Café de Nuit

Coan wrote: Just as general advice for people, please don't pick too many domains to do yourself.

Yeah, under normal circumstances I personally would not claim more than one domain, but Staunton Bluffs and Scaena are supposed to form a cluster in my version, so I'd like to link them.

See you!

Coan wrote:

alhoon wrote:I guess the netzine will receive tons of articles this time.

I'm thinking it will putter out before then.

Just as general advice for people, please don't pick too many domains to do yourself. If you want to write a domain in gazetteer style you're going to need to write a fair amount and keep consistancy with what you have written and previous entries.

Another piece of advice would be not to tie the domains to closely to the events of your home campaign. That was the biggest downfall of Champions of Darkness, Tad McDivvitt wanted to make his campaign the canon story for the setting. Keep your domains neutral, use the descriptions in previous products involving the domain to guide you, and follow the format laid down in the published Gazetteers. Ours might not be canon, but we can follow in the Kargatane's footsteps by at least making our writings a high standard.

Also, I think a group of editors should be set up. Not just members of the Frat, because they have alot to do anyway, but members of the community as a whole. I also think that these editors should be chosen by a blind vote submitted to the Fraternity.

Hmmm...

Did anyone say "Rokushima Taiyoo"?

Well, I'll say it.

If I might make a suggestion, it wouldn't be a bad idea to assign someone -- preferably one of the REAL Gaz writers -- to act as a continuity editor for S's personal experiences and character. While each individual writer should have the freedom to expand upon his or her chosen domain (within reason), I think it'd be better for the storyline if a single overseer had final say -- veto included -- on what S *herself* goes through. That way, her personality will be consistent and her adventures will build upon one another towards a climax, within the larger format of the Gazetteers, rather than each new author's pushing her in a different direction and interpreting her in a different light.

Basically, each individual author would write the "chunky stuff" for his or her domain (including pithy, non-metaplot commentary by S and Az), but would consult with the continuity editor before incorporating anything that relates to S's underlying mission, her mysterious past, and/or her overall development as a character. That way, we could continue to pursue the background questions everybody's got about S and her quest, as guided by the editor, rather than having to swear off the metaplot altogether lest one writer contradict another.

Drinnik Shoehorn wrote: Another piece of advice would be not to tie the domains to closely to the events of your home campaign. That was the biggest downfall of Champions of Darkness, Tad McDivvitt wanted to make his campaign the canon story for the setting. Keep your domains neutral, use the descriptions in previous products involving the domain to guide you, and follow the format laid down in the published Gazetteers.

Agreed, as far as the setting's overall circumstances. But if I take the time to write a 20+ page article, I want to put my own mark on it, not only rewrite info that has already been given. If the Kargatane took their liberties in the details, noone says we cannot.

Besides, since this seems to get more serious, what if we put this over at the project boards to announce it properly and begin to coordinate it professionally while I am still around here?

I would say one thing before this gets totally out of hand.

If the Fraternity decide to do this, I strongly urge them to decide which domains each one is going to cover, and then hold a submission call for them. I appreciate that certain people want to do certain domains, but at this rate every single domain is going to be picked before anyone gets a chance. There are lots of lurkers out there who are great writers who don't frequent the boards as much, and they deserve just as much a chance to write for the proposed books as anyone else here.

But just on the off-chance that this is the way things are being chosen, I throw my name in for G'Henna.

Mortavius wrote:I would say one thing before this gets totally out of hand.

If the Fraternity decide to do this, I strongly urge them to decide which domains each one is going to cover, and then hold a submission call for them. I appreciate that certain people want to do certain domains, but at this rate every single domain is going to be picked before anyone gets a chance. There are lots of lurkers out there who are great writers who don't frequent the boards as much, and they deserve just as much a chance to write for the proposed books as anyone else here.

But just on the off-chance that this is the way things are being chosen, I throw my name in for G'Henna.

I agree.

But I'll knife fight anyone who tries to take Ghastria away from me

Mortavius wrote:I would say one thing before this gets totally out of hand.

If the Fraternity decide to do this, I strongly urge them to decide which domains each one is going to cover, and then hold a submission call for them. I appreciate that certain people want to do certain domains, but at this rate every single domain is going to be picked before anyone gets a chance. There are lots of lurkers out there who are great writers who don't frequent the boards as much, and they deserve just as much a chance to write for the proposed books as anyone else here.

But just on the off-chance that this is the way things are being chosen, I throw my name in for G'Henna.

Hey, first come first serve.

Drinnik Shoehorn wrote:

Mortavius wrote:I would say one thing before this gets totally out of hand.

If the Fraternity decide to do this, I strongly urge them to decide which domains each one is going to cover, and then hold a submission call for them. I appreciate that certain people want to do certain domains, but at this rate every single domain is going to be picked before anyone gets a chance. There are lots of lurkers out there who are great writers who don't frequent the boards as much, and they deserve just as much a chance to write for the proposed books as anyone else here.

But just on the off-chance that this is the way things are being chosen, I throw my name in for G'Henna.

I agree.

But I'll knife fight anyone who tries to take Ghastria away from me

Better stay away from from Castle Stonecrest and that Opera House, wanderer, or a day locked with Dru in her coffin will seem like a holiday to you compared to what will happen when I find out where you live...

Seriously, there are 80++ domains out there, and since the core is already covered, I think everyone will find some interesting place to describe. And it's not as if one could not team up and write some article together.

I look forward to someone trying to make I'Cath interesting.

One other suggestion I'd like to make is that a few domains -- mostly the Nightmare Lands are what I'm thinking of, here; Bluetspur and Kalidnay might qualify also -- perhaps ought to be addressed by teams, not just single writers. While lots of domains are purely core-rules concoctions, a domain that incorporates substantial additions to the D&D game system (be they published psionics supplements or new Ravenloft-specific "dream rules") is an awfully big job to ask of any single writer. At the very least, a 3.5 revision of the Nightmare Lands is going to require playtesting to ensure its "dream rules" work properly. Assigning such a project to a team would allow for such testing, and would help minimize the balance issues that rule-expansions tend to suffer, if a solo writer's (tunnel) vision isn't counterbalanced by others' criticism.

Remember Gazetteers largely don't contain rules.

I think domains like Bluetspur and the Nightmare Lands would be handled in a similar fashion to Van Richten's Guide to the Shadow Fey and the Gaz V.

I strongly disagree with the domain-reservation policy. In my opinion, the first thing that must be done is to apoint an official project supervisor or editing cometee. The head of the project would then announce which domains will be covered next, and appoint the author or authors when the need arises. If you really want to do a write-up of a particular domain, just wait until the head of the project deems the domain "up for grabs", and contact it with your ideas.

I also strongly agree with the suggestions advanced by Drinnik, Rotipher and Mortavius.

I'll do a write-up and map update for MY version of Staunton Bluffs anyway, be it *officially* backed by an editor of a larger project or not.