iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

I’m looking for places to quantify treasure and also renumbering the rooms. I’m sitting in a cafe like this, fwiw, trying to catch every number in the manuscript (I always miss one, which is why you get an extra editor)

Then I just start editing. Editing for flow and for sounding good. It won't be the last pass I do for this - hence in the last screengrab the "remove excess articles". It's too wordy still, and needs streamlining. These changes are all bitsy and there are a lot of them.

Here's my planning of that; I just write notes in and cut them out later:

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Idle Cartulary @idlecartulary.itch.io · 31/08/2025

Update: Silksong all morning, then nap, then cat-vats all afternoon.

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i’m having trouble deciding which to read first out of my fairly long to be reviewed list any suggestions?

1. Ancestral Peninsula 1
2. A Feast for a Sphinx
3. The Shrike
4. Land of Mist
5. Old-School Essentials Adventure Anthology 2
6. The House under the Moondial
7. The Moss Mothers Maze
8. CRYO-SIQ
9. Old-School Essentials Adventure Anthology 1
10. ENGRAM
11. Emergence
12. Providers v1.1
13. Fragments of the Floating City
14. Maize Borg
15. Mana Meltdown
16. Oubliette (n) 0
17. Oubliette (n) 1
18. Late Stage Death Cultism
19. Daedalus Station
20. False Temple
21. Malign Keep
22. Big Trouble at the Bear’s Lair
23. Inside Everflowing Curtain
24. The Ghosts of Zoazanna Mountain
25. Beneath these Grasses Grieving
26. Vitacermis
27. Gackling Moon
28. A Mansion Most Merry
29. A Mansion most Vile
30. Tenarian – The Dying of the Light
31. With The Cult of Crimson Revellers
32. Hideous Daylight
33. Wyvern Songs
34. Rotting Potentialy

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I've done one more pass, adding directions and tidying out highlights, and now I have to pick up the kids. I *think* this is the last thing that is incomplete. This shows the importance of using the same shorthands - if I'd used #### consistently instead of XYZ, I'd be able to search for the term.

And then kicked on with a second coffee to try and wrap this pass altogether (there are a bunch more additions and changes than the screenshots), really leaving only two major jobs - rekeying and mapping, adding directions to the exits.

I decided to fill this in this afternoon when I sat down at my favourite spot for a late lunch.

You're also looking for logical inconsistencies: Why is Punkin trapped? Why is the axle here? I need to change this so it makes sense, or the players will never figure out the puzzle. Also: I just listed a bunch of books in two other libraries, why do I need to do it in a THIRD library? Cut it.

Also in this pass: write the damned stat blocks eh. Here, I wrote the first, then wrote the third, then realised I needed some personality in the first, so revised it. Smear it with personality!

As I go through, I make lots of small clarity changes, like this, and small "ugh I can't be bothered thinking this through right now" highlights, like this, as well as epic combinations of them, like the third screen where I cut out a later section (that was just notes), and wrote it into text here

Here I have 7 hooks, and I only want 6 hook, I aim to have the hooks sink into different parts of the plot: I have 1 Thieves, 2 An Imp, 3 Mystical Gem, 4 Princess, 5 Rare Book, 6 White Cats, 7 Missing Person. the least interesting one might be Gem, here: It overlaps with 1 and 4 already

Ok, so now the actual writing is done. Excellent. I need to go back, answer questions, fix up the character text. And then re-number everything. And do stat blocks. Then, take a break, let someone else read it, and then head in again. This phase is at least a week of not touching.

The changes will end up being such that 10 is 7, 12 is 8, 8 is 9, 7 is 10, 11 remains 11, 9 is 12, 14 is 13, 19 is 14, 13 is 15, 15 is 16, 18 is 17, 16 is 18, and 17 is 19. If you're interested.

which necessitated a cahnge to the earlier boiler room text (which I also made quotes, as now I've started doing that proper) . The key is: As you write, if you add new pieces, they should impact other pieces.

Here, I finally bit the bullet and started translating the character texts into quotes, a method which really worked in Sharky, but that I dropped in Lightfingers simply because it wasn't as character-focused. As you can see, I'm just filling in the gaps. Note the surgery change —

I continue, just trying to fill in as much as I can. There are no new questions in these two rooms, so no highlights. There WAS a highlight where the compass was - i don't feel violent traps fit here, so i initially couldn't figure what to put here. But any alarm will bring attention fo Raven.

and this. This is all stuff that is important thematically, but that I haven't quite figured out yet. The process of figuring it out might change the overall module.

come back to it the next day, while the kids are at sports. i decided to tidy up - basically, saw some odd annoying paragraphing and misordered keys. so i start removing questions i've answered, trying to catch questions i've missed answering, leaving in highlights like these

while i'm at the end, i'll add the loose ends section, which I couldn't think much about until this point. this basically is what will happen if certain consequences abound. i imagine there'll be at least one more, maybe two, but this is a start

Ok, I'm at the end, now. I still have to write write the third level, but it was good to get to the end where i asked the big questions, it was satisfying to see i found most of the answers. the thing I'd not addressed was a second reason to actually free Gatraxas - i want a selfish one too

Now, I could stop there, having scaffolded myself for room one, but I have momentum. It'll be more effective to continue scaffolding while I can, and leave more hooks for me to write later. I don't have hours to write right now (I have to have lunch, pick up the kids, take one to the dentist).

How do I scaffold myself past this roadblock: I start off my writing the headings. I have exits, the special, the character. That leaves just the description. I delete the random table, because you don't need randomness there (although you might have a table of changes in the sidebar - I'll add that

The next thing (after a nap), is a new level. This is where I made a mistake earlier: This looks intimidating, compared to previously, right? I got cracking on the earlier parts quickly, so there's heaps of scaffolding for me to write onto when I'm low on creative energy. here, there isn't much

Here, you can see my note-taking. I wrote this room, and started to finish the character of Carlie, but then decided to change the way I'm writing all of my characters in the whole module. Do that now? Nah. I need to finish writing the rooms. Write a note to fix the thing, and highlight it.

Skipped a room, as I'd already written it, and onto the next. I moved the Raven info to the raven section, and then finished up all the details here. It's important to see how this is, while time consuming, relatively easy work: I know everything I have to write, I just have to write it.

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This is the finished room. You can see I changed the paste, I added references to other spaces. I just realised that many of these doors are open, so you can see through them. I had to answer why the party might interfere with the imps at all. Always mention the cats!

While starting on the next room, I remembered I was supposed to be wiring this place to blow. So I've copied the existing "this room is wired to blow" text into the rooms that should have it, so I don't forget in future. Then I'll finish writing the room.

Ok, back to it, a week later. It's been a week, so I'm fuzzy on where I'm at, so rather than go back and re-read everything, which I just don't have time for, I'll scroll back looking for the first unfinished key or the first highlighted thing to start writing. I found this, and started writing

Idle Cartulary @idlecartulary.itch.io · 31/07/2025

here, i’m asking questions to make sure i remember to answer them, and just adding an outline for me to easily tap into later. outlining is for every stage of your writing! don’t know what it is? write “write about this”!

Idle Cartulary @idlecartulary.itch.io · 30/07/2025

The incorporation of the romantic sub plot, though, gives me a clue what to put in one of the empty rooms, the one near the vats. This is why your outline and final product often diverge: your writing benefits from iteration and breathing space, so that you can figure out what the themes are.

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Idle Cartulary @idlecartulary.itch.io · 30/07/2025

has helped me crack both, turning Cat-Vats into the romantic tower-crawl that I originally wanted in GER, resulting in some changes for the more interesting, see below. All of Cat-Vats hooks remain valid, but an additional secret hook is now in GER, and it serves as a hook back to GER as well. neat!

Idle Cartulary @idlecartulary.itch.io · 27/07/2025

this is a micro-module project. it matters how the art and maps are shaped here. it matters where the columns are. how many words are in them, matters. proximity matters. i can’t figure this stuff out until layout. so, there are reasons not to edit in layout: sometimes there are reasons to do it too

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last one before i go pick up the girls from school. again, i'm just tweaking it in the direction of my required format, leaning the ideas from the first draft into actual scenes and concrete interesting stuff. i went back and added, for example, that Raven can't come in yet...

A little more, same same edits are happening. Things are gradually getting more personal, more specific.

The goal with these re-writes is to increase the intertextuality, and hence the complexity of the world building. Names and concepts change to match the impled setting. I've written out the hooks early, because they need to be in the text of the module - the highlighted part is "hey don't forget"

I promised! But it's late afternoon, so only a short period. If you're still reading this thread, please like or reshare, because I'll stop if nobody's reading it. I went back in after polishing The Great Egg Race for a day or so, and started re-writing the "What's going on section":

Idle Cartulary @idlecartulary.itch.io · 24/07/2025

Ok, laid it out. Needs a little tweaking just cos I deleted a module out of it, and there are some errant references. But it’s pretty good! I’m trying to manifest a collab here @evlynmoreau.bsky.social if you’re available in the next few months

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so, because this is how i work, i keep percolating on the space while i do other things. i texted these thoughts to myself while driving, and will update the draft accordingly (also, siri can’t understand me — curse voice recording being designed for specific voices)

This is a finished first draft, so I start asking questions, now. Here is my brainstorm before my laptop runs out of battery. I ended up with enough hooks for the starter. What's next?

Ok, basic keying is wrapped up. You need to write a bad draft, then you polish it. Note that it got slower to write the further I got in (i also got distracted), but also it got more interesting. I'm left with a bunch of questions, and the answers will make everytihng better that's here.

so, i added a crawl space to maintain the loop and add secrets, but connected the bathroom and kitchen more directly and sensibly. yay! hopefully that’s enough tweaks

So, this is a mundane level, but i know evil stuff has taken over. This means it's got boring stuff in it. So, I'm now considering rearranging again. Yipes! in mundane spaces, you'll wonder why theres a secret door to the bathroom, or why the kitchen exit in the cloakroom, etc.

this is my change: it keeps a loop, gives you a chance to ambush the boss who’s in 17, and you can guess they’re there from the space. see how fluid the process is? just do what feels good. back to keying.

starting l3 keys, there's a big question: why are the secret doors here? That doesn’t really make sense, separateing the entry doors in 13 from the final rooms with secret doors. the puzzle i just mentioned isn't interesting in that context. Looking at the map, I might need to move them.