Reviewing the work thus far...

[Halaster Blackcloak]

Tonight I'm working on Rooms #23/#24. Single rooms each. Should have both knocked out before bed time!

[Halaster Blackcloak]

Room #23 is done. It was a fun room!

On to Room #24!

[McDeath]

Awesome. I spend so much time outside lately I have a hard time sitting at the computer at times. I do some mobile though via phone. Summer. I have to have the heat (thank you Corpus Christi for making me hate the cold... I used to love) and Summer in Oregon is that heat I seek.

Pretty good news you're knocking them out one by one.

[Halaster Blackcloak]

Yeah, it's hard to sit still sometimes and get into that relaxed writing state some days for me. Also, it's gotten to a point of...it's sorta like eating the same thing for dinner over and over and over again. Sometimes I just want to do something else. I've done a lot of work on a new version of Temple of Elemental Evil with the main villains being the Elder Elemental God and the Princes of Elemental Evil (Cryonax, Imix, Olhydra, Yan-C-Bin and Ogremoch). Got 12 pages of it written so far. And I wanted to write some new stuff for my old campaign(s) that inspired me. Thing is, I tend to get wrapped up in writing like that and it becomes hard to transition back to what I was writing for RoUIII.

I really just want to finish the room descriptions. After that, it's all just a bite of cake!

[Halaster Blackcloak]

So, as of 5 minutes ago, Rooms #23 and #24 are completed! Rooms #2 and #3 are done as well, as is Room #32. We have these left to go:

Rooms Left to Write

Rooms#

6 (A/B)
8
13
15
16
17
18
19
20 (20A only, #20B - #20I are done)
21
22
26
27
28 (A-E, F is done)
33
35 (A-C)
36
37 (A/B)
38 (A only, B is finished)
39
40 (A/B)
42

Room #6A is already partially written. Only 22 rooms left to go!

Ok, technically 21.5 rooms, but who's counting partial rooms?

Here's the good news! With September almost here, I've finally stabilized my schedule. Lately it's been utter chaos trying to balance work at my main job, the side job, training and workouts, and trying to build a business. A bit too much! And my schedule has been utter freaking chaos! A day on, a day off, too much stuff happening. All that stabilizes starting this week and especially into September so I will definitely have more free time to relax and get into the writing mood!

Hoping to knock off at least half those rooms before September ends, maybe more. We'll see. But in any case, we are definitely full steam ahead! Out of a total of 231 rooms, there are only 22 left to do, and many if not most of those are planned out. So the rooms are over 90% done!

It may well be a very Merry Christmas for Undermountain fans this year! If not, then a very pleasant start to the New Year!

[Halaster Blackcloak]

Well, between all my work and training and other factors, the last few weeks have been pretty slow. Lots of writers block. I HATE. But given the choice between churning out crap just to fill a room and simply taking time off until I can get past the block, I prefer the latter. Especially because even if I did go the former route, I'd simply end up deleting the content and starting over anyway. Gotta give Undermountain III the quality and respect it deserves! Besides, people have waited far too long for this to not be top-notch work.

I'm wrapping up Rooms# 16 and 17 tonight and probably into tomorrow. Very tricky areas, lots of quirks and twists. This is a very, very detailer dungeon level. These particular rooms involve very difficult riddles, dangerous illusions, and plenty of mystery. Some of the rooms have taken over 8 hrs. each to write. In the end, I'll probably have spent several thousand hours on this product, possibly as many as 20,000 hrs. Seriously, that's not an exaggeration.

I have an entire week off work for Thanksgiving and again for Christmas, so there will be plenty of extra free time then to try catching up.

The main thing is that progress is happening. Every week or two, another room or two is finished or others are planned out. For the longest time I was almost ready to simply release Level 7 on its own, then the rest of it later. Now I'm glad I decided against it. The closer I get to finishing all of it, the more I realize what a dramatic impact it will be when the entire thing is released as a whole. Much more impact, for sure!

Well, back to Room #16 to deal with those venomous...oh never mind. That would be telling!

[Halaster Blackcloak]

Well today I FINALLY wrapped up Room #16 (#16A/#16B). Didn't get much free time this past week, and feeling a tad under the weather. Maybe it's because I'm doing some intense training where after my workouts I'm standing out on the balcony in just swim trunks for 15 to 20 minutes in a temperature of just 5 degrees above zero! I may have overdone it this week. Ouch!

And what a nasty, vicious, deceptive room! God it took forever for the creative juices to "create" the room as I wrote it. Working on Room #17 now, which is a single small room so I should finish it tonight as well.

I also have a full 7 day week off work for Thanksgiving week and I plan on using a lot of that free time to churn out another handful of rooms. I'll keep y'all posted!

Inch by inch, room by room...by damn, I am going to finish this project!

[Halaster Blackcloak]

And BANG! Room #17 is done. Oh, is it a nasty little "forgotten" room. That's all the clues I'm giving. But gods help those who go in there and begin reading the books. They may never leave Undermountain, or even know where they are when they die!

[Halaster Blackcloak]

Rooms Left to Write

Rooms#

6 (A/B)
8
13
15
18
19
20 (20A only, #20B - #20I are done)
21
22
26
27
28 (A-E, F is done)
33
35 (A-C)
36
37 (A/B)
38 (A only, B is finished)
39
40 (A/B)
42

Room #6A and #6B are already partially written, as are Rooms #8, #13 and #38A. Only 20 rooms left to go!

[McDeath]

Hard to imagine that its down to 20sh.

[Halaster Blackcloak]

It's like it comes in fits. I get 10 rooms done, then a month goes by where I never get a chance to write. Or I get "stuck". The hard part now is this...

Some rooms have monsters, some have traps, some contain mysteries and things meant to stimulate roleplaying and story background. Some have two or more such aspects. It's very hard after say 200 rooms, to come up with high quality original ideas. Takes more "power" to get the creative juices going when it's at that level.

Level 8 is also the toughest level - it's the Slime Level. There's something I'm not going to give away yet until the release, but an aspect of the Slime Level that makes it particularly dangerous. Let's just say they call it the "Slime Level" for reasons far beyond the fact that there are tons of slimes, oozes, jellies and puddings prowling around.

Then there's the priesthood of Ghaunadaur, a major power faction on that level. Lots of detailing was needed for them. That means spell lists for priests and all that. Level 8 is almost as hard to write as it is to survive as a PC!

[Halaster Blackcloak]

Well, I FINALLY have some time off - 8 days vacation until the 30th for Thanksgiving. I'm sitting down to write as I type. The only thing I hate right now is that I have 75 pages written for Level 8, and I have to (as I must do at regular intervals) read through all those pages. Several reasons. First, I like to proof read as I write every so often, rather than wait till it's all done. Second, there is just so much material here that even with meticulous notes, it's hard to remember every monster I've use, magic item I've placed, trap I've devised, etc. Sometimes I'll catch a few redundancies and this re-reading allows me to catch them early before they become a more serious issue. I just hate the amount of time it takes. Then again, it's a good thing because it spurs new creativity and refreshes me and also gives me a chance to catch any errors.

I try hard to make every room interesting, challenging, and unique. So that means going over what I've done before. Also, there are a LOT of slime monsters on Level 8, and certain factions fighting for certain areas, so the overall picture is difficult to see over time - by re-reading it all, it gives me a more accurate overview - do I need to place more traps, more mysteries, more monsters? Am I using a good enough mix of slime monsters for this level? (The latter is something I really need to keep close track of - it always feels like there should be more slimes and such here.)

So - off to proof 75 pages, then pick up where I left off. Room #15.

[McDeath]

Awesome Hal. So glad to see you're still working at it and with enthusiasm. I've been going over all my yahoo groups. I neglected ever getting any files so It's a lot of simple saving there. Rinse and repeat and fall asleep and mind numbing copy/paste. Thank god for youtube vid on the other computer.

[Halaster Blackcloak]

Starting Wednesday the 16th, I have a nice relaxing 3 week vacation!

Now I'm planning on using much of that time as relaxing down time to de-stress from one of the most difficult years of my life (2019). And of course, enjoy my Xmas gifts and all that. I also picked up the Realms Works software for my home campaign, which seems cool but has a huge learning curve. However, I do plan on getting a lot of writing done. I'm hoping - HOPING - that I can wrap up those last 20 rooms. Very possible. Which would be great of course. I'll keep y'all updated as the rooms get worked on. The last few weeks have just been too busy to get much done. Gonna feel very recharged to work on this now!