| Author |
Message
|
| varianor |
 Posted: Tue Jul 07, 2009 4:13 pm Post subject: |
 |
|
Patron
Joined: 06 Jan 2008
Posts: 602
|
| deinol wrote: |
| Clockwork Rifts: Taking a break from D&D, we decide to tackle the home plane of Rava, the Gear Goddess, in this fantastic RIFTS dimension book. "How much MDC does a clockwork goddess have?" |
Except that she doesn't have a plane - she's the mechanical structure of the planes themselves! 
Some good ideas. Very good ideas. I like the spaceships one. I wish I could clone myself and pitch the neo-pulp sourcebook I have in mind. With Cthulhoidesque overlays - "Captain, the stars are wrong, wrong I tell you!" - or at least a chapter on the Color Spray from Outer Space, I think there's a lot of potential. |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
| bullonir |
| Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 6:07 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Patron
Joined: 23 Mar 2008
Posts: 188
|
Stupid question time... Somewhat related to the turn-over question...
Sort of.
Where do I get the errata version for HotMK? Just dowload the thing later?
Like I said. Maybe stupid...
Patrick |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| m8adam |
| Posted: Mon Jul 13, 2009 7:55 pm Post subject: Holy Crap! |
|
|
Patron
Joined: 18 Nov 2008
Posts: 148
|
Wow, I kinda tuned out the fine tuning portion of the Halls project, and subsequently stopped watching the boards here too. I can't believe I missed out on all this awesome brainstorming.
While I wouldn't be that interested in a non-D&D product, if it went Cthulhu I'd probably buy in, as I've heard so many great things about that system.
I wanted to cast my (premature) vote for Neal's idea of a plane-hopping HIGHLY STEAMPUNK adventure. The whole reason I discovered Opendesign was because I was searching for a steampunk adventure and ran across Steam & Brass. I'd love the chance to not only get the steampunk flavor I was looking for, but to help design the damn thing too. Anyway, wanted to repost this:
| Quote: |
Or what about real steampunk? Iron Kingdoms is basically dead, and aside from Scarrport there hasn't been much on the steampunk front. I would be very interested in (say) "Rusted Heart of the Clockwork God" or a D&D-meets-Shadowrun political conspiracy adventure that takes us through the steam-powered planar gate recently built by the Zobeck steamworkers guild.
|
I'm especially interested in the shadowrun-esque elements here, which I think would be served wonderfully through use of a plane-traveling device.
Also, I'd cast my vote for a level range of 10-13, mostly because I've never played, run or written anything much above 8th level. And cause that's where Halls leaves off.
Wolfgang: Folks keep referring to past proposals by title. Any chance of getting a summary of these popular ideas that I'm not familiar with? Is there one posted somewhere? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| Dan Voyce |
| Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 3:57 am Post subject: |
|
|
Patron
Joined: 04 Dec 2008
Posts: 1123
|
| bullonir wrote: |
| Where do I get the errata version for HotMK? Just dowload the thing later? |
If it works like last time, then once the editor has had chance to collate the feedback and update the manuscript a link to the revised PDF will be sent out. Everyone who got the first version should get the second one. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| Wolfgang |
| Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 6:03 am Post subject: |
|
|
Kobold Overlord
Joined: 30 Dec 2007
Posts: 5008
Location: The Mines
|
Correct, we're just compiling the last errata this week. Should go out to patrons by Saturday or so.
_________________
Wolfgang Baur
Publisher, Kobold Press |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| deinol |
| Posted: Tue Jul 14, 2009 9:11 am Post subject: Re: Holy Crap! |
|
|
Patron
Joined: 27 Aug 2008
Posts: 380
|
| m8adam wrote: |
| Wolfgang: Folks keep referring to past proposals by title. Any chance of getting a summary of these popular ideas that I'm not familiar with? Is there one posted somewhere? |
I don't know if there is a definitive list. If you read back through the really old LJ posts I know there have been many pitches in the past. The most recent batch before Halls was in this thread:
http://www.koboldquarterly.com/kqforums/viewtopic.php?t=229 |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| Neostrider |
| Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 10:50 am Post subject: |
|
|
Patron
Joined: 30 Apr 2009
Posts: 316
|
I don't know if it is too late to add another idea to the list. How about a guidebook on better gamemastery?
I just started a new campaign and I've pulled back from all my notes and arcing plot hooks and etc to simplify things and focus more on the players. Its been a blast, almost nostalgic of the first couple of campaign I ever played in where everything was new and shiny.
Something that struck me the last time we played was the sheer amount of experience I'd gotten from being a gamemaster for so long. I propose we try to write a guidebook for new gamemasters to quickly look and get answers that aren't found in the rulebook. DMG2 and a few other books have tried something similar but they felt very generic and everything was tagged with a "This may not work for you but..."
For the contents I picture something like:
Chapter 1 - Players
- Getting them into character, responding to overpowered characters in an underpowered group, reacting to bizarre or extreme behaviors,
Chapter 2 - Battles
- Keeping the excitement high, a list of usable mooks (thugs etc. ever notice the DMG didn't have any HP and AC for warriors? well here they are), A guide to drawing an interesting map
Chapter 3 - Villians
- A list of classic villian things to do and how to do them at the game table (dealing with the 'cutscene' issue and etc), Building the villian's character sheet (When to give Ability Focus, why not to give Persuasion)
Chapter 4 - Flow of the Game
When is being funny start being detrimental?, How to keep the players in control even in a railroad story, Puzzels: how and when not to
and more
Since we've all probably learn some of these tricks or ideas, we can share them with the growing generation of gamemasters. I doubt many at-home GMs will probably have learned ALL the ideas in the book since we'll be collaborating with people with completely different player groups and even different countries. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| fray |
| Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 11:22 am Post subject: |
|
|
Patron
Joined: 17 Jan 2008
Posts: 171
|
| Neostrider wrote: |
| ...stuff... |
Great idea for a book but not an Open Design Project.
If you are serious about it though, I bet there are people here that could help bring that book to print. We got writers and editors all over the place. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| yellowdingo |
| Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 11:30 am Post subject: |
|
|
Patron
Joined: 16 Jul 2009
Posts: 15
|
| I'd almost suggest an Atlas of a Campaign World...A world map displayed on the surface of a d20 can be broken down from 4000 mile per triangle side to a triangle grid of 125 miles per triangle side. Even better a 'World Globe' d20 the size of a basketball. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| Neostrider |
| Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 11:58 am Post subject: |
|
|
Patron
Joined: 30 Apr 2009
Posts: 316
|
The Kobold Bestiary seemed sort of along this line so I didn't know if it had to be an adventure book or not. The Bestiary was considered in the link deinol posted.
An atlas seems cool but I don't know how useful it would be for my group. My players only glance at the map to pick random destinations for adventuring and not much for planning travel. Large world maps are usually unused in my game, focusing on the maps of one country at a time. It seems cool and would be fun to do, but I'm not sure how many people would need it. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| Neal |
| Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 1:17 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Patron
Joined: 19 Dec 2008
Posts: 105
Location: Baton Rouge
|
Here's the skinny on writing a book on gamemastering: that book already exists.
Robin's Laws of Good Gamemastering, though thin, is really the aspiring GM's bible - and if you combine this with the 4e Dungeon Master's Guide, what I expect will be in the 4e DMG2 and one or two other books you'll see there isn't a lot of untrod ground to cover. If any of these books had been really shitty I'd be all about helping out with something like this - but the fact of the matter is that these books are really incredible.
If you are pitching this because it would be really useful to you, the price of senior patronage would get you all of the books mentioned here - as well as a .pdf of Unknown Armies 2nd edition by Greg Stolze and John Tynes, which boasts a GM/World Building chapter that remains the best concrete advice on how to evoke mood and create a campaign plot.
But it's hard for me personally to get into this considering how well this topic has been done - and how easily attainable all these GMing books are.
_________________
Neal Hebert
Editorial Assistant
Kobold Quarterly |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| terraleon |
| Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 5:03 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Contributor
Joined: 16 Jan 2008
Posts: 2032
Location: upstate NY
|
Along with Robin's Laws of Good Gamemastering by Robin D. Laws, I would suggest Master of the Game, by Gary Gygax. It's a little bit more dated than Robin's Laws-- 1989, but there are still useful points and it helps you get a sense of how the role of the GM has evolved.
-Ben.
_________________
progressio sine timore aut praejudica - Spectemur agendo |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| Neostrider |
| Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 6:27 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Patron
Joined: 30 Apr 2009
Posts: 316
|
| I wasn't really looking for a book, I was hoping to help write one, but I haven't read those yet so I'll look into them now. Thanks. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
| Neal |
| Posted: Thu Jul 16, 2009 7:37 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Patron
Joined: 19 Dec 2008
Posts: 105
Location: Baton Rouge
|
| Neostrider wrote: |
| I wasn't really looking for a book, I was hoping to help write one, but I haven't read those yet so I'll look into them now. Thanks. |
Well, luckily you'll still have that option with the next Open Design Project! The timing for a GMing book's just a bit off - especially with DMG2 about to ship.
-neal
_________________
Neal Hebert
Editorial Assistant
Kobold Quarterly |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
