[PR]: Crimson Blade Studios rears its head at last

[CBS Brian]

Those of you wondering what the heckthe signature at the bottom of my name meant finally have an answer as Crimson Blade Studios opens it virtual doors on the web.

"To be clear, CBS isn't just another publisher." announced President Brian Murphy. "In fact CBS isn't a publisher at all. Instead Crimson Blade is a grouping of lesser-known to completely unknown d20 developers, writers, and hopefully one day, artists, working together for the common cause of generating exposure, and getting their foot in the door of the roleplaying freelancing industry."

The organization, founded by university-student Brian Murphy, along with co-founders Glen Russell and Chris Deduke (also university students), aims to focus on creating a d20 development team the whole of which "greatly exceeds the sum of its parts".

Among plans for the small organization are creation of game mateial and possibly fiction for the Ravenloft and Spelljammer campaign settings, Call of Cthulhu d20 (potentially), as well as the creation of certain netbooks in the future. Also in the works is Dune d20, a game based on the classic 1960's novel series by Frank herbert, and a pet project of Brian's. Dune d20 is not endorsed in any way by the Frank Herbert Limited Partnership and would be completely free of charge.

"It's important that people understand CBS is concerned with creating games, not selling games. The RPG industry is filled with so many different publishers, I don't see any benefit into jumping into the fray. I'd rather let someone else worry about profit margins and type-sizes. I mainly just want to create game material, I'll let someone else worry about getting that material out there."

People are encouraged to visit the CBS website at www.geocities.com/crimsonbladestudios

 

[jaerdaph]

CBS...

CBS - And here I was hoping that I'd finally get to see d20 60 Minutes: The Roleplaying Game

Seriously though, sounds like a cool premise, Brian!

 

[kingpaul]

I like the concept, however:

Among plans for the small organization are creation of game mateial and possibly fiction for the Ravenloft and Spelljammer campaign settings, Call of Cthulhu d20 (potentially), as well as the creation of certain netbooks in the future. Also in the works is Dune d20, a game based on the classic 1960's novel series by Frank herbert, and a pet project of Brian's. Dune d20 is not endorsed in any way by the Frank Herbert Limited Partnership and would be completely free of charge.

Do you have permission of the copyright holders to write fiction in the Ravenloft, Spelljammer, Call of Cthulhu and Duen settings?

 

[jaerdaph]

I would definitely speak with Sword & Sorcery about using Ravenloft first, Brian. If you stick to original works and original characters and only use Ravenloft as a setting or theme, you will probably be okay since this is essentially a fan project (there are several fan Ravenloft netbook projects going on now on our Kargatane message boards that do this), but I do know of one instance where S&S sent out a cease and desist to a fan who was distributing conversions of 2e Ravenloft monsters and NPCs, citing their exclusive license to do so as the reason.

Also, keep in mind that there is no open game content in any 3e Ravenloft product from Sword & Sorcery, but again, check with them first.

Still sounds cool, though

 

[CBS Brian]

re:kingpaul

no I do not have permission from the varied copyright holders, please realize that on the whole everything we're producing on our site will be free, I realize that doesn't change the legalities but in most cases copyright holders don't attack creators of fanfiction

Ravenloft
These will be works of fan-fiction, using the setting, and not making use of the established characters of the setting as anything more than passing reference (ie Azalin is still the king of Darkon, but he's not going to be a central character). Some characters might be hinted at (ie any charming guy with a dark, seductive voice could be the gentleman caller). I will be sending an email to S&S today to make sure no toes are stepped on.

Spelljammer
This setting is dead, for now, and again it will be a backdrop. I like the concept of arcane space, and know little about any iconics in the setting. Magic ships, crystal spheres, illithids, spelljamming helms. Those will stay. The rest will be brand new. I intend to contact the official Spelljammer site today as well, to make sure there's no toes to be stepped on in this area as well.

Cthulhu
"Just as Mythos authors have done since the original Lovecraft Circle, we ask that new authors allow other authors to refer to or employ the characters, tomes, entities, and spells that they create. In exchange, such elements within the rulesbook and supplements are available for your use. If they wish, authors maintain complete control of their own human characters, and may always use them in other publications and other media."
That is taken from Chaosium's own website, I think that proves they haven't got a problem with fanfiction. Again, the "iconics" of CoC won't be used, just the setting, gods, and great old ones. Plus, I do believe all the copyrights on the original Call of Cthulhu works have expired (they were held by lovecraft, not chaosium, who has been dead for some time now, hasn't he?)

Dune
What're you nuts? I can barely keep my sanity READING this series, much less writing about it , seriously though Frank Herbert I am not, nor would I ever try my hand at the Dune universe. Like I said, it's possibly the most confusing series ever (either Herbert was a genius or a madman).

 

[CBS Brian]

re: jaerdaph

I don't plan on converting second edition ravenloft stuff to third. Ravenloft will be a backdrop, everything else will be created by myself. Obviously some mention of certain established characters will occur, but as I said previously, they'll be to the side.

For example, currently I've posted two of the characters stats & backgrounds, Klamen & Lillith.

Klamen messes with the already sketchy past of Tristen Hiregaard. Basically he's the son Hiregaard thinks is dead; Malken stole him and turned him into a foul murderer instead. That's it as far as using anything unoriginal.

Lillith uses the dread golem template (though all you see is the word "dread" in her stats, I don't replicate the text of the template from the R3E book or anything), and was created by Adam. That's all for her.

For the most part Raevnloft is a background, and what few rules I use from the books are behind the scenes, and not really duplicated on the page.

 

[jaerdaph]

Based on what you want to do, I don't think you'll have any problems with S&S then - they are nice folks.

Best,

 

[CBS Brian]

re: jaerdaph

Thanks for the well wishes, and I'm sure the S&S people will be cool.

Also I'd like to thank you for your kargatane character: jaerdaph gave inspiration to an adventure idea I am working, hopefully to be published, about a city of drow cursed for their failures to all become albinos. And standing in the path of their quest for redemption lies a party of heroes.

 

[jaerdaph]

Re: re: jaerdaph

[BAlso I'd like to thank you for your kargatane character: jaerdaph gave inspiration to an adventure idea I am working, hopefully to be published, about a city of drow cursed for their failures to all become albinos. And standing in the path of their quest for redemption lies a party of heroes. [/B]

Cool! I can't wait to see it

 

[CBS Brian]

re: jaerdaph

Well it'll be a long time in coming, current it's ranked below pretty much everything else right now, so work is slow going, and it'll be a big'un (probably at least 64, mor like 96, pages). If it doesn't get picked up by an publishers, I'll be putting it on the website.