Vikings D20

[Inconsequenti-AL]

I know... I'll try for more patience. Just rather keen to have a look!

Cool dice, btw. Think my FLGS sells some like that - do D6's the same way as well, if memory serves correctly?

 

[C. Baize]

That's an understatement. There's practically a play-by-play.

Even down to the number of steps Thor takes after killing Jormungandr and being subsequently poisoned by the big wyrm.

 

[Jolly Giant]

Vikings D20 is no more!

Relax, it's not as bad as it sounds. Apparently WotC does not allow 3rd party publishers to use the D20 trademark in the way I had in mind. My Viking game will still be a d20 product, it's just not legal for me to name it Vikings D20.

All it means is I've got yet another little thing to think about. I'm not quite sure yet if I'll just call my system Vikings or Vikings RPG, or something else entirely. I'll keep you posted.

Book 1; Midgard, is coming along nicely, though. It looks like it will be longer than I first said, maybe closer to 200 pages. My folder of notes for the second book; Beyond Midgard, is also growing steadily.

 

[ssampier]

simple use the OGL, you can even use the vague phrase, "compatible with third edition RPG."

You cannot use the d20 logo or license, however.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=d20/oglfaq/20040123f

 

[RPGRealms]

Vikings D20 is no more!

Relax, it's not as bad as it sounds. Apparently WotC does not allow 3rd party publishers to use the D20 trademark in the way I had in mind. My Viking game will still be a d20 product, it's just not legal for me to name it Vikings D20.

All it means is I've got yet another little thing to think about. I'm not quite sure yet if I'll just call my system Vikings or Vikings RPG, or something else entirely. I'll keep you posted.

Book 1; Midgard, is coming along nicely, though. It looks like it will be longer than I first said, maybe closer to 200 pages. My folder of notes for the second book; Beyond Midgard, is also growing steadily.

Just put the d20 logo in front or in back of the 'Vikings' title on the cover. You'll get the same effect

 

[Jolly Giant]

Wahhh! It's April now. Where is it?

My earlier hope of an April release is shattered, but I have not quite given up on May yet. The reason for the delay is that the book is going to be quite a bit longer than I had thought, maybe closer to 200 pages. As I look things up to make sure I have my facts right, I keep finding all this cool stuff I want to put in the book. I thought I knew a lot about Vikings before I started this book, but I have sure learned a whole lot more while working on it!

Right now I'm working on the monster chapter. Obviously there will be a lot of jotun and troll (no, not the MM variant!) material in there, but also a whole bunch of fey, dragons and undead. I've also included some of the animals that are commonly found in the Scandinavian wilderness and a couple of dire animals found in Jotunheim (the world of giants).

I've scattered material from the old sagas as flavor text throughout the book, BTW. It helps give it a genuine Viking feel, IMHO.

 

[SpiralBound]

If I may make a suggestion that some people in this thread may wish to "boo" me for...

Beware of a symptom called "feature creep" in program development that is equally applicable to publishing. It's basically where the practice of adding "just one more thing" cripples the original underlying structure of the product and also delays it into infinity...

I'm glad that you're finding much more cool information to put into your book. However, don't feel that you MUST put EVERYTHING into the one book. For instance, what's wrong with your "Midgard" book being 125 or 150 pages and then later you release several 30-60 page supplements entitled "History of Midgard", "Heros and Villains of Midgard" and "Monsters of Midgard"?

I'm not saying that you should chop your book into bit-size pieces and sell it in many supplements - going too far in that direction will tick people off too. But I'm willing to bet that there's a happy medium-ground for both you and your apparently growing and eager fanbase. (lucky bastard!) Also, beware of delaying a product so long that no one cares about it any more... Even a good 150 page book is better than a 200-250 exhaustive tome that either never comes out, comes out far too late, or is so overwhelmingly huge that people are too intimidated by its size to use it.

Remember, the way to eat an elephant is one forkful at a time!

 

[Jolly Giant]

...don't feel that you MUST put EVERYTHING into the one book. For instance, what's wrong with your "Midgard" book being 125 or 150 pages and then later you release several 30-60 page supplements entitled "History of Midgard", "Heros and Villains of Midgard" and "Monsters of Midgard"?

My publisher just told me the same thing - and I think you might be right.

 

[SpiralBound]

My publisher just told me the same thing - and I think you might be right.

LOL Whee! I'm right! I like being right!

Seriously though, I hope that you're able to get your first book out the door. You have a group of fans and it looks like you know your stuff.

 

[Turanil]

It seems to me that Viking d20 would add very well to the upcoming Legends of Dark Ages by rpgobjects... A grand d20 saga across all of the Europe of the Dark Ages.