[Wanted] DireKobold needs Writers!

[EOL]

fantasy or modern adventures? What kind/type are you looking for? Which genre's will you support as well as differnt companies of work. Do you want all generic fantasy or do you want some tailored to specific areas such as: Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, OA, Modern D20, Iron Kingdoms, etc.

Initially I'm looking for "generic fantasy". I'd love to do a few based in specific areas but first I would have to get permission from the copyright holders which is unlikely to happen in the case of Greyhawk or FR, but I am working on permission for some non-WoTC properties, but it's still in the very early stages.

Originally posted by Liquide
Do you have someone that can do proofreading , otherwise I'm out.

This entire post is meant light-hearted and should be seen as a semi-jokingly but still a valid question.

I wouldn't worry about whether your work will be edited/proofread, I would worry about it being edited so brutally and thoroughly that you'll think we must be irredeemable sadists .

 

[davewoodrum]

This is something that the more I think about the more I would like to try making at least once. I do have a couple of questions though concerning various things and was wondering if you would consider putting up a quick crash course of notes concerning things to avoid....
Reason being is that certain important elements of an adventure could present a problem in a full span of character levels... example, a dragon as being a chief center point of the adventure's story could knock out a truthfully fair shot at success for 1st or 2nd level characters (unless the module is intended to be a larger module that allows character progression in levels) and likewise certain objects of treasure could present a similar situation on the issue of value... even non-magical ones.

Not that I'm doubting the ability to create xenogenic modules... no sir, I've seen it, I've played with it, and this ol' boy is sold by it. It's just that this is a fairly new procedure for most of us, and I think the question, at least on my part, is "how do you do it"? I mean, I see it work but on the same hand I'm sure that one would have to take a little different approach...if not at least a little caution, when writing certain parts of the module... basically things that would normally be set in stone would need to be easily adaptable should their presence require replacement or removal.

Playing around with the different outputs of Dire Kobolds has given me a bit of insight on how it works but I'm sure that your group has a few tried and true lessons from playing around with this system and know certain literary pitfalls to avoid in the module design.

Not trying to be nosey or pushy but if you wouldn't mind sharing a few of these things with us, provided that you have found a few interesting tidbits, I know I would love to know about them.

 

[jmucchiello]

Not that I'm doubting the ability to create xenogenic modules... no sir, I've seen it, I've played with it, and this ol' boy is sold by it. It's just that this is a fairly new procedure for most of us, and I think the question, at least on my part, is "how do you do it"?

If they reply to this in a manner other than the way I'm about to speculate about, I'll be very shocked.

I assume (yeah, yeah, I know) that they do the configuring just like any Dungeon adventure is done. The writer (or an editor) goes through the encounters and decides how to tweak them up or down over a certain range (+/-3 levels based on the current module available). The generator just looks up entries in a database that has all of the possible versions of the encounters set up. The "advanced options" are probably the only things with any intelligence. Changing the magic items and hit point totals can be done algorithmically.

IOW, I assume the decision to add character levels to 2 monsters or add a 3rd monster to 2 monsters was made by the designer and is stored statically, pulled into the text as needed. The tweaking stuff could also be stored (low magic versus normal) and the hit point totals are probably the only thing that are generated truly on the fly.

At least, that's how I'd do it. Because I know there are no formula for making critters more powerful that are safe to use without human intervention.

 

[davewoodrum]

Thanks for the advice...
I was kinda figuring on some of that as well. I'm kinda wondering though that if for flavor purposes if there will ever be a cap limit on certain modules... basically no lower than 3rd level, for example. If you make the obviously powerful creatures a center of the module's flavor theme, then it would be hard to downgrade them below a certain point....

good insight though and really helpful with most of my questions. Thanks Joe!

 

[jmucchiello]

Thanks for the advice...
I was kinda figuring on some of that as well. I'm kinda wondering though that if for flavor purposes if there will ever be a cap limit on certain modules... basically no lower than 3rd level, for example. If you make the obviously powerful creatures a center of the module's flavor theme, then it would be hard to downgrade them below a certain point....

good insight though and really helpful with most of my questions. Thanks Joe!

Not without going through the hoops of "Change the vrock into a hamaluta." "Change the vrock into a troll." "Change the vrock into an ogre." Again, I don't see how that could be automated. But, I could be wrong. And would be pleasently surprised if I was.

 

[EOL]

Without giving too much away I will basically confirm that Joe is essentially correct (though we don't use a database ) Going into it I figured it was easiest to scale from the middle, go three levels in either direction as it were. It turns out it's generally easier to scale up, then to scale down, which is I think what Dave was getting at.

Good questions, and good answers...

 

[jmucchiello]

Without giving too much away I will basically confirm that Joe is essentially correct (though we don't use a database )

Whoo Hooo! Alright, so you must have it stored somewhere. Whether or not it's a database is immaterial.

 

[Ashy]

Yea, eventhough I tried to sell him on the db system, since I feel that it would make for future progression and growth alot simplier. But alas, his mind was made up (and I believe a great deal of the work already done) when this ol' tiefer wandered into the joint.

 

[davewoodrum]

Without giving too much away I will basically confirm that Joe is essentially correct (though we don't use a database ) Going into it I figured it was easiest to scale from the middle, go three levels in either direction as it were. It turns out it's generally easier to scale up, then to scale down, which is I think what Dave was getting at.

Good questions, and good answers...

Thanks! Actually I don't think this will be too much trouble on my end, I tend to have this overwhelming love for lower level modules so mine will be mostly scaled up. I did want to get an idea though as to how it would work... just in case there was a problem down the road with something.

 

[EarthsShadow]

some questions...

First off I just want to say that your idea of how you are offering adventures is just awesome and I want to make an attempt at it. I have some questions though, some of which is just a recomfirmation for me personally so I do understand. I just like to make sure.

1) General fantasy adventures are what your looking for at first, but eventually you will be accepting adventures for other genres, like d20Modern?

2a) When we design the adventures, you want us to also send notes for how to scale the adventures for the possibility of there being parties as low as 2 characters to as high as possibly 8, (2b) and then also provide scalable notes for encounters for average levels of +/- 3 from the playtested average, (2c) and then you want us to provide notes for scalable treasures, depending on if a person selects low magic vs. high magic?

3) If a person has never published anything before, how hard will it be to get started with you? Will we have to write up almost perfect adventures for consideration vs. already established writers?

4) How good do you want maps?

That's all I can think of for right now off the top of my head, but if I think of more I will ask. Thank you to any who don't mind answering any of these questions.