For Dragon, I put them right in the body of the e-mail. I'll take a few sentences to describe the idea, then go on to the next idea in a new paragraph.
For Dragon, I put them right in the body of the e-mail. I'll take a few sentences to describe the idea, then go on to the next idea in a new paragraph.
OK, I just need a quick clarification here since the "Dragon Writer's Guidelines" is a little vague on queries... I'm feeling a little slow on the uptake right now. No matter whether Class Act or feature article, you only write a *couple* sentences for the query? Do you write more for a feature-query? If they want more they'll either ask for an outline or green-light the piece?
It just seems like a big switch from Dungeon's 1000 word adventure queries. Thanks in advance.
I write slightly longer queries for feature ideas than class act articles - but not much. Now granted, I've only ever had two features queries where they asked for more; and one of those was for a "Gaining Prestige" article right about the time they killed it. So I may not be the best person to use as a benchmark.
there is a big difference between a dungeon query and a dragon query.
For Dragon I generaly try to keep my queries short and to the point. If I am proposing more then 1 article in an email I try to devote no more then a single paragraph to any one (if I am sending a query for a single article then I will typicaly devote a bit more too it, but not a whole lot).
It just seems like a big switch from Dungeon's 1000 word adventure queries.
On a side note I can not cram 1000 words onto two double spaced pages even if I shrink it down to 10 point... I generaly end up with between 850-900 words.
For Dragon, I put them right in the body of the e-mail. I'll take a few sentences to describe the idea, then go on to the next idea in a new paragraph.
OK, I just need a quick clarification here since the "Dragon Writer's Guidelines" is a little vague on queries... I'm feeling a little slow on the uptake right now. No matter whether Class Act or feature article, you only write a *couple* sentences for the query? Do you write more for a feature-query? If they want more they'll either ask for an outline or green-light the piece?
It just seems like a big switch from Dungeon's 1000 word adventure queries. Thanks in advance.
Yes... a brief paragraph detailing your idea is all that is needed. They seem to prefer receiving several such queries at once rather than a single idea per email.
It is a dramatic difference from Dungeon where you are submitting a substantial 1000 word query for an adventure (or completed manuscript for a CW or Critical Threat).
It just seems like a big switch from Dungeon's 1000 word adventure queries.
On a side note I can not cram 1000 words onto two double spaced pages even if I shrink it down to 10 point... I generaly end up with between 850-900 words.
As a side note to your side note ;) - James Jacobs mentioned somewhere over on the Dungeon boards that the double-spaced thing is sort of a legacy requirement, and it can go away. The better guidelines is 1000 words and two pages. As long as you don't exceed either of those limits you should be in good shape.
Contributor
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there is a big difference between a dungeon query and a dragon query.
Yes. The difference is huge. Let's use an analogy. Writing an adventure for Dungeon is like writing a novel: It's big, it's complicated, and you need to let the publisher know everything about it ahead of time. Writing an article for Dragon (or even one of the Campaign Components for Dungeon) is like writing a short story: If you can't summarize it in a paragraph or less it's probably too ambitious or too rough. There can be exceptions, of course, but if your query begins approaching the length of the article you need to tighten up your idea.
And like Zherog said, if your one-sentence query piques our interest we'll ask for more detail. :)
Also, to emphasize the point that... uh... someone else made (sorry! forgot who!): We like multiple queries in one email. If you're afraid you're including too many queries in one email and that it's becoming overly long, add more queries and make it longer. ;)
Don't know if this will help but here's some examples of feature ideas I pitched awhile back. Originally there were five but one of them was among the ten features I wrote in '05 so I chopped it out (hopefully it will appear in print some day). None of these got the greenlight but they're pretty similar to the ones that have.
(1) By Moradin's Beard!
Luxuriant, cascading waterfalls of hair streaming from chins and checks, swaddling the neck and chest, nothing says dwarf more then a thick, rich beard. They define individual dwarves, making a bold statement about their wearer's status and identity, and they define dwarven society too, setting their culture apart from more feeble races like human or elf or goblin. Master craftsmen, weavers of cunning magic, dwarves long ago turned their genius for industry to their beards, developing a very special variety of item creation.
This article will present rules for temporarily enchanting beards.While intended to be of most use to dwarves anyone with a beard couldmake use of the rules (though I like the idea of requiring the barberat least to be a dwarf). Along with a new feat, and rules forenchanting the beards I will also present a number of examples.
(2) Family Fiends
Hybrids are part of the game, just consider how many "half-somethings"we find in the typical campaign world. In D&D species mingle and the influence of a monster ancestor could linger on for generations. These scions would differ from their peers in all sorts of subtle and not so subtle ways. Mostly human, or elf or dwarf, but with just a hint of
something else.
This article will present an interesting new ability and balancing drawback for characters of any race who just happen to have some kind of monster dangling from their family tree. Justimagine some of the possibilities, aranea, doppelganger, dryad, hag,etc. Creatures able to either change shape or due to their physiology capable of interbreeding with members of an established PC race.
(4) The Tell Tale Scar
Many cultures make use of scarification rituals, whether to denote important life events or for other reasons. Take a moment to imagine how this might play out in a world of magic. Off the top of my head I can't recall any rules for magical tattoos, so I could expand these rules for magical body art to include that as well.
This article will take a look at some of the ways scarification rituals and the like have been used in various cultures in hopes of giving both DMs and players some interesting ideas for character and NPC design. From there, it will present new rules for creating them, including a new item creationfeat, a stat block, and of course, lots and lots of examples. I'm not anartist but I bet there's a lot of potential for interesting
illustrations here too.
(5) Gotcha!
The treatment of prisoners has varied from culture to culture and fromera to era. It iseasy to imagine scenarios in a campaign world where the taking ofprisoners, whether for ransom, slavery or some other reason could become common. This article will present some options to consider when
considering taking monsters and villains prisoner rather then simplykilling them. Beginning with a brief explanation of some of the approaches, and rationales, for taking prisoners it will then presentsome concrete rules to back them up (How much is an orc worth, and howdoes this formula apply to hill giants?). I will also outline some ofthe possible groups a party could ransom their captives too (othermonsters, a church looking to redeem these "lost sheep", NPC brokerswho resell them for a profit, etc). Finally, I will explain how DMs
can use these rules to both keep a party alive and also give them time to develop an interesting cast of monster NPCs ("Hey guys, looks likewe captured old Tweeg again! Does your back still hurt from last time buddy?")
As a side note to your side note ;) - James Jacobs mentioned somewhere over on the Dungeon boards that the double-spaced thing is sort of a legacy requirement, and it can go away. The better guidelines is 1000 words and two pages. As long as you don't exceed either of those limits you should be in good shape.
Well that is good to know, perhaps I have been inadvertantly hamstringing my Dungeon proposals out of the gate... an extra hundred and fifty words could be very helpful :)
OK, first I humbly accept pressuredrop's reprisals if he feels I'm highjacking the thread, but this is a great oppurtunity to consolidate this advice. :)
For querying Dragon:
1) query in the body of the email
2) there's no such thing as too many queries per email
3) no matter the article type, a paragraph or two of explanation should suffice (~100-150 words according to Hal Maclean's awesome feature examples above); arguably Class Acts queries should be a little shorter
4) this is not Dungeon magazine!
How's that so far?
New questions:
I'm guessing that one shouldn't mix & match article types in their emails as different people peruse them, yes?
Do you (the writers) essentially have your articles written when you query them, or do you just fire away incomplete ideas knowing that if they get green-lit you'll deal with that later?
Thanks.
I send incomplete ideas. I don't write the article itself until I have approval.
And if you're not familiar with the different department heads, just send all your queries in one email. The editors will divide the queries up appropriately.
-Amber S.
Director of Games
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OK, first I humbly accept pressuredrop's reprisals if he feels I'm highjacking the thread, but this is a great oppurtunity to consolidate this advice. :)
For querying Dragon:
1) query in the body of the email
Absolutely. Putting them in as attachments makes our job a bit harder.
2) there's no such thing as too many queries per email
Well.. that is not entirely true. Groups of five makes it a bit easier for us to seperate, but not mandatory.
3) no matter the article type, a paragraph or two of explanation should suffice (~100-150 words according to Hal Maclean's awesome feature examples above); arguably Class Acts queries should be a little shorter
Hal has the system pretty dialed in. His proposals give just enough information for us to consider the piece.
4) this is not Dungeon magazine!
How's that so far?
New questions:
I'm guessing that one shouldn't mix & match article types in their emails as different people peruse them, yes?
Do you (the writers) essentially have your articles written when you query them, or do you just fire away incomplete ideas knowing that if they get green-lit you'll deal with that later?
Thanks.
As for the last two questions, feel free to mix and match the queries, we can sort them out and do not write the article before we greenlight. We would not want you to waste time if we do not accept the piece.
Jason Bulmahn
Managing Editor of Dragon
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Contributor
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Well.. that is not entirely true. Groups of five makes it a bit easier for us to seperate, but not mandatory.
All right, all right, I guess I was thinking about how I like to get queries. You CAN send in as many queries as you want, however (just divide them up into different emails, apparently).
So! If they're for Class Acts or Bazaar of the Bizarre, feel free to send as many queries in one email as you want. If they're for features, keep it at five per email. :)