Open Design Blog

Hurray! The Six Arabian Nights project, all of 94 pages of it with full color art throughout, has shipped to the patrons who commissioned it.

Behold the color and the dazzling shimmer, effendi, as fine as any silken carpet of Qom! Feel the texture and shiver with the hints of Dark Arabia, shadows that will scatter before your steel!

Thanks to all those who supported to the project, to the mappers who stepped in at the last minute, and to everyone who contributed to it. I'm very proud of this one!

At the same time, completing the commission means that the Six Arabian Nights are now no longer available to sponsors directly. It will be available to patrons of Blood of the Gorgon for a couple months yet, though with the usual late fee.

The print-on-demand version will be prepared in the coming week to 10 days, and should be available around Valentine's Day. It's been a great project, folks, and I hope you like the results.

Ok, I said I was not going to run fiction in Kobold, but apparently I'm a big fat liar. Because Richard Pett's short story about liches is a freebie up on koboldquarterly.com, and is called
"The Tale of Joshua Cane."

Check it out.

For those on the fence, Nicolas Logue has posted his adventure outline for patrons to mull over, dissect, and critique. It's looking pretty astounding, with cults and madmen neatly tied to a mystery that messes with the PCs' investigations in original ways. Some mystery, some horror, all closely fused with great combat stages and divination-proof clues. Sign up as a patron of Blood of the Gorgon and see what he's up to.

Also, last call for anyone who wants to sign up for Arabian Nights, and last call for current patrons to pick up Empire of the Ghouls (private link for patrons only).

The hardcopy of Ghouls will be unavailable after January 31st. The Six Arabian Nights will go up in price and will only be available to patrons of Blood of the Gorgon in future. Grab 'em now!

The Arabian Nights project is almost over, and the days left to support it as a patron are running down. As a preview of all the Dark Arabian stylings it offers, check out the free PDF preview of the half-efreet pirate captain, over on koboldquarterly.com.

The subscription rolls are bursting at the seams for Kobold Quarterly, and subscriber #1000 is Frank Gawryla of Knoxville, Tennessee!

He wins a lifetime subscription to the magazine, a copy of the Arabian Nights Open Design project, a copy of the Kobold's Guide to Game Design, and a t-shirt featuring our Kobold mascot.

The best part is, today's also the day Frank GM'ed his first game session. Or as he put it "Today is the greatest day of my gaming life!" (Well, ok, I think that was about the prize-winning.)

But still, I'm kinda thinking it's a gaming milestone day all around. Congratulations, Frank!

Would the Paladin and the patron from Lake Forest get in touch with me through this site or the KoboldQuarterly.com contacts?

I sent some set-up information for the project, but it bounced. Thanks!

So, the news has leaked in the podcast and over at KQ.com, and it's time to announce Open Design 5, better known as Blood of the Gorgon.

You need to know two things: It's a 3E dark urban adventure set in Zobeck, and the author is Nicolas Logue, of Eberron and Pathfinder fame. I'm pulling development duties on this one, so it's not a complete departure, but I have a lot of respect for how Mr. Logue crafts his adventures, and I think patrons may enjoy hearing his take on design issues.

Many, many more details on theme, topic, and so forth are over at the KQ.com site, plus a podcast over at The Tome Show where Mr. Logue discusses it. Or, if you know you're in (and really, this is going to be an astounding adventure, from everything I've seen so far), you can sign up now, and bombard Mr. Logue with requests right away.

As always, the project includes daily posts and discussion, five design essays discussing horror, mystery adventures, storytelling, and other topic. It also offers playtest opportunities and up-close Q&A of the design choices made for the adventure. The final design will ship to patrons on or around May 1st, as a full-color PDF with a print option available.

You can support this Open Design project today for $25 (€17) for the basic membership. Members who contribute at least $75 (€50) gain additional access to the design process, such as manuscript access and additional posts and commentary. If the commission is not met by February 29th you will receive a prompt and full refund. On March 1st, the price to join the project goes up to $35 (€24) or $100 (€68), so join today.

Basic Membership ($25)







Europe Basic Membership (€17)

Patron Membership (Additional Content, minimum $75)

Europe (Additional Content, minimum € 50)

I was really hoping to have 1,000 subscribers by Gen Con. It turns out we're going to get there, um, right about now. The magazine is very close to rolling the subscriber odometer over to 1,000 subscribers.

Hey, that's great, you say, everyone likes big round numbers but what about prizes? I'm glad you asked! The 1000th subscriber will win:

• A Lifetime Subscription to the Magazine! This is a print sub if you are a print subscriber, or a PDF sub if you are a PDF subscriber.
  
• A copy of the Six Arabian Nights Open Design project, written by Jeff Grubb, David "Zeb" Cook, Joshua Stevens, and Clay Fleischer, and yours truly. Six adventures set in Dark Arabia that can be used as a mini-campaign.
  
• A Kobold t-shirt featuring our mascot, Jiro.
  
• A copy of Kobold's Guide to Game Design, a compilation of essays on adventure design.

If you want to win, subscribe today! You could be the 1000th member of the Kobold Army. And 1000 kobolds is what, like a CR 30 encounter? Unstoppable!

Looks like the fundraising has overshot the target a little. No further donations will be accepted, and due to the an excess I'll be refunding the last to arrive.

I want to say a huge thank-you to everyone who pledged their support! I'm kind of overwhelmed by the speed and strength of the response, and I appreciate all the donations, large and small. It was a bit of a XX, and

The next step is reviewing the license. I'll be doing that as soon as it's in hand from WotC. You can expect no further 4E comments here, though, due to the NDA requirements. I will be communicate the results with the License donors once we've got NDAs all around.

Despite the lingering sense that I'm holding a 4th Edition Bake Sale, things are going very well.

More than a dozen people have contributed substantial support, and the total is now over $3,000. Just as important, the people who are applying have a good track record with Open Design. So, it seems achievable, and I will fund a portion of it myself, at least $500, possibly more. I have not yet seen the License, and when I do I expect I won't be able to talk about it.

Those people who have funded this effort are the only ones who will be privy to the 4E project work, and I will expect them to sign NDAs to prevent any early release of information. When I close the doors, that's it. No latecomers need apply.

So if you are interested in seeing a 4E project designed (and possibly contributing yourself, though that's optional), now's your chance.

And if you just want the 4E nightmare to stop, I'll be announcing the next 3.5 Open Design project in about a week. It's looking very good indeed.

Just wanted to let folks know that there's a web enhancement for the "Ecology of the Lich" article by Richard Pett, now available over on koboldquarterly.com.

No stat blocks, just a really twisted NPC setup for a newborn lich.

Just to update everyone on this crazy idea, several patrons have already pledged their support for Open Design acquiring a 4E D&D license. We're at $1,250 toward the goal after 24 hours.

Still no idea whether the overall total is doable, but it seems at least plausible. Given the frenzy on that thread, it's worth calling out a few things. Open Design project #5 will be a 3.5 project, and 3.5 support will continue in Kobold Quarterly.

I know I won't make everyone happy with a split strategy. But I gotta at least look at 4E. If you want to be a patron of an early 4E design or contribute to it, please support the Open Design 4E license. The top 20 contributors will have access to 4E rules early.

My great fear is that I'll look and have all my fears realized. My hope is that I'll look and say that Open Design can do good work in this new edition.

I've gotten this question a LOT over the last few months, with various gamers asking what condition my edition is in. All I've been able to say is that I don't know until I hear more from WotC.

Well, we've heard.

For $5,000, Open Design could acquire a license to design and launch a 4E project like the "Free City of Zobeck" adventure/sourcebook for Gen Con. And I could add 4E content to the first issue of KQ after August 1.

The alternative is to keep going with 3.5 until January 1, 2009, or just keep going with 3E, period.

I'm not sure whether the Open Design community really wants this license or not. The issue has been polled to death, and there does seem to be a slight preference for 3E. But like everyone else, I'd love to have the option to review the material and make a more informed decision.

So, I'm asking the Open Design community for help, with contributions to purchase a license. If the contributions don't add up to $5k by March 1st, you get a full refund of every penny.

If they do add up, any excess is refunded and Open Design buys the license. The patrons who made the 20 largest donations will be freelancers for that project, with access to rules material under a strict NDA. I hope you choose to support Open Design on this occasion.

Does this mean that Open Design is going all 4E? Well, no.

I expect to continue producing 3.5 D&D material as long as people commission it and as long as magazine readers want it. What this license does is allow the community a look at 4E. It also gives KQ the *option* to print official 4E articles, even if the magazine as a whole still offers material for 3.5 as well. My hope is for the best of both worlds.

Interesting times, folks, interesting times. I'm curious to hear what you think of it.

The Winter issue of Kobold Quarterly has gone off to subscribers, in PDF form! Huzzah!

This issue is bigger than last time, at 60 pages, and features stunning cover art by Cris Griffin. With all that extra room, there's room for more articles as well, including:

• an interview with Ed Greenwood that covers novels, sex, and gaming,
  
• "the Ecology of the Lich" by Richard Pett
  
• "Hardboiled Adventure" by Keith Baker
  
• "Star & Shadow Magic" by Wolfgang Baur
  
• "Arbeyach, the Prince of Swarms," by Ari Marmell

There's also articles on cinematic action, ancestral spirits for sorcerers, rules advice from Skip Williams, how to optimize your power attack, cartoons, a peek at the flying cities of the Arabian realms, and more.

Erik Mona calls KQ “the spiritual successor to Dragon Magazine” for good reason: we’re offering gamers the goods! Check out the latest issue, or subscribe.

Subscribers: As always, a few emails bounced; if you don't have your issue, please send me your updated email address. New subscribers, expect your copies in the inbox as soon as I can work through the backlog.