Topic: NaNoWriMo 2013

[PhillipAEllis]

It's almost November, and that means NaNo tiem! I almost forgot about it completely, but was thinking it would be cool to write the first draft of something (or some things) for Rolemaster, instead of fiction. What do you think? Who's with me and wanting to settle down to some writing?

[intothatdarkness]

I've been sort of doing this anyhow, but I'm getting close to a point where I have to stop working and wait for the Beta to finalize. I'm sure I could do some setting work for one of those projects, though.

[rdanhenry]

The problem I have with game materials and NaNoWriMo is that you get a fair amount of stuff that isn't exactly words, so it's difficult to do a fair word count. If it were setting material and the stat blocks were left to fill in later, it could make a nice world-building project, though.

[Defendi]

Also, it doesn't count for the contest. 

[rdanhenry]

Also, it doesn't count for the contest. 

Officially, no. Well, it depends. A setting description document probably would qualify as a lengthy work of fiction, "We define a novel as a lengthy work of fiction." (http://nanowrimo.org/en/about/hownanoworks)

I don't think a rulebook would count as fiction, so you wouldn't qualify. However, there are those who do other work as part of NaNoWriMo. They are recognized as "NaNo Rebels" and have their own subforum and are welcome. They don't seem to have addressed the issue of gaming materials (http://nanowrimo.org/forums/nano-rebels/threads/118245) in the "Am I a Rebel?" sticky post. But a world building document was officially ruled a "novel" here: http://nanowrimo.org/en/forums/nano-rebels/threads/76803. So I'd say: setting materials or adventures would be fiction, but rules are "how-to" materials and non-fiction.

[PhillipAEllis]

I'm usually a rebel, having written (one year) over 75 000 words of sonnets (among others), so doing game design doesn't phase me.

[Defendi]

Unless they've radically changed their definition of a lengthy work of fiction, I'm pretty sure it doesn't.    For instance I'm sure you aren't allowed to include your outlines, character sketches, etc. That said a lot of people participate by creating documents that don't count.