Open Design Blog

I've got two Open Design projects going well with early outlines and polls about 4E and Zobeck, but both need a few more patrons to actually meet the commissioning bar.

The first wave of pitches for Tales of Zobeck has been posted and voted on, and the second wave will be underway next week — if about 10 more patrons show up.
Sign up today and help shape the Zobeck campaign setting!

With the leak of 4E information, the 4th Edition adventure has had new things to discuss. The Wrath of the River King plan is to write an adventure that's not dumbed-down, beginner-level material, but a fully-developed plot arc with new monsters and a glimpse of the Feywild, plus the inside track from 4E playtesters. If you'd like design that challengesr experienced players, this is your project. Please donate and sign up today!

The two projects currently up for patron support are both chugging along, with Tales of Zobeck having a small but not insurmountable lead toward an actual green light, go-sign, kickoff status.

And as usual, I can't resist jumping the design gun a little bit. The outline for the Tales of Zobeck source material has gone to the patrons, and both the senior patrons and writers like Richard Pett, Tim Connors, Jeff Grubb, and others are sharpening up pitches for the Tales anthology. I've got about a dozen already, and only the best will go on to be designed for the project. The patrons will see those and start judging them this weekend — and so can you, if you sign up today.

For Wrath of the River King, the project outline is available to patrons, and there's some discussion as well about level and Shadowfell. The early discussions often set the tone for where an adventure is headed. If you'd like an adventure that's more than just a set of 4E training wheels, and that tries to do something more challenging for experienced players, this is your project. Please donate and sign up today!

I know all the talk has been about the NEXT Open Design, but it's not too late to sign up for Nicolas Logue's Blood of the Gorgon project.

It's in playtest now, so it goes into edits and layout soon. If you'd like to be a patron and secure your copy of the limited edition, please sign up today.

If the current commission were for just a 3E project or just a 4E project, it would already be funded; patrons have supported the work and there's lots of interest. In a perfect world, I would be merrily writing up the outline and taking the first couple of rounds of polls, brainstorming, and feedback by now. The design ship would have sailed.

Unfortunately, that's not the case. While fans of the two editions have some crossover, the "gimme either edition" crowd is a small minority. D&D fandom seems to be a house divided.

And as a result, the next Open Design may take a little longer to commission. To make your choice easier, though, I've removed another option from the running. Court of the Shadow Fey is removed from the voting starting today, and so there's just two competitors left: 3E Tales of Zobeck or the 4E Wrath of the River King. Both will be written when and if their commissions are met. The one that meets the bar first will get a head start, the other will follow along after.

So tell me, who's on first? You can read the project descriptions and donate to your favorite here.

I never quite know which project is going to pull off the upset.

Way back when, I was sure that the Lost City was going to win, and Angels of Our Better Nature, and pretty much every time, I'm wrong. So... I shouldn't be surprised to see that now it's Wrath of the River King, the project that doesn't begin until July and that uses a GSL I haven't seen, that is drawing patron attention. It is just 15 patrons behind Tales of Zobeck, in fact.

And why not the 4E contender? If the Wrath of the River King commission is funded before the Tales of Zobeck/Courts of the Shadow Fey, I will write that one first. The paranoid side of me is convinced that patrons just want to see me flail around with a new format/ruleset/design parameters. "Wrath" would certainly involve a lot of that, as I'll be ramping up in a hurry.

Donate for Tales of Zobeck
Donate for Court of the Shadow Fey
Donate for Wrath of the River King

In other news, I've posted the first design essay for new project (or, if you prefer, another in the continuing series of Blood of the Gorgon design essays). This one is about encounter design, and especially about non-standard encounters. Patrons, give it a look and tell me what you think!

I'm delighted to say that the commission is about halfway met, and that the voting has gone smoothly so far. I also must, regretfully, cut Lords of Lost Arbonesse from the voting, because it is not generating the same level of support as Court of the Shadow Fey and Tales of Zobeck.

Also, note that I've suggested a possible format change to Tales of Zobeck, and Courts of the Shadow Fey has some acquired some interesting Zelaznian overtones. Take a look at the KQ forums for details.

The 4th Edition Wrath of the River King is also available, for those looking to expand their 4E adventure collection.

If you would like to support either Tales of Zobeck or Courts of the Shadow Fey as a patron, now's the time.

Please review the proposals for the project and choose your favorite!

Just a note to say that you can vote for what Zobeck article will appear next in Kobold Quarterly, and make your own suggestions, in this thread.