Back in March I announced a plan to publish a sketchbook that featured art inspired by old-school 1970's DnD with fully statted characters, creatures, and adventure locales. What ever happened to that book?
On my schedule I was aiming to have it ready in time for Gen Con 50, which I'll be leaving for tomorrow, and the book is still sitting in very rough outline shape. So, blew that deadline!
The only thing holding me back is finishing the writing and the stats. But that's the hard part for any book, right? Yeah and so is making all the art, and I have a lot of it. How to solve this? It occurred to me this would be a great project to outsource to the community. The last time I was involved in a collaborative project like that was Petty Gods which I think came out fantastic. However that thing took years and years and passed through different hands. This is nothing like that, nor nearly that ambitious. It is a 32-64 page book, a bit like the fanzines Knock spell and the like.
Would there be any interest or support for a project like that? And how best to manage it?
Well, Google Docs is terrific for writers to collaborate on the same document. Setting it up would require a lot of trust that no one goes in and deletes or wrecks the book. Then there is quality control and editing to deal with.
I've got the start of a document here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FzlvyPqfnY7qoPYDtGlxy_TML-DoQ1wfaxqvi3cXbzg/edit?usp=sharing
Alternately writers could claim a piece on a spreadsheet and write it in their own preferred word processor and submit that. Like this:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/15rw-MNkbyJjBXA8SoqJxPT-Vjp-1KUmnfCUbYHIgmI8/edit?usp=sharing
This is an experiment. If there isn't any interest I'll continue plugging away at it bit by bit and eventually finish it.
Here is the folder full of art, not all of it will be used, collaborators would get a higher rez version of the piece they choose to do, and I'll probably be making some more drawings too:
You know .. I think you need a couple more OSR games in the list
ReplyDeleteA sword and sorcery one what if D&D was inspired by Heavy Metal magazine, and a Knights in armour version of D&D inspired by 50s Hollywood movies Robin Hood, Ivanhoe, etc all the Erik Flynn stuff etc,
Finally you need a Fencing Musteketeers type fantasy entry.
Those are great ideas for OSR games. When deciding a genre to work in it has to be something I really have a passion for and feel I have a fresh take or interesting idea to explore. While I do really like Heavy Metal magazine, I'm not sure I'm the right person to make that game. As for 50's Hollywood, well, I do have something in the works but it is far from anything like Errol Flynn's movies!
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