Too many ideas, not enough time

[Anime Kidd]

How do you guys (and gals) deal juggling too many large projects at once (if you do)? Do you spend a bit of time on each or just concentrate on one until finished and move on to the next? Or some other way? This question has been on my mind for awhile and wanted to see how others handle such a situation.

 

[ph34r]

I usually finish one thing at a time. Stuff seems to get done faster for me when I do things this way.

 

[Li Shenron]

I have many ideas in my mind to brew all the time, but my will is to tie them together and use all in the current campaign. Some ideas for a different campaign are often tempting, but normally I think about it for an evening, record down some notes on one of my notebooks, and then leave them alone...

I like having some kind of "ideas vault" with little stuff ready-to-drop in the middle of an adventure (such as an NPC or a particular encounter/location). But bigger things usually don't get developed more than one at a time.

 

[Maldur]

see sig

 

[ThoughtBubble]

At the moment, I have a 20 page file of "Things I'd like to do someday" as well as a notebook of "Cool snippets and ideas."

Whever I come up with a small idea on the road, it goes into the notebook. Whenever I come up with a more complex idea that needs explanation, or clarification, I break open the document and begin writing everything that comes to mind as quickly as I can until nothing else flows. I edit it for half an hour to an hour afterwards, then call it a wrap unless I get re-inspired by that idea again later.

If I need a villian, or an interesting situation, I dig through the notebook. If I need the cornerstone to a plot, or a new campaign, I dig through the file.

Sometimes, if I'm short of things to do, I'll dig through one or the other until something catches my eye, then run with it.

I find that if I don't write it all down, I tend not to remember them later.

 

[Anime Kidd]

I'm pretty much the same as ThoughtBubble. I try to get down everything I can think of for a particular idea and then try to squeeze a bit more or come back to it later.

I also have about 15 different notebooks lying around the room and many many text files on the 'puter and many CDs too. I'm totally unorganized as well, which can't help much.

 

[the Jester]

I'm pretty much always working of twelve concurrent projects. Okay, that's a minor exaggeration, but to give you an idea I'm currently working on:

-my campaign's epic iteration (epic progressions, spells, monsters, etc)- which is really a project each on epic prcs, feats, spells and monsters.

-expanding my (non-epic) prc document with some new goodies.

-a system for assigning CRs to hostile environments.

-a system for assigning CRs to social encounters.

-a document on halfling society (still very sketchy at present)

-a book of monsters (with a friend; eventually to be published as Adversity, and will include the systems for assigning CRs to social/environmental challenges).

Humm, that's about it- I recently finished the History and Religion overview documents, and next is an adventure for the low-level group I'm running (the Asylum of Advanced Mental Treatment- hm, and since I just got the XPH I know what the focus is gonna be...)

 

[Varianor Abroad]

How do you guys (and gals) deal juggling too many large projects at once (if you do)? Do you spend a bit of time on each or just concentrate on one until finished and move on to the next? Or some other way? This question has been on my mind for awhile and wanted to see how others handle such a situation.

I've learned to pare down my projects so that I'm only juggling 3-4 at any given time instead of the dozen I used to do. I tend to (now) work on one to the point where I need a break, switch gears, and then come back to it or move on to a third. However, I've become mindful of deadlines in my old age as I write more for publication. Always hit the deadline.

Now, as to ideas? One of my players asked "How do you get these ideas?" I said "They don't stop." And it's true. The best solution IMO is a) a pocket notebook and b) when near a computer email yourself a note so that you've got it in electronic format. If at home, open a new Word doc. Clearly I need a Palm Pilot or something, but I have yet to invest in that bit of technology.