Friday, September 23, 2011

Something Wicked this way comes... (maybe)

October is coming and of course that means Halloween!  This season always puts me in the mood for spooky good stuff! That spooky feel has had a lot of influence on Role Playing games that I have played, probably most notably AD&D Ravenloft, Call of Cthulhu, and Chill.

I want to make a spooky adventure for Halloween,  and I thought maybe I am not the only one. That got me to thinking (always dangerous)...

I don't know if you remember (or still use) advent calendars at Christmas?  In essence every day you locate the date on the calendar and then pop open the small door. Then there is some gift or treat or little picture for each day leading to Christmas day.

I was thinking maybe it would be fun to do a kind of spooky "advent calendar" book of adventures for use with Old School role playing games.  Kind of an "Ocktoberfeast" of spooky gaming goodness.: 31 one night adventures for the 31 nights of October!

Each adventure would need to be short (done in one night of play) and would be a stand alone so people could place them anywhere they like in their own sandbox.  (Of course, we could make a gothic adventure sandbox to house them all, sort of a dread plane...but let's keep the idea simple for now.) Ideally we would have a total of 31 entries (one for each night), and I'd combine them all into a book that could be purchased at cost on lulu or downloaded as a free pdf. 

Are you interested? Okay here is what I see as the parameters:

You get a date in October to make an adventure for (maybe that will inspire?)
each adventure is 2 pages:
-1 page would be the map
-1 page would handle all back story/ adventure set up and the location/ room contents.

What do I need to make it happen?
1) 30 people to commit to making a one evening adventure in a spooky or gothic horror style (you'd have about 2 weeks to complete it) (for free)
2) Some one willing to do a front cover image or scene (for free) (B&W)
3) Someone to do a back cover image or scene (for free)
3) Someone willing to make a "map page" spooky border (for free) (B&W)
4) Someone willing to make an "adventure page" spooky border (for free) (B&W)

Ideally everything would be submitted to me by the middle of October so we could have it out (at least the PDF for download) before Halloween, and the book for purchase (@cost) as soon as possible.  Everyone gets full credit for their work and retains their own rights, its a labor of love.

So is this of interest to any one else and do I have 30 willing volunteers or any artists willing? The deadline would be this Sunday (9/25) to go or no go on this idea...and please do not commit to it if you really can't be 100% sure of delivering on a short schedule.

Spread the word and let's see if we can make an OSR Oktoberfeast !

Commitment count 15 out of 31 needed! I am calling it one way or the other at 7pm PST 9/25.  We fell short this year, but we should have another go next year!

31 comments:

Unknown said...

I'm totally into this! :D

Theodric the Obscure said...

Brilliant! I'm going to try to think of a way to try to stir up some support for this idea.

Fenway5 said...

Awesome guys, I think this could be a blast if we get enough folks interested and committed quickly!

Dennis Laffey said...

Count me in.

Fenway5 said...

@LG-GREAT! 4 down...27 to go! :)

JB said...

Sounds awesome. Is there a particular system you have in mind?

Fenway5 said...

@JB Thanks, hopefully we get enough folks interested! I think S&W or Labyrinth Lord would be the OSR systems I'd prefer-but I'm open to suggestions or recommendations

Dennis Laffey said...

I was thinking to make mine "D&D system neutral" but if you want to focus on one system or clone, that's cool too.

Fenway5 said...

System neutral works just fine! We are about 28 hours out from a go/no go decision-so if you can inform folks on your blogs about the potential project, let's see if we get more people interested in participating.

Porky said...

I'm in too. All I need is a date and the info on system. I'd go further even than Lord Gwydion and suggest completely neutral, maybe with suggestions of stats or equivalents - e.g. "slightly larger than a wolf" - but I'll go with the final decision.

I didn't know you had this blog - how do you keep so many plates up in the air?

John said...

I have about... 16 or so short horror themed adventures up already as part of Asshat Paladin's OSR challenge - with a few more on the way to finish out the challenge. I'm sure a few could be repurposed as 1-Page Adventures. count me in for at least one entry.

Fenway5 said...

@Beedo-that is terrific! Thanks for joining in!

@Porky-Terrific, glad to have you join in. Not sure but each blog lets me vent some creativity down different rabbit holes

Theodric the Obscure said...

The garage sale ate up more of my day than I had hoped it would, so my supporting post was later than I had hoped:
http://mythopoeicrambling.blogspot.com/2011/09/cool-idea-with-short-deadline.html

Fenway5 said...

@ Theodric, No worries at all and I appreciate you and Lord Gwydion getting the word out on your own blogs! I'd love to see this happen!

Boric Glanduum said...

I would be interested in participating; I don't know a whole lot about OSR systems, having devoted the last several years to 3rd edition. I'm up for it if it's edition neutral, though. THAT I think I could do.

Jonathan said...

I really want to make some art for this... I wish I could commit! I have to move to a new home, and I hate the idea of not only "flaking" but having the opportunity and not taking it!

Simon Forster said...

I'd be happy to join in too.

thekelvingreen said...

There are better OSR artists out there than me, but if none of them pipe up, I'd be happy to help with artwork.

I also have a one-page fantasy horror scenario here. It's already been published as part of this year's One Page Dungeon contest, but you're welcome to use it if you like. If so, I'd be happy to tweak it to the new format.

Fenway5 said...

@Boric-Great thanks for giving it a shot!
@Jonathan-awesome man, I appreciate your having a go!
@Simon Brilliant! Thank you sir!
@KG-FANTASTIC! Thank you so much for the DOUBLE contribution to the group project!

David The Archmage said...

Count me in!

Anthony Simeone said...

I am in. Just let me know if this is a go for sure. Oh, and we just have to do the set up text and map, not the rest of the art, right?

Fenway5 said...

@David-AWESOME thanks for joining in!
@Drance-No art required just a map and and text. It will be limited in art production due to tight timelines!

If we reach 31 participants I will set up a new post with directions and file, nomenclature rules!

netherwerks said...

We're interested, but would like to know more about the details, especially nomenclature, rules-system/system-neutral-ness, etc. Also we might have a border or two different border-pieces for you shortly...

Fenway5 said...

@NetherWerks- That is fantastic thank you! I'd like it as neutral/OSR friendly as possible, but you could safely err towards S&W or LL in terms of stats/presentation/rules. Think of the way Fight On! presents its adventure stats for a model.

p said...

Do you still need a writer?

Fenway5 said...

@Kevin-Absoultely, we need 16 more after you sir!

p said...

I'm in! Any idea on the ruleset?

Fenway5 said...

@ Kevin, thanks to you and all who offered their time and talent to this idea, its just not to be this year.

p said...

That's a shame.

rebelwarrior said...

Is this on or off? I'm interested! I can write and I know some 3D graphics so I can whip something up for the cover if in a pinch (or compete for it lol).

Fenway5 said...

@david-its off, for this year but thanks for the offer-defintiely spin it up again next year!