Room 2205. Done.
Goals are good. Whether you set weight loss goals, educational goals, fitness goals, financial goals, or even insane goals to write a massive dwarven dungeon, goals will help motivate and inspire you. I set myself a goal to finish the entire dwarven dungeon by March 2031.
You won’t always meet your goals. Things come up. Life happens. But the important thing is to get back to them as soon as possible. The longer you wait, the harder it will be. As a famous person once said, “You only fail when you stop trying.” So, when you get derailed, get back to it.
I had a few minor setbacks this month where I started to write and design, but lacked motivation, or was excited by a specific area and wrote a lot of material, and then decided it didn’t make sense, and scrapped it (that’s the worst, but it happens more than I would like). I did not let that stop me. I continued at it, and the month turned out to be very productive. I had days where I was able to design complete areas, things clicked, and I wrote far more than I planned.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I set a long-term goal of finishing the entire project by 2031. If I only had that one goal, I think I would lose steam and momentum. The goal is too expansive and too massive to think about. 2031? That is so far away. 20,000 rooms? I must be crazy! So, I set shorter-term goals. Goals that I could achieve more easily and keep myself focused. One of them was to write 10 rooms a day. Another was to complete the Dwarven Dungeon’s third level by March 12th, 2026, which I am happy to say that I am on track to finish well before that deadline.
Goals are great for us. They are also great for role-playing characters. You should set goals for your characters and strive to accomplish them. Set a goal for your hero to reach 9th level and build a stronghold. Each level you achieve is a short-term goal. The stronghold is the endgame. Set a goal for your wizard to find and learn every spell available to their class. Each spell you find is a goal completed. The completed library is the ultimate achievement. And, set goals for each gaming night. Tonight, you will kill the nasty beastie you encountered the session before but avoided. Or, set a goal to fully map out the dungeon level, so you have a better chance of finding those secret areas. Setting party goals allows your spell casters to prepare their spells for a specific task, allows you to buy the supplies you will need to accomplish your mission, and enables you to plan and work together to achieve something. And, it might even reduce the time you spend arguing about what you’re going to do that night. After all, the time we get to hang out with friends and game is limited. We should always make the most of it.
Enough of my rambling. I have to get back to the dungeon. I hope you will follow me on this journey through the darkness and maybe drop me an email at dungeonarchitect@basementgames.com with any encouraging words you might have. It’s always good to have friends motivate you along your journey. Everyone needs encouragement now and again. Even insane writers of epic dungeons.