Wednesday, 25 March 2015

What would YOU want ME to Write Next?



So I'm done with writing Dark Albion: The Rose War.  My part of it is done, in any case; now that the writing bit is finished, the rest is up to Dominique Crouzet to do what I am quite certain (based on what I've already seen of it) will turn out to be truly excellent work of layout, illustrations, editing and publishing the game.  It's going to kick ass.

But now I'm at the point where I'm in-between projects, and so I thought I'd check with you, my readers, as to what you feel the Pundit should do next.  So here's a short questionairre that you should feel free to answer, in part or in full, and tell me what you'd pay good money to see:

If I could end up working with any publisher at all in the hobby, which publisher would you really want to see me do something for, and what would it be?

If I were to do a collaboration with any other RPG writer, who would you most want to see me working with, and on what?

If I were to do something of my own, with any old publisher ending up publishing it, what would you most want to see me write?

Finally, if I were to work as a consultant on any specific project or for any RPG product line or publisher in general, who or what would you love to see me giving my 2 cents to (or putting a hatchet to, if you prefer) to radically help redesign?

So there you are, some questions for you to answer, creatively or not, seriously or not, realistically or in your wildest dreams.

RPGPundit

Currently Smoking: Lorenzetti Solitario Horn + Gawith's Navy Flake
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33 comments:

  1. Chris Dunlap25 March 2015 at 19:28

    I'd put good money toward an out-there, science fantasy toolkit for the OSR, on your own (I've read some of the DCC game reports) or with a collaborator, for any publisher

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  2. Chris Dunlap25 March 2015 at 19:28

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  3. Greyhawk Grognard25 March 2015 at 21:05

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  4. Greyhawk Grognard25 March 2015 at 21:06

    I'd publish that. Heck, I've been toying around with *writing* something like that for the last couple of years, but there are just too many things in front of it.

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  5. Chris Dunlap25 March 2015 at 21:20

    Would definitely check it out!

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  6. Chris Dunlap25 March 2015 at 21:20

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  7. RPGPundit26 March 2015 at 04:48

    Excellent to hear! Obviously, I have plans to release a book based on my DCC setting, which I think is totally awesome and would fill a niche. I'd probably give Goodman first dibs but I think there'd be no problem with releasing it as an OSR worldbook with a reprint of the "Appendix P" rules front-loaded (so, the best of both worlds: a set of quick guideline houserules while being open for use with any old-school rules).

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  8. Nerzenjäger26 March 2015 at 07:44

    1) Publisher: LotFP
    2) Collabo: Zak S.
    3) Own: Some Slavic-inspired stuff
    4) 2 Cents: Fate

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  9. Chris A. Field26 March 2015 at 10:29

    I'd love to see you collaborate with Zak S, just because I know that combo would make rpg.net implode in a firestorm of nerd-rage. That'd be fun to see.

    In terms of projects: I'd like to see some more material for Arrows of Indra, particularly a bestiary, just because I love bestiaries. They're the most fun aspect of RPGs- I regularly buy monster books for systems I don't play and probably never will, just because the creativity on display is fun to see.

    Also, I'd love your take on anything Legion of Superheroes inspired, for any system you choose. Your old LOSH campaign stories are great, and I'd love you to just go nuts with a sci-fi or supers settings (for Traveller, Icons, Pathfinder, whatever you want) and just pretend you've got the LOSH license, not to mention all the license you'd ever need to just go absolutely crazy with the concepts and story there-in.

    CHRIS

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    1. RPGPundit26 March 2015 at 15:37

      Yeah, somehow I suspect a collaboration with Zak S isn't in the cards. It's pretty difficult for two Personas of that size to co-exist in the same room.

      Frankly, and sorry for this, but I hate bestiaries. I'd be more likely to write an adventure than a bestiary, and I haven't written an adventure yet (but at least I like them).

      IF I could somehow do the LSH, anything about the LSH, I would do it in a heartbeat, but ONLY if I didn't have to follow whatever muddled bullshit is the current DC-party-line, which means that it would never happen (because even if I did somehow end up being entrusted with that type of licensed product, they'd certainly demand that I be contemporary to its present canon with it).

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    2. RPGPundit26 March 2015 at 15:38

      I suppose, though, that if I ever did do a Supers game, it would be the LSH with the serial numbers filed off. Hmm, Sci-fi Supers.. that's got some potential...

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    3. Chris A. Field27 March 2015 at 04:16

      DO IT!
      I did Action Galaxy a couple years ago, and it was tremendously fun. I'd love to see your take on sci-fi supers.

      I'm kinda surprised you don't like bestiaries. You seem like a very old school, sandbox style gamer, and bestiaries are perfect for that. Every monster is a potential plot hook- you just shake out whatever creatures you want to use, and all of a sudden the players have a thing on the table to interact with in any way they feel like. I've never really liked adventures, because even the most free form feel fairly restrictive.

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    4. RPGPundit27 March 2015 at 04:40

      I am a very old-school gamer, but I've always preferred to do more with less monsters, rather than have books and books filled with monsters that most people will never use.
      When I ran my RC campaign, I did everything with just the monsters in the relevant chapter. When I run Albion, I'm only using the monsters from the AD&D Monster Manual (a tiny selection thereof, in fact) plus a few unique creatures (demons or demon-spawn types, mainly) that come up. In DCC I'm using the kitchen sink, but most of it is hugely modified. Lots of times for things like humanoids I don't even look at a statblock, I just decide in the moment what their stats are.

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    5. Chris A. Field27 March 2015 at 09:03

      Hey, have you checked out Far Away Land? My copy just arrived from RPGnow the other day and I'm loving it. It seems to have the same gonzo, make it up as you go along attitude and humor of your DCC game. You might enjoy it.

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    6. RPGPundit27 March 2015 at 15:29

      I have heard of it, but I have not seen it myself. I've not been sent a review copy. From what I've heard, yes, they sound very similar to each other (FAL and my DCC campaign) but mine is a bit more "adult" (not mature, adult) in its style and humor.

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  10. RPGbericht26 March 2015 at 10:59

    I'd like to see you do a game of low-powered pulp supers using d100/OpenQuest/Renaissance or DwD Studios' d00Lite system.

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    1. RPGPundit26 March 2015 at 15:39

      Interesting. Not too sure about the system.

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  11. Skyrock26 March 2015 at 11:45

    1.) Publisher: I don't care about publishers, I only care about individual products.
    2.) Co-Pilot: Zak S., alone for all that salt that would produce. Desborough could be fun for the same purpose.
    3.) Old project revisited: A 2nd edition of FtA! with some rough spots cleaned up and more compatibility to existing OSR games.
    4.) Consultant: Forgotten Realms 5E. (Not that I believe that they would actually use the advice that this mammoth setting really needs.)

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    1. RPGPundit26 March 2015 at 15:53

      2) Zak S again? I really think people are conflating the fact that we're both "enfants terrible" of the RPG/OSR scene with our being compatible. Look at Zak's work, and its non-linear, artsy, with an emphasis on flair over detail, his mechanics tending to be about some kind of gimmickry to simplify/speed-up the play experience (this all from Vornheim, btw, I haven't seen R&PL). Look at my work and it's structured, completeist, with an emphasis on detail, my mechanics tending to be about enriching the world-emulation experience, sometimes 'gonzo' but not 'artsy'. He'll say "Here's awesome thing 2 and awesome thing C and here's a table full of weird stuff you can use to inspire ideas when you're stuck, you can roll it up or you can just drop a die right on this book and pick whatever it lands on! Here are three magic items I'll talk about in detail that are based on some totally weird thing no one else ever thought of, like 'what if spiders were actually radio transmitters?'". I'll say "here are 100 greek gods, some very well-known some almost forgotten, all of them from actual historical research, stated out with details about their social alliances and secret agendas, and here's a series of random tables you can use to generate whole particular section of the Underworld, and this is a list/table of 50 weirdo magic items briefly detailed (you can fill in the rest) that you can find in the lair of the Evil Gnomes, some of which will be useless, some of which will fuck you over and some which will be awesome".

      I don't think I'd co-write with Desborough.

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    2. RPGPundit26 March 2015 at 15:54

      Sadly, I don't think I'd come back to FtA! either.

      I totally WOULD consult on the 5e Realms. But I don't know how much of my advice they'd take, as you say. The main gist of my advice being: get back to the Realms' Sword & Sorcery roots.

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    3. Skyrock26 March 2015 at 19:30

      As a more offbeat choice for 4.) Blue Rose Reloaded.
      IF they took you as a consultant and IF they listened to you, the result would be very, very interesting :D

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    4. RPGPundit27 March 2015 at 00:43

      LOL, that's the least likely to happen of all! Mind you, I would totally do it. IF I felt my advice would actually be taken, which it wouldn't.

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    5. Dmitry Gerasimov7 May 2015 at 13:52

      > I really think people are conflating the fact that we're both "enfants terrible" of the RPG/OSR scene with our being compatible.
      But there's always the hope that through the very virtue of your approaches being so different, the two of you will complement each other, teach each other a lot and produce a whole that would be far greater than the some of its parts.

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  12. Kyorou26 March 2015 at 12:31

    Publisher : C7, for a World War Cthulhu adventure or setting book.

    Collaboration : Rafael Chandler comes to mind...

    Solo project : I'd like to see your take on the modern occult/horror/conspiracy genre.

    Consulting : Goodman Games should consider hiring you for some truly gonzo project.

    My 2 eurocents...

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    1. RPGPundit26 March 2015 at 15:55

      Those are all interesting suggestions! I do have a vague thought in the back of my head of doing a "real occult" RPG. I just haven't quite figured out how the fuck to make it function and be playable, yet.

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  13. Doc Savage26 March 2015 at 13:55

    An original super hero RPG not based on D&D mechanics.

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    1. RPGPundit26 March 2015 at 15:55

      That's kind of a broad answer, isn't it?

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    2. Doc Savage26 March 2015 at 21:48

      Okay, make a super hero RPG designed specifically to emulate the Atals/Seaboard line of comic books plus funky '70s licensed characters like the Human Fly and the Man from Atlantis that Marvel was publishing. And Bionic Woman and $6 Million Man as published by Charlton during that era.

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  14. p1r826 March 2015 at 15:00

    All questions can be answered with three statements:
    1. 5e Spelljammer
    2. Jeff Grubb
    3. Boom.

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    1. RPGPundit26 March 2015 at 15:57

      Haha! Oh man, my Spelljammer would be sooo different. I think it would be awesome, but I almost wouldn't want to use the name, because I'm sure there are real fans of the original setting (three or four of them) and they would probably feel like what I make isn't the same thing as their setting at all (other than "sailing ships in space with D&D races", I'd do almost everything else different).

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    2. Chris Dunlap26 March 2015 at 20:39

      Somewhat off topic (but related to Science Fantasy/Spelljammer), I'd love to see someonw take a crack at an alien generator similar to Raggi's Random Esoteric Creature Generator, but for pulpy, gonzo beings from the stars...

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    3. Chris Dunlap26 March 2015 at 20:40

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  15. Dmitry Gerasimov7 May 2015 at 13:58

    From what little I have read about your Albion campaign, I am much anticipating the product. Sounds intriguing (and very much my cup of tea).

    But, anyway:
    1). Publisher: LotFP naturally springs to mind, but why not Goodman or Frog God either.
    2). Collabo: why, Ron Edwards, of course!
    3). Solo: Dunno, maybe something set in Colonial South America and involving bits inspired by local folklore.
    4). Consulting: WotC, for sure. The naughty boys terrible need someone to look after them.

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