No Press RPG Anthology

[Mike Holmes]

I think that your leadership on this issue is a great thing, Luke. I'm sure it'll turn out to be an excellent product.

Just in the way of a clarification, you will be the person in charge of what gets in, and what does not, correct? As the one putting up the money, I'm sure that not every game sent in will be put in the publication, right? Only ones that you feel will help the publication with it's sales and reputation, correct?

I ask so that people interested may also get prepared for the possibility of rejection if this is the case.

Also, assuming that you are the sole editor, will you be putting ot any criteria? Or will it be left open for any quality submission?

Mike

[Daniel Solis]

I'll throw in my hat for any spare graphic design/layout assistance you might need.

Also, while print format is really nice, it's far easier to recoup your costs if you you go for at least a companion PDF. Just a thought.

With some minor revisions (and an FLCL-influenced logo), I'll toss in WTF? for a submission in a couple weeks.

One other thing... is there going to be some unifying element to the anthology submissions? Maybe a quick bio of the contributor(s) at the end of each edition. Perhaps even a standardized method of classifying the written contributions to make it easier to find a game that would appeal to a target audience. Say, the contributor may voluntarily list their game's genre (scifi, fantasy, horror, western, whatever) and whether it's gamist, narrativist, simulationist or a mix of any of the three.

In the table of contents, I see a long list of games with little graphic icons (dice=gamist? pen=narrativist?) noting this information as well as the page number, just to make navigating the tome easier on the reader.

EDIT: More questions :)

In what order will games be arranged? Alphabetically? By genre? Will there be special genre editions? How do you handle the occasional non-setting-specific submissions?

[Luke]

Just in the way of a clarification, you will be the person in charge of what gets in, and what does not, correct? As the one putting up the money, I'm sure that not every game sent in will be put in the publication, right? Only ones that you feel will help the publication with it's sales and reputation, correct?

I ask so that people interested may also get prepared for the possibility of rejection if this is the case.

Also, assuming that you are the sole editor, will you be putting ot any criteria? Or will it be left open for any quality submission?

Mike

Hi Mike (et omnes),

These questions are a tough spot for the anthology. Technically I am the editor in chief for this sucker, so technically i could reject something if I saw fit.

However, I am unlikely to reject any submissions based on content unless I deem it wholly and utterly inappropriate (yes, like Fatal. But, whereas I would publish Sex and Sorcerer).

As far as game content/design goes, the requirements are as follows:
• The game must be clear and readable. The text must be polished and "professional" (even if you are going for a hacked up feel, it's got to be digestable for the reader. See KPfS for example).

• The game must be complete and playable in the form submitted to the anthology.

• The game must be an rpg. That's a broad category, but I think an important one to note.

• The game must be "ultra-light, micro- or a short-form rpg". I think under 32 pages is a good place to start for the max length, but allowances can be made for extra room if needed.

If the game submitted can't meet these criteria, then I am afraid it will be passed on.

However, I will not be the sole judge of this. All those who have volunteered to "edit" will read over copies of the submissions and provide feedback on readability and playability (yes, to be a game editor, you must also be a game player).


As far as titles, layout and design goes: I WILL HANDLE IT. Trust me, Burning Wheel isn't hideous, is it? I promise to put the same care and sensibility into this project.

So please, no more talk about logos, titles or stuff like that. It's fluff that we can decide on in the end.

What we need now are submissions and more volunteers for editing and promotions.

Lastly, to address gobi's pointed questions:
I am perfectly fine with letting the author introduce the work. However, build it into the introduction of the game. The anthology won't have intros or bios, because assembling them is a momental task -- as a rule, author's NEVER submit such information in a remotely timely fashion. Sorry to ruffle feathers, but 'struth.

The anthology itself will have an overarching intro and outro, though.

The anthology will not abide by an imposed, synthetic game categorization structure. Games will not be listed according to GNS position. Nothing ever falls neatly into categories like that. Read the games, judge for yourself. That's what this book is for.

The game will be ordered according to the needs of the layout and the content of the anthology. I will attempt to at the very least make it a good read!



BTW, if anyone still has doubts about me and this, let me offer more examples of my work so assuage those doubts.  I have published other stuff aside from my game. Namely, the short-lived magazine, New York Fucking City. If you would like a copy of some of the issues, let me know and we can arrange something.

thanks all for your feedback and enthusiasm, I really appreciate it.

Let me say this again: I love this stuff: rpgs, print, and communal efforts.
Let's pull together and do this.
-Luke

[xiombarg]

I'm very interested in this project -- I'd be willing to polish up Pretender to add it to the mix. Perhaps you should start a Yahoo group for the project, so we can all remain informed? Like Em, I'd like some writers guidelines, formats, etc., and would want to know where to send stuff.

[Paul Czege]

Hey Luke,

• The game must be complete and playable in the form submitted to the anthology.

But not necessarily already playtested?

Paul

[Daniel Solis]

• The game must be "ultra-light, micro- or a short-form rpg". I think under 32 pages is a good place to start for the max length, but allowances can be made for extra room if needed.

Can we get a general idea of word count per page and how many fewer words would be available if quarter-page and half-page tables/illustrations were included in the submission?

[Luke]

Hey Luke,

• The game must be complete and playable in the form submitted to the anthology.

But not necessarily already playtested?

::casts about innocently::

Playtesting is on your conscience.

But you would never release a game without thoroughly and exhaustively playtesting it, right?

Gobi:
As far as word count goes, I can't give a per page right now, because I don't know what my layout is going to be. However, I can give you a tip-top utter maximum of 20,000 words. Using a reasonable font, at 10 pt in 2 columns on 8.5x11 paper that would net you about 32 pages.

Please don't worry about length or word count, though.
Games like Unsung (for a long one), Risus and The Pool (for short ones) are what we are after. Write a good, short form rpg and we'll do our best to fit it in.

At this point I am feeling rather liberal about interior design. As I mentioned before, if the author wants to do his/her own design using his own fonts and graphics and shtuff, then I will put the piece in the anthology in that exact design. If you don't have a strong design, then we'll make it uniform with the rest of the piece and plop it in.

One last thing that you must have as the author: you must own the copyrights to this work period.

Submissions should be in PDF format emailed to: abzu@burningwheel.org

You may include an introduction to your game/theories at the head of your submission (Hell, BW has an intro!), and you may include information "about the author" and plug your other games/websites and so forth at the end of your submission.

production schedule:
currently i am expecting mega procrastination on the part of all parties. which is why I set a June release date. I absolutely don't want to rush things. But I will say that if I can get "128 pages" of rpgs soon, I will put the damn thing out "soon." Perhaps we can even have two volumes on the shelf by GenCon. I dunno, we'll see.

Just submit games to me so we can start editing.
-L

[LordSmerf]

I've got some ideas i guess i can polish up, but the following quesion arises: Will there be any overarching theme beyond RPGs?  Fantasy?  SciFi?  Would you want to release multiple books by genre (assuming the first one works out)?

Thomas

[Luke]

Will there be any overarching theme beyond RPGs? Fantasy? SciFi? Would you want to release multiple books by genre (assuming the first one works out)?

No overarching genre theme for the first volume. We have zero submissions, therefore we have nothing to codify.

Multiple games, same genre? OF COURSE! That's like saying, "Lord of the Rings has done it all. Why write fantasy?" Because every author has a different take!

don't worry about such trivialities. just submit.
submit, submit, submit.

-L

[Mike Holmes]

don't worry about such trivialities. just submit.
submit, submit, submit.

What format, and to where. BTW, this isn't just idle prompting on my part, I do have a submission prepared to send.

Mike

[LordSmerf]

Two quick questions:

1. Is there some minimum length you have in mind?  If i have a 1,000 to 3.000 word game is that enough for you to work with?  I'm working on something right now that i'd like to submit, but i don't know at this point how long it will be.

2. Is there a place i can get affordable PDF producing stuff?  I'm poor, but i'd really like to be involved in this...

Thomas

[LordSmerf]

Ok...

1. I found a PDF thingy, i just did a search for free PDF stuff... (duh)...

2. I am thinking to submit Powers That Be if i can make it work.

Thomas

[Luke]

Submissions should be in PDF format emailed to: abzu@burningwheel.org

You may include an introduction to your game/theories at the head of your submission (Hell, BW has an intro!), and you may include information "about the author" and plug your other games/websites and so forth at the end of your submission.

-L

Mike, do you need any more info?

Smerf: There is no minimum length, check out Risus or Facedancer. They are short games, complete and playable.

Again, the game must be a short-form, ultra-light or micro-rpg. Use your judgement when meeting these criteria. Don't think of me as a big bad publisher with conditions to meet. I'm one of you, i'm on your side!

Ways to make my life simpler: Just make sure the game is a clean read. Have other folks read it a few times and give you feedback. Write a few drafts. Then send it my way.

If you cannot submit in PDF format, please submit in RTF format.

kick me,
-L

[Rich Forest]

Will editors be working with the pdf submissions, or will rtf texts be requested at a later date?  I'm wondering about this because I'm really familiar with the commenting functions of microsoft word (which work with .rtf files), but I'm a bit unsure about the equivalent in Acrobat.  Is it possible to add comments easily in Acrobat?  If so, then I guess there's no problem, but if not, I imagine it will be easier for editors to add comments to .rtf files.

Rich

[LordSmerf]

You can find a pretty nice suite of PDF creation/manipulation tools for free at Software995's website.  It's pretty powerful, and if you decide you want to register it, it's cheap as well...

Thomas