I dunno how interested the various people here are in this tidbit of info . . . but I noticed this morning that WotC has posted on their website the Submission Guidelines for Dragon/Dungeon.
Just wanted to give people a heads up.
On one hand, being published in Dragon is still kinda cool.
On the other hand, I'd rather be in Pathfinder.
Contributor
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Alas, it isn't clear whether or not they're going to keep our departments. Class Acts, I shall miss you greatly! *sob*
I really like this line in the guidelines: "Likewise, we don’t accept plagiarized materials."
It's sad that they have to point out something like that. But I don't blame them at all for saying it.
You're the original Class Act, Mike.
Can't be duplicated, replicated or improved upon.
As for that crew led by Mr. Potato Head (I will cherish that OotS image forever, Mr. Rich Burlew), if it can't see the value of a Class Acts column ... that's their loss.
For a moment in time ... Paizo's Class Acts were truly a special part of the D&D landscape.
It's better than the magazines disappearing altogether, but getting published online doesn't sound nearly as appealing as getting published in paper. Maybe I'm old fashioned. No....I am old-fashioned.
Any news on the disposition on previously submitted, accepted and/or unpublished articles?
From http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=201098
Originally Posted by Scott_Rouse
We call this the slush pile as did Paizo. Chris Thommason is charged with reviewing the slush pile that Paizo handed off to us several months ago. He is going through all these submissions and will contact the writers whose proposals have made it to the next stage in the same way as we have outlined in the new submissions guidelines.
Creative Director
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The part I find most interesting is their claim to respond to everything in "60 days." I'm willing to bet that won't last.
I'll probably submit any ideas that utilize WOTC material to Dragon & Dungeon, but I'll send OGC stuff to Pathfinder.
Actually... they've got a LOT more employees over there at WotC. The only reason we weren't able to do a shorter turnaround is that we had only 3 folks working per magazine. If anyone can pull off awesome turnaround times, it's WotC.
Funny...but unless I missed it, I still haven't seen any more info about what the online crap err...."magazines" are going to look like, etc.
Please, correct me if I'm wrong....
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You're the original Class Act, Mike.
Can't be duplicated, replicated or improved upon.
As for that crew led by Mr. Potato Head (I will cherish that OotS image forever, Mr. Rich Burlew), if it can't see the value of a Class Acts column ... that's their loss.
For a moment in time ... Paizo's Class Acts were truly a special part of the D&D landscape.
Thanks Troy! ^_^
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Director of Narrative
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It's just weird seeing guidelines like this on someone else's site. It's like going out to eat at a fancy restaurant by yourself and glancing across the room to see a lovely magazine, what was your lovely magazine, smiling and laughing with someone else, someone else looking at her Class Acts, her Demonomicon, her Core Beliefs. Then they clink their glasses of some expensive dessert wine while sharing a piece of decadent chocolate torte. Later in the parking lot, when they ride off in the corvette, they splash you with a puddle and you get drenched, but at least no one can see the tears anymore.
It's just weird seeing guidelines like this on someone else's site. It's like going out to eat at a fancy restaurant by yourself and glancing across the room to see a lovely magazine, what was your lovely magazine, smiling and laughing with someone else, someone else looking at her Class Acts, her Demonomicon, her Core Beliefs. Then they clink their glasses of some expensive dessert wine while sharing a piece of decadent chocolate torte. Later in the parking lot, when they ride off in the corvette, they splash you with a puddle and you get drenched, but at least no one can see the tears anymore.
Well darn. I'm sad now.
The thing that still seems completely absent is a description of the actual product. Does it say anywhere what form these things will take? A magazine-like thing, just offered online? Or something like they have now, a random collection of mediocre short articles grouped by links on a basic face page?
After all the hype of a promised "you won't believe the great things that I can see ahead - and we're not telling you, nyah!", it seems like the posting of submission guidelines are the cart before the horse. What exactly are people submitting to?
Something that will be poorly edited and cut-and-pasted by inexperienced interns? That'd be my guess, since they're obviously going for the cheap route anyway. Unless it's really primo, they can suck it.
Yeah, I will likely send my prime stuff here to Paizo . . .wait for it to get rejected and then let WOTC have a sniff ;)
What has me puzzled is the whole "online" concept. I'm hoping there's a PDF component in there somewhere, 'cause I just don't see myself printing Dungeon adventures from my Web browser for example.
Add to that, will we have to subscribe (i.e. pay) to access this … thing? WotC has gotten an awful lot of my money already. Like Laeknir said: "Unless it's really primo, they can suck it."
Yeah, I will likely send my prime stuff here to Paizo . . .wait for it to get rejected and then let WOTC have a sniff ;)
Except that, as far as I can tell, there is not really any way to submit anything to Paizo currently except for monsters.
Yeah, I will likely send my prime stuff here to Paizo . . .wait for it to get rejected and then let WOTC have a sniff ;)Except that, as far as I can tell, there is not really any way to submit anything to Paizo currently except for monsters.
I am nothing if not patient.
Funny...but unless I missed it, I still haven't seen any more info about what the online crap err...."magazines" are going to look like, etc.
Please, correct me if I'm wrong....
I thought that was weird, too. If I were submitting, I'd at least like to know what I was submitting to...
I thought that was weird, too. If I were submitting, I'd at least like to know what I was submitting to...Funny...but unless I missed it, I still haven't seen any more info about what the online crap err...."magazines" are going to look like, etc.
Please, correct me if I'm wrong....
Don't forget that they still have a backlog of material others have submitted or had accepted that they plan on looking at. Couple this with the fact we have not heard much on the DI or the true form of Dragon/Dungeon for the future and I begin to seriously wonder how long a wait new submittee's will have to wait to hear word from WoTC. Then again, WoTC has many more employees than Paizo . . .so they may surprise me.
From my post on the WotC boards. Nothing sexy, just voicing my concern (and I don't expect Paizo to answer this question--not their job anymore):
- - - - -
Someone... needs to inform us very quickly about the legal status of the old articles. There are several types:
(1) Query sent in but no response received.
(2) Query accepted by no submission sent in yet.
(3) Submission sent in but no editorial response.
(4) Editorial response, but no follow-up from author.
(5) Article completely through editorial process, awaiting publication--but canned b/c of the cancellation of the magazines.
Honestly, the only one that I'm worried about is #5. I doubt I'm the only one with articles in this category. On some, I would rather walk away and use the article in another way.
WotC, for those articles in (5), please let us know what our options are. If I need to send an email detailing which articles I wish WotC to still consider, and which I do not... I will.
in #5, we've got one article and one wandering monster. we've got several in the other categories!
in #5
BOZ, can you drop me an email? I have something Off-Topic to drop on your lap: ephealy(at)ephealy(dot)com.
OK!
I sent them some queries last week and still haven't received any auto-replies indicating my queries were received. I'd think an auto-reply would happen within minutes.
Has anyone gotten an autoreply yet?
Thanks.
nope.
I sent a Side Trek query in last friday, no auto-reply has reached my Inbox, junk-folder etc.
And their template still has no examples of how they would like to receive their adventures.
I've seen on other boards that some auto-responses are being sent (and rather quickly), so there does seem to be some sort of technical issue.
Anything you send in belongs to you until you sign and return a contract. Any article accepted by Dragon but not destined for any printed issue is on the "slush pile", which WotC is taking over and sorting through as we speak. Presumably they'll get back to you on any pending articles.
In other words, unless you signed them over to Paizo, the articles are yours - but you may want to wait and see if Wizards has need of them before you take them back.
Pending queries, I'm not sure whether Wizards are sorting those or you need to re-submit them. Perhaps the Paizo staff have some idea?
FYI
After 120 hours I have received the auto-response.........
Chris Thomasson posted on the WoTC website that he jumped the gun by announcing an auto-response in the submission guidelines before IT was ready. I think they installed a beta version yesterday, but for any responses sent prior to that, he has to reply manually.
yeah, i got manual replies yesterday for anything i had sent in previously.
I have gotten auto-responses for everything that I sent after about 3 PM yesterday, so i am guessing that is about when they got it up and running.
It's just weird seeing guidelines like this on someone else's site. It's like going out to eat at a fancy restaurant by yourself and glancing across the room to see a lovely magazine, what was your lovely magazine, smiling and laughing with someone else, someone else looking at her Class Acts, her Demonomicon, her Core Beliefs. Then they clink their glasses of some expensive dessert wine while sharing a piece of decadent chocolate torte. Later in the parking lot, when they ride off in the corvette, they splash you with a puddle and you get drenched, but at least no one can see the tears anymore.
Except that the someone else in question wouldn't be looking at her Class Acts, Demonomicons, and Core Beliefs. Why the hell would Wizards ever want to publish something so flavorful and good? Mark my words, as soon as the new stuff comes out it will be filtered by Wizards with a fine toothed comb. We won't get nearly the good stuff we get now.
Why would they put any good stuff in their own magazine when they could stuff it into a book and make more money?
It's better than the magazines disappearing altogether, but getting published online doesn't sound nearly as appealing as getting published in paper. Maybe I'm old fashioned. No....I am old-fashioned.
I dunno. I'm only fifteen and I think that an electronic magazine is crap. I don't think the term you're looking for is old-fashioned. I'm pretty sure the term is "smart".
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Just speaking of the process as posted (sorry if this a threadjack), how do people like the new adventure query guidelines. I was interested to see that there is no allocation for adventure background, and that the focus is clearly on the villain and the lair and encounters.
Initially, I thought this will help people focus on what is the memorable part of an adventure, and present concise ideas. Especially since, as has been discussed before on these boards, the background is often what DMs spend all their creative enrgies on, and the PCs rarely fully experience, comprehend, or appreciate it.
Then I started going through my file of ideas, some previously submitted that I could rework, some never submitted, and realized that almost none of them have a clear villain that shines in the format shown. In fact most of them are 'shades of grey' situations. The closest I have to a 'villain' that fits what I think they are looking for is an adventure the concludes with battling the tarrasque. But it's really an afterthought to the real adventure. and following the query format, I would say "The main villain at the end of the adventure is the tarrasque, exactly as described in the MM."
So I wondered if this is a flaw in my adventures, or in the guidelines. I'm not sure. But when I look at "The Aundairian Job," or "Earth Tones" which did get get published, I would be hard-pressed to describe THE villain for either one.
I'm all for focusing on the adventure over the background, but I wonder if this query format, like the delve format, leads to a limitation on the type of adventure and encounter that gets printed.
Anyone else have thoughts on this?
Craig Shackleton,
The Rambling Scribe
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Anyone else have thoughts on this?
I had similar thoughts and posted a question on ENWorld in hopes that somebody form WotC would give some guidance on what to do for adventures with no clear villain. As of yet they have not responded.
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Anyone else have thoughts on this?I had similar thoughts and posted a question on ENWorld in hopes that somebody form WotC would give some guidance on what to do for adventures with no clear villain. As of yet they have not responded.
I'll keep an eye out over there. Thanks!
I've been mulling it over and I think Shadowrun has had a bigger impact on my adventure design style than I ever realized.
Who's the main villain? The dude that hired you.
What's his lair like? Doesn't matter because there's jack you can do about it.
I had similar thoughts and posted a question on ENWorld in hopes that somebody form WotC would give some guidance on what to do for adventures with no clear villain. As of yet they have not responded.
WOTC seem to answering questions on the guidelines fairly frequently on this thread. Any use?
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Interesting stuff Cat Daemon, thanks. Doesn't exactly address my question, but useful to read.
Particularly interesting to see McArtor saying to go ahead and submit ideas thatPaizo rejected, and Chris Thomasson agreeing. I was laready planning to do this, but I bet they opened one hell of a floodgate with that.
I sent my first pitch earlier today. No autoreply yet though, after ~ 12 hours (Yes, I checked my spam filter). Must redesign more adventure ideas to focus on villains.
It's better than the magazines disappearing altogether
Is it? Reread The Monkey's Paw.
, but getting published online doesn't sound nearly as appealing as getting published in paper.
No, it really doesn't. Not a lot of prestige in being published online, when you could just as easily do it yourself and release it as OGL material to boot. Now instead of, "How cool, I can bring this magazine to show my wife/brother/neighbor my name in print." it's, "Yeah..that's my name there...on the screen...ayep...oh, but I got paid for it...no I don't own it anymore...and it was seriously rewritten from my original concept...but that's my name there!"
I can't curl up in the tub with a fricking .pdf (yes, I read Dragon in the bubble bath, and I don't care who knows it)! I want my dead-tree edition!
RPG Superstar 2011 Top 32
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Alright, so now the question is, who do we submit ideas to? At this point, if you're an unknown, you can only submit Adventure ideas to WotC's DI
However, if you have bestiary or article ideas (for example), who do you guys choose to submit to, and why? We can submit them to Wotc, the tiny but mighty Kobold Quarterly, or we can wait another month or so for Paizo to release their submission guidelines.
Essentially, if you got a new critter - who do you give first crack to? All of the companies don't want you to simultaneously submit to the other companies.
Alright, so now the question is, who do we submit ideas to? At this point, if you're an unknown, you can only submit Adventure ideas to WotC's DI
However, if you have bestiary or article ideas (for example), who do you guys choose to submit to, and why? We can submit them to Wotc, the tiny but mighty Kobold Quarterly, or we can wait another month or so for Paizo to release their submission guidelines.
Essentially, if you got a new critter - who do you give first crack to? All of the companies don't want you to simultaneously submit to the other companies.
It realy depends on what I am looking to submit... since WotC has said that they will accept submissions based upon material that has appeared on thier message boards (as long as it is not plagerized.. ei you must have placed it there and it is your own work) I am busy turning many of my monsters of the week into creature catologue proposals to send to WotC... along with reworking proposls that dragon has passed on for one reason or another over the last few years to send to WotC for consideration. I have a file with plenty of new monster ideas to submit to Paizo once they get thier guidelines up... (of course if they are not up by the first of september or so I will probably pitch them to WotC as well, I can always come up with more ideas for Paizo's consideration down the road).
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Not to be disloyal to Paizo, and I don't think it is, but if you have a monster written up now, I'd submit it to the DI now.
The DI has writer's guidelines up now, and a 60 day turn around stated.
What that means is, if you don't hear from them in 60 days, you can resubmit to Paizo, probably in good time for their submission guidelines to be released.
If WotC comes back later and says they want it, you have dealt in good faith with both companies.
If you wait for Paizo's guidelines, you may be waiting a while to submit at all. And then the turnaround time before you can resubmit could be long as well. Paizo have admitted that they don't have the staff resources that WotC has to sort through submissions as quickly.
That said, personally I'd much rather be published in GameMastery or Pathfinder than the DI.