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[LandMASTER!]

Where to begin?

[promethean]

Re: Where to begin?

[Caz]

keep in mind that your marking a world and not a book.

start with Brainstorming then work out all component parts of the world. i.e characters, groups, places.

Once you done this then work out how this component will interact with players. i.e. blogs, websites, phone calls.

then when this is done you can move onto working players into the story. how do they find each component [by puzzles] and what can they do to alter it.

this is how I work on games.

the other thing is the end. have in your mind how the whole thing will end. the antagonist character will what there end and even try to stop them along time before the end they just work around them. only let the players win at end. so you only need 2 or 3 endings. do not let players run the game of the tracks by letting them have a easy victory over the antagonist.

[AtionSong]

Make sure you know everything inside and out. You can't just have a general outline and hope that when you launch everything sort of falls into place. If you talk about a character's background, literally write down what it is. If you're going to have anything prewritten, write it beforehand. Make all your puzzles before so all you have to do is upload and you're done, etc.

Also, an idea that worked really well for me is that before you attempt to launch your first major ARG venture, create a small weeklong mini-ARG or CF that you can design in about 2 weeks and run for about 1. It will give you an idea of what PMing is like and really help you know what you need to do for your next, larger project.