I’m starting to create a game for some of my friends, and I’ve been world building, planning, etc, but I can never focus, so I was wondering if anybody could help with tips for staying focused on writing, planning, and just sitting down and doing work. Also, for more details, there is a chance I have ADHD (not diagnosed, but I show a lot of the symptoms), so any advice that tackled that along with general attentiveness related to creativity would be helpful. :)
I don't know if I have your same problem, but my advice is lean into it. I enjoy DMing the most when my thoughts can be scattered and I can be creatively inspired. Then I put it together before the session. A notes app like One Note or Evernote might help you with that part, or maybe that would just trigger your anti-focus tendencies.
What has really helped me is to schedule games every other week instead of every week, so I mostly can work on prep when I am in the mood, instead of it feeling like a job.
I've heard ADHD can be associated with hyperfocusing. I have to focus when I set down to work out details like combat encounters. But as long as I am in the mood to enjoy that kind of activity, it's not unpleasant.
So having ADHD and running for over 30 years my trick involves me taking walks with a note pad, or a voice recorder, or now my cell phone and makeing notes. And this is me, but trying to write out the adventure doesn't work for me, I get off tangent to easy. So I have developed into a freestyle sandbox style dm, with a few ideas of what I want to happen then let the story come to a point I can drop in my ideas. I also as a dm find twirling penciles and walking around as I dm helps, especialy when I was younger.
The advantage I have found with my wandering thoughts is it's easy to change story direction when something cool comes along, and roll with it.
If you think that you have ADHD, I highly recommend seeking a formal diagnosis. Finding the correct medication can make a world of difference in your quality of life.
Either way, it helps to be very deliberate and schedule time for yourself without distraction. That may mean using time management tricks, such as focusing for 30 minutes and taking 15 minute breaks in cycles. Don't expect to be able to sit down and have a marathon session. Experiment with smaller bites, and then try to extend those a little bit at a time. Concentration/discipline needs to be practiced just like any other form of exercise.
I keep a notebook in my car(I drive for a living) so anytime an idea pops into my head I make a quick note. Also I am an improvisational DM. I think of the plot hook, flesh out the details of the villain/monster/what have you and pretty much improv the rest. I have shown up to sessions with no idea what is going to happen and improv the entire session with moderate to great success. I don't do this often, btw, but sometimes life gets in the way. I have only ever had one complaint from a paid player, when I ran an entire session with 0 combat, it was all puzzles and traps. But i have always been fairly adept at coming up with stories on the fly.
My best bit of advice for someone who wants to work on a full homebrew world, complete with a fleshed out pantheon and history is to set yourself a schedule. I find that having set days that you write is really important to keep the momentum.
Another useful thing to do is to write out a table of contents, list everything you think you'll need to write about and then pick one thing to focus on during each writing session.
If the world is being built with a specific group in mind, you don't need to have everything planned out right away. Start off small and focus on a single location where the adventure will begin. You can also involve the players in the world building, allow them to come up with details about other locations or historical events... or you can even do one-shots to play out those events.
If you're getting overwhelmed and can't think, then take a break and switch to doing something else for a bit. I generally find that if you force yourself to write when you're not feeling it, you'll just struggle and will stop enjoying the process.
I run a weekly game and I do my prep in short daily chunks and not all at once because.....SQUIRREL!
The first day I'll just brainstorm ideas for thirty minutes or so by just write down what comes to mind as story ideas (short/long term) and possible moves the players will make in the next session. This is one of those there is 'no dumb idea' moments of time and just do a brain dump of whatever sometimes it's world build, NPC development, or a wicked encounter to put the players against.
The next day I organize my notes and type them out on my prep sheet and see if an idea still works after 24 hours or should I just cross it out thinking 'ok, that WAS a dumb idea'.
After that, I organize the game with notes on what I have and develop the session, and build from there in these short daily chunks until I feel I've prepped enough well knowing my players are going to break these carefully laid out plans.
I run a weekly game and I do my prep in short daily chunks and not all at once because.....SQUIRREL!
I'd day I'm mostly the same for my session prep, after the session I do a very quick bullet point list of what I might throw into the next session and then through the week I maybe think about one or two possible encounters per day whilst I'm on lunch break.
My actual world building however is one two set days in the evening... usually early in the week so I'm not burnt out from work.
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I’m starting to create a game for some of my friends, and I’ve been world building, planning, etc, but I can never focus, so I was wondering if anybody could help with tips for staying focused on writing, planning, and just sitting down and doing work. Also, for more details, there is a chance I have ADHD (not diagnosed, but I show a lot of the symptoms), so any advice that tackled that along with general attentiveness related to creativity would be helpful. :)
I don't know if I have your same problem, but my advice is lean into it. I enjoy DMing the most when my thoughts can be scattered and I can be creatively inspired. Then I put it together before the session. A notes app like One Note or Evernote might help you with that part, or maybe that would just trigger your anti-focus tendencies.
What has really helped me is to schedule games every other week instead of every week, so I mostly can work on prep when I am in the mood, instead of it feeling like a job.
I've heard ADHD can be associated with hyperfocusing. I have to focus when I set down to work out details like combat encounters. But as long as I am in the mood to enjoy that kind of activity, it's not unpleasant.
So having ADHD and running for over 30 years my trick involves me taking walks with a note pad, or a voice recorder, or now my cell phone and makeing notes. And this is me, but trying to write out the adventure doesn't work for me, I get off tangent to easy. So I have developed into a freestyle sandbox style dm, with a few ideas of what I want to happen then let the story come to a point I can drop in my ideas. I also as a dm find twirling penciles and walking around as I dm helps, especialy when I was younger.
The advantage I have found with my wandering thoughts is it's easy to change story direction when something cool comes along, and roll with it.
Good luck
If you think that you have ADHD, I highly recommend seeking a formal diagnosis. Finding the correct medication can make a world of difference in your quality of life.
Either way, it helps to be very deliberate and schedule time for yourself without distraction. That may mean using time management tricks, such as focusing for 30 minutes and taking 15 minute breaks in cycles. Don't expect to be able to sit down and have a marathon session. Experiment with smaller bites, and then try to extend those a little bit at a time. Concentration/discipline needs to be practiced just like any other form of exercise.
I keep a notebook in my car(I drive for a living) so anytime an idea pops into my head I make a quick note. Also I am an improvisational DM. I think of the plot hook, flesh out the details of the villain/monster/what have you and pretty much improv the rest. I have shown up to sessions with no idea what is going to happen and improv the entire session with moderate to great success. I don't do this often, btw, but sometimes life gets in the way. I have only ever had one complaint from a paid player, when I ran an entire session with 0 combat, it was all puzzles and traps. But i have always been fairly adept at coming up with stories on the fly.
My best bit of advice for someone who wants to work on a full homebrew world, complete with a fleshed out pantheon and history is to set yourself a schedule. I find that having set days that you write is really important to keep the momentum.
Another useful thing to do is to write out a table of contents, list everything you think you'll need to write about and then pick one thing to focus on during each writing session.
If the world is being built with a specific group in mind, you don't need to have everything planned out right away. Start off small and focus on a single location where the adventure will begin. You can also involve the players in the world building, allow them to come up with details about other locations or historical events... or you can even do one-shots to play out those events.
If you're getting overwhelmed and can't think, then take a break and switch to doing something else for a bit. I generally find that if you force yourself to write when you're not feeling it, you'll just struggle and will stop enjoying the process.
I run a weekly game and I do my prep in short daily chunks and not all at once because.....SQUIRREL!
The first day I'll just brainstorm ideas for thirty minutes or so by just write down what comes to mind as story ideas (short/long term) and possible moves the players will make in the next session. This is one of those there is 'no dumb idea' moments of time and just do a brain dump of whatever sometimes it's world build, NPC development, or a wicked encounter to put the players against.
The next day I organize my notes and type them out on my prep sheet and see if an idea still works after 24 hours or should I just cross it out thinking 'ok, that WAS a dumb idea'.
After that, I organize the game with notes on what I have and develop the session, and build from there in these short daily chunks until I feel I've prepped enough well knowing my players are going to break these carefully laid out plans.
I'd day I'm mostly the same for my session prep, after the session I do a very quick bullet point list of what I might throw into the next session and then through the week I maybe think about one or two possible encounters per day whilst I'm on lunch break.
My actual world building however is one two set days in the evening... usually early in the week so I'm not burnt out from work.