Dark Roads and Sacred Necromancers: The Patron Adventures
I love the way that the gaming industry is moving more and more towards a patronage model. For those who might be unfamiliar with it here is the description from Open Design, the pioneers of this new approach to game development:
Open Design uses an old business model called patronage; you directly commission a game designer, mapper, and illustrators to produce an adventure of interest.
As a patron, you can participate in the project discussions, brainstorms, and polls. You’ll read design essays and have the opportunity to playtest and review material. If you’re a senior patron, you’ll have more access: maybe suggest an NPC or a monster, maybe write whole sections, but there’s no requirement to contribute text! Senior patrons also preview maps and artwork. While Senior Patrons have a lot of pull, but a particularly inspired idea can often be snapped up from the lower tier. A great idea is, after all, a great idea.
I’m just getting my feet wet with the process thanks to my lovely wife. Having lived with a Planescape junkie for over a decade she snapped me up a senior patronage for Dark Roads and Golden Hells, the new planar book being developed by Open Design.
It’s quite an experience, while couched in the familiar environment of forums the mere knowledge that you’re working on something that will be going to press seems to supercharge the creativity. It’s also forcing me to really address one of my own weak points – monster creation under the Pathfinder rules. It’s something I have not done a lot of. (I’ve got so much 3.x stuff I just convert or add class levels most of the time.) And having people like Colin McComb and Wofgang Bauer drop in and add commentary is always worth its weight in star rubies!
Then there is Mysteries of the Dead Side, another Patronage project launched using Kickstarter by Zombie Sky Press. It’s not a full book like Dark Roads and Golden Hells, but it is a nice pdf supplement with an interesting set of ideas behind it.
Join the ranks of the undead! Help create the sacred necromancer, a new class for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game
This specialist class will explore all the possibilities of necromancy: revenants, “white necromancers,” ancestor worshipers, sin eaters, ghost detectives, exorcists, and more.
The man behind this one is Scott Gable, editor of Kobold Quarterly (magazine, blog, and patron projects) among many other things. The really interesting aspect of this project is that rather than using forums for the development discussions it is test driving Google +, the first RPG project like this to do so as far as I know.
All in all it’s fascinating to see the ebb and flow between patrons and creators. The brainstorming, the pitches, the voting and then the really fun part – the design!
I’ll be posting more about my initial experiences with patron projects as I find more to write about.
Planar Ecology – The Bodak
In which the gentleman in question (in the guise of Factor Evensong of the Dustmen) regales you with the dark of the Bodak, an undead monstrosity from the chaotic and evil Abyss.
Planar Ecology – The Modrons
In gentleman question which the in (guise in the Factotum of Zeenerdee of Xaositects the) gives you dark those cutters the on lawful modrons known as the Mechanus of.
Clockwork Gnome goes Pathjamming!
As a Spelljammer DM this little project thrills me. The fine folks over at Clockwork Gnome Publishing look like they have a real winner on their hands with the forthcoming release of Sailing Starlit Sea, a fantasy space supplement.
Now here is the part I really love. You see, every attempt at fantasy space since Spelljammer has felt obligated to address space travel differently. This project allows for a lot more versatility by allowing you a number of options including the traditional Spelljamer perspective [emphasis below is my own]:
However, one of the key parts of Sailing the Starlit Sea will be the Campaign Overlays. These will provide advice on how to alter the standard assumptions to your tastes. Campaign Overlays will address everything from methods of interstellar travel to adjusting the physical laws of the universe. So if Platonic inspired crystalline spheres are your preference,Sailing the Starlit Sea will provide a way to accommodate that choice while still preserving the rules and setting presented in the book.
With the final product not due out till early 2012 how can we judge what to expect from it? Easily, my dear cutter, they’ve just released a few teasers with info about their main solar system and more. Check them out:
- The Major Planets of the Seren System
- The Moons, the Shattered Wanderer, and Other Celestial Bodies of the Seren System
- Monsters of the Starlit Sea
This looks like fun, here’s hoping the crunch is as good as the fluff is so far.
By the way if, like most Pathfinder DMs I know, you scavenge old 3.x material for your game you might be interested in this old chestnut I wrote looking at some that are very useful for a PFRPG/3.x campaign: Contraband – Some Third Edition Spelljammer Resources.
Gamerati Tour Kickoff: An Interview with Ed Healy of Gamerati
Still wobbly after my first GenCon I managed to meet up with the Gamerati himself, Ed Healy. It was a bit of a media exchange, he shot a video of me and then I recorded this interview with him. If you want to understand why gaming is important listen to this conversation.
Interview with Ed Healy, The Gamerati by socialgumbo
YottaQuest and Gateway Games and More to kick off Gamerati Tour 2011
Having just returned from GenCon you would think I’ve had my fill of gaming, but the tabletop beckons nonetheless. Here are the details of Tuesday’s events, shamelessly cribbed from theYellow Menace Gamecast (check ‘em out, a local gamer’s podcast from right here in the Queen City):
Ed Healy (Atomic Array, Iron GM) will be in Cincinnati on Tuesday, August 9th to kick off the Gamerati Tour 2011! This is a one-day event to raise awareness about and celebrate gaming; Ed will be hitting two local game stores – Yotta Quest in Mt. Healthy and Gateway Games and More in Eastgate. If you live near Cincy, come on out and help us make this thing a big success…we’re hoping to bring in as many gamers, gamer media personalities, and game professionals as we can.
Better yet, do what you can to spread the word – Ed’s launched a new site athttp://tour.gamerati.com to help promote the tour. Share the link and help us kick this sucker off! The fun starts at 10am at Yotta Quest, with the second event kicking off at Gateway Games at 5pm. Hope to see you all there!
I will be at the YottaQuest event and have a 70/30 shot at being at the Gateway Games event. Hope to see you there. [Transparency: Both Alex at Yellow Menace and Todd who owns Gateway Games are friends. I also assist Todd with the Southwest Ohio Gathering of Gamers.]
-Loki
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