Fraternity of Shadows netbooks - guidelines

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Joël of the FoS
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Fraternity of Shadows netbooks - guidelines

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The Fraternity of Shadows Netbooks

What are the FoS's netbooks ?

The Fraternity of Shadows (FoS) plans to release one Quoth the Raven (QtR) netbook each Halloween.

Each QtR will have suggested theme, but it won't be restricted to the theme and will also host general articles.

On our message board, fans will be able to react to each article and criticize.

You can of course download the previous netbooks from the library !


Submission Guidelines

Read the guidelines below for information on how to contribute to the QtR netbooks.

:arrow: Where should I send my article for submission ?

Please send your article to QTR@fraternityofshadows.com for consideration. When we receive the article, we'll send you a confirmation.

Please only send COMPLETED articles (if you want advice on an article idea or draft, ask privately to a FoS member or on the board for help)

:arrow: What are you looking for ?

Anything new and cool about Ravenloft ? rules, new class, NPCs, domains, monsters, adventures, etc.

We are looking for material that can quickly be implemented in a game. Make sure to suggest adventure hooks!

Any articles made on the CotN model, i.e. a monster/NPC description followed by an adventure is well thought of.

Of course, QtR will be accepting Masque of the Red Death articles, for those interested in contributing to that campaign setting!

:arrow: Who can submit ?

Everybody ! You have a good idea ? Submit it ! You DMed a game where you introduced a cool NPC, rule, etc ? Submit it ! You are inspired to write a story by the new moon or your girlfriend's lycanthropic bad temper ? Submit it ! (we apologize to lycanthropic girlfriend with bad temper)

:arrow: What D&D edition?

We accept articles from all D&D editions (but 3 / 3.5 editions preferred because it's the last official Ravenloft version).

As long as it is Ravenloft, it’s accepted!

Those wishing to provide multiple edition stat blocks for their work (ex: 4th ed and 3.5) will be well thought of.

We accept all articles in all game mechanics (any edition, Pathfinder, Gurps, ...), because we believe the flavor text is often more important then the stats. Also, a DM should be able to use the idea and convert the stats for his own game. If you need help for conversion, you can ask on the main message board.

:arrow: Do you have standard text formats?

No, but we strongly suggest you look at the latest issues of QtR and use the same format used in the articles for stats.

We will format the article. So please keep formatting as simple as possible: try to only use bold and italic. If you feel there might be some confusion (due to a number of separate sub and sub-sub-headings or for a complicated table) feel free to add for us an eye-catching, erasable note (highlighter or different coloured font works good for this) offering explanation for when we will format the text.

Capitalization: Names are capitalized, races are not. Strahd is capitalized but vampire is not. Things like lycanthrope, doppelganger, marikith and caliban are similar to cat, dog and horse and do not need to be capitalized. Additionally, while phrases such as the Mists (when referring to the supernatural fog of the demiplane) and the Dark Powers are capitalized, darklords, demiplane and domain are not.

Do not make our eyes bleed! Check your Ravenloft names spelling twice! It's not Stradh, Sauragne, Verbrak, ...

Spells and similar abilities (fireball, sneak attack, favoured enemy) are also not capitalized (spells and ability names are in italic).

:arrow: Will you change my article ?

We will ONLY make minor grammatical, spelling, and editorial changes; any creative changes will be made by the author.

As we have many young RL fans browsing this site, we do intend to hold to WotC guidelines for what is appropriate in an article with respect to language, sexual and violent content (in a word, avoid harsh language, explicit violence and sexuality, and especially when those three are somehow mixed). We reserve the right to edit out or tone down such references.

This doesn't mean you have to completely remove mature content in your articles: veiled references are good help here, if you let the readers read between the lines.

:arrow: Do you have other guidelines on writing?

Here’s a few additional tips for submissions to the Fraternity’s various projects :

1) Teasing: Dread Possibilities and Adventure Hooks are a MUST, but these are best used as teasing hints and mysteries. Unless you are writing an adventure, whole plots should not be spelt out and there should be some wiggle room for DMs to customize these for their own campaign. A good dread possibility, adventure hook or even throw-away line is one that excites the imagination and starts the reader thinking.

2) Infanticide: When writing you must kill your babies (alternatively, darlings); inevitably there will be fun phrases, bits of trivia and lovely passages that simply slow down the reader and add nothing to the work. Sentences must be trimmed, paragraphs excised! While writing a netbook product with no page-limit and publisher screaming about size, it is tempting to let the word count blossom, this must be avoided to prevent a bloated and unreadable mass of a netbook.

3) Rules: Know them! Read the PHB, DMG and MM or flip through the SRD. Base your style (formatting, arrangement) on the Fraternity's netbooks and the various 3.5 Ravenloft and D&D products. If you do not feel you know the rules well enough then ask for help (the Fraternity board is more than a good place to test ideas and make good ideas work) or stick to fluff.

:arrow: What is the submission deadline?

The deadline to submit is September 30, for a release on the following Halloween.

:arrow: Where will it be distributed ?

QTR is available for free at the FoS site. Upon release, we will post "advertising" on major D&D boards.

:arrow: What about the rights to each submitted article ?

Each author keeps the rights to his own work. What you do with your text afterward is your decision.

The only thing we ask is to have the exclusivity when QtR is first published. That is to put exciting netbooks with 100% new stuff. After that, of course, you can do as you wish with your text.



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Thanks for your attention!

David, Joël, Leyshon, Nathan, Ron, Sharon and Stephen
For the FoS


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Last edited by Joël of the FoS on Mon Aug 20, 2007 1:47 pm, edited 10 times in total.
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