As I've been fretting over the worldbuilding for Sundered Isles, I've been running into a problem. Some part of me is automatically rejecting the pre-written factions in the source book and insisting that I instead have to write everything myself from scratch. That's something that I find compelling and interesting to be sure, but I don't like this unconscious insistence that it is the only way to play. I play lots of video games, but I can't remember a single time I've gotten upset at a video game because the setting isn't something I invented myself. I tell my own story in the world of, say, Breath of the Wild even though the world is more similar to every other players' version than a ttrpg with identical faction blurbs could possibly ever be. How could it be that I wouldn't be able to tell a suitably unique or interesting story in that ttrpg world with prewritten factions? And hell, don't people enjoy games like Strahd where the whole thing is nearly identical to what other players play? It's a journey of finding how I address the issues presented by a game designer.

So let me be honest with myself. I'm excited to play a game about sailing around, struggling against the super natural, and causing problems for empires and their peons. I'm also excited to build a fun world to play the game in! And while the source book is entirely right when they say that "Prep is play", I think I'm not wrong to reverse that as well. Play is prep! If I start with the least I can get away with and only fill in blanks as I find it necessary in order to continue, I will still end up with a world built. In fact, I think it might be a more compelling world for me, because every answer I give myself will come from my curiosity about and interaction with the world I'm playing in. I need to pull my head out of my ass about it and stop thinking about what the personal interests of a god my character hasn't met are! If I want to know, I'd damn well better go meet that god. Instead of theses, I need something more like two sentences each for a maximum of five factions. That feels so much more achievable! Look for them soon :)

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