Saturday, June 2, 2012

Mail Art and the Freecity of Haldane

A while back Mark of Creative Mountain Games pointed me in the direction of a speech given by John Cleese on creativity. It's a remarkable video full of amazing ideas. A key thought I brought away is this: Creativity and the quality of your creative output is directly related to how long you are willing to grapple with an idea. You have to be comfortable with feeling discomfit and you twist, grind and work through a problem in an attempt to find a creative solution.  It's an amazing vid and I think you will really like it.

     With that in mind, I have reached two solutions to problems that have been giving me hell for months.

     1) How Do I Enhance The Print Experience? 
     A long time ago I used to send away for mail art and I also shared goofy little collages I made with friends. I love mail art. I am amazed at how people make collages, rubber stamps, envelopes and other paper-based works of art that they share with others in limited numbers. It's you own, unique work of art that comes to you through the post like an unexpected gift.

     For months I have wanted to maximize the print experience in the zine. How can I better use the interior cover and back page cover? How can I reduce page count slightly to 20 pages) so that I provide readers fun, creative bits that tie in to the content? Some ideas have finally come to me and I look forward to including the first experiment in no. 11.

     The key, however, is to make sure that the additional content, like reference cards, fake letters, mini-books, etc, do not cause the content within the zine to be lessened if it is lost. I want the "mail art" to relate, but not be critical to the zine. I hope that makes sense.

     2) Where's My Freecity?!
     I blame Erik Tenkar for this one. In reference to my writing, he said I was at my best when I started small and expanded outward. I think the sand box has been a good example of that. It's becoming a detailed connection of NPCs, locations and themes that started with something very small.

     I am going to approach the Freecity of Handane with that same approach. Remember in Loviatar no. 1-3 how I was exploring the city of Baldur's Gate from the inside out? I am going to use that same approach with the Freecity, an urban sandbox if you will. Loviatar no. 12 may be sandbox-free, but the urban exploration should begin with issue 13.

     Okay, gotta go. There are stat blocks to crunch and hockey to be watched. Go, Kings!


4 comments:

  1. I think I just... ;)

    Awesome news!

    I think I know just where to drop this in my sandbox.

    Woot!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Awesome! I love the Freecity and cannot wait to see what you come up with. Remember, if you need anything for the zine, drop me a line and it shall be done!

    ReplyDelete