Open Design Blog

James Jacobs is one of the Secret Masters of Paizo's Pathfinder series, and in the newest KQ interview, he discusses the five secrets to a great adventure, plus talks about his history with Dungeon Magazine and plans for Pathfinder.

Check it out and let me know what you think!

There's an interview with mega-versatile designer Matt Forbeck up at KoboldQuarterly.com.

I'm hoping this is the first of a series, so please, check it out!

There's waaaaaay too much to report, so I'll stick to the highlights. However, there were a LOT Of highlights, the best of which was meeting so many people I only know by online nicknames. So, the highlights:

• Winning the Diana Jones Award was a glorious start to the con, and I pretty much floated on that high for the rest of the show. The award now rests safely in my study for the next year (or 6 months, as I'm sharing custody with Jason Morningstar).
  
• I heard some wonderful rumors that perhaps one or two other companies or individuals will attempt an Open Design. I'll be the first to sign up. I think it's an approach that creative folk in the industry could use to do work outside the "studio system" that WotC and most major publishers use, to do niche products and specialized material that might not make sense for a mass audience.
  
• The Green Ronin team was awesome, as expected. I very much enjoyed meeting patrons, KQ subscribers, and folks who had never heard of Open Design. I love being a booth monkey, honestly, and just talking to gamers.
  
• Meeting folks at the panels was great. Thanks to everyone who attended and asked questions about freelancing, about steampunk and publishing and Open Design. I rattled on in my usual style, and shared a few new ideas for the future as well.
  
• Met up with Nicolas Logue, and was happy to hear that his Hellfire Congress mega-event for Pathfinder Society organized play went off well. As I heard it, the White Wolf LARPers had an edge in the scheming/intrigue-heavy scenario. Oh, let's admit it, they owned the RPGA-style players this time out.
  
• Having Ed Greenwood and Steven Schend help carry the new issue of KQ to the booth in the dealer hall. And I was happy to find many other freelancers ready to take on some magazine work; freelancers are really making KQ better every issue (and thanks for the lift, guys!). Meeting a dozen veteran freelancers and new writers who will hopefully query the next wave of great material for the magazine makes me worry less about some of the big features I hope to see soon.
  
• I spent time with novelists and book editors. As you might expect, a very witty crowd where the beer flows like water. I tried to keep up.
  
• The patron playtests of Wrath of the River King + Tales of Zobeck deserve their own writeup, but I was (not surprisingly) very impressed by the way things went. I wish I had more energy for the Saturday game, but by that point I was running on fumes.
  
• Was super-happy to pick up a bunch of indie gamesJohn Wick's pitch for the "anti-D&D" RPG, which he calls Houses of the Blooded, was especially entertaining. Victoriana, A Dirty World, Changeling: the Lost and Tales of the Caliphate also got my attention, but at some point there's really only so much I can carry. Or afford, frankly.
  
• I bought the new Gygax and the Worlds of their Own fiction.
  
• The Fat Ogre Games forest and castle maps/3D standup architecture was amazing. Especially the forest version. They well deserve the ENnie award they won for that one.
  
• The art show was, as always, a complete joy for me. I missed seeing Diesel, but I met Pat Loboyko, the cover artist for #6, as well as Drew Baker who I know from his L5R work and several new faces AND the artist for "The Kingdom of the Ghouls" in Dungeon #70. And found a print of the Monkey King by Vinod Rams that I had to purchase. I hope some of these art connections turn into ongoing relationships for KQ and OD art and covers.

Whew.

I'm delighted to report that Open Design has tied for the Diana Jones Award for Excellence in Gaming. My co-winner is Jason Morningstar, for Grey Ranks.

I'm very, very happy about this, of course. Thank you to everyone who has supported Open Design to date. Obviously, I couldn't have done it without you.

I'll be at the big show for the next few days, and very much looking forward to meeting some of you in person. I'll also have some things to show KQ subscribers and patrons at booth 2515, so stop on by.

However, posting will be intermittent at best until next week.

Convention season is here, and with it the very first Kobold Quarterly Annual. You could say that kobolds can't count; we're doing a 5th issue for the quarterly!

The PDF issue has gone out to subscribers, and those lucky folks also get a free copy of the Kobold Death Maze adventure from Super Genius Games.

The Death Maze is a 4th Edition D&D adventure with printable maps for your table and printable minis as well. A pretty great little deathtrap by one of the better adventure publishers out there. (Yes, they are an advertiser with KQ, but really, they're doing good work).

The issue itself is pretty great as well, and includes:

• The Truth about Tieflings by their creator, David “Zeb” Cook
  
• New Blood Magic
  
• Codes of Conduct for Paladins
  
• the Ecology of the Phantom Fungus (laughed at the pitch, but I love the article!)
  
• And an interview with designer Monte Cook!

If, for some reason, your KQ subscription is not current, you can subscribe to the print+PDF or PDF-only version right here and get the issue and the adventure right off the bat.

Please support Open Design in the ENnie Awards! We've been fortunate enough to grab two nominations this year, both of them in the Electronic Book category.

To vote for them (and all the other deserving products that you love), please visit the voting booth today. The voting period ends tomorrow!