Open Design/Wolfgang Baur
Open Design began as an experiment in funding the development of roleplaying game supplements. Wolfgang Baur—a highly respected, long-time Dungeons & Dragons editor and designer for TSR and then Wizards of the Coast—went back hundreds of years to dig up the concept of patronage, add a few modern twists to it, and apply it to the problem. He posts a project and publicizes it along with a monetary threshold. When the funding his patrons chip in reaches that threshold, he starts on the project in earnest. Baur supplements his exemplary work by letting his patrons suggest various directions for each project and then allowing them to look over this shoulder as he works. Each project becomes a master-level class on adventure design for those privileged to be a part of it.
-
The Monday Monsters series continues at KQ.com, this time with Joshua Stevens weighing in on the figure called Spring-Heeled Jack . He's a fine individual for a fantasy game or even a supers game, actually. And supposedly, the legend is All True....
-
London, UK (WKQ - London News): The investigation of the vicious attacks on Samantha Grey, 27, and Catherine Hulme, 32, last week in Greenwich has taken a strange turn. Their mysterious assailant, dubbed the “Leaping Man,” is now believed to be re-enacting...
-
The Master of Horror, the man personally responsible for unleashing Blood of the Gorgon on an unsuspecting group of patrons, speaks about his recent Sinister and D&D projects and about Kobold Quarterly in this Pulp Gamer podcast. Worth a listen,...
-
Turns out that the Empire of the Ghouls project has led WotC to pick up the ghouls theme: they ship Kingdom of the Ghouls in June for 4E. I'm somewhere between delighted that they are doing it, and really annoyed that no one asked me. Ah well, Bruce...
-
Kobold Quarterly and Open Design have been very fortunate in the quality of their freelancers. I’m happy to announce that Open Design has accepted an adventure from Ed Greenwood of Forgotten Realms fame. His adventure is a tale of dueling merchants...
-
All along, the Tales of Zobeck project has promised a set of seven adventures for your amusement. I'm pleased to report that we'll have eight instead, and that the 8th author is none other than Ed Greenwood . It's been a while since Mr. Greenwood...
-
Sicklerville, NJ (WKQ News): Farmers in this Camden County town are growing more concerned by the day. They say their livestock – cows, pigs, and horses mostly – are being attacked in the evening. Few animals have survived the attacks, and the deaths...
-
The Blood of the Gorgon project is complete, and with the benefit of a little hindsight, Nick Logue talks about collaboration in Open Design and collaboration between DMs and players (and throws in the origin story of some of his famous Eberron/Viktor...
-
Nicolas Logue designed the recent Open Design project, Blood of the Gorgon, a dark and thrill-packed adventure that recently shipped to its patrons. Here he offers some lessons learned and some final reflections on the Open Design process:
Gaming is not...
-
A new monster from American folklore is up for your amusement at Koboldquarterly.com . It's by the Might John Ling, and there's more coming. Because there's no such thing as too many monsters, I hope to continue this series on a frequent basis...
-
Detroit, MI (WKQ News): The severe storms have left the Detroit metro area. Over the past 24 hours, Detroit has suffered intense thunderstorms, with wind gusts up to 80 miles per hour felling trees and utility poles throughout the region. A spokesman...
-
There's a great interview with Harley Stroh over on the KQ site. He spills the beans about what he looks for in adventures and how he approaches design. Definitely worth a read.
-
Harley Stroh mostly writes adventures—good old, down and dirty dungeon crawls reminiscent of the AD&D modules of yesteryear. His scenarios feature vengeful rat kings, bat-riding goblins, and twisted, giggling evil gnomes who worship the eldritch...
-
The seven adventures of the 3E Tales of Zobeck project are off to the editor, and the Gazetteer is very close to turnover. That Gazetteer is packed with clockwork magic, details of the kobold ghetto, and lots of adventure hooks for any city setting. The...
-
An interview I did with the podcasters of Pulp Gamer has appeared at the very end of their Out of Character segment. Worth a listen!