Monkey Ilse Basic Fantasy Adventure Module (Draft)

[jdn2006]

Thanks to SmootRK's post about module inspirations(http://basicfantasy.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=78), I went ahead and fleshed out an idea I had about a Monkey Isle in an old-school lost world format. I hoped to have this worked up better but caught a cold and things are moving like mush. (It needs more detailed adventures, perhaps move some of the monsters into Smoot's Monster Supplement 2, and other things...) The name "Monkey isle" was chosen to make it unique -- to save names like Fear Island or Skull Island for other approaches.

This is on SCRIBD, which is inconvenient in ways -- attachments here seem to be limited to about 256kb.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/15118430/Monk ... -Adventure

[Solomoriah]

I just boosted the attachment size to 5 MB. Hopefully that doesn't come back to bite me.

[SmootRK]

Perhaps you can limit the ability to post large items to yourself only (Solo)... drafts that go beyond normal limits must be emailed to you first. Or perhaps you can host the items on the main BFRPG site (in hidden directory) and only links to such files are actually posted on the forum site/section.

and now, to take a look at what JD wrote...

[jdn2006]

This is a test of the attachment and includes a few improvements on the maps.



Since it is a draft, if an official version comes out it'll be deleted to prevent having an out-dated copy around.

[*** UPDATE: I posted Draft 2, so read on down the line for the newest version. ****]

[Solomoriah]

FYI, all you have to do to get an "official" project going is submit the manuscript and maps to me for formatting and publication. It doesn't have to be "finished" to be published; one of the mantras of Open Source development is "publish early, publish often."

It's why the Basic Fantasy project has such a large library of playable adventures... an adventure doesn't have to be "finished" to be playable, after all. And publishing an unfinished work allows others to contribute (unless you just don't want that).

[Hywaywolf]

I did a very quick scan and found myself reading about the temple and the crabs. On page 20 what is the difference between option 2 and 3?

[jdn2006]

I did a very quick scan and found myself reading about the temple and the crabs. On page 20 what is the difference between option 2 and 3?

I wasn't paying attention when I was typing. I changed #3 to read something like: the larger crabs attack first followed 1d4 rounds later by the smaller ones. The whole idea being an example of how a GM can mix things up (for people who never gave it any thought and have monsters just mob the adventurers all the time).

[jdn2006]

FYI, all you have to do to get an "official" project going is submit the manuscript and maps to me for formatting and publication. It doesn't have to be "finished" to be published; one of the mantras of Open Source development is "publish early, publish often."

It's why the Basic Fantasy project has such a large library of playable adventures... an adventure doesn't have to be "finished" to be playable, after all. And publishing an unfinished work allows others to contribute (unless you just don't want that).

That's good to know. And by "official" I meant "worth publishing so people can play" -- it's hard for me to find the right terminology right now. I should have said "finished product" or something like that. I plan to take a week or so and sharpen it up and submit it. This morning I went through the "New Monsters" to straighten out the quick notes made there and make them work better with the monsters as already designed, for example. Lots of tweaks and changes. Thinking about modifying the ilsands some to add more land to them... The random encounter tables are mostly just numbered to see how many entries there are -- they will have to be reworked to give a distribution based on standard dice.

I don't know about other people, but I like seeing what others are doing just to see what they are doing, finished or not. Monkey Isle is really crude at this stage -- but without the post by Smoot and comments by others about what they are doing, it wouldn't have gotten this far (not in a few years at least).

[jdn2006]

Had a decent day of working so here's draft 2.

Monkey-Isle-Draft (BF Format) 20090510.pdf

(845.83 KiB) Downloaded 524 times

As far as what Solomoriah said:

And publishing an unfinished work allows others to contribute (unless you just don't want that).

I've seen what looks like too many half-finished projects, so I'm doing what I can on things that interest me. But, when I'm done with anything -- it doesn't mean someone else couldn't contribute more material, if the desire came up. I've just carried it to my own limits. Right now I'm weak on art, making up NPCs, towns and cities, and other supporting material, so there's no way I want to do everything myself. Folding in some of the monsters from Supplment 2 and the Old Dungeoneers Almanack might make for some unique adventures -- if they fit in the style and lost world theme of Monkey Isle.

[Solomoriah]

Too many half-finished projects?

Well, if that bothers you... it doesn't bother me. So long as the ready-to-run adventures are plainly marked as different from the unfinished adventures, I can't see it as a bad thing. Just because the entirety of BF2 isn't "finished" doesn't make Fortress of the Iron Duke any less playable.

When you keep your projects strictly secret until they are done, you are committed to doing all the work yourself. Also, you never get encouragement. Whereas, if you show your work at each and every stage, you get help offered (sometimes the smallest thing can really help, and sometimes someone will submit something really cool) and you get encouragement from those who have seen the direction you are taking.