ago
Well uh ... it's just software I found recommended in some huge list of open source programs. I've never used it. But someone was asking for writing programs, so I figured I'd recommend it and use them as a test subject.

It seems like it might be useful, though. It has an outliner, distraction-free mode, simple and fiction modes, a frequency analyzer for seeing what words you use too often ... all sorts of features. I've no clue how well it compares to Scrivener, but at least it's free. You can check it out here

Bucky

Beer

4 years ago
Neat. Thanks for sharing.
Ogre11

Beer

4 years ago
Yeah, already spiraling out of control. If I put a very early (like in the first few pages) choice of adding a secret room to the layout of the tavern, that could open up a whole pile of options and things that could happen in said secret room... which means if you don't make that choice, I've got a very early split making the story very, very wide and shallow... darn CYOA choices and branching...
DerPrussen

Beer

4 years ago

I don't have anything to say. I'm just posting here to see where this goes.

Ogre11

Beer

4 years ago
Honestly, I don't know where this is going. That's kind of how I write. Sometimes I just start writing and see where the story leads me... but I have to plan some!
DerPrussen

Beer

4 years ago

Hey man. Not only does the LT not know where he's going, he doesn't know where he is. I'll still get to see some wild stuff if I follow him.

Ogre11

Beer

4 years ago
Okay, I think I'm going to do that and see what happens:

The first major decision point is going to be selecting the layout of the tavern. The reader will be able to add the meeting room (or maybe more than one) or not. If they choose not to, they're going off in one direction, and if they choose to add meeting rooms, that's going to be an entire fork on its own. Now I just have to figure out what happens if the reader doesn't add the meeting room... maybe just a boring, normal life?
Bucky

Beer

4 years ago
They invest in thick walls, comfy beds, and prostitutes?
Ogre11

Beer

4 years ago
I really wasn't going to go the "house of ill repute" direction, but maybe now...
DerPrussen

Beer

4 years ago

I was thinking spend more money on higher quality furniture, food, and perhaps brewing equipment. Then again,if someone's mom isn't getting it, would it still be a CYS tavern?

Cricket

Beer

4 years ago
No
Ogre11

Beer

4 years ago
See now I was thinking of a nice, clean, quality house of ill repute, but no, that's not what the fans as CYS desire at all, is it?

Coin's Mom, you're in.
Bucky

Beer

4 years ago
I imagine clean sheets are universally appreciated no matter what. Good employment for the local washerwomen.
Ogre11

Beer

4 years ago
Hmm... there's nothing that says this has to be a fantasy setting... this could be modern day, maybe between Russia and some former Russian states... or in war-torn Africa, complete with Nigerian princes...
Bucky

Beer

4 years ago
Whatever you decide, bonus points if you make/use a real beer recipe[s].
Ogre11

Beer

4 years ago
Wait, I'm supposed to actually write something? Damn.
Ogre11

Beer

4 years ago
Ugh. This one just isn't moving for me. I thought I had something, but then I named the main character Tom. And apparently that's not his name because I can't find the story that fits Tom. I think once I figure out what the main character's name is that this will suddenly move along very quickly...
Bucky

Beer

4 years ago
Barry the beer guy.
Ogre11

Beer

4 years ago
I have been debating if this will end up being a silly story, and if Barry is the protag, I imagine it will go that direction. But if the guy's name is Gondalorian the Great, maybe not.
Bucky

Beer

4 years ago
Orville the Ogre-Slayer
Ogre11

Beer

4 years ago
Now that's just rude!
Ogre11

Beer

4 years ago
How about some random names from a generator, let's see if any of these stick... Josiah Etherington Azariah Ormus Kroldrauf Jistern Tuk Gnokk Fossus Rovar Vigo Marroc Darub Galter of the East Yeoman Milet Haig Ulrick Zorek
Mayana

Beer

4 years ago
I like Zorek. It seems the most like a name a tavern owner would have. Probably a big, tough, grumpy sort of dude. But a jerk with a heart of gold, of course.

On an unrelated note, how's Manuskript working out for you?
Ogre11

Beer

4 years ago
Interestingly, I can run it through the cloud, so I can access it from more than one location, which is nice for me. It has taken a little bit of getting used to, and I haven't started trying to put paths/decisions into it yet, but it does have some nice reminders and things to think about as I'm designing characters and the story.
Ogre11

Beer

4 years ago
Huh. Not much to report. Well, I've decided I'm not a big fan of exposition, so I'm not going to include any history/information dumps. I'll work to show that information and reveal it without infodumping, or at least I'm going to try. Also, I think the setting here is going to be mideval fantasy because why not? After all, the prompt included a sword, so that's where I was thinking at first. And just for fun, the "recently conquered territory" is going to be a crossroads between two countries that were at war and now the war has ended with a relatively solid truce...at least between the governments of the countries, if not the citizens. The two warring factions are going to be faction A (name TBD) that has strong and powerful fighter type people; and faction B (name TBD) that has magic users. Faction A doesn't understand magic, but they understand bashing people in the head. The MC will be from faction A and really does want peace with faction B. Since the new tavern is going to be at the crossroads, he'll meet both types. Oh, and there's going to have to be some bit where the MC gets someone drunk and they reveal some secret information or something like that. But hey, in theory, this could end up an entire world development thing with other stories happening in the same world...
Bucky

Beer

4 years ago
But what if the protagonist gets drunk and reveals something embarrassing?
Ogre11

Beer

4 years ago
Am I supposed to update this thread? Well, 700+ words, so I'm pretty much done, I think...
Bucky

Beer

4 years ago
Drink some beer for inspiration. I’ve got 10 pounds of malt on my window table that’s going to start getting brewed next week.
Ogre11

Beer

4 years ago
Almost forgot to list today's accomplishments:

1. Opened file with saved story so far
2. Watched about 3 hours of YouTube car crash videos
3. Checked email
4. Watched an hour of YouTube tow-truck videos
5. Went home
6. Drank Beer (for research purposes, only)
bilbo

Beer

4 years ago

I wish I was as productive as you

Ogre11

Beer

4 years ago
Update:

words and something... more words and something
Ogre11

Beer

4 years ago
1 week to go: this totally counts if the story is completely in my head and not written down anywhere, right?
Gower

Beer

4 years ago

Honestly I just see the word "Beer" and I want to give you an A+++.

Bucky

Beer

4 years ago
Sounds like you need to give your next class a beer writing project.
Gower

Beer

4 years ago

I'll just include a section on my syllabus titled "Acceptable Bribes."

Ogre11

Beer

4 years ago
Weekend Update:

Following Gower's suggestions, drank beer. Wrote some words. Drank some more beer. Up to a whopping 2000 words.

Plans for Sunday: Beer and football. Lots of both.

Prognosis for the story: not good.
Ogre11

Beer

4 years ago
I truly underestimated my ability to procrastinate. Usually the deadlines help me, but well, I've really done a great job of relaxing during this break.

Bucky

Beer

4 years ago
This is there where you tell your class that you haven't submitted grades yet, and they have a great opportunity to get extra credit.
Ogre11

Beer

4 years ago
Great idea, but they're all on break, too...
Bucky

Beer

4 years ago
They have e-mail.
Ogre11

Beer

4 years ago
Well, I avoided the pit of shame.

That's about all I can say about that mess.

Well, I do want to thank those in the discord that helped me through the last day. I had about 3,000 words with just 9 hours to go to the deadline. The discord helped to provide inspiration with a number of high-quality endings, all of which you can find in the story. I ended up with almost 11,000 words, so it's not a total pile of... well, maybe it is... Sadly, there is only a little beer.

I did like writing it with manuskript software, that totally worked and allowed me to work with the pages. No map there, but if I had a complex map, I'd probably write that by hand, anyway.