Well, it’s November 1st and that means NaNoWriMo 2006 has officially started! I’ll be tracking my progress with a nifty NaNoWriMo Word Count Widget.
This is now featured prominently on the sidebar of my website, so everyone can share my progress and praise me when it’s going good, or heckle me when I’m slacking.
Well, wish me luck. Now, to write!
Last year, designer Wolfgang Baur did a very strange and interesting thing, he announced he would be designing an adventure using the ancient system of patronage. To this end he created a website called Open Design and allowed people to buy into different levels of patronage for the project, with each level allowing more of a say in both the process and the final product. Once the amount collected from the patrons reached a pre-determined amount, the project got green-lighted (and if it hadn’t reached the amount, the money would have been refunded to each patron, so no risk there) and a couple of months later, all the patrons ended up with an exclusive, one-of-a-kind adventure never to be made available beyond those involved.
I recall when this was being announced at the various industry news sites, and recall the ongoing updates, both from industry sites and from my friend Mark Gedak’s LiveJournal, since he was one of the patrons, and I have to admit that I just didn’t pay attention to it simply because of scattermindedness and just plain being busy with other stuff. However, the results of the first Open Design project are in and everyone that has commented on it has said it was awesome. A quick look at the Open Design website showed me a bunch of really cool-looking stuff that instantly made me wish I had gotten in on it when I could. I mean, just look at the cover of the 115-page (!) adventure, Steam & Brass. That alone looks awesome.
I find the whole concept fascinating, and I have to admit I like the model and feel slightly annoyed that I both didn’t think of it first nor that I followed it the first time around. Wolfgang has a whole post on the issue of patronage where he explains how the system worked for the first project, and he makes a lot of good points; if the system worked for the artistic community of the Renaissance, then why not take it out for a spin today? RPGs are certainly a niche enough market that a person highly skilled in his craft (and seriously, check out the partial list of Wolfgang’s credits) or someone with a good amount of talent working in a sub-niche area of the same field could stand to benefit from the same business model that got the David made, among thousands of pieces of art from the last handful of centuries.
I’m not making the same mistake again. Wolfgang has announced that the second Open Design project is now underway and seeking patrons. Three different product options have risen to the top of the heap based on the votes of the patrons, with the one that is currently my favorite as well at the top: Castle Shadowcrag. So yes, I will be joining as a patron for the second Open Design adventure project, and thus support not only a really good writer in doing his craft, but also an economic system that for ages has allowed us artists (if I may humbly include myself there as well) to practice our craft in a highly materialistic world (funny how some things haven’t changed), not to mention a unique roleplaying product for my collection.
If this sounds interesting to you, too, check out the various Patron levels and join in as well!
I just received the proof from Lulu.com for our first print product, a hardcopy version of No Other Gods – An Adventure for Testament. It looks awesome. I can’t get over the giddyness of holding in my hands something that we created and that existed only as electronic data.
I’ll be posting soon info on ordering.
Highmoon Media Productions, in association with Reality Deviants Publications, is proud to present the first in our new line of d20 Modern/Future support, DaVinci Labs.
DaVinci Labs is a research and development facility specializing in mechanized systems, ranging from civilian solutions to military contracts. Simplicity of design and innovative concepts are our driving force, applying these ideals to everything we produce, be it cyber-organ replacements, nanotechnology, zero-G construction systems, mecha units and systems, or orbital and sub-orbital ships.
DaVinci Labs, A Renaissance in Mechanization. (TM)
UDR-4 Arrowhead
DaVinci Labs, Volume One focuses on the UDR-4 Arrowhead mecha, providing a history of the mecha, 2 variants of the design, new weapons and equipment and suggestions for using the mecha in your own campaign as well as in the popular Dawning Star campaign setting by Blue Devil Games.
, Volume One focuses on the mecha, providing a history of the mecha, 2 variants of the design, new weapons and equipment and suggestions for using the mecha in your own campaign as well as in the popular campaign setting by .This PDF comes with a screen version and a RTF file for your convenience.
Written by: Joshua Hoade
Mecha Artwork by: Adam Dickstein
Dawning Star is a trademark of Blue Devil Games, used with permission.
RDPDVL001 – $3.95
Buy it today from RPGnow.com.
With the help of our mutual friend/freelancer/uber-helper Mark Gedak, David took the raw materials I gave him for this first issue and expanded them with excellent new material that further developed the concept of DaVinci Labs, and ended up with this awesome product. Thanks to David Jarvis and Mark Gedak, DaVinci Labs is now a reality, and my heart’s happy as hell.
We are already at work on further releases, so keep an eye out for more innovation from DaVinci Labs, A Renaissance in Mechanization. (TM)
I got an email from the Ireland Tourism Board of a contest they are running where the lucky winner wins a one-week tour of a part of Ireland (Northern Ireland, Dublin/East/Southeast, West/Southwest) with air and ground transportation, accomodations, etc. and they get to podcast their trip for the Irish Tourism Board! I sent in my application faster than I could say slainte!
They ask for a 250-word or less entry telling them why you’d the a good choice, and here’s my entry:
Ireland calls to me like a siren; it always has. I visited Ireland for my honeymoon in 2002 and have been yearning to return, to experience the beauty of the land and the warmth of the people once again, to relive those happy memories, and create new ones along the way. Though I loved the whole island, I particularly long to return to the West, to wander Dingle’s pubs and lose myself in witty craic, to smell the sweet scent of burning peat, to drink a real Guinness like only the Irish know how to pour. It was in Dingle that we spent the bulk of our honeymoon, and where I left a little piece of my heart. I wrote an online journal of our trip to Ireland, and four years later, I still get emails from people who have read it and tell me they have fallen in love with the land as well, and from those getting ready to go thanking me for increasing their enthusiasm for their trip. I will talk to anyone about the wonders of Ireland, in person, by phone, by email, and if chosen, then by podcast as well. I already produce a short podcast called “The Gamer Traveler†and Ireland is on my list of upcoming topics. An opportunity like this would be fantastic to generate new content and truly be a chance to tell the world how much I love Ireland and why I think everyone should visit, too.
It’s a bit on the dramatic side, but it is all true.
Who knows, maybe something good will come my way!
Well, I’m finally back home and almost caught up with the dreariness of day-to-day life. Work is just as tedious as I remember it when I left, which I guess is not bad, as I thought it would feel even worse. Nevertheless, I wish I could be jumping into another plane right now and taking off on a new adventure, rather than making about a thousand copies.
I always get this post-trip funk, and I now recognize it for what it is, so I don’t pay much attention to it. I do want to make a number of changes in my life, though, so I’m hoping to channel some of this funk into the impetus needed for evolution.
I desperately need a new job, first and foremost; I just cannot work for my father-in-law anymore. It hasn’t been good for my finances and it definitely hasn’t been good for my emotional well-being.
I want to lose some weight and get in a little better shape. I felt good walking everywhere in Europe, and while distances here in Miami make that (or biking everywhere) a highly inadecuate option, I still want to maintain some of that momentum and see if I can get below 300 (yes, I am that heavy, to my own shame). I’d like to get a new bike and ride it whenever possible. We rode bikes in Brugge (Belgium) and it was a lot of fun, and Miami is almost as flat as the Netherlands and West Flanders (except for the really tall bridges).
I want to get back into the swing of things with Highmoon Media. I haven’t neglected it, but I haven’t kept up with it as I should. I understand and accept that with the amount of projects I have going I can’t have the output that other publishers have, but I need to have an output, period. Targum Magazine is paramount, with other projects following it. Above all, however, is finishing the layout for Lonnie Ezell‘s novel, which has already gone on pre-sale.
Lastly, I want to get writing again. As I always do (or at least try to), I kept a journal during the trip, and this is the first travel journal that I actually finish, at least with the factual events of the trip. I still want to go back and write some more about a few particular subjects, but at least the trip itself has been recorded. I’ve decided to continue the journaling momentum and start keeping a journal once more. We’ll see how that goes. More than that, I want to get writing again; story ideas have been flying around my head, in the distance yet distinctly perceivable, and I want to try to least them onto the paper (or computer screen, as the case may be).
Will all these resolutions yield results? I’ve no idea, but I’d like to try my best to have them all blossom.
Now I’ve got to go, cause my family is visiting down from Orlando, so I get to see my Mom, sister and two nephews!
Recent Comments