Let's do this thing. I picked the month of June out of the air. NaNoWriMo sets its arbitrary goal at 50,000 words. Do we want some sort of similar goal. Can an industry professional tell us how big adventure modules range? Even just a single yardstick ('The Keep on the Borderlands is X words long.') would be helpful.
Other things we probably need:
a nifty graphic
a website of somekind, maybe? a forum? a group livejournal? I dunno.
a place to host completed modules (TheRPGsite Companion could work.)
a list of places to send press releases, forums to notify, etc.
enthused people spreading the word
participants!
Stuart has already committed to writing a D&D adventure module. I'm going to write an adventure for something. Who else is in? What am I not thinking of?
Megadungeon Map
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click to enlargeThe players find this somewhere in the megadungeon, showing
how the areas connect, where the Gate of Six Keys is and where the keys are.
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Word Count is tricky - since stat blocks are hard to count and maps should also count for something. Perhaps we should use a page count goal?
ReplyDeleteA temporary forum on one of the rpg forum sites already around would probably be ideal. Due to the site's focus (and the lack of preconceptions surrounding it), I'd suggest Gamecraft - if Levi is amenable/interested.
What sort of graphic are you thinking would be ideal?
Pagecount seems okay to me. GameCraft would be an excellent choice for a host.
ReplyDelete"What sort of graphic are you thinking would be ideal?"
Just a little doober to drop on one's blog or whatever to indicate that you were participating.
What do you think of 32 pages? Too much? Too little? I'm just throwing out a number.
ReplyDelete32 pages seems to be about standard for a D&D adventure - I'm not sure about other systems, though.
ReplyDeleteRecognizing that things such as player handouts, art, maps, charts, decision trees, flowcharts, relationship maps, etc... can be included in that, it seems like a good goal.
Oh Jeez...
ReplyDeleteSince I kind of prodded this thing into being with a toss-off comment I suppose I should play along. Funny, that "put your money where your mouth is"-talk is pretty much how I ended up with a tattoo recently. I guess I'll never learn. =P
Anyway, if people need, I can help convert documents into PDFs and what not. I have the full Adobe Creative Suite (V2) on the computer so layout, PDFs, and all that related stuff isn't an issue.
One question... Does the adventure have to be for D&D3e/3.5, or can it be for a different system entirely? (Save Palladium stuff 'cause I don't want the legal hassles.)
peace... Dave
I would go with 32 pages of stuff, 6 more pages for pregen PCs, for a grand total of 40.
ReplyDeleteAlogn teh best format, I would go either with a Wordpress blog or better, a Google Groups Beta mailing list.
RHM: Any RPG (except Palladium, of course) is fair game as far as I'm concerned.
ReplyDeleteimperator: Thanks for the suggestions. I'll check them out.
I wouldn't mandate pregen pcs - or pages devoted to them. Depending on the system and style of adventure, pregens may be inappropriate (or may require a different number of pages).
ReplyDeleteYou can count on me for a Blue Room plug if things go well :)
ReplyDeleteVery, very, very (very, very*) ambitious and hopeful project you've got here.
* Very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very.**
** Very.
BTW, if you ever find yourself pondering the relation between pagecount and wordcount, be sure and snag a copy of the Cumberland PDF devoted to the topic ;)
ReplyDeleteIt's the very last item on the Free Downloads page:
http://www222.pair.com/sjohn/downloads.htm
To further convert wordcounts into freelance workdays, most RPG freelancers' output averages from 1,500 words/workday (a slow freelancer) to 5,000 words/workday (a very fast one), with individual days varying all over (on a burn, a writer who averages 2,000 w/d may write 7,000 words and then nurse the wounds later).
Oh, yeah. I've had that one for a long enough time I completely forgot about it!
ReplyDeleteFunny, I was just reading Wolfgang Baur's website, where he says:
ReplyDelete"Just for comparison, a standard 64-page module from WotC or TSR would run about 40,000 words. Of course, they always include about 10 or 12 pages of art and graphics to make the pagecount work out . . ."
This at:
http://customadventure.livejournal.
com/tag/steam+%26+brass
This so needs to happen, Jeff! You rock for leading the charge.
ReplyDeleteIf I can offer any help through Treasure Tables, just drop me a line:
martin(at)treasuretables(dot)org.
(For starters, it's the subject of tomorrow's post on TT.)
My selfish hope is that, if this thing takes off, that there are some groovy Cthulhu and space-opera (any system for the latter) adventures in there.
ReplyDeleteWith CoC in particular, most of the freely-available adventures are magazine-length affairs (3,500-5,000 words) good for a single evening ... Which is awesome and useful, but it'd be sweet if there were more full-scale fan modules for it.
I wish I wish I could participate. I wish so so hard. :(
Count me in. How about setting as the goal 32 pages *or* 15,000 words?
ReplyDeleteOne nit, though. Please don't popularize the nickname WoAdWriMo. Whenever somebody says that, God kills a kobold.
I'd suggest a page count in some kind of standard page format - for example: myself, when I need to get some orientation about text amount, I use the German translators' standard page, derived from the typewriter page - that is, 30 lines per page at an average of 60 characters (including blanks) each. Easy to emulate with Courier New 12pt at 1.75 spacing. (A page in, say, CoC's Unseen Masters appears to equate about 800 in the density samples, and is 5-6 standard. I'd locate the "average" CoC adventure length anywhere from 60-80 standard.)
ReplyDeleteHi @all,
ReplyDeleteA "WW Adv. Writing M." is a very good idea, and I want to participate.
But there are things not clear to me:
a) Can anybody participate or is there some entering qualifications list or something?
a) This adv. writing month is in june - so in 6 month -, right? Or is it now in December and "June" was only a playing with words-speak can I start writing now-?
b) Where should the adventures be uploaded? Is there a "official"-speak for all participants known- website for uploading?
c) What document type should the adventures have?
Thank you for this great idea
Thanks for the answers
Okay,
ReplyDeleteI just began to clicking through the links here and discovered the wowri blogspot page.
My questions are now answered.
Excuse for the noise I made here.
So, I am going to make White Wolf Adventures...
Anonymous poster person, that's cool! Thanks for participating!
ReplyDelete