Small Press RPG Anthology

[Jonathan Walton]

I think Matt's got the right attitude here.  I think we either need to find a way to acknowledge the Forge without using it like a brand (for instance, something like this, which might even be too brand-y), or develop something totally different for the purposes you are describing.

For instance, you yourself could create an "imprint" of Burning Wheel called something like No Press Publishing (to steal from your original post), which would serve mainly to publish an anthology of creator-owned works.  Heck, we could probably set something up with James over at RPGnow/mall, since I'm sure he gets sick of publishing mostly d20 stuff.  After all, while most of the "Forge-based" indies mention their strong ties to the Forge in the interior, none of them bother declaring "developed on the Forge" on the cover.  They sell based on word-of-mouth and quality, not on thr environment they come from.

You could even advertise it as a Forge-centric product without having to have the Forge's name on the cover.  Ron and Clinton aren't going to get on your case for admitting that most/all of the material comes from Forge regulars, even if they rightly seem not so keen on using the Forge's identity in other ways.

[Mike Holmes]

Is it a Forge endorsement, or just the use of The Forge in the title, that you want, Luke?

If the title were, for argument's sake, "Games Made at The Forge, but Not Endorsed by The Forge," would that be getting what you want? Would there be a problem with that in your opinion, Ron?

I'm trying to see if there's a way to pull this off that satisfies everybody.

Mike

[Luke]

After a good lunch and a long walk I have decided that ...

Matt's right. Hands down.

And Jon anticipated my next thought:

Let's start a joint imprint of all of our "publishing houses" wherein we produce games that would not otherwise make it to market/press.

No Press Publishing sounds good to me.

In addition to snazzy cover art for the anthology we could put the logos/trademarks of all the various crazy places these wild and wacky games have come from.

The Forge will just be one of a few reservoirs we tap.

thoughts?
-Luke

[Jonathan Walton]

thoughts?

Many:
-- the 24 hour games
-- the Iron Game Chef games (yea, Tiki God!)
-- Jason Blair's "Insects of God" and "Ronin"
-- James V. West's "Smurf: the Smurfing" (some copyright issues there)
-- Vincent Baker's collected works

There's your first 4 volumes.  Some assembly (and editing, and permission) required.

[Ron Edwards]

Hey,

Maybe people didn't see my suggestion for the cover text? Something like "Games from the Forge" or "Role-playing from the Forge, home of independent RPGs," or whatever ... any is fine by me. Splash it on the cover; that's great. It's the title content and a literal publisher's imprint that I'm shying from. I don't need "but not endorsed by" or anything weird and legalistic like that.

Best,
Ron

[Daniel Solis]

With some revisions, I'll be happy to contribute WTF? to the anthology. I'll also freely contibute any book layout/graphic design duties I can offer.

edit:

Incidentally, if no one has considered a title for the anthology, might I suggest something alluding indirectly to the Forge affiliation? I'm thinking something like Anvil.

[taalyn]

I think this is a great idea - I'll buy for sure. I'll also donate my own editing/layout/indexing/etc. skills.

I like No Press Publishing. I don't like Anvil as a title, though. It's too close to Anvilwerks. How about Sledgehammer? Or Sparks, or Bellows, or Tongs, or WaterBucket...wait, I'm getting carried away here.

Personally, I like Sledgehammer. Sort of a "quick blow to shatters your ideas of what an RPG can be" thing.

[Daniel Solis]

I like Spark, actually. It's a quick, easily remembered title with a lot of potential for a nicely designed masthead. It's also a reference to what the anthology would supposedly do. That is, spark out-of-the-box ideas for the rpg community.

[Luke]

GOOD!

I'm glad this thread didn't die while i was away.

So we are agreed, No Press RPG Anthology Volume 1: Sparks from the Hammer (something otherwise evocative) is a go.

It shall contain work from the Forge and beyond.
It shall acknowledge and praise the source of all of the work contained within its covers.


Let's close this thread and start a No Press RPG Anthology thread.

-Luke[/quote]

[Jonathan Walton]

And check out the first issue of Daedalus, to see how something like this might be put together under the auspices of a particular company (Chimera Creative, in this case).

http://www.chimera.info/daedalus/