Merged WotC setting search winners/losers thread

[WEC3]

If I am about to break any message board rules, I apologize in advance and urge the moderator to remove this post.

I represent a small (VERY small) game publisher and have been reading the posts on this board with equal amounts interest and amusement. Frankly, we see the end of the WOC contest as a great opportunity to get some fresh stuff out there for gamers and would like to take this opportunity to issue a general invitation:

Those of you who would like to have your world/setting considered for publication are encouraged to send your 10 page expanded description to us. We will read each one and work hard with the authors of the ones we'd like to publish.

This is not a contest, there is no prize money. This is simply a call for manuscripts by a niche publisher made up of gamers who love the game. We don't expect vast fortunes and we don't expect million-sellers, our goal is to get a varied amount of product out there for the gaming public to use and what better source than the gaming public?

Again, we would like to stress, we are a SMALL independent publisher. We don't have WOC kind of money. Not even close....I repeat: NOT EVEN CLOSE! So keep that in mind.

Also, as a small publisher, the process will probably move slower than you would like. We have promised to read everything, since we're asking for 10 pagers, we know that is going to be a lot of reading...therefore, a lot of time. Feel free to continue to shop around your world/setting even after submitting to us (in other words, simultaneous submissions are fine with us).

If you'd rather try your hand with a more established, wealthier, and faster publisher, we understand and say good luck and godspeed. However, if you're not in it for just the money, and you love the game, and you'd like your stuff out there, and you'd like to work with a small, independent, grass-roots, niche publisher, by all means let us see your stuff!

When submitting please be sure to include all of your contact information as well as the names of all of the creators IN THE DOCUMENT....NOT JUST THE EMAIL. We need that IN THE DOCUMENT as they will be separated from the email to which they were attached.

Email address:
postmaster@perlacherpublishing.com

I don't expect to get flooded, but if your emails start bouncing wait a day or two and resubmit....thanks.

Hope to hear from you,
.....walter

 

[derverdammte]

If I am about to break any message board rules, I apologize in advance and urge the moderator to remove this post.

I represent a small (VERY small) game publisher and have been reading the posts on this board with equal amounts interest and amusement. Frankly, we see the end of the WOC contest as a great opportunity to get some fresh stuff out there for gamers and would like to take this opportunity to issue a general invitation:

Those of you who would like to have your world/setting considered for publication are encouraged to send your 10 page expanded description to us. We will read each one and work hard with the authors of the ones we'd like to publish.

Thanks for the opportunity. Would it be possible for you to be more specific in what you're looking for in the 10-page proposals? As in, are you looking for the same material in the one-pagers, only expanded upon, or are you looking for something else? It would help me a great deal if I had a clearer idea of what you're interested in seeing, in terms of content and structure.

If you're looking for whatever comes in (as in, you don't have any particular idea of what you want to see), that's fine. I just want to make sure you don't have any specific guidelines in mind. Assume nothing, right?

Thanks again!

 

[tarchon]

Mechanically or contextually?

Both - I think you have to have something influence the mechanics to make players really feel that it pervades the game. That's one thing I like about White Wolf games, if you're playing a vampire, you're really aware of that need for blood, since there are dire consequences if you don't get it. D&D clerics, contrariwise, by the straight rules don't owe much more to their patron powers than morning prayer, which hardly distinguishes them from wizards. If swamp moss is the basis for magic, maybe magic is more powerful in swamps. Maybe it becomes a prized commodity, since all spellcasters must eat a bowl of fresh moss for breakfast.

 

[tarchon]

Mechanically or contextually?

Both - I think you have to have something influence the mechanics to make players really feel that it pervades the game. That's one thing I like about White Wolf games, if you're playing a vampire, you're really aware of that need for blood, since there are dire consequences if you don't get it. D&D clerics, contrariwise, by the straight rules don't owe much more to their patron powers than morning prayer, which hardly distinguishes them from wizards. If swamp moss is the basis for magic, maybe magic is more powerful in swamps. Maybe it becomes a prized commodity, since all spellcasters must eat a bowl of fresh moss for breakfast.

 

[Rexfelis]

was worth a try

1. Core Ethos Sentence:

The Lands of Living Ice is a world of political intrigue, primordial terror and high adventure, where valiant heroes must use spell and steel to uncover the ancient mysteries and fabulous treasures that lie veiled beneath the unforgiving expanses of living Ice.

2. Who are the heroes?
Vlar the Freeman – ruling the lush Freelands with a firm but fair grip, Vlar’s troubled brow remains ever vigilant to the terrors that arise from the plains of Ice; The Tangrith – fierce and noble Hetman of the Warg Hordes, she stands between the Free Nations and the icy wastes that lie beyond; Fellamin Windroll – a crafty trademaster, the gnome balances the trade alliances crucial to the survival of the Free Nations; The Dancing Seers – the wizened council of Yethiquai mystics who sing of cryptic warnings and unfolding prophecies; Slayne – exiled from his homeland and kinsmen, the I’slef monk plies his deadly craft in service to the Freelands and her allies.

3. What do they do?
It is bold heroes such as these who struggle to hold off the tide of oppressors who lust after the fertile green soil of the Free Nations. Perhaps even braver souls might defy icy horror and diabolic intrigue to unlock the eldritch secrets that hold the lands within a prison of unyielding Ice.

4. Threats, Conflicts, Villians?
Life in the Lands of Living Ice is precious and perilous. The few bastions that are free of the Ice’s grasp are under constant threat of attack from those who thirst to bend the Free Nations to their will. Similarly, there is great wealth and power secreted in certain areas of the land, around which boils frothy seas of conflict. The host of villains includes: Hatheg Kla – the bloodthirsty Jarl of the Frost Giant clans, who wages an unending war of plunder and conquest; Ianythil the Frail – ruthless I’slef dictator of the Charred Plateau, whose withered shell belies his draconic heritage and sinister motives; The Witch-Queen - a being wreathed in myth, the Witch-Queen is whispered to dwell deep in the Mires of Black Snow, a place where things once dead now walk again; Viscount Pirrillious IV – High Imperator of I’zenshard, capital of the I’slef conclave, behind whose throne schemes a power diabolic; And always, there is the threat of the Ice – whose eternally patient maneuverings seek to snuff out the faint flicker of life that remains defiant of its icy embrace.

5. Nature of Magic?
The Ice is a living, sentient thing. While the nature of the calamitous event that birthed it lies hidden in antiquity, the Ice is an abomination of planar bleeds, rifts, siphons and transitives. In mixed arrays and varying amounts, the Ice is influenced and perpetuated by contact with the Plane of Mirrors, the Elemental Plane of Cold, the Plane Neth, the Plane of Shadow, the black orb of Agathys in Carceri, and Canai, the eighth layer of Hell. Accordingly, magic emanates from these extraplanar sources, is altered and is sometimes fused in strange ways as it manifests in the Prime Material.

6. What’s new? What’s different?
This setting introduces new races such as the I’slef (ice elves), the mystical Yethiquai and other fascinating and terrifying denizens of the Lands of Ice. Likewise, the setting details new and altered spells, items, skills, feats, classes and rules particular to a wintry land oppressed by a being such as the Ice. What differentiates this setting is the uniqueness of the environment, which challenges the player characters mentally and physically, as well as the focus on involving them in the political machinations that shape the world around them. The Ice is pitiless, unyielding and it is waiting for you.

 

[WEC3]

Thanks for the opportunity. Would it be possible for you to be more specific in what you're looking for in the 10-page proposals? As in, are you looking for the same material in the one-pagers, only expanded upon, or are you looking for something else? It would help me a great deal if I had a clearer idea of what you're interested in seeing, in terms of content and structure.

If you're looking for whatever comes in (as in, you don't have any particular idea of what you want to see), that's fine. I just want to make sure you don't have any specific guidelines in mind. Assume nothing, right?

Thanks again!

You're right, I should have been more specific. What we're looking for is essentially a sort of expanded edition of the one-pager. I know how confining the one-page format was....damn near impossible....especially when dealing with such subjects as magic, races, the nature of the very world, gods, and little things like that. We would like a LOT more depth and you certainly don't have to follow the points WOC asked for.

As far as format, we're pretty flexible. Neat is nice, so try to keep it neat. No smaller than 10 point type would help. Otherwise, let your creative juices flow....you can structure your overview any way you like as long as it's clear. The more compelling and accessible you make it, the more likely it is to grab one of us while we're reading it. Don't let that make you shy about complex ideas within your setting....just make them clear.

Spend time and space on the things that make your world/setting different and/or interesting....that is, a fantasy setting is often just a fantasy setting....but there are things in each fantasy setting that make make it different....often they are little things, we'd like to hear those. We want the big things too, of course, but the Devil is often in the details. Things like race interaction, politics, distribution of wealth, social conditions, city life vs. rural life, and so on can be radically different from setting to setting....do try to address these things.

Also, I should have made it clearer, please keep it in the fantasy realm (although, if you've got a good idea for another setting in another genre, let us know....we just may be interested).

One more thing: Please keep it as close to 10 pages as you can....if it runs over a little, that's ok, but not more than a page or two. Also, you don't have to count any maps or illustrations you would like to include in the page count. Even if we just get fifty folks that are interested....that would be 500 pages of stuff! So, help us out on that.

Any other questions, please feel free to ask. HOWEVER: at about 8am, EST on WED. I am leaving town (and computer) until Saturday afternoon, so I will not be able to answer questions until then....I will check before I leave in the morning however.

Thanks for the interest!

 

[River]

I liked KeithBaker's Nightfall, because it has many similarities with the world I've been working on for some time. I kinda think that the whole 500/500 year light/darkness cycle is cooler than my world, which has a regular daily cycle, that is suddenly disrupted, causing eternal darkness.

darklight

We're in that situation in a game I'm in now. The Suns been gone for a year. All the plants are dead and the world is frozen. I keep asking when it will get cold enough for the nitrogen in the atmosphere to liquify, and for everyone to explode from de-presurization, but then the other players throw dice at me.....

Sigh....

River

 

[mythusmage]

No smaller than 10 point type would help.

Some more advice on the subject. Consider carefully the font you use. Not all make for good reading. For titles and headers you still need legibility, but you can use fonts that would otherwise be inappropriate. For text stick to either a sans-serif or serif font. The former if your submission is to be read on screen, the latter if the submission is to be printed out. And stick to fonts that are easy to read at a given type size. Palatino, and Times New Roman for serif. Chicago and Monaco for sans-serif. A type face such as Provence (a serif font) will allow more text per inch than Palatino or Monaco, but at 10 points it is a pain to read.

Remember, if they can't read your submission, publishers won't consider your submission.

 

[Rasyr]

Would people be interested in contributing to an archive of these setting proposals? It could be a great resource for a GM who has writer's block, or who is new, and who needs inspiration for his next homebrew campaign.

I think that an online archive would be a fantastic idea, and it would be much easier to go through and read all of the various submissions that it is in a topic thread (especially if you give each submission its own page.

---

Needless to say, my setting idea was also one that was not selected. I have (and still do) mantain that mine was within the top 10%, but that is still only one out of 1100 entries.

Unfortunately, I won't be posting my setting submission, as it is being canabalized for elements to add to another fantasy setting that I am also working on developing for the folks I am working for (this one is due to be published next year sometime).

 

[derverdammte]

Some more advice on the subject. Consider carefully the font you use. Not all make for good reading. For titles and headers you still need legibility, but you can use fonts that would otherwise be inappropriate. For text stick to either a sans-serif or serif font. The former if your submission is to be read on screen, the latter if the submission is to be printed out. And stick to fonts that are easy to read at a given type size. Palatino, and Times New Roman for serif. Chicago and Monaco for sans-serif. A type face such as Provence (a serif font) will allow more text per inch than Palatino or Monaco, but at 10 points it is a pain to read.

Remember, if they can't read your submission, publishers won't consider your submission.

You know, what happened to the days when publishers wanted only courier 10-pitch, double spaced, with 1-1 1/2 inch margins? It was so much simpler when there was a semi-standard. =P