New Guidelines?

[drunken_nomad]

At one time (sometime in the last year or so)...there was talk of updating the guidelines and cover/query letter for proposals. I'm guessing to change over to the 'Adventure Path' format of writing. Is that still going to happen?

[Gary Teter]

drunken_nomad wrote:

At one time (sometime in the last year or so)...there was talk of updating the guidelines and cover/query letter for proposals. I'm guessing to change over to the 'Adventure Path' format of writing. Is that still going to happen?

Yes, I've heard the new guidelines have been completed, and I believe Dungeon editors will be giving a talk about them at GenCon. The revised guidelines should be available for download in a week or so.

PS: I have no idea what's in the new guidelines.... Maybe Erik will be able to take time from his busy GenCon schedule to give a few hints here.

[drunken_nomad]

Thanks Gary-

It is completely amazing that I got an answer that quickly. Keep up the good work!

[Kronius]

Any word on these yet?

[James Jacobs]

The guidelines are more or less written, but they still need a little bit of tweaking and quite a bit more editing. They'll be up by the end of the week for sure. Once they do go up on the website, I'll drop a note here to let you all know.

[Kronius]

thanks for the reply

[bg2soatob]

Quote:

~They'll be up by the end of the week for sure.~

I'll look on the bright side and notice that you did take down the old guidelinges.

[James Jacobs]

Observent readers will note I did not specify which week the guidelines will be up by...

On a more serious note, we're going through the final edits for the guidelines. We're almost there! I promise!

[emirikol]

Mr. Jacobs:

I hope the new guidelines have some recommendations for making the 'blurbs' more useful than always ending in a question and recommending that names in scenarios be 'fantasy' names instead of the likes of "Jhil" "Bahb," etc... yea, it's a couple peeves.

jh

[Robert Trifts]

At the risk of being impatient, consider this a *bump*

[James Jacobs]

The guidelines are in the final proofing stage, and once Erik gives them the okay they're going up on the website. Check back in about 18 hours or so and if they're not up, well, that means I'm lying when I say they'll be up Friday morning.

[drunken_nomad]

lol! if yer lying does that make you chaotic neutral?

[6pakofdwarves]

Are the new guidelines up? and if so, where can i find them?

[Gary Teter]

The new Dungeon writers guidelines are now available at http://paizo.com/writersguidelines/dungeon_writer_guidelines.pdf

And judging by the interest here, not a moment too soon!

[Alec Austin]

Gary Teter wrote:

The new Dungeon writers guidelines are now available at http://paizo.com/writersguidelines/dungeon_writer_guidelines.pdf

And judging by the interest here, not a moment too soon!

Hey, Gary. I've just looked through the guidelines, but they don't seem to include the standard disclosure form they say is appended to the .pdf file.

While there's a copy of the form in Dragon's guidelines, I figured I should point this out...

[Gary Teter]

Alec Austin wrote:

Hey, Gary. I've just looked through the guidelines, but they don't seem to include the standard disclosure form they say is appended to the .pdf file.

While there's a copy of the form in Dragon's guidelines, I figured I should point this out...

Good catch. I've updated the PDF to include the disclosure form.

Thanks!

[6pakofdwarves]

What exactly does it mean when it says "Write your submission using the styles embedded in this document"? It then references files, but when I go to the Document tab and then to file attachements there is nothing attached. How do we access these "embedded" files? Forgive my ignorance on this subject, I only read .pdf's, don't create or use them much.

[Gary Teter]

6pakofdwarves wrote:

What exactly does it mean when it says "Write your submission using the styles embedded in this document"? It then references files, but when I go to the Document tab and then to file attachements there is nothing attached. How do we access these "embedded" files? Forgive my ignorance on this subject, I only read .pdf's, don't create or use them much.

Arrrr. It means I get to talk like a pirate this weekend, until I get a chance to clarify things with the editorial staff on Monday. Arrrr.

Until then, just write the best dang submissions you can, and don't worry about style sheets. Great content wins out over pretty formatting anyway. :-)

[Ragwaine]

Alec Austin wrote:

Gary Teter wrote:

The new Dungeon writers guidelines are now available at http://paizo.com/writersguidelines/dungeon_writer_guidelines.pdf

And judging by the interest here, not a moment too soon!

I have to say I'm a bit dissapointed, the article I've written doesn't seem to fit in any of the Dungeon features or in Dragon. Is there any place for articles about new/optional rules? It seems like everything in the magazines is finalized, packaged goods, like new feats, new spells, new classes, new dungeons, cities. I don't see any room for articles on game mechanics, or theory. I love the new _Unearthed Arcana_ with it's new ideas and optional rules to try out. Where would I submit these kind of articles?

[James Jacobs]

If the new/optional rules are focused on things players can use, submit it to Dragon. If they're something more aimed at DMs, submit it to Dungeon.

We'll definately print articles like these from time to time, but be warned that new rules will probably be more difficult to write and will require more revisions than articles that expand on existing rules. It's just the nature of the beast.

[Ragwaine]

James Jacobs wrote:

If the new/optional rules are focused on things players can use, submit it to Dragon. If they're something more aimed at DMs, submit it to Dungeon.

We'll definately print articles like these from time to time, but be warned that new rules will probably be more difficult to write and will require more revisions than articles that expand on existing rules. It's just the nature of the beast.

Thanks James,

It is more for DM's so I'll be sending it to Dungeon.

[6pakofdwarves]

post master general says:

"Arrrr. It means I get to talk like a pirate this weekend, until I get a chance to clarify things with the editorial staff on Monday. Arrrr.

Until then, just write the best dang submissions you can, and don't worry about style sheets. Great content wins out over pretty formatting anyway. :-)"

Arrr, sounds good Matey..and thanks

[Ragwaine]

James Jacobs wrote:

If the new/optional rules are focused on things players can use, submit it to Dragon. If they're something more aimed at DMs, submit it to Dungeon.

Well I sent off my query. The hilarious thing is that I read it over about 6 times then spell checked it. Then sent it. Then printed it off and noticed that the first line said "Dear Dudgeon Magazine". I had initially mistyped "Dugeon", then my spell checker told me it was incorrect and so I clicked replace thinking that it was so close it would pick the correct word. Little did I know that the word "dudgeon" would be a possiblity. I didn't even know what the word meant, so I looked it up and it seems like it would make a great magazine.

Dudgeon (n) : a feeling of intense indignation, a sullen, angry, or indignant humor.

So this could be a magazine you read when your pi$$ed off or just in a foul mood. It could have depressing stories about suffering and articles about how to hold on to your anger. Paizo has my permission to use the idea as long as my name is mentioned as a co-creator. Sorry I can't attach a SDF to this message.

[John Simcoe]

The new guidelines are up I see. Thank you guys. This version is much easier to read than the last one!
I'm also glad to see the addition of Temporary modifiers in the new stat block. That's a big help to those of us who are mathematically challenged!

[Erik Mona]

The "styles embedded in this document" refers to the pull-down menu in the style pallate. You know, where you usually find Normal, Header 1, Header 2, etc.

We've got magazine-appropriate styles built into the document. Make most of the document Body Text, make boxed text Boxed Text, etc.

--Erik Mona
Editor-in-Chief
Dungeon

[Gary Teter]

Sorry for the confusion. The Microsoft Word style sheets Erik is talking about are now available as a separate download, and the writers guidelines have been updated to reflect this.

[Nathan Wolf]

Gary Teter wrote:

The new Dungeon writers guidelines are now available at http://paizo.com/writersguidelines/dungeon_writer_guidelines.pdf

And judging by the interest here, not a moment too soon!

Hi,

First, my compliments on being so responsive to these boards, I'm impressed that they are such a great resource to us and I hope they are to the Dungeon staff as well.

My question about the guidelines is, how do we query by email? The guidelines specify that the query should be 1-2 pages double-spaced, and may be sent by email. Does this mean that we should attach the query to an email, if so, in what format (Word)? If not, double-spacing text in the body of an email generally just leads to a nasty mess as line breaks collide with email client width settings.

Thanks a lot, and great work with the new format, I hope to eventually become a contributor :)

-- nathan

[James Jacobs]

Yup; attach the query to your email. Word is the prefered format. Second most preferred is as a rich-text file. Third is as a plain text file. Thanks!

[drunken_nomad]

WHOOPS! Did not know that one...my mouth is agape. Should have figured it out though.