Red Herring: A Thesis Blog
A bit of preface: as an MFA candidate, I'm required to produce a thesis project. I had to do a project like this as an undergraduate, as well, and it was a huge struggle for me to narrow down the scope of what I wanted to do. The end result was half-baked and frankly, not something I'm very proud of. I'm sure I'll discuss in more depth later -- the work hasn't gone completely to waste -- but I wish I had thought ahead and planned more coherently.
In the interests of not doing that again, I thought I would create a public record of my iterations, progress, and general thoughts about my thesis. I'm notorious in my own head for starting and abandoning projects, and if that's what this turns into … well, so be it. Shit happens. But hopefully not. So, with all that in mind, here we go:
For my thesis project, I want to create a D&D 5e-compatible adventure in which players solve a murder that occurs at a party.
Up until a short time ago, I had wanted to create an entire campaign setting guide, complete with fully realized characters, cultures, and adventures. That is objectively too much for one person to complete in the time frame I have (which, to be honest, I forget the actual length of), so I've been looking for ways to pare it down without feeling like I'm under-producing.
A friend of mine has done a lot of work creating their own campaign setting, and I strongly considered creating the artwork to accompany that. This is something that's still on the table, really, and something I want to do regardless of where I land with my thesis project, but I think it might still be too much to fully realize. This friend is incredibly creative, and there is a LOT of material to contend with. Besides, I worry that not having full creative input on the content I am illustrating will make it more difficult for me to formulate a written thesis. I could (and might later) list out pros and cons for this project, but since the author isn't particularly driven to publish the content they've written, I think it would make more sense to go with my murder-mystery.
And really, I just love murder-mysteries. They're fun, engaging, and classic. They're also experiencing a significant revival in film and other media in recent years, which tells me there is a market for this kind of thing. It's an excellent opportunity for me to create content that I personally enjoy, while also (hopefully) breaking into the market of TTRPG production.
What's more, this is a project I have a head start on. Remember how I mentioned that my undergraduate thesis hadn't entirely gone to waste? I'm currently running my first long-term D&D campaign for which I'm the DM, and it utilizes more or less the same worldbuilding and overarching plot points that I created for my thesis project in 2017/2018. While running this campaign for my friends, I created a murder-mystery at a party the player characters were attending (and forced them to solve it by threatening to hold a beloved NPC responsible for the crime). I created characters that I thought would arouse equal suspicion from the players, in order to avoid too easy of a solution. In the end, it's one of the sessions I'm most proud of.
Later, I ran the same murder-mystery again, but with a different character having committed the crime. This is what I want to create -- a setting in which all of the suspects have a motive to have committed (or orchestrated) the crime, so that the DM can either choose their favorite culprit or roll a die to determine who committed the murder. It would essentially become a Choose-Your-Adventure game, where the DM turns to a section that describes the specifics of their chosen scenario and just goes from there.
Assets I'm planning to include (at this early stage; these will probably change) are:
Full NPC character art and descriptions, including motivations and relationships with other NPC's
Isometric drawings of relevant rooms, potentially including locations of important clues/items
Item illustrations for murder weapons and clues
Map of the estate at which the party takes place
Invitation to be given to the players
Written directions for running the module
A few scene illustrations to set the tone
I feel like this is manageable, and could be done in the course of a couple quarters. If all goes well, I will continue to update this blog with what I'm working on, what I plan to do next, and any images I create.