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Adventureaweek.com is a new venture, seemingly inspired by Monte Cook's Dungeonaday.com, which will provide weekly adventures for the Pathfinder RPG. The site takes adventure submissions, which offers a reasonable 40% royalty to the author - although I personally think the "your gateway into the industry" line was a bit overdone by third-party-publishers ten years ago, let alone now, as were royalties-only-based contracts for freelancers, so it remains to be seen whether it's a good deal for the authors when most publishers use a flat-fee arrangement. As an aside, though, I've long advised freelancers not to accept royalty-only deals or pay attention to the "you get exposure, so might make an RPG career out of it" type deals that used to be offered by many smaller publishers, and which even I have offered in my earliest ventures into publishing. But don't let that decide anything for you - it may well be a good arrangement for you, and the set-up does look professional and elegant.
The site will include a new default campaign setting and is subscription-based ($99 per year, or $10 per month, for, presumably, 52 adventures - which certainly sounds like value for money - it's cheaper per adventure than most adventure paths out there, though most folks won't use them all) and opens on March 1st, 2012. There's a free trial adventure called Crypt of the Sun Lord. The site is spearheaded by Jonathan Nelson and ENnie-winning cartographer Todd Gamble who I can vouch for as doing excellent work.
We'll have an in-depth review right here on EN World in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!
Last edited by Morrus; 9th February 2012 at 09:13 PM..
Interesting. Here's my ideas. Make it part of a living campaign. Allow players to post their characters, earn points for bragging rights, DM's who have subscriptions can download the adventures and players can upload their records through a cheaper subscription.
Players who have a cheaper subscription can get access to magic items and/or certain treasures for the module played--very similar to the cert cards that the RPGA used to give out for players.
Also, allow for single modules to be bought for download. You can price it so that the subscription is a good deal, but at least have the option available so that you get some DM's who want a pick-up game, but don't want to spend $99 for 52 modules.
Really liked the format of the first module. I think I'll adopt that for adventures that I write in my home campaign (side treks and stuff).
Also, allow for single modules to be bought for download. You can price it so that the subscription is a good deal, but at least have the option available so that you get some DM's who want a pick-up game, but don't want to spend $99 for 52 modules
Yeah, that's the standard adventure path model, and the one we use here at EN World. Monthly subscription gets all the adventures, or you can buy 'em individually. It works very well. I think it would work even better for adventureaday.com, though, because - I assume - there's no strict adventure path story element involved, so the "pick and mix" aspect of the individual adventures is greater.
I have been excited about this from the moment I heard about it a few months ago. It looks like quality adventures which are something that you can never get enough of. There are a lot of great adventures out there on the web but you have to know where to look. I can't wait for more.
It's got potential, but I wish it clarified a few more boundaries.
-How long are the adventures going to be?
-Who are these people (have they any experience with adventure writing/publishing in the past)?
-Do they have at least a few weeks ahead already, or are they going to fall into the "oh crap, someone write something quick for this week!" problem.
-How "good" are the adventures going to be? I can assume, based on the publisher (Enworld, Paizo) the author (Pett, Marmell, Vaughn) or the developer (Wolfgang Baur) that an adventure is probably going to be pretty darn good. I don't feel as though this site meets any of those three "confidence elements".
I just don't want 52 "orc with pie" adventures or adventures of "fanfic" quality that I can already find on the web, and I wish they'd sell themselves a bit better to potential customers (such as myself).
EDIT: Remember Dire Kobold.com? They were a collection of dozens of adventures (I came across them because of their Midnight adventure Garden of Good and Evil). I have concerns that this new site will go the way of that one (or, hell, the way of Dungeonaday.com, from Monte Cook himself).
In addition, a print or print on demand version (at the year's end perhaps?) would be a major selling point for me as well.
Just some thoughts...it could be great, and I don't mean to naysay, but I'm left with more questions than answers after reading the OP and their own site. I'll be keeping an eye on this!
__________________ Sigless.....for now.
Last edited by Aberzanzorax; 10th February 2012 at 01:13 PM..
Agreed, Aberzazorax! It would be nice to know who is behind this and what experience they have.
I'm also weary (for them) of the model, because it is pretty easy to join for a month and download all you want, then unsubscribe. Or, even if you do join legitimately, to soon find you don't need more adventures. The value erodes strongly over time unless you have really good innovative authors that keep things fresh and teach you tricks, or if you find yourself really wanting to play out the story (if there even is supposed to be a central story).
Beating the existing Adventure Path options is challenging and the whole business is already a challenging one, but I certainly wish them well!
I read the sample adventure, it was very professionally put together. It was good for 1 session I imagine. Maybe get a party 1/3rd to 1/2 way to second level.
I am one of the remaining play testers for the AdventureAWeek.com site, I was lucky enough to get on board early enough to be able to really see the vision Jonathan Nelson and Todd Gamble have come together. I can tell you first hand there is a stockpile of adventures already written, with more already in planning, the site is not going to run short anytime soon. On average the adventures are lasting anywhere from 1 to 2 sessions of play, and range from heavy combat, classic dungeon delving, to more mystery based. There is a unique setting and storyline that carries through each adventure, and consequences of actions taken in one will carry over to others down the line. Having said that, Jonathan has taking great care to make sure if you as a GM want to pick up the adventure and drop it somewhere else, all adventures on the site can easily be reworked for different settings with little to no work.
As far as experience in the industry, Jonathan's got 25 years under his belt gaming, and is a well received DM by many players who are currently working in the industry.
Todd's got 3 ENnies, he's an amazing cartographer and game designer. These two are the driving creative force behind this project. And that's not even mentioning the artist Tim Tyler, and his amazing work bringing the unique creatures and NPC's to life.
I understand the trepidation at investing in a project without seeing big names on the letterhead, but let's face it, who was Paizo ten years ago? The magazine Dungeon ran for how long? It was filled monthly with adventures written by folks like you and I.
And yes, I have no doubt there will be those who join, stockpile, and leave. Their loss. The site is designed with a mass amount of hyperlinking, leaving a game master free to run an adventure, rather than hunt down statblocks or maps. Everything on the site will be at ones fingertips, including the soundboard for effects. Not to mention the subscribers area with added bonuses.
These guys have put their hearts and souls, and an immense amount of experience and knowledge into designing a model that will hopefully be accepted and do well. Their adventures are solidly written, the cartography is amazing, and the art is inspiring. Subscribe for a month, try them out. At the absolute least, price wise, this site is offering adventures and support material at an insanely cheap rate.
And discussion regarding POD material is already being kicked around, so there's always a possibility
Last edited by KTFish7; 10th February 2012 at 11:56 PM..
Having recently been burned by Dungeonaday (I resubscribed for a year just before they announced their plans to shut down), I have serious reservations about this site.
Also, the sample adventure has some issues that concern me:
1) The map has no scale.
2) The Blade of the Sun Lord is described as an artifact, and we're told that the runes on it radiate magic, but we're not told what kind of magic the runes radiate, the strength of the aura, or anything at all about what powers the Blade has. Did I miss something? This seems like a major omission.
3) There doesn't seem to be any way to run the adventure without having a laptop or tablet in front of you. That alone is a deal-breaker for me. The FAQ says, "As a member you gain access to the adventures and may run them straight off the website." I don't want to run them right off the website.
So, based on the sample adventure, I would not subscribe to this website.
I understand the trepidation at investing in a project without seeing big names on the letterhead, but let's face it, who was Paizo ten years ago? The magazine Dungeon ran for how long? It was filled monthly with adventures written by folks like you and I.
I don't find this to be a convincing argument. Ten years ago there were seemingly hundreds of companies churning out content under the SRD. Some of it was good, but a lot of it was... less good. I think that is the more accurate comparison here. The sample adventure is certainly not the same level of quality as a Paizo product.
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