The way in which I see this Designing a Fantasy Sandbox experiment for Deminar to ultimately pan out is the release of several .pdf's, probably over at RPGnow/DriveThruRPG (and its marketplace that sits on EnWorld, Paizo, and everywhere else) related to the area we're working on. They'd probably be small 32 and/or 64 page releases much like the old school releases of... old. I like the idea of being able to write something that stays confined within a small area, instead of the usual thinking HUGE that I do (see my earlier posts on the cosmology and such we've already thought up), sticking with things only really lower level characters would run into worked well in the past (and with the current OSR) and makes it easier to focus.
The releases would be as follows:
Player's Guide to X (With X being the name of the Island Cluster we're making): This book would start with a small intro explaining what Deminar was all about, a page or so like the intro on this blog mentioning the Age of Exploration, Steampunk, Fantasy mash-up. After that each playable species would get a small entry explaining it's place on the island cluster and the relevant rules that go with it. This would be followed by a similar entry for classes, with a paragraph or two on their place in the cluster but without the rules, since they're already in the AEC. The rest of the book would be a mini-gazetteer, with a timeline as a person living on the cluster would know it, a look at the pantheon worshipped and then a quick overview of the cluster with a paragraph or two on each major geographical location, but leaving out any of the juicy hidden bits like lairs or hidden villains. The cap-off would be taking one of the towns and giving it a full map, break down of locations, important NPCs, etc. to use as a starting "home base" for the PCs.
DM's Guide to X (With X being the name of the Island Cluster we're making): This book would give all the details you don't want your player's to see! A more detailed timeline with info the common man wouldn't know, but may be used to help spice up old dungeons, a look at any prominent evil cults, monster groups, or hidden villains in town that are working behind the scenes to unleash evil that the PCs would eventually thwart and then a DM's mini-gazetteer, pointing out parts not included in the Player's version, such as Lairs, dungeons, and bandit camps. The cap-off for this book would be taking one of the small lairs and using it as a "starter dungeon" to get the game running.
Modules: The heart of old-school D&D! Since we've put in a few dungeons and lairs, they'd need write-ups, and thus modules would be born.
From there, possibilities are endless; you can do more detailed gazetteers on each isle (or even one just on the big city itself), giving a more detailed look of the people, places, and creatures there. Species books detailing the unique look at the species and how it fits in the island cluster, including cultures, beliefs, physiology, etc. (and unlike more modern D&D games, probably little/no crunch!) The ubiquitous Gods book, shedding light on the deities of the cluster and their worships. And even mini-monster books, not only introducing new monsters, but, like the species books giving a more detailed look at how the monsters work on the cluster (our goblins and their kin in particular are dying to have a book written about them for Sean). An airship book would be cool, with rules for airship movement/combat, example airships, how to build airships, etc.
Once the that cluster is covered, or we're in the mood for something different, we can always move onto another cluster, maybe our "Expert" level of islands, if you will.
So, thoughts, ideas, comments?
Don't forget the exciting possibilities of flying an airship through endless stretches of desolate sky. It's like a sea adventure, only with better visibility of what's under you, so, for example, you'll be able to spot the flying termites before they've eaten half your ship.
ReplyDeleteI don't think we could forget that :)
ReplyDeleteThe further you get away from the heavier population centers, the denser the floating rubble becomes, until you get to the point where the airships that travel there are specially equipped with a reinforced prow that allows them to cut through the mess (much like an Arctic Expedition Icebreaker).
I have a problem I just thought of with the airships, I'll post it on the forum so we can hack it out.
An airship book is required, since it is such a big part. Maybe the PGtX can have the basic airship, but we need the rest. We have our standard, carved from the rock airships, then you have the mad scientist Gnome airships, the arcane airships, the airships stolen by Gnolls...etc
Ooh! And another thought, that one will also go onto the forum.
Oh, and we need a feckin' artist.
ReplyDeleteRight, right, book first, art second.
We also should release one or two teaser or starter books right around the same time we put out the main books, and give them away. Maybe even do that with PGtX.
Yeah, an airship book is a required call, I wouldn't put too much info in the PGtX book, as it's Basic level and I don't see too much airshipping around.
ReplyDeleteI like idea of basic airship rules, which we can use modified rules of water travel from LL (since LL and AEC are our sources), but all the high end exploring the unknown and getting to other clusters would be for higher level characters.
"We also should release one or two teaser or starter books right around the same time we put out the main books, and give them away. Maybe even do that with PGtX."
ReplyDeleteI think the books will be fairly cheap anyway, as they'll be small, not have a lot of fancy border work (keep up with those Basic book layouts) and just some minimal art (if we can't find an artist to pay, there is lots of stock art on RPGNow.com that you can use in product once you buy it).
We could do like LL and do an art-free PGtX and then the art filled for a couple bucks (I can't see charging more than $5.00 for a .pdf, especially one with basic formatting and small page count) to cover artist costs.
Then all remaining books in the series will cost you!!! Until we're ready for our next PGtX for our next island cluster much later down the line.