Before I launch into a long discussion of powers in 4E D&D, I thought that I'd jump ahead to the product that my team has been working on for the past few months. If you've read any earlier postings to this blog, you are aware of the Martialist. The Martialist is basically an unarmed combatant, who fights with his hands, feet, elbows--just about any and every part of his body. But he's not a monk--he doesn't gain his abilities from religion or philosophy--he's more of a tough guy.

We decided to release a FREE preview of the Martialist at RPGNow.com two weeks ago during their Movie Mayhem promotion tied to the release of Street Fighter. After all, as we state in the product itself, if you wanted to play a street fighter type character in D&D, you'd play a martialist. The Preview, focusing on the heroic tier of play, is 35 pages long, including front and back cover, table of contents page, paragon path descriptions (minus the crunch), 6 pages of power cards, and a page or two of other stuff. All told, if you strip it down to crunch that can be played at the Heroic Tier, it is about 11 pages long plus the six pages of power cards.

There are a lot of products at RPGNow.com that are that length selling for anywhere up to $3. We decided to give it away for free, hoping to have as many people download it as possible, so that they might be interested in purchasing the completed product when it goes on sale before the end of this month. The first part of the plan is working--we've had more downloads for this Preview (over 3x more) than our highest selling product. The question now is, will the second part of the plan work? Will those people who downloaded the preview purchase the product when it actually goes on sale?

Only time will tell. Obviously, it depends on whether they think the preview is well done. Do they think that that portion of the class that is the Heroic Tier is good enough to merit taking a look at the entire class? We're hoping so.

We're excited:
- We commissioned VShane to do the artwork, and we think that it was completely worth it. The pieces that he did are incredible. A lot of other 4E publishers are using Shaman's Stock Art, which is good art, but the products from several different companies now all look the same.
- We have tried to include a lot of fluff in addition to the crunch. We think that good fluff can definitely elevate a good piece of rpg material into a great one.
- We are taking a hard look at the crunch (especially the powers) to ensure that the character is unique, fun, and balanced. (BTW, if you were to download the preview of the Martialist, you would see its class features. You would probably come to the conclusion (that we have) that he is just a little too powerful as written. Look for his features to be de-powered somewhat in the final release.) The powers are getting a good scrubbing as well.
- Speaking of powers. If you look at the core classes from the PHB, you would note that they have, on average, 74 powers per class. If you look at the three striker classes (the Martialist is a striker), the average is just over 72 powers. When you take into account Martial Power, the number of powers available to each of the martial classes more than doubles. WotC is setting the bar high. We have tried to go beyond the PHB, but not quite to the PHB + MP level. The core martialist will have right around 120 powers. Taking into the account the paragon paths, it will have right around 150. We think that that wide variation will be a big selling point.

Interestingly, it is the number of powers that has delayed the release of the Martialist. Our intention was to release it a few months ago. Playtesting has taken longer than expected. Then we found a really impressive guy to act as a rules editor. His feedback on all of the powers as they were written has been invaluable to cleaning up and polishing them. I wish we had found him earlier in the process--it probably would have saved us a lot of time. BTW, he is a regular poster here at Enworld. Look for his name in the credits.

I realize now that this entry reads an awful lot like a long advert for the preview. Not my initial intention, but it seems to have become that. I might as well give you the link. Please take a look at the Martialist. It's available for free download here: http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.p...ducts_id=60294

If you have comments or feedback on it, please send them our way. We'd love to hear from you.

The Cartographist

So, wow, it's been a little over three-and-a-half-months since the last entry. Time flies and all that... Especially when you're working on a product for release--and even moreso when it is the most difficult type of product to release (for 4E).

What is the most difficult you ask? While this is only my subjective opinion, I believe that it is the... Let's think about it: Already there are several products out that detail new races. There are several products out that detail new paragon paths. Same with magic items. Same with adventures. There are fewer that describe new monsters for 4E, but they're out there with more on the way. What does that leave? New character classes.

In that category are The Advanced Players Guide by Ari Marmell, Fang, Fist, and Song by Goodman Games, Secrets of Necromancy by Zodiac Gods Publishing, and, only in the very recent past, The Witchdoctor by One Bad Egg. (There might be one or two others out there, but those are the only ones of which I am aware. If you know of others, please comment here.) Why this is so should be obvious to anyone who knows the 4E system: character classes demand a lot from a game designer--especially if one wants to be taken seriously by the gaming community.

So, what does it demand? IMHO, the following:

- Something new. The character class is the fundamental method by which a player interacts with the world. Players like to do things that they haven't done before, or things differently than they've done before. One of the great successes of 3E was the vast array of options it gave to the players--both "official" material from WotC, and 3rd party stuff from Malhavoc and others. But a class has to be "new"--otherwise why deviate from the core? "New" can mean different things to different people, but "new" is key.

- Good fluff. A key aspect of new-ness is the flavor describing the class. Even for the core classes, flavor sets the tone for the player. Glancing through the PHB, a player will read the flavor before slogging through endless descriptions of powers. If the flavor doesn't speak to him, doesn't inspire him or excite him, he's probably not going to decide to play that class. Flavor (fluff) speaks to our heart when crunch (mechanics) speaks to our intellects.

- Interesting class features. Other than the powers (which I'll get to below), what makes the class different than the others? Would a fighter be a fighter without his ability to mark opponents? Would a paladin or cleric be a paladin or cleric without their channel divinity abilities? Obviously, not. Class features fundamentally determine the nature of a class--they are the core of each class. Given the amount of customization possible when choosing powers, the class features provide the constant across all members of that class.

- Powers. Whole blog posts could be written (and in some cases have been written) about powers in 4E. I'll try to keep it short. At the least (and in no particular order), powers must be useful, varied, interesting, balanced, match the fluff of the class, and support its ability to do what it is supposed to do. Balanced--both across the class and across the classes. Balance is hard--incredibly hard.

I believe that powers are what makes class creation the most difficult task for would-be 4E game designers. Without a doubt.

I will go into powers in the next post. Until then...

The Cartographist

In my last post, I solicited suggestions for the name of a new martial class that will be the subject of The Fantasy Cartographic's next release. A good number of people spoke up, and I took some of those suggestions. Below is a preview of material that will appear in our next release: Class: The Martialist:

CLASS TRAITS
Role: Striker
Power Source: Martial.
Key Abilities: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution

Armor Proficiencies: Cloth, Leather.
Weapon Proficiencies: Fist, Foot, Body.
Bonus to Defense: +1 Fortitude, +1 Reflex

Hit Points at First Level: 12 + Constitution Score
Hit Points per Level Gained: 5
Healing Surges per Day: 6 + Constitution modifier

Trained Skills: Endurance. From the class skills list below, choose three more trained skills at 1st level. Class skills: Acrobatics (Dex), Athletics (Str), Intimidate (Cha), Stealth (Dex), Streetwise (Cha), Insight (Wis).

Build Options: Brawler, Grappler
Class Features: Expert Grapple

As a martialist, you have complete control of your body, and you use it to best advantage.
You might be a freedom fighter standing up to the well-armed troops of an oppressive baron, a street tough who guards your neighborhood from the chaos of the wider city, a wandering pilgrim seeking your destiny, or maybe the bodyguard of a sinister crime lord.
Those who don’t know any better see your empty hands and take you for an easy mark. They would be well-served to pay attention to the manner that you move, the strength of your fists, and the confidence with which you carry yourself. Their contempt doesn’t bother you; in fact, it is to your advantage.

Martialist Class Features
You have the following class features.

Expert Grapple.
As an expert in close-quarters combat, you are skilled in grabbing opponents and controlling them. When you attempt to grab a target (See chapter 9 of the PHB), use the following rules instead:

Grapple: Standard Action
Target: You can attempt to grapple with one creature that is smaller than you, the same size category as you, or one category larger than you. The creature must be within your melee reach.
Strength Attack: If you have one hand free, make a Strength attack + 4 vs. Reflex. If you have both hands free, make a Strength attack + 6 vs. Reflex.
Hit: The enemy is in your control until it escapes or you end the grapple. Your enemy can attempt to escape on its turn.
Effects of the Grapple: As long as you are controlling an enemy, you gain a + 4 bonus to hit using any exploit that has the grapple keyword; you gain a + 2 bonus to hit using any exploit with the fist or foot keyword. If an enemy attempts to escape from you, you have a + 4 bonus to you defense.
Sustaining the Grapple: You sustain the grapple as a minor action. You can end the grapple as a free action.
Effects that End the Grapple: If you are affected by a condition that prevents you from taking opportunity actions, you immediately let go of a grappled enemy. If a push, pull, or slide moves you or the creature with which you are grappling out of your reach, you can attempt to move or move with the grappled target such that you remain adjacent to the target following the movement. See Move Grappled Target below. If you fail to move the target, the grapple ends.

To move a creature with which you are grappling, you must succeed on a Strength attack.

Move Grappled Target: Standard Action
Strength Attack: Make a Strength attack + 2 vs. Fortitude.
Hit: Move up to half your speed and pull the grappled target with you. The grappled condition is maintained.
Miss: If you fail to move your grappled opponent, the grapple ends, and he can make an opportunity attack against you.
(OR)
Hit: If you or your target is the target of a push, pull, or slide, you both move together equal to the number of squares the movement was designed to move you minus one. The grabbled condition is maintained.
Miss: The grapple ends, and the opponent with the higher initiative roll can make an opportunity attack against the other.

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The team at The Fantasy Cartographic has done playtesting with the Expert Grapple class feature, and we are happy with it. However, we are interested in hearing what any of you might think of it. We look forward to any feedback from the community.

The Cartographist

If you’ve been reading this blog to this point, you’ve been reading about my roleplaying history and how that eventually led to me starting my own small rpg pdf publishing company. While that story is not yet finished, I wanted to take a break and jump to The Fantasy Cartographic’s future for this post.

The team and I are working on our next few products, all of which are geared for 4E release under the GSL. Rather than the fluff and maps that all of our previous products have consisted of, the next several are going to be crunch-heavy with very few (if any) maps.

Our very next release is approaching completion. We have a new logo. We have full color cover art as well as several interior pieces. Most of the text is written and the editing has commenced. But there is a catch: We don’t yet have a title. Actually, that’s not quite right, but you’ll see what I’m getting at.

The product is a pdf detailing a new character class for 4E. I believe that, if 4E goes the way that 3.X went, you’ll be seeing lots of these products. Feudal Classes: Noble from the Alea Publishing Group, the Advanced Player’s Guide from Expeditious Retreat Press, and Forgotten Heroes: Fang, Fist, and Song from Goodman Games are three products out there right now. What I think makes our product unique is that it details a fighter-like class that is all about weaponless combat. He uses his hands, his elbows, his head, his feet, and only rarely picks anything up. But he’s not a monk, or a ninja, or anything Eastern or Oriental. He’s more like a street tough who has taken his thuggery to impressive levels of mastery (thus leveling all the way to 30th in 4E).

So what is the problem? Well, we’re not sure what to call the class. Here’s what we’ve been thinking:

Fighter = Strong guy in armor swinging a sword.
Cleric = Slightly less strong guy in armor swinging a mace and healing his ally.
Wizard = Weak guy hiding behind the stronger ones throwing magic missiles at you.
Rogue = Slightly less weak guy trying to steal something from you or stab you in the back.
WHAT = Strong (or maybe agile) guy wearing little or no armor who is kicking your butt with his bare hands and his feet. He punches, he throws, he drops you on your head.


Why am I sharing this with the (few hundred) people who seem to be reading my blog? Because surely there is someone out there who can make a suggestion or two. I’m looking for help. And, of course, if we were to choose your suggestion, you would be credited in the finished product.

Here are some of the things we’ve looked at:

Boxer, but that isn't fantasy enough.
Pugilist, but that’s more of the same.
Grappler, but we don't like that either.
Martial Artist, but that is too blah.
Ninja, but we don’t like the associated baggage or the Oriental flavour.
Shinobi, same as with Ninja.
Monk, but there is too much baggage associated with monks and besides, it is not an Eastern or Oriental-flavored character. The class is almost like a fantasy European street fighter (One who might know savate or some other non-karate-like martial art.).

So, if anyone has an idea, throw it up as a Comment to this post. The entire team at The Fantasy Cartographic would be grateful.

The Cartographist

Earlier I had discussed "the Dry Spell"--the almost ten years when I only gave scant attention to anything rpg-related. That dry spell ended in 2001-2002. Early 2004 commenced a second rpg dry spell in my life. After spending untold hours drawing maps of various things on a computer using MS Paint (!) and really re-immersing myself in DnD and its current state of existence, I was forced to put it on the back burner.

Work grew extremely hectic: It was common to work 65+ hours per week. I travelled often, up to several weeks at a time, and was busier when travelling than when at home. Not only was work amping up, but the arrival of the little one in my life and all of the inherent duties associated with having her completely removed the possibility. Two years went by when I didn't think at all about the maps I had drawn or about DnD.

I also believe that this period, from 2004 until sometime in 2006, was a key time for the rpg, and particularly pdf, markets. It was key in that a lot of consolidation and elimination seemed to occur during that time. The big names grew bigger; the tiny names disappeared; a lot of churn had occured and the playing field was solidifying. In short, the novelty of rpg pdf publishing had worn off. Looking back, The Fantasy Cartographic could have had a more successful beginning if I had jumped into publishing about three years earlier than I ended up doing. [More on that in a future post...] But I didn't.

In 2006, a family event was to occur that was going to bring together all of the people that I had played DnD with when I was younger. I was going to see (almost) everyone with whom DnD was a common topic of discussion. That prompted me to pull out and dust off the maps that I had drawn. And after two years, I was still happy with them. I even asked myself--why haven't you done anything with these? But I made the firm decision to actually compile them into something and publish them. This was when The Fantasy Cartographic was born.

[Why 'The Fantasy Cartographic?' Well, honestly, I grew up reading, and completely loving, National Geographic magazine. My father had had a subscription since 1967, and they all sat on the bookshelf in our family room when I was growing up. The magazine was, to the real world, what DnD was to my imagination. It was geography, adventure, strange and faraway places, peoples, and cultures, and maps, fantastic maps. IMO, if there wasn't a DnD, the National Geographic would have provided everything that I needed to take me away from my mundane existence. I could go on, but maybe I'll write more about the National Geographic in another post. Suffice it to say that The Fantasy Cartographic is my personal tribute to the National Geographic.]

Initially, I thought that I would just gather all of the maps and sell them--just maps with titles, no text, no description, nothing. I eventually came to the conclusion, however, that to do that, the maps would have to be fantastic. Not just good, or even great, but knock-your-socks-off fantastic. They weren't. Now, I love them. But in a world where WoTC has Map-a-Day or Map-of-the-Week or whatever they called it, where they make available on the internet maps from their products for free, mine wouldn't cut it. In a world where everyone seems to prefer full-color, hyper-realistic, stunning works of cartography, mine wouldn't cut it. [Personally, those types of maps are really nice to look at, but I don't need those to play DnD. All I need is a crisp map that is evocative in some way. The maps that I had drawn were crisp. Black-and-white. Easy on the printer. They were maps that I would use, and have used.]

So how to make this collection of maps something that I would be willing to ask people money in return for? Perhaps more importantly, something that people would pay money for? I decided that I would write an adventure idea for each map--some fluff inspired by the map, completely rules-free. So that brings me back to this family event coming up in the summer of 2006. Rather than do the writing by myself, why not enlist the aid of the people that I first played DnD with? And that's just what I did.

I brought that assortment of maps to said event. Each map had a title and nothing else. The guys looked them over, each volunteered to write about one or more of them, and off it went.

And fourteen months later, Locales, Volume 1 appeared for sale on RPGNow.com. That 14 months is the topic for next time...

The Cartographist

After about 3-4 months, I had drawn maps for 5-6 cave complexes. Those were caves on a single page with anywhere between six and twenty chambers. Only 5 or 6? Well, life (i.e. everything else) kept me busy, and I couldn't devote all that much time to it. But I was enjoying it.

One thing that I was trying to do was make cave systems that appeared (at least to me) more 'natural' than those I had seen in most adventures. I didn't try to follow the grid; in fact, I tried my best to ignore it. I was trying to distance myself from caves like those that appeared in the Keep on the Borderlands' Caves of Chaos. Now don't get me wrong: Classic adventure. I think it was the first module that I ever played. LOVE IT. But I wanted my caves to look more cave-y.

[I did some caving in my younger days. A few of those caves were mapped. They didn't look anything like the caves that appeared in DnD adventures. I wanted my caves to look more authentic. I think that I succeeded.]

But just as the caves were approaching what I considered "authentic", I decided that I had had enough with caves. I wanted to map something else. So I mapped a keep. Then another one. Multiple levels. Spiral staircases. Battlements. All of it.

Then I decided that keeps weren't doing it for me either. What, then? I decided to combine the two: I wanted to create a massive underground keep. I decided to map a hollowed-out column in a vast underground cavern. When I first thought of the idea, I believed it to be a unique. So I started mapping. Actually, what I did was draw a side-view diagram of the thing. I marked off where the levels were going to be. I planned for it to contain 18 levels, lots of rooms, and multiple means of ascent and descent. I started at the bottom level and then worked my way up. About half way through drawing this column, I read a review for a gaming product (can't remember what now) that contained a hollowed-out column. I was a little frustrated by that but wasn't going to stop. Kept going until I worked my way all the way to the top of the column.

While mapping the column and regularly updating the side-view diagram to properly depict it, I came up with a general story for the setting. After finishing the column itself, I decided that I needed to map the rest of the cavern to make use of the story that I had developed. The column became known as the Column Fortress at Deep Rushing. It was named so because it overlooked the fastest and deepest portion of the underground river that flowed through the cavern. It was the military center of the cavern. [If one were to play 4E, most the its inhabitants claim martial powers.] The cavern itself became known as the
The Cavern at S’siyerteresk Falls, named after the deep-gnome named waterfall at the highest end of the cavern. To this day, I am extremely proud of the column, the cavern, and the backstory.

Then I decided that I wanted to try something different. My next idea was to create a dungeon that, through powerful magic, wrapped in and around itself. I wasn't sure how or why, but I didn't concern myself with that. I started mapping the first "level" that was basically a large ring. Where the ring was about to re-connect with itself, I stopped on that page and started a second page. The dungeon wrapped until about to hit itself, and then it was time to shift to a new page. In the end, the map was five sheets of paper. I liked it as much as the cavern fortress.

So what caused this dungeon to violate all rules of space and time? Well, at its center sits a tomb, wrapped in the most powerful magics known to all the races, designed to hold the corpse of the demon prince Bgixilidynon. It is those magics, powerful enough to keep the Lord of the Great Corruption trapped within, that are powerful enough to wrap space around it.

To get to this point, with 6 cave complexes, two keeps, and three more fully fleshed out locations, took me a little over a year. During that year, I continued to visit RPGNow.com, continued to lurk around ENWorld, and continued thinking about DnD in general. Then my life got really busy, and I stepped back from all of it.

Yes, I put it in a drawer and forgot about it for awhile.

The Cartographist

Drawing maps was a creative outlet for me. I don't think that it's too far of a stretch to say that most people who frequent EN World, or play rpg's in general, are creative types. I'm not different.

When I was younger and had more time to pursue creative things, I wrote, drew, and built all the time. HUGE lego fan.

Again, like a lot of people, adulthood and work have conspired to limit my ability to pursue my creativity. I'm in the US Navy, which I love, but I can guarantee that the US Navy does not require much creativity, or allow me to use it very often.

So drawing maps is good stuff. And that's important.

Frankly, I think that all of us (humanity, I mean) need some type of creative outlet. And I don't just mean people that consider themselves "creative". I mean everybody. Just a thought...

The Cartographist

I continued to draw maps using Paint and my trusty mouse.

You might be asking yourself, why didn’t you go online and try to find some better art programs? I’m thinking you might be, because I am—now. Frankly, sadly, the thought never occurred to me. But, in case you didn’t know, there are several programs out there that are completely free, available on the internet, that are much, much more capable than Paint. I don’t know if that was the case when this little hobby of mine started, but it certainly is the case now.

When I think back to 2002-2003, when I started drawing maps on the computer, I don’t think that Google had yet grown to its gargantuan size. I’m not sure what search engine I used back then, but if I had searched, I probably would have found something better to use and probably some help. Now I am aware that there are online communities for just about everything. I guess I was a little internet clueless back then.

Embarrassing, but true.

The Cartographist

So all of this looking at gaming material online really got me back into the mood. And one of the things that I loved about gaming was, as I said previously, the maps. I love ‘em! When I played DnD regularly, I drew maps all the time. I drew maps for everything, and I drew more maps than I could possibly use. Dungeons. Towns. Castles. Keeps. Binders full of graph paper maps…

So one night, after I had surveyed the latest offerings, I got bored and decided to try drawing some maps. But I wanted to see what could be done on my computer. What did I have on my computer? MS Paint. Yes, Paint. And a mouse. Now firstly, Paint is a terrible program. Come on, you’ve all doodled something with it, and you know that there really isn’t much to it. But it’s okay for simple things, and it’s, well, simple. Secondly, drawing anything with a mouse is difficult. I don’t care who you are.

But that was all I had, so I set to it: First, draw a grid—simple enough. Why? Because even on the computer I wanted my graph paper. Then messed around and drew some squiggly lines that became a cave, then a cave complex. Took that image and pasted it into a word document just to see what it would look like. Printed it out, and voila! Map on paper.

Of course, this being Paint and my first attempt, I learned that pixilation makes my nicely curvy cave complex look really not curvy at all. But it was late and time to hit the rack.

Next night, I re-did the grid to improve the resolution. I actually doubled the number of pixels per square. Then I drew another cave complex. Dropped it into a word document, and printed it out. Map number two! Less pixilated, smoother, and I liked how it looked.

Okay, so perhaps there’s not much to all that. But it got me excited about mapping on a computer. Now the maps were simple. Black and white, not artistic, per se. But they were functional. Frankly, IMO, they were as good as the maps that started it all for TSR. (Which put me easily 25 years behind the onward march of mapping technique and style.) But I liked them. So I kept on playing around, gradually improving the resolution, and learning short cuts and tricks to make MS Paint and mouse drawing quicker and more efficient.

[Now for a tangent on resolution, for those who may or may not be interested. Any good image software today will allow you to set the number of pixels per inch for your work. MS Paint does not. All it does is spit out a bitmap. The only way to really improve resolution is to take whatever image you drew and, when you insert it into a word document, or other publishing software, shrink the size of the image. Take an image that is 400 pixels wide and drop it into a document. If the image is 8 inches wide then the resolution is 50 pixels per inch (ppi). Take that same image and resize it to be only 4 inches wide, and the resolution just jumped up to 100 ppi.

(I’m not going to get into a technical discussion regarding ppi and dots-per-inch (dpi), because while close, they are not quite truly equivalent. But for the sake of my story, they may as well be.) Most published material out there that contains images or artwork of any kind uses a resolution that is at least 300dpi, and sometimes more. I didn’t really fully appreciate this until after I had drawn some maps, although it’s fairly obvious when you look at them on the printed page. None of my first set of maps would equate to 300dpi, but later ones eventually would.]

Time wore on, and I drew several maps. But I have to say: Drawing maps as I was, with MS Paint and a mouse, is a time-intensive, mind-numbing experience. I was doing it mainly to see what I could accomplish. Despite the pain of it, it was a nice little creative outlet for me. So I kept at it.

The Cartographist

So I spent some time at RPGNow.com, because that was the first (and for a long time only) online shop that I came across. One of the features that I loved was the online preview. In fact, I think that I found more utility in the preview than in any reviews that I read. You can get a few pages from the document free and, at least, get a feel for its general quality and tone.

[This is something that I feel strongly about, and it is one area that has influenced what I do with material for The Fantasy Cartographic. I always create a separate pdf document for the the preview, and I try to show broadly what each product is about. If someone is going to spend some of their hard earned money on a product that I sell, the least I can do is give them a taste of it.

Two important points:
1. I intensely dislike it when publishers at RPGNow.com or other sites do not make use of the preview feature. And while RPGNow.com does make use of the small, turn-the-pages, flash preview, I much prefer a full-size pdf preview for a product.
2. For all I know, providing a preview might actually descrease the number of possible customers, because by better informing people, they are better able to decide not to purchase my products. From the business perspective, this probably isn't the greatest idea, but I feel that it is the right way to do business.]

So I spent lots and lots of time looking at previews on RPGNow.com. It really gave you a sense of what was out there. At the time, I think that RPGNow.com was in the final stages of its 'bubble' period, where there were still lots of little publishers putting out lots of material, some good, but a lot mediocre or worse. I think it's obvious, but those companies that were putting out good and better material during that time are the same companies that are well-established, still-around, and still putting out good material. Go figure.

I also learned, or at least believed, in my humble mind that:
1. I was a better writer than a good chunk of the people putting out material back then. [While this is certainly debatable and my own conceit certainly plays into this belief, I would say that the ones that were good writers are still in the business, and the ones that weren't, aren't.]
2. I could spell better than the average person publishing at the time. [Same comments as above.]
3. I knew the rules of modern grammar better than the average. [Again, same.]
So, after reviewing lots of material and coming to the above conclusions, I was pretty excited about the possibilities.

{I say these things with a bit of humor, knowing that I've now laid myself wide open for comment should I ever fail to maintain the highest standards in those areas.}

So what does all this mean? Since crunchy bits are not an option, maybe I can pursue some fluffy stuff. Mmmmmm.

The Cartographist

I went away to college in the fall of 1992. Didn't look at or even think about rpgs for almost four years. During that time, I learned that TSR was bought out by the company that made Magic The Gathering. (What?!)

Graduated from college and several more years went by. Work took up lots of time. Moved from Maryland to Florida to South Carolina to Connecticut to Hawaii and back to Maryland. It was now late 2001/early 2002. I heard that a 3rd Edition of DnD had been released. (?!?)

Jumped on the computer and did a little looking around. Wow! It was a completely new world: OGL. RPGNow.com. ENWorld. Malhavoc Press. (Who was this Monte Cooke character, anyway?) Mongoose. And lots more...

Of course, to me, the OGL was a brilliant and wonderful thing. "You mean that there are small (and obviously growing and thriving) companies out there making material for DnD? And that anybody could do the same provided they followed this OGL-thingy?" I immediately pulled out some old homebrew stuff that I had written years prior. [Of course, I didn't call it homebrew, because that term didn't exist yet (at least, it wasn't in my vocabulary).] Wonder if anything is suitable for publication? I obtained the submission guidelines for a couple of the companies out there--I think I still have the copy that Mongoose was using back then.

Then I stepped back and really took a look into it. I went to the local bookstore and took a look at the PH and DMG. Uh-oh. This 3rd Edition was a different beast. I was quite happy with AD&D. 3E (and then 3.5E) had, in my opinion, changed the game. So much for publishing...

I needed to learn the game, first. And that is typically extremely difficult (at least for me) when I don't have a gaming group. That put a real downer on the whole situation.

Of course, I started to have inklings of other possibilities. Perhaps, the dry spell had come to an end.

The Cartographist

I had the general outline for To Win Boriscalion in my head but hadn't really put it on paper. Obviously, that was the first step.

So I wrote a list of the monsters that I wanted the fighter to encounter. A giant skunk. A pair of goblins. A handicapped troll. Some giant ants. An orog.

Then, before writing anything else down, I decided that I needed to draw the maps. (Of course.) Drew a nice two level keep, with gardens, and a small basement. Then I went back and wrote the rest of the adventure, in longhand, on a yellow legal pad. Then typed it using my trusty, brand-new, Brother word processor. Then re-did the maps into something that would be submission worthy. Dropped the whole thing in the mail and waited.

Now, I know what you're thinking, because I'm thinking it, too: Not a very challenging adventure, looking at those monsters. More importantly, that's what Dungeon was thinking, as well. Among other things: Monsters weren't challenging enough. Story had some holes in it. Why would that monster wait in that room for the PC to arrive? "What?! You mean I can't stick a bunch of monsters in various locations and assume they'll stay there? That's what the first six years of DnD consistently relied upon." Dungeon had moved on from the glory days of simple hack-n-slash. Apparently, I had not.

I was happy that they actually wrote a letter explaining what they felt were the issues with the adventure and why they weren't going to accept it for publication. That's much better than a form letter. And even better, they complimented me for the map! They also said that they'd be willing to take a look at it if I revised it. Unfortunately, senior year of high school with its numerous activities, one or two romances, and trying to apply for college left me no time to go back and try again. Looking back, I am still shocked that I didn't try to fix it up and re-submit.

Thus began the long dry spell...

The Cartographist

As my gaming continued, I started buying AD&D material. But it always seemed like Mike, my best friend and partner in all things DnD, had more. He had the subscriptions to Dragon and later Dungeon magazines. He got the Forgotten Realms campaign setting (in the gray box). But I was always borrowing his stuff. I was the one who wrote to both periodicals requesting the submission guidelines. I was the one who wrote 'The Ecology of...' articles that never left my own possession.

In 1990, at the ripe old age of 16, I started submitting adventure ideas to Dungeon. Turns out, most of them weren't very good. I still think that the general plot hook that formed the basis for each of those ideas was good, but my ability to turn those plot hooks into gripping 1-2 page submission letters was sorely lacking.

And then six or eight submissions (and 18 months) later came To Win Boriscalion. TWB was a single player v. DM adventure for a 2-3 level fighter. The gist was that the fighter got a tip that the boarded-up manor on the hill was no longer being guarded by the city, effectively freeing it to be looted by whoever chose to try. The manor was the home of a merchant family who made their fortune in the lumber trade. The patriarch of the family was in possession of a sword that had a particular taste for orc blood. The orcs wouldn't attack the wielder of Boriscalion so he was able to start a logging operation in their forest; he grew wealthy and only more greedy. The family's fortunes rose and then fell, leaving nothing but the abandoned manor and a rumor of a magical sword inside.

Following that submission, the reply from Dungeon wasn't the standard rejection letter, but a letter telling me that they were interested in seeing the completed manuscript. Wow!

But why? Why try to submit anyway? Why, to be published, of course. To see my name in lights, or at least in a magazine that brought me a lot of enjoyment. And for some reason (laughable still to this day), I thought that the money was pretty exciting. "You mean to tell me that they will pay me $0.04 per word for up to 2500 words for an adventure that I'd probably write anyway? You're kidding, right?!"

Once the initial excitement wore off, it was time to get to work...

The Cartographist

I was a wee lad of five or six, and my older brothers played DnD. First, it was out of the original White Box, then it was AD&D. For awhile they played Empire of the Petal Throne. Through it all, I was the little kid who hung around on the periphery and watched.

#1, my oldest brother, was typically the DM, and he occasionally allowed me to look at his dungeons before he ran the party through them. He did that until he realized that I loved maps and would attempt to recreate them and then give the re-creations to my other brother (#2). I was then banned.

I started playing DnD with the Basic Set. I created a new barbarian character class almost as soon as I knew everything there was to know about the Red Box. We played one adventure using a party that included my homebrew barbarian, and then moved into AD&D and left the barbarian behind.

Later, #1 became the first player in my first real AD&D campaign. I really learned DMing from taking him through my little world. His character was Chark, a half-orc, fighter-cleric to Gruumsh (if I remember correctly). Actually, Chark was the first word of a name that was at least ten words long--all in orcish from an early Dragon magazine article that listed maybe a page or two of words in orc-tongue. I think that it was Chark Da'Odrog blah blah blah; translated it was 'Chark, something-something-something, Destroyer of Worlds.' (Funny how you remember things from 25+ years ago.) Needless to say, Chark had a huge impact on that world, and became a demi-god in future iterations of the campaign.

So why jump into the autobiographicals when this blog is supposed to be about my efforts in the exciting world of rpg publishing? Well, I think it will inform the rest of the story. I think, looking back, that it already shows why I am doing what I am doing.

I love maps, always have. My company is called The Fantasy Cartographic.

I've always tried to write my own material--the DnD Basic Set barbarian was the very first stab. There have been many since.

Between the barbarian and The Fantasy Cartographic, there have been one or two attempts to actually enter the publishing world, both those will be the the subject of next time...

The Cartographist

I've decided to start blogging for a number of reasons, some of which I will articulate here and others to be discussed at a later date.

Foremost, I have always been interested in the publishing side of the RPG industry, especially over the last 6-8 years when anyone could enter the fray. I was always interested in hearing other people's experiences from the insider perspective. Of course, when you're not on the inside, it's very hard to hear about it. While I am still certainly not on the inside, I am attempting to make a go of it.

This blog is really for two audiences. The first is me; the blog is a way to record my history in the business and track progress as it occurs. The second audience is anyone who might be thinking about entering the industry as an independent publisher. That audience can read my blog, get some insights, ask me questions (if they desire), and maybe decide, based on my experience, to try it for themselves or decide better of it.

The idea for this blog is probably not original, and might not interest anyone other than myself, but the desire to blog comes from the same creative conceit that tells me that someone might actually pay money for somthing that I've produced. And so, with that said, why not?

I'm going to try to post an entry every few days, or weekly at the very least. The first several will recount my personal experience with roleplaying and the decision to try to become a publisher. After that, who knows? If interested, you'll stick with me, and if not, I'll be feverishly typing into the void.

Until next time...

The Cartographist