Sea

The inception of a new game is always interesting. Most of the time, it's as simple as just a neat idea. It's a running joke that the curse of death are the words 'Wouldn't it be cool if....'. Usually, that's all it takes and I'm off to the races again. This time, I was completely deluged. I didn't even have to think. It just started happening.

Both iterations of Space were ambitious at the time. The first was just the notion of turning the house into a spaceship; the second was trying to really make a decent story in a restrictive setting. I told people I was burned out, and that was absolutely true. I'm also not challenged any more with it. Add to that the sense that it's not been a collaborative effort in at least a year, and the end was no surprise coming.

So, then, we had to make Sea remedy those problems. Needed folks who would be into it, willing to work hard on it. And I (and Gogas too, I suspect) needed a new level of challenge. For Gogas, I think it's going to be not only coming up with new tech, but a second level of disguising that tech to fit into the legitimate Steampunk genre. Not just gluing cogs on shit, but creating the illusion that all the tech runs on steam. Pipes instead of wires.

For me, I realize there won't be a novelty factor. I can't use that as a crutch, the way I could with Space. I have to make absolutely certain the characters are solid, the world is solid, the plot is solid. While the set is going to be impressive (seriously - the shit Gogas has shown us so far and the ideas already tossed into the hat are so fucking neat), it's not going to serve as a distraction. Blinky lights aren't going to be there to keep people distracted. Which means they're going to have to really be able to get into character and just be in character. Which means I gotta make sure the characters are good enough to allow that to happen.

Bailey's a good example; she's going to be the ship's cook. Now, in Space, we just had folks make meals. Didn't really matter what, so long as it could feed all of us. This time, she's been poring over cook books, and choosing dishes that would fit not only in the time setting (Victorian), but would make sense as far as the game is concerned - lots of seafood, that sort of thing. That's the sort of detail necessary for this game to be able to work.

It also means Gogas' tech has to be very, very functional. It has to work, and be usable, so people can live on the Nautilus and be able to touch it and use the tangible aspects of it, so they can stay in-character and believe they're on the ship easier. I think it's imminently do-able but, again, a challenge.

All that said...I think we're about to one-up ourselves in a frighteningly incredible way.