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Posts
Jeremy Mac Donald wrote:
I'm going to argue that point. The towns of Sharn, Freeport, the Styes, Haven-Fara, Redhand, Muffin's Honor, Hardby, Minas Tirith, and Talantier each have a flavor all their own. Sure there are a ton of Here-is-Town-X, but the same is true in "modern" adventures (Call of Cthulhu does it all the time setting things inplaces like Samson CA as a stand in for a West Coast town). I think the real difficulty lies evenly divided between a general lack of interest in game settings (even other d20 settings) outside of D&D's "fantasy" one, as well as the precieved difficulty in transitioning the adventure to suit the new setting/tech-level. It's fantasy for God's sake. If I as a DM want an adventure to happen on a moon of Saturn it can happen. Heck, I set "Prince of Redhand" on a moon a few months ago with flying galleons and mooncalves no less, the entire city was made of crystal grown into artistic shapes and Zeech was a descendant of the Goddess of Night. The real death of role-playing will not come from computer games it will come from within, when people stop being able (through lack of time and/or general indolance) to imagine things outside of their own personal fantasy world. As for setting a Western flavored adventure in the Far East, I say why not? Akira Kurosawa was so inspired by John Ford's Westerns that he made "Seven Samurai" and "Yojimbo," which later inspired Sergio Leone to make "A Fistful of Dollars" and John Sturges to create "The Magnificent Seven." Thought experiment of the day: Take an old Shadow Run, Twilight 2000, Rifts, Doctor Who, DC Heroes, or whatever module off your game shelf and mentally re-imagine it made for D&D. GGG Alien Gunfighter wrote:
So not me. Alien Gunfighter wrote: or 2) Power gamers looking for an advantage ("I have a Charisma of 18! There's no way he can resist my charms and not give me his vorpal sword!"). Also so not me. Alien Gunfighter wrote:
Matrissa the Enchantress wrote: .... think of all those rejections you're going to get. Yes, but think of that one possible acceptance. Matrissa the Enchantress wrote: And for queries that might have a better chance if you held onto them until the *NEXT* meeting. There is no tomorrow. Matrissa the Enchantress wrote: Thank you. However, it's not whether or not there's enough time so much as whether my creative process can meet the deadline. First, unlike many of you (apparently) I don't actually come up with a lot of "great ideas" on a day to day basis. When I do think of something that inspires me to write an adventure, it takes a lot of ruminating and doodling about inside my head before I reach a point where I can put anything meaningful down "on paper". Even then, the idea is still just germinating and needs to be fleshed out into an actual plot idea comprehensive enough for a query. Rule One: Write (type) everything down. Some of my queries this time aroundare things that I started to create months or years ago and just came back to them with some fresh eyes recently. Rule Two: Steal like crazy. I steal ideas from every possible source, basically anything I find interesting. Do you like old adventures, fantasy movies, westerns, war movies, fight games, mountain climbing, sailing, horseback riding, golf, travel, parties, weddings, going to church, walking your dog, surfing the net, watching cartoons, watching Godzilla movies, fixing up your home, landing the big deal, falling in love, reading Lovecraft, Tolkien, Adams, Mr. Spock, Doctor Spock, it doesn't matter... Heck, I even managed to put a little Ayan Rand into an adventure manuscript scheduled for release in three monthes time. There are no really original stories, just original takes on a story. It's all about the spin. I don't come up with a lot of "great ideas" on my own. I look around see stuff that intrests me and then put it in adventure form. Look at the current AP for instance. It's a mix of pirates (cool), dinosuars (also cool), X1: Isle of Dread (very cool), 28 Days Later (very cool), and Demogorgon (old skool demon cool). Distill all that down to its coolest parts/moments/scenes and connect the dots. Ubercool. ;)
ericthecleric wrote: Talion09, the original D&DG had the aforementioned pantheons, but because TSR had asked permission to use such copyrighted material, they had to take those pantheons out of later prints. The original cover (for the one with and the one without the Cthulu etc pantheons) had Erol Otus art- I think- which later changed to the new Odin cover. Actually to clarify TSR "hadn't" ask permission, and that cover print was reused again after they lightened the book for subsquent printings (I have both versions - one with squids and Elric and one with out). GGG Shroomy wrote:
Do you mean story development or general rumination? Usually I see something cool, like the fact the first (techinically 2nd) Ultra Man Series (the one that aired in the States back in the early-mid 70's) came out on DVD, or an article about haunted places, or someone mentioning something like boy, I really liked old D&D modules X4 and X5. Then I think about what I like about those things. I boil it down to a set of themes, moods, motifs, visuals, and scenes - then when I have all that I build an adventure out of it. Sometimes they just happen - BAM! Done in an hour flat. Other times I push as far as I can, realize I'm pushing too hard and wandered away from the core idea, and put it aside for a while until I can come back to it with a fresh prespective. Until then I work on something else. Granted I have no kids or wife, but I do have a house, two dogs, a full-time job and older than normal parents for someone my age, but still it's all a matter of priorities and right now I wanna write. Beyond that I want to push the concept of what one expects in an adventure. Anyhow that's me, but really I only have two things in print in Dungeon and with the exception of the Sehan arc probably nothing else for a while considering how far in advance they plan things. Tim Hitchcock, Mike Kortes, Nick Logue, Richard Pett, greg Vaughan, Russ Brown, Jon Richards or any number of other folks is probably a better person to ask. GGG grodog wrote:
Head to near the top of the page, just off to the left is the voting bar. No need to thank me, but if you vote 'Conklin' that would be cool. ;)
Wolfgang Baur wrote:
147 Huh? I seem to remember writing something for that issue.... ::Cracks knuckles::
PS Nick, Dreads is gonna be sort of anti-climactic now. Matrissa the Enchantress wrote:
NEVER!!! You'll have kill me first! Matrissa the Enchantress wrote: You're flooding the dark portal and almost single-handedly eliminating the chances for us relative newbies! Aaaccckkk! My hope is to subtly nudge the powers that be into holding a meeting soon, or be drowned in queries. ;) Even a newbie can have that one adventure/bit of written work that totally rules. Think of Harper Lee and "To Kill a Mockingbird". Still the more you write, the better you get, and more likely you are to produce that one piece that makes you an immortal RP god. Anyhow, looking at modern fiction should just prove it is persistance over talent in most cases. The two kinda go hand in hand. I'm betting you've got time for more than one query. :) Besides, I really don't want to have to write half of next year's magazines. That's just too crazy. ;) Good Luck
PS New query in:
It was a tough choice. But I had to go with Richard Pett, I just end up using more of his stuff. I also find his NPCs inventive, and fun. Bards have a bad name in my game thanks to the Ominous Fabler and Horatio Quiggley. That's not to say that I don't find the runners up excellent as well. And there are a fair few of them including folks like Tito Leati - who gets a special thanks for "Palace of Plenty's" giant demonic caterpillar and evil soap - the bane of many a gamer on the last day of a convention; and Tim Hitchcock for "Death of Lashmire" the book in the library is priceless (as I found out last night in fact). ;)
Phil. L wrote:
How apropos. "Blood and Ice" (Heroes of Battle/Frostburn) now submitted.;)
Nicolas Logue wrote:
I just have a better campaign machine is all. ;)
Mortis wrote:
Hey I play to my base. ;) For the record I don't intend to vote for me. Too many cool people to choose from. And if you can it would be cool to get Mike Kortes name up top he really deserves it. GGG I am so with you there Sol. D&D was never my first love that was Middle-Earth Role-Playing by ICE, and then came Classic D&D, DC Heroes, and finally the World of Darkness along with tons of side trips to other games. I like Dungeon for the reasons you mention, I even like Maure Castle for having the guts to stand up for complete arbatrariness from time to time. In all I like variety now if only there was enough market interest to allow Dragon Magazine to publish articles about any RPG again my life would be complete. GGG Lady Herald wrote:
No problem LH. I'll be curious to hear how it goes. I should have another web enhancement up in about three issues for the finale of The Seeds of Sehan trilogy. My fellow collaborators made me cut a couple of thousand words before we sent our drafts, that once again would have completely blown my word count, but would have been really cool nontheless - the meanies! Anyhow I'll post it once it's released in print assuming Paizo is cool with that. GGG James Keegan wrote: Construct traits take away all of their major advantages. Except at sea where they sink like a frickin' rock never to be seen again except as sediment encrusted shells. Pirates all the way me mateys! And as for monkeys, well they are the pets of a great many pirates so all votes for monkeys should infact be votes for pirates (or at the very least hadozee pirates)! Some of you might consider this plundering to be unfair, but that's what pirates are all about! GGG I have the feeling that beyond, conventions, holidays, weather, and Adventure Paths that there is also the issue of the new OGL modules Paizo is set to release later this year as well. Considering it is basically the equivalent to publishing another AP-sized adventure (or more) I can only suspect they are a bit behind and have yet to go through the mound of adventure queries. As I recall James Jacobs mentioned that Dungeon gets about 60(?) queries a month.... By that figure they should have a bit over 300 by now, of which they may pick about 5% of, which coincidentally, is the percentage of queries I have in the pile this time around. ;) If the pile reaches a critical mass, I believe it becomes a sentient monster with all the class levels and templates that were mentioned in the queries it is composed of. GGG The Eldritch Mr. Shiny wrote:
Actually he is Molric the dwarf (monk 2/warrior 2/expert 2) from "Steel Shadows" (Dungeon 115). GGG TConnors wrote:
Yeah, I know what you mean. The artwork for Lady Vestang just blew me away when I saw it. I'll still sort of be sharing the issue 146 with you. Although "Slimey" Steve Greer did the principle work on the second part of the Sehan arc (I drafted 147) we all a had hand in tweaking and shaping it before Ashavan did the presubmit edit. Still, I'm looking forward to seeing your stuff in print. Good luck, and keep submitting,
Valegrim wrote:
"Threshold of Evil" from the very excellent Dungeon issue #10, involves a wizard whose primary flunkies are simulacrums and slaad. It's not slaad-centric, but it could be tweaked that way. GGG Erik Goldman wrote:
I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered! My life is my own. -No.6 Guennarr wrote:
GĂĽnther, It might interest you to know that Tom "Dryder" Ganz, the guy who in my book is most responsible for the forthcoming "Seeds of Sehan" arc and chief scribe for the first installment "Vile Addiction" lives in Germany and is not a native English speaker. :) GGG Heathansson wrote:
Actually the yakfolk practice a martial discipline called the "Scourge of the Four Mountains". It combines their size, strength, astetics and domineering personalities into one destructive martial arts form. Great Green Guru What don't I want to see.... hmmm. Not much. I suppose adventures that rely too heavily on a pre-fab setting's history and then go on to not explain that history. It sort of leaves me feeling like an outsider (chaos, evil). I tend to like things that stretch the concept of what an adventure is. So long as it is well done I'll probably like it. GGG Great Green God wrote:
Seriously though I would suggest giving "Seeds of Sehan" a try, and not just because I helped write some of it. Almost by accident it turned out to be a loose enough set of adventures that each can be played out as a one off. My favorite part of the arc is that each episode has it's own unique Black Hat, along with the secret Black Hat who connects the whole thing. Also as a side note, in reference to Mystaran places like the Lost City, and the Isle of Dread, both were designed to be remote enough that could be dropped into any campaign setting, there's no real history to speak of that you would be breaking and both work well in Greyhawk, Eberron, Forgotten Realms, and most homebrews as far as I can tell. The Known World was just a big jumble of stuff anyway so in many ways it is the easiest world to cherry-pick from. The same goes for Bargle the Imfamous, the ultimate moustache-twirling D&D wizard villain (thanks for building him Mike. Now I can scartch that off my to do list). Can we get an action figure or mini please? GGG Well, by sounds of Russell Brown's bio at the end of "Muster of Morah Tor", he runs them by an actual writer's group. An online version of the same also works well (or so I hear). English Majors or folks who just plain read a lot are good as well. I suppose you could also run them by Ashavan like we did for the Sehan arc.
derek_cleric wrote:
...There was a little something I had started to plan out that looked very promising as well as a smaller bit that I had kinda of planned to use to test the waters. I might try and squeeze the latter into my query schedule for this meeting. Gx3 Steve Greer wrote:
I know how you feel. I had one thing in the last meeting "Witching Season", which suffered the fate of the many other hag related adventures that glutted that meeting. Worse still "Cold and Alone"? It features a hag.... Doomed I tell you, doomed!
PS Castle Perilous sounds too perilous, you should let me (or maybe John Cleese) handle that one. ;) PPS Good luck everyone (especially Dave and the "...Dancing Hut"). Russell Brown wrote: G-cubed, I love the name "Trollheim"! I'd run that adventure just so I could say the name over and over. I can't take the credit for Trollheim. Its an "actual" place in the Known World setting. I love the sound of it too. Even better it's filled with -you guessed it- trolls and norsemen. GGG PS Congrats on this month's "Muster of Morach Tor". Very cool. Everyone, read this man's adventure. Peruhain of Brithondy wrote: (Oh, and G3 I was thinking of you in beautiful Grand Rapids as I was shoveling my way back across my front lawn just now. The lake-effect snow isn't as bad here in Utica as in Syracuse (or Grand Rapids), but the drifts up on top of the hill I live on are nasty! Skis and a Subaru are a must! I must say that Greyhawk is not a prefab setting I visit often. You know let's say ever. I'll steal stuff from prefab worlds and write for them but I rarely play in them. There's just too much backstory to keep straight. That said I did spend a lot of time in Known World/Mystara games. My first thought was to keep it setting neutral, but Tom (Designer of Chapter 1, and guy who got us together in the first place), Steve (Crafter of Chapter 2), and Stefan (Scribe of the Backdrop) wrangled me into it somehow. Well okay I jumped in head first. Did you know a Flan is not actually a magic-using jello monster from Final Fantasy X? Go figure. ;) By the way, Ashavan was point man in pulling all our threads into one sweater, as overall pre-submit editor. As for snow well there ain't much to speak of down here near Detroit, but it's cold and very windy. I think tonight I might work on another Sandstorm/desert adventure. ;) Stay warm,
PS My next car's probably an Outback. Just shot off another collaborative masterpiece entitled: "Valley of Gargantua" (wilderness/dungeon) Oh hell, here's the rest of the current list of adventure proposals: "Black Water" (Stormwrack/underwater)
Well that's all I can remember right now. What I find a bit scary is that I have yet to recieve anything from the render about stuff being nixed. Usually that happens pretty quick and then the meeting with the proposals that make the cut happens later. There are still a few I'm still hammering out including "All's Fairie in Love and War", "Red Box Set", "The Faceless One", the middle bit of one collaborative arc, and the end bit of another. GGG Steve Greer wrote:
I found the info I think Stefan had on the old Cabbage site and forwarded it to the Gatekeeper. Any chance the Powers that be at Paizo could give us all one ping (one ping only) to let us know our fellow lycanthrope is okay once you get in touch? Thanks,
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