Monday 8th July

This week I finished planning Inspirisles. This was an important milestone, as I regard the systems, mechanics and concepts as the toughest part of the development process. On top of incorporating BSL through the Shaping mechanic, I have also added a teen-friendly way of handling character death and am working with Andre Domingos of ModBits in Bath to 3D print custom dice for the game. These bespoke d6s will be used for the Dusting mechanic.

I have edited my RPG Workshop mentees’ draft adventure. Though it was rough around the edges, I am used to workshopping material and I hope he will find the feedback helpful and informative.

The adventure for TTRPG group Dark Galaxies Gaming (@DarkGalaxiesDM) is really coming alone. I finished the introduction for the world of Dolderia ready for the Kickstarter launch sometime in September. My initial writing was declined due to its experimental format. However, instead of becoming disillusioned, I listened to the director’s feedback and rewrote the section. I’m really pleased with the result and it bodes well for my future TTRPG future and my modules for Inspirisles.

For the week ahead, I will begin to flesh out the Questing section of the Inspirisles, create a Descriptive Skill List for Hatchlings players new to Dungeons & Dragons and start work on the setting art with my new iPad Air!

Go to relevant pages for these updates.

Hatchlings BSL Alphabet

Found the most child-friendly BSL alphabet I could. Now have a fingerspelling reference sheet ready for group sessions.

Colour contrast good for visually impaired

The Shaping system within Inspirisles will begin with fingerspelling to represent basic spells and abilities. As the players increase in level and discover more advanced powers, the signs will move beyond the alphabet to actual sign combinations.

Some examples of signed spells:

Deafness & Dragons Update

After some consideration, I realised my ambitions for Deafness & Dragons were too high. The project needs to be manageable and deliverable by my deadline of August 2019. Therefore, I have decided to concentrate more on teaching BSL and deaf awareness to the teens I’ll be DMing for.

I have run a series of deaf awareness sessions in the centre of Bath with local businesses, to encourage their interactions with the deaf community and to ensure they know basic BSL such as the alphabet, greetings and any signs specific to their job roles. I have always found that the students love and appreciate learning the language and I have seen them using it when out and about in town.

Inspirisles will now incorporate deaf awareness, a BSL alphabet and signs specifically designed to express the many spells and abilities in the game.

Beyond this, once the setting is complete, I still want to bring Inspirisles to the deaf school in Bristol and to the wider deaf community.