Taming the Muse... Or the Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men...

I had a plan. I really did. I wanted to build Stalwart Team Up by fleshing out a general narrative structure, playing through the scenario, posting notes, and then using those notes to compose the actual stories for publication.

My mind decided it didn't want to do that. Instead, I have already written the first two and over half of the third issue, and have yet to pick up any dice. The stories are just naturally fitting together, and the 'team up' model is giving me a very organic progression from one partnership to another. The first three issues feature Doc Stalwart, Condorian, and Twilight Archer, and I already know the plot of issue 4, and the character who will appear, Microbe. 

It looks now like I will get the first three stories done and up for sale, and then get to the work of adapting these into game supplements. I suppose the order doesn't ultimately matter, as long as there is a synergy between the paired releases. It is helpful to have this in mind as I write, because it is challenging me to write sequences that are also viable as game-based scenarios. 

This is a different process from when I was writing Doc Stalwart stories before. For those, I was entirely focused on the characters and the story I wanted to tell, and if an entire issue was two people sitting in a room talking, then it was. It didn't much matter that there were set pieces and interesting combat sequences for actual play. Now, this is a factor in my thinking, and the stories have a little more action and move a little quicker as a result. 

I've also drafted a chunk of the first game supplement for this, and realized that I can build this as three scenes with two cut scenes between, a prologue and an epilogue. So, a structure of four story-based situations and transitional cut scenes (layered with roleplaying) with a three-act structure of combat/encounters nested inside. This feels like a very workable model. Ultimately, I am giving myself freedom to deviate from the comic in the game adaptation because I want there to be a bit more action. For example, I add a sequence where Trash Talker and some Goonsquad members take part in an armored car heist. This is nowhere in the story, but is a side quest that gives the players another enounter before the big fight at the end. 

The only other challenge I see is with covers - I want the books to have the same covers (so you know that they are telling the same story), but I want it to be clear for you all which one is which. I have added a label of either 'for the world's niftiest superhero rpg' or 'a superhero story' at the bottom, so you know which is which. I think that should suffice. I also changed the banner color on the stories as well from yellow to dark red just as another visual indicator.