The Strangest Form of Immersion

 

©Mystery Flesh Pit National Park

If you read my previous post, or (let's face it) a lot of my blog, you'll know that I'm in a bit of a creative funk at the moment. And not the good kind. There was a moment in 2024, looking at the physical copy of Mothership for the first time while at Tabletop Scotland, that I really had a wave of inspiration that got me fired up to create something. I did a blog post about it, back in September 2024.

I started thinking about something new to create, but there are some limitations that are holding me back. One day, I'll go into the details. But, after a sudden burst of enthusiasm, of joyous creativity, the reality of the situation crept back in, and my motivation and drive were thoroughly beaten into submission. 

Since then, there have been a couple of moments of similar inspiration. One was a video I watched called Pursue Ambitious Projects, which I covered in a blog post last year. It looked at how David Lynch and David Bowie enjoyed the freedom of doing whatever they wanted, without the limitations of commerciality, and revelled in the challenge of an ambitious project that really got them fired up and excited about things.

The other moment of real inspiration was last week, watching a video of a review of the Tabletop RPG based on Mystery Flesh Pit National Park. I'd heard vaguely about the TTRPG, and wasn't sure what to expect, but saw this video come up on my feed about RPGs getting weird and gave it a look. 

While the RPG looks great, and I like the implementation of the Cypher System, it's the opening section that really inspired me. Mystery Flesh Pit National Park is a personal project of Trevor Roberts. He just started posting this weird idea on a Subreddit, and kept building upon it, creating an immersive world where this weird biological entity has been commercialised and mined by a corporation. The amazing world building, the graphic design for this fictional world is fantastic.

©Mystery Flesh Pit National Park / Trevor Roberts - https://www.mysteryfleshpitnationalpark.com

It's just really inspiring. I want to be able to immerse myself in a setting and get really enthusiastic about it, just like Roberts did with the Park. Maybe soon...

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In other news, the overlords at Google decided that my blog wasn't frequent enough, or focused enough, to warrant adverts to drag in a minimal amount of revenue, and you know what? I don't care. So, no ads on the blog. Or on the Patreon.

I will, however, try to be a little more frequent than once a month, but not so much that you get sick of me. 

In the meantime, check out that video about the Park, and who knows, maybe it'll inspire you too.

Stay Multi-classy!

What's the Point?

I don't know about you, but I'm finding it hard to be creative at the moment. Sure, there are deadlines which is keeping me motivated to create stuff for work, though there are times when I start to question even that for the same reasons as below. 

I made a video last week, one of those unboxing things. I've made a few, and I noticed that the last five videos I recorded and uploaded to Youtube seemed to be done in January (2024, 2025, and 2026 respectively). It's almost like every year I start out feeling enthusiastic and determined to create video content and then it fizzles out by the end of the month. 

Strangely, I watch a lot of Youtube. Cool crafting ones by Bill Making Stuff and Dan Does, to the TTRPG insights of the Ludonarrative Dissidents, and heaps of art ones. And then I look at what I'm producing and I wonder, why do I bother? I don't have the tech to do this. The iPhone I have is ancient, but it's still better quality than the expensive camera I bought 15+ years ago to make a webseries (that you can't even see anymore). I don't have an expensive or cool microphone, or an over-the-table tripod. You'll laugh if you saw the tripod/selfie-stick combo I'm using. But then I think I'm not attractive or interesting or cool enough to be making videos anyway, unless they're ones that just feature my hands and my well chewed fingers.

However, there's another reason that's holding me back from making review videos, or even making my own games, but I can't get into that right now... one day...

But the biggest reason I can't get motivated to create, whether it's games or videos or even writing blog posts like this, is because of... well... everything else. 

The world has really gone to crap over the last few years. Countries being invaded, people being persecuted, the environment going to hell, the rich and powerful doing all they can to stroke their egos and make life more and more difficult for those they look down on. I know a lot of people are equating this to the years before WWII, with the rise of fascism, and they're right. It's like effing Star Wars, and a mad psychopath is trying to make himself Emperor, not just a King. Did no one learn anything from Star Wars? Did you not watch Andor? 

I feel like I'm a crazy game designer on one of the core worlds, making Sabacc cards or Dejarik variants, while the Empire is breaking down the doors and kicking Twi'leks out into streets for having lekku. I mean, how can you concentrate on making games, or making art, or stupid videos, while the universe is like this? 

So, instead of being creative, I watch TV. I watch Youtube. I play stupid 'match' games on my phone, and I wait. And hope. I hope for change. I hope for a better world. 

After all...

Rebellions are built on hope.

Stay safe everyone. Stay multiclassy.