I have a question about the use of more recent WotC books in desgining adventure submissions for DUNGEON. Specifically, in this case, the excellent TOME OF MAGIC.
I am designing a submission proposal that would work especially well with one of the new classes introduced in ToM.
I know that when using non-core books for adventures -- the Fiend Folio, for example, the designer needs to include info on that monster in the adventure, since the assumption is that readers do not necessarily have the FF.
How does this work for new spellcasting classes, such as the binder, introduced in ToM? Is this a case where it is just best not to use non-core material, but rather find a way to use a core class instead? I imagine that word limitations alone might force this path. Does use of something as rule-heavy as a new class from a non-core book pose too many problems, or make the adventure inaccessible for too many readers?
If it *is* permissible to use a new spellcasting class like the Binder in a DUNGEON adventure, how much info should be included?
I would greatly appreciate any help, advice, suggestions that people (editors, designers, gurus) could provide.
Thanks in advance!
Creative Director
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The Tome of Magic is one of the more popular WotC releases here among the editors. I'd love to see some submissions with binders, shadowcasters, and truenamers. Unfortunately, each of these subsystems is relatively complex and tough to do without assuming the reader has access to the book.
Of the three classes, I thnk it's probably easiest to do this for the binder, as long as you assume any NPC binders won't change their vestige during the adventure. In this case, it essentially becomes a long stat block. Shadowcasters and truenamers are more difficult, since they have access to entirely new types of magic.
If you want to submit a Tome of Magic adventure, you should first (as with any adventure) submit an adventure proposal. If we ask to see the manuscript, we'll probably ask you to write the adventure assuming the reader has the Tome of Magic so you don't need to reprint anything, but we'll also want you to provide a few sidebars on how to run the adventure if you don't use Tome of Magic. We wouldn't need full replacement stat blocks, but we'd certainly want to see suggested statblock rebuilds.
I was thinking of submitting a proposal using stuff from Magic of Incarnum.
Thanks, James, I appreciate your assistance.
(I seriously have to wonder if you guys aren't working too hard and way too many hours...but, your efforts really show in both DUNGEON and DRAGON!)
As I recall it, past trends have been to advise what suppliments would be needed to play the adventure as written, and give either a brief summary of the most pertinent info (as in the Age of Worms Path, where many MMII creatures have their stats restated at least to playable level), or a means of converting it to more standard means (as in issue #116's 'Death of Lashamire' which had psionic to non-psionic conversions in a sidebar.
Either of these approaches eat into the total word count, but those are the ways that have been used in the past when materials from other than the core books have been used, from my recollections.