D&D 4E Open Design / Wolfgang Baur to do a 4E Open Design Adventure

[Admiral Caine]

I couldnt find where to donate for the 4th Ed Access....

Awesome Stomphoof!

Visit this LJ entry! Set so anyone in can read it!

On it, you'll find two PaylPal links.. one for 3.5 Project, and one for Wrath of the River King (the 4E project!)

After you pay, within 48 hours you'll get a thank you note from Wolfgang, asking you your LiveJournal handle/username. Once he has that, he'll set your permissions up and you'll be able to see some posts...

What's the deal with LiveJournal? Here's a quick explanation...

Updates, information, and dicussion happens through Open Design's LiveJournal Site. LiveJournal allows Wolfgang to assign permissions to those that are on Open Design's "friends" list, which is how standard and senior patrons are differentiated. Standard patrons will see those posts that their membership entitles them to see, and senior patrons will see those posts as well as additional posts rated only for their level of membership.

Through the comments section of each post, discussion is had between all the patrons, and with Wolfgang. As mentioned elsewhere, Senior Patrons have a lot of pull, but those considering standard patronage should know that a particularly inspired idea can often be snapped up from the lower tier. A great idea is, after all, a great idea.

Patrons are required to obtain a LiveJournal account. These are absolutely free. Patrons do not need to start or maintain a Journal themselves if they don't want. The LJ accounts are simply a way to assign permissions to who can see what, and to allow patrons to comment.

Sometimes discussion about future projects can happen at the Kobold Quarterly forums. That is done so that the general public can read freely and comment on upcoming projects. The day to day business of Creator and Patron happens at the LiveJournal.

Also - Has he already started the process, and if so, do I get access to all the work already done once I donate?

He has not formally started, however this is going to be a long term project, as he has a 3.5 Project starting now, and the GSL is going to prevent any 3rd party publisher from releasing the final product until October. Having said that, we the 4E Patrons have started talking.. Talking about the levels of the adventure. We've talked about what the 4E Open Design Product Line should be called. We've talked about H1, and we saw the rough mock-up of the cover.. This is just a warm up to keep the energy up while we wait for the project to be fully funded.

And.. as you read, he's going to discuss his own personal experiences with H1 Shadowfell, and how he can use that to make Wrath of the River King an even better adventure.

 

[Graf]

Actually right now they have 6 adventures slated to come out within the first 8 months, 4 heroics and 2 paragons

If anything 4e looks to have more adventures than previous editions, which is fine by me

Wanted to circle back to this... finally found a good explanation.
This is really just one adventure cycle (5 adventures, starting with KotS, for levels 1-17 or so) and an extra short FR one (2nd-5th level).

I'm -not- saying it's good/bad/right/wrong or (better/worse than some other edition) but if you don't want to play KotS your choice is doing the short FR one (whenever it comes out...) or... nada.
Not that I think wizards needs to launch with 15 adventures or anything. One solid campaign (particularly if it's creative) is very cool.
And I have hopes for dungeon.

But the patron system provides people who are interested in an alternative with an alternative.

 

[Stomphoof]

Thanks for the link. Sadly I dont have the money this week for this, but I should either next week or the week after.

Then I shall donate and become one of the few...the proud...the PATRONS :O

 

[Admiral Caine]

Thanks for the link. Sadly I dont have the money this week for this, but I should either next week or the week after.

Then I shall donate and become one of the few...the proud...the PATRONS :O

No problem Stomp!

The doors don't just close when the project is funded. People aren't turned away, even after the project is started, because they can always catch back up.

Note for accuracy: Most of the 3.5 projects are exclusive to their Patrons and there is a cut off date for those. That won't be the case with this 4E project. And in any case, no deadline crops up for anything until close to a Project's finish date. And again, that doesn't really apply to this specific project anyway.

If there is a surplus, it's usually put back into the project or used to offset some additional expenses with the maps and artwork that sometimes crop up.

And right now, the project is about 3/4's funded and Wolfgang is giving it the month of June to get entirely funded. We're hoping that once people check out H1 or the Core Rules, they might decide to give Open Design a try.

We'll see you when you can make it! He should be giving us his impressions of H1 next week (and how we can use what can be learned from that in order to make a great adventure)!

 

[JVisgaitis]

I've always had a lot of respect for Wolfgang and I think for $30 I'm going to jump into this. I don't really need help with the whole adventure writing aspect, but it would be interesting to see how he puts it all together and I've been really curious on how this whole ransom model works.

 

[Stomphoof]

Is he waiting till the end of June or till the beginning of June?

 

[Admiral Caine]

Is he waiting till the end of June or till the beginning of June?

The END of June. And if it's really close, he sometimes looks where he can cut corners to still make it happen. He doesn't like to abandon a Project if the funding is close and there's a way to make it work.

There is also a 3.5 Project that is starting now. He can't actually go full steam on two Projects at the same time (but the 3.5 Project will also have some guest writers too, so that frees him up a little, eben though he does oversee the process). That and the fact that he can't fully release Wrath till the GSL allows him to do so.

I honestly believe that he's more inclined to give Wrath some time to get funded, so there's time. The end of June deadline is a feasibility yardstick. That is, are there enough 4th Edition fans to support their own Open Design projects... Because he can't convert them per the GSL. Each edition has to have it's own supporters.

More in my next reply to the other poster...

 

[Stomphoof]

Thanks for clearing that up Caine. I should be good for $30 bucks either last week of may or first week of June

 

[Admiral Caine]

I've always had a lot of respect for Wolfgang and I think for $30 I'm going to jump into this. I don't really need help with the whole adventure writing aspect, but it would be interesting to see how he puts it all together and I've been really curious on how this whole ransom model works.

I think you'll enjoy it. I've hyped the "classroom / laboratory" aspect of Open Design quite a bit, and it is entirely valid... But not every Patron is in it for that experience.
There are many who just like the collaborative nature of the design process, and the opportunity to shoot the breeze about the project and bounce ideas around. And there are some who are very quiet and don't say a whole lot but watch the process. It is neat to just watch it grow, because every few days you have something to look at and talk about.

Some just like that they're not buying a product "as is." I'm not about to knock KotS, but that is the position a lot of people find themselves in. They buy a product and they get it "as is." With O.D. you can, to some extent, send it back to the kitchen and have it cooked a little more.

As far as 'ransom' I think you'll see that you'll get a fair return on your investment in both terms of money and time. Thanks for your support!

Through these posts I've been playing the role of the salesman, let me take that hat off for a moment.

Open Design, like many part of the DnD community, is seeing it's share of Edition schism. I'm a Patron who is supporting both 3.5 and 4E. There are a handful of us doing that. A majority of the established regular Patrons don't wish to convert to 4E. They're pretty adamant that they "WILL NOT put a penny" in a 4E project. There are some party politics at work, I can't deny.

And that is entirely their right. They need to vote with their wallets, and I respect them. Their reasons are varied and are their own.

But one reason for the active recruitment is that Wolfgang needs Pro-4E Patrons in order to do 4E Projects. Simple as that. There aren't enough Patrons willing to do both to make the minimum required for a commissioning.

By helping recruit for this Project, I'm not just trying to be a fanboi for W.B. I'm interested in diversity in the type of adventures produced for 4E. I'm a Paizo SuperScriber, so I have much love for them and I show it with my money. Nevertheless, that diversity in adventure support is not going to come from Pazio... and I don't want to leave it to just Necromancer and other companies. The way I look at it, quality 3rd Party support helps set a standard for all companies to aspire to...

For example: many folks look to Paizo to set the standard of excellence for 3.5 adventure support. Who will do that 4E? And why can't it be Wolfgang?

And this is not to say that WOTC won't be a leader in producing quality material. However when the best writers have an opportunity to work on 4E, the whole market will improve. I believe Chris Perkins said something very much to that effect when he said he wanted to encourage 3rd party support at DDXP.

Incidentally, I'd like to express my appreciation for the moderators for letting this thread continue in the General. They could have booted it a while ago I suppose. This is the first time I've actually stated 'we need a new crop of Patrons' to help the first Open Design 4E project become a reality. Hopefully if there is enough support for one, there will be enough support for another.

Anyway, I've rambled enough in this post, but at least I said something more than a sales pitch.

 

[Ethalias]

As soon as I have a spare $30 or equivalent I'm going to get on board. Hopefully I'll be in time, this seems like a fine opportunity. I enjoyed Mr. Baur's six part adventure writing series on the WotC website, and look forward to an interactive version!