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I could tell by the bags under his eyes that he'd not had sleep in weeks, perhaps months, and that he would now doubtless use the glands stolen from my brain to steal my sleep. Hey, I had to turn in my sleep glands when I signed my offer letter! I didn't know they were worth money!
Currently, I've got Chris fully booked with other projects, but the MoMs have always been really popular, and we're looking at ways of keeping that going. If I was to make a prediction right now, I would want to present a map that was tied in to the setting of the adventure (from Pathfinder or one of the modules) but not directly related, so that the DM can run a side-trek of his own creation without having to send the players to another plane or candy mountain, just because that's the map that's handy that month.
Player handouts - but you guys are good at that already. Is there anything new you'd like to see with these?
My question, then, is: What can I do to help Pathfinder take off (besides subscribing, obviously)? I've never submitted anything to your company and couldn't even begin to guess at what is needed or wanted for this new venture you're embarking on. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks! Sending well-concealed cash to your favorite art director is always a good choice! Single malt scotch works too.
On a more serious note, will you be looking for or considering cartographers as well? We are always open to new artists joining our stable. Please feel free to send JPEGs of your recent work to sean.glenn@paizo.com -- I can't promise a response to every submission, but they are all filed for future reference!
As always, Paizo will continue to accept submissions from new artists. With a boatload of products on our schedule for 2007, you'll certainly continue to see fresh new faces alongside our tried and true favorites. I am very happy that Wayne has signed on to do the Pathfinder covers and create our iconic heroes. I've always been a huge fan of his work, and giving him the opportunity to really go wild is very exciting. His concepts for our goblins have really made me love goblins all over again!
Oooh...Will we see some pretty poster maps of the setting someday? And maybe even a hardcover book eventually? It all depends on sales, but those things are certainly the type of stuff we like to do! There will be beautiful maps in all the Pathfinder volumes, including an illustrated 3D map of one of the main cities, much like the one Jeff Carlisle did for Shackled City. Uh, in fact, I've already signed Jeff up to do it. Hehe...
We've thought about these, but there's a few technical considerations. First, spells have variable amounts of text, some being quite long to explain the effects. Would you be happy with abbreviated text for very complex spells? Would be be happy with a larger card size, if it meant all the text could fit? Would you want to see art showing the spell's effect, or is a description enough? How would you want to buy them? By school? By class? By level? All at once? The downside of buying them by level is that we probably wouldn't sell very many packs of high-level spells, which is the downside of buying them all at once too, since you end up with a bunch of spells you won't use. Let us know what you want though! We'd love to make this product become reality!
Wayne has signed on to do covers for the first 12 volumes. Currently, due to his workload, he doesn't have the time to do interior illustrations, but if his schedule somehow opens up (or I get a magical pot of gold to wish on), we'll see if we can get him to do something here and there. Sean Glenn
Personally, I'm still waiting for Volo's Guide to Pouches. Sean Glenn
Wait till you guys see the cover!
Nope, just the first two. However, Kyle has loads and loads and loads of notes and sketches and concepts for the continuation of the series.
You can see the shot of the box contents on the Doctor Lucky page now.
Actually, as was back then, and remains today, the cartoonist contracts in Dragon and Dungeon allow for the artists to retain all their rights, and gives them the ability to publish compilations of their work. I'm sure that what Dave ran afoul of was the sheer cost of printing a book, and then the maze of distribution. It's not an easy or fun part of the business. It's possible that the Wormy cartoon was work-for-hire, since Dave was part of the staff, but my guess is that it was treated like all the other cartoons. Even the covers from that time period are are owned by the illustrators (unless they were assigned a cover as part of their on-staff position). Sean Glenn
The font is not currently available to the general public. It was a custom job done by Darlene, the very talented calligrapher (and cartographer) responsible for the original World of Greyhawk map. We based the design of this typeface on the letterforms of one of the faces used on the original map as a tie-in to the old school Dungeons & Dragons feel. We'd like to make it available to the public, but we need to work out a few logistical things before that can happen.
They are indeed designed by Wayne, and they do indeed look cool. In fact, one could say that they look incredible. Or rad. It could really go either way.
I've been using fine-point Sharpie pen on mine, but #2 lead in mechanical pencils appears to work just fine as well. The best part was sorting out my inventory of magic items in Erik's Age of Worms game into Item Cards, prompting everyone at the table to accuse me of hoarding the party's magic items. Which I denied, categorically.
The cards do indeed take to pencil quite well (although like any coated paper, having a good eraser is important, a bad eraser will just smear the pencil, as it would on any other surface). We see people using these in a card binder page (or pages) that they keep with their character sheet. I guess if you want to be a really mean DM, you could have them place their cards into a card box, and time them for how long it actually takes to find that potion of fly card...
This image appears on the extra card in the 54-card box (it's card number 55, actually which contains the little blurb about using the item cards). It shows how we use the cards here at the office.
It seems to me that there's a lot of confusion about how we're expecting the item cards to be used, so I wanted to chime in here (since I did the graphic design for the set). The box of cards is going to have 54 cards, that pretty covers all the normal items a DM might give out during a session. Swords, potions, armor, scrolls, rings, amulets, and a couple oddball items. Every item is generic though. It's not a Potion of Cure Light Wounds, it's a potion. It's 100% useful no matter what potion the DM is handing out. However, a lot of us are visual people, and we like variety, so that's the reason for the booster packs. Instead of the same set of 54 cards from the first box, we've expanded it out to 110 cards, again, all generic, so you can EXPAND the variety of the items you hand out. There are 18 potions in the boosters set, each with it's own illustration. Variety. Spice of life. Etcetera. You don't need a whole set of these cards, ever. There's nothing that requires that. The price point on a 110 card box would have been at the point where people would probably just say no to it, but a cheap pack of 11 cards is a pretty easy pick-up at the counter when you're tired of just buying more dice. And that's what we were aiming at, something cheap that adds a little fun to your game. Jason posted the average breakdown of items in a pack, so you can see that every time you buy a pack, you'll have useful stuff in it. And, if you've run out of potions, or scrolls to hand out, you don't have to drop another $10 just to get a couple for that night's game. So, to recap. If you don't care about visual variety, and don't mind handing out the same four potion cards (remember, they are GENERIC potions, not specific potions, so you can keep using those same four images again and again), or the same couple suits of armor, or what have you, then just buy the box. You know exactly which cards you'll get. You can buy a new box every time you need more potions, or scrolls, or rings. If you want more variety of the common items, and a few more oddball items (like the Spiked Chain), then pick up the boosters. You also get a foil card, useful for representing an extra special item (you can still write on the back of it, just like a normal card). Again, just to restate for the record -- you're not chasing any rares or hard to find cards with the boosters. You don't need a whole set. These are meant to be used. To be written on, and kept with the character sheet, and tossed aside after they are used up (in the case of potions). I have a strong suspiscion that there will be an "Oh, now I get it!" moment when people start using these cards in their games.
We felt the lower price-point on the 11-card packs meant that more people could pick up the packs without having to drop $10, so they could try it out, and see if they liked them. You don't need all the cards to use the Item Packs. In fact, it is so utilitarian that you can pick up one pack, or twenty packs, and get use out of it. In the Hero's Hoard set, there are over 15 different potion cards alone (each with their own unique illustration). We created multiple different versions of items that are commonly found (potions, swords, scrolls, etc.) and have single instances of items that are rarely found (like the Spiked Chain). Buying multiple packs gives you more of the commonly found items, which seemed the best way to distribute the cards. You'll never have cards you don't need, because we're not telling you it's a +1 Wooden Shield. It can be any kind of wooden shield. If you give out two wooden shields, you just jot your tracking code and/or notes on the back of them, and viola! you have two unique magic items. Also, we opted to add in the foil cards so that the DM (or player) can use those to represent very powerful or special magic items. We're not expecting people to use these cards like a trading card game set. We're not making the cool stuff harder to find, and you don't need four of some impossible to find card in order to play. Each item is customizable to whatever you want it to be. Further sets will expand the selection of items, so that we have even more sets of armor, more weapons, more strange wonderous items, and of course, more of the staples like potions and scrolls. Every single card illustration will be unique, so the more sets we release, the more unique choices you have.
We actually sent Wayne Reynold's artwork to Wizards so they could sculpt the mini from it. I think he turned out great!
The problem is caused due to misregistration on press, something which we can't control, other than to avoid the use of reversed out text (which is the direction we're moving in). The real problem with misregistration is that not every copy of the magazine is affected the same. As the color plates drift on press, the press operator will correct it, and then a bunch of pages will print just fine, until the color plates drift out of alignment again. The press runs so fast however, that it's easy to get a few hundred pages printed that are out of alignment. We've seen both extremes (perfect and horrible mess) in seperate issues here at the office, and we don't like it either, so we're going to avoid it as much as possible.
The stylesheets are set up in a hierarchy. Therefore, think of them as sections to an outline. H1 -- First header to begin section
Rob hasn't been a poster on the boards, but I know that he does pop in and read them from time to time. Sean Glenn
I have some questions about art contributions to Dragon. I read the writter contribution guidlines and it said that Dragon accepts art, but I was wondering if there were any specific guidelines for submitting artwork. Thank you.Seconded. We don't have specific guidelines, other than that we only publish color art. Oh and we prefer that you do know how to draw.
You'll find that the bases give them a nice solid feel. We're really happy with the final product on these, and I hope you guys are too. Sean Glenn
I think it would be really cool if the pics for the classes in the class acts section were different every issue. That way readers could store up several different images for the core classes and use them as either pc portraits or the dm could use as npc portraits (I think Wayne Reynolds would be perfect for this). While we won't be running brand new art in every issue for this section, we are creating a new design, incorporating new art. It's possible that new art might be by Wayne Reynolds. But you didn't hear it here. Sean Glenn
Oh, our artists are pretty familiar with D&D, but we wanted to be able to say to any of them -- we need a fighter, we need a paladin, we need a cleric, and be able to send them immediate reference for what we wanted. As well though, we liked the idea of having our own iconic characters popping up in the magazine from time to time, because we're cool like that. It was also a great excuse to give Wayne some more work.
Soon, soon.
I'd prefer to see a iconic Wee Jas priest to look more goth and less Wonder Woman though. We decided that we didn't like the red, white (silver/metal), blue scheme on the cleric either, so in the coming issues she's a more muted set of colors, heavy on the red and charcoal. Sometimes they works, sometimes they don'ts.
One of the other issues with statting these guys up is that they can be any level. If we use them in a high level adventure, they'll be 10th or 15th level. We could stat up their progression through the levels, but I'm not sure the amount of work that would require would have enough of a payoff for the readers. Maybe some day one of them will make one of the Critical Threat pages. Sean Glenn
Greyhawk Uncial is indeed a custom font, and the adventure titles for the Age of Worms were all lettered by Darlene as well. We wanted the AoW to have a very classic look, and Darlene delivered in spades. Her calligraphy in the original Greyhawk gazeteer books was very, very inspirational to me when I first saw it, and I've been looking for opportunities to work with her since then! Sean Glenn
They should be available by tomorrow! Sean Glenn
Plus it means that I get to make Wayne Reynolds create cool characters from descriptions that James, Erik, and myself cook up. You can thank me for the cool instrument the Drow bard plays. It's based on an Asian instrument called a pipa, as filtered through Wayne's incredible pencil (I think his artistic talent may have something to do with it too).
That would be because Taan is a 6' tall Valley Elf. Sean, OOC: "This is the last time I forget to cast mage armor on myself." This, unfortunately, would not be the last time I utter that very quote.
Why thank you. My swelled head is having trouble fitting in to my cubicle now, but I suppose that's the price you pay for fame. Sean Glenn
One would have to assume that is why he gave it up in favor of his +3 bane vs. humans anarchic flaming burst bastard sword.
Select a font from the drop down menu and just start typing. Then select a new font as necessary for specialized text (room labels, read-aloud text, monster stats, etc.). You'll actually want to select the style, not the font. Just a clarification. Sean Glenn
My, oh my. This is fantastic. Amazing, even. What a piece of work. It's detailed and utterly gorgeous. Even better than the Darlene maps from the original box. Definitely the best "freebie" I've ever recieved with an issue of any magazine. Thanks, guys. Your hard work had definitely been worth it. Darlene contributed to this one as well, she drew a new font for us based on her original calligraphy on the original map! Sean Glenn
The maps appear in 118, 119, 120, and 121. I think Erik can address the other map location question. Sean Glenn
Actually... we do have Rel's application in for official Dungeon mascot, and he did make it through the first round of interviews. He's up against some tough competition, though, what with Lumbie the Reptile Boy, Warduke, and the break-out star of issue #118... Well, James, although I may be quite biased (the Warduke cover was my idea - mercifully accepted by Erik, and masterfully painted by Wayne Reynolds) I have to say IT'S WARDUKE ALL THE WAY BABY! How can you argue with a guy in dragon-winged helmet? Sean Glenn
I gotta ask a question. Why did they choose Wil Wheaton to do this article? We chose Wil to do the article because even before he was a famous actor, he was a gamer. Acting is Wil's job, gaming is his hobby (just like a lot of us). He's always talking on his blog about old games, new games, playing D&D, playing GURPS or Mutants & Masterminds. He's also a very amazing writer with a great voice and a great feel for what makes being a geek so cool. We figured why have him only write for his blog about games, D&D in particular. So, that's why we picked him. The reason we didn't have James or Erik write the column was two-fold. They both already get to speak in the editorial, and they spend all their time developing, editing and writing other articles for the magazines. Best not to pile more work on those two, because if they explode and go postal, I'm only one wall away. Sean Glenn
So what's his name? And for that matter It wouldn't be a bad idea if these folks were the official "Dungeon Crew" as it were. Not that I don't like Tordek, Lidda, Redgar and company (the Gnome Bard was a nice addition too) but these guys show up on the heels of 3.5 and at the onset of the "New Look Dungeon", well that just screams marketing opportunity. We never envisioned them as a marketing opportunity, just placeholders for the PCs. They don't have names, they don't have back stories. Since we don't usually run good guys as critical threats, you probably won't see these folks statted out. Maybe we should run a contest or something to name them. I'll ask Erik about that. Sean Glenn
They are indeed recurring characters that we will be using as needed. They are less iconics, and more player character stand-ins. Wayne Reynolds designed all these characters for us (and painted the 114 cover) based on a few ideas that he, Erik, James and I threw back and forth. I'm the one responsible for the elven rogue in the red leather.
One of the key drawbacks in writing adventures for Dungeon is the constant choice that the writers and editors have to make. We have a ton of monsters at our disposal, but we can't expect every reader to have every book. Sometimes when a new book comes out, we run adventures that use creatures from that book to show off what one of those new monsters can do. Other times, we replace a lesser known creature from a more obscure book with a better known one from the MM or MMII. It's all a balancing act to give people adventures that use creatures from books they have, whether that is the MM or the Fiend Folio. Sean Glenn
Oh I wouldn't call those hopeless things at all. ;) Sean Glenn
Not silly at all. You make some excellent comparisons. Another genre whose formula translate well is Westerns. Many Westerns involve a coming-together of various semi-heroic types by chance. One of the heroic guys sees some quest and the others tag along for their various reasons. Usually there's one guy around which the story is centered, but... Don't forget samurai movies as well! Those ones very much typify the sort of heroic teamwork that needs to take place in a D&D game. Movies in general have lots of cool stuff a DM (or player) can use. Even mostly lame movies like Willow have characters like Sorsha and Madmartigan. Sean Glenn
By the way, when is Kyle's site going to come back on line? Sometime soon, I'm sure. There's a lot of work that needs to go into the relauch of the site, and there's been some busyiness that has been keeping that from happening. ;) Sean Glenn
Also, the change to the thinner paper was necessitated by the massive increase in wholesale prices for paper across the board. From the early 90s until now, there's been a very significant increase (some grades of paper doubled in price). If we get a bunch of new subscribers and/or if wholesale prices for paper go down, we will immediately change the cover and interior paper stock. It's something that Erik and I are committed to. Sean Glenn
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