Open Design

Ping

Sun, 28 Apr 2013 17:00:55 GMT

I wonder if this still works.

Previews for Dark Deeds

Sat, 27 Nov 2010 04:46:53 GMT

Green Ronin has posted a (patron-generated) preview. Without spoiling anything, it does a really good job capturing the mood and some of the themes of the adventure.

And why do one preview when you can do TWO? Take a look at what Steven Robert - author of fan-favorite Pathfinder Society scenarios Tide of Morning and Citadel of Flame - did with Freeport traits!

And Adam Daigle, one of the authors of the Freeport Companion: Pathfinder RPG Edition - and a patron of this project - has offered a signed author's copy of the Companion to one lucky new patron. Sign up now to win!

Freeport Mysteries

Fri, 05 Nov 2010 21:33:05 GMT

With the migration of projects to the Kobold Forums, I find that I have neglected to share some good news here. Open Design is doing an official Freeport adventure, under license from Green Ronin.

The lead designer is Michael Furlanetto (one of the brightest stars of many projects to date), and Chris Pramas and I will both be chiming in as well. The brainstorming has begun, the project is 40% of the way to commission, and frankly it's looking like the best demon adventure I've seen since.... Well, since the Planescape days. Seriously.

Please support Dark Deeds in Freeport, because we've been handed the keys to a very cool city indeed!

Last Call: Frozen Empires

Mon, 23 Aug 2010 18:39:35 GMT

Hard to believe it, but the Northlands project of tropes for fantasy is almost fully funded!

Valkyries and primeval giants, linnorms and creatures of the boreal woods, and everything from Conan to the norse sagas is fair game for this one. The Frozen Empires Pathfinder RPG project includes:

New magic, including grudge magic and runes
New feats and alternate class abilities for rangers, druids, barbarians, and oracles
New equipment, arctic chase cards, and easy wilderness survival rules
Original, bigger-than-life monsters, plus wild creatures from myth and legend
Evocative settings easy to drop into any northerly area of Golarion, Zobeck, Oerth, or the Realms -- or your world
Much much more, from magic mead to the spears of the Valkyries!

Join us as a patron today, before the price goes up!

New 4th Edition Project

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 23:24:04 GMT

Since Courts of the Shadow Fey is in final layout, it's time to announce the NEXT 4th Edition project: Logan Bonner of Wizards of the Coast fame will be leading an adventure anthology called The Lost City.

Annoucement and Full details on KQ.com

Sign up as a patron here

Glories of the Mythic North

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 16:20:58 GMT

The light elves and reaver dwarves of Midgard await you, so take ax in hand and join us in the next Pathfinder RPG Open Design project: Frozen Empires, Glories of the North by Dan Voyce and the patrons of Open Design.

If you would like to design new spells, feats, items, and societies inspired by the legends of Thule, Trollheim, Hyperborea — or invent new ones — then this is your chance.

Full details and signup now available.

PaizoCon Schedule

Mon, 14 Jun 2010 21:31:38 GMT

The kobold crew will be attending in full force at the show. Here's our seminar schedule, and of course we'll have a booth as well. If there's interest, might even do a bit of blogging or twittering from the booth as well.

Seminar Schedule

Breaking Into Game Design
Evergreen Room, Saturday 05:00 PM – 06:00 PM
Speakers: Wolfgang Baur, Brandon Hodge, et al.

Learn about the roads into the games field for aspiring game designers: organized play, blogs, small press, magazines, and patronage projects are all doors into the field, each with advantages and disadvantages for a designer at the start of their career…
Veteran Baur and newcomer Hodge talk about the plusses and minuses, as well as the practical requirements to present your work to best advantage. Learn the basics, or sharpen your edge enough to take it up a level.

What’s Coming from Kobold Quarterly and Open Design
Evergreen Room, Sunday 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM
Speakers: Wolfgang Baur, Brandon Hodge, and Scott Gable

With Sunken Empires, Imperial Gazetteer, and Tales of the Old Margreve, Open Design has embraced the Pathfinder Roleplaying game and offered high-quality sourcebooks and adventures. You can help shape the next one of these as a designer and patron, or offer up the next “Spell-Less Ranger” or “Arquebusier” base class for Kobold Quarterly.

Come find out what Open Design is launching at the convention and how you can publish your work with the leading third-party publisher for Pathfinder RPG.

How to Launch a Publishing Empire
Evergreen Room, Sunday 12:00 PM – 01:00 PM
Speakers: Wolfgang Baur, Scott Gable, et al

With PDF, print-on-demand, and the rise of collaboration across the net through crowdsourcing and global production, it’s possible to launch a small publishing effort without losing a fortune in start-up costs. It’s also possible to reach a global audience, and find an audience more readily than ever before.

Learn how Open Design and Zombie Sky Press were launched (and benefit from their hard-won experience!), and figure out whether you should work with an existing publisher or go it alone. Lots of the Q&A, and the answers may surprise you.

Looking forward to seeing some of you there!

Imperial Gazetteer for Pathfinder Now in Print!

Mon, 03 May 2010 17:43:12 GMT

I'm very happy to announce that the popular Imperial Gazetteer for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game is now available in PRINT! The quality of both text and art really comes across here, and the reviews have been overwhelmingly positive.

Open Design is proud to offer this edition of the Imperial Gazetteer. Let me know what you think of it!

Imperial Gazetteer for Pathfinder

Wed, 14 Apr 2010 17:39:02 GMT

After much revision and work by myself, declench, terraleon, and fray, the Pathfinder RPG has a new source of terror and mayhem: the Imperial Gazetteer of the undead lands of Zobeck.

Please spread the word and let us know what you think of it, good or bad. I hope that this is the first of many Pathfinder RPG gazetteers!

The Shoggoths Do Gyre and Gymble in the Wabe

Mon, 05 Apr 2010 22:59:19 GMT

Spring is the time when a kobold's fancy turns to thoughts of love... and PC-devouring Shoggoths. Issue #13 of Kobold Quarterly is out now, and it's a heart-shaped box of RPG goodies that includes a mix of delicious fluff and satisfying crunch.

In this issue, you'll find Sex and Romance in RPGs, the astonishing Ecology of the Shoggoth, a new Pathfinder Roleplaying Game base class (the Arquebusier of Alkenstar), 4th Edition cultist classes and gambler's magic, and more: a complete Pathfinder Roleplaying Game mini-adventure, and new Freeport background for the Dragon Age RPG by Chris Pramas.

All of this plus great features from Wolfgang Baur, Monte Cook, and other regular contributors. You can pick up issue #13 here and celebrate the return of spring to the mines.

13 Issues. I know, I'm as shocked as you are, but hey, three years of Kobold Quarterly and no signs of stopping. If anything, we're picking up speed.

Open Design Juggling

Wed, 17 Mar 2010 18:49:31 GMT

The Pathfinder RPG adventures and sourcebooks are clicking along nicely. At the moment, there are four Pathfinder projects under way at Open Design, not counting the upcoming issue of Kobold Quarterly:

1. From Shore to Sea/Sunken Empires combo: Complete and in edits!
2. Tales of the Old Margreve: In the early stages, patrons are pitching adventures.
3. Imperial Gazetteer: In layout, the best underdark expansion since... Well, since Empire of the Ghouls, though I may be biased. By yours truly, with Scott Gable and Ben McFarland.
4. Secret PDF Series: In the labs, will launch soon.

But I'm curious, of course. Which of these are people happiest about? What other Open Design projects might be announced at PaizoCon? Please do comment if you have a suggestion or something to add to the wish list, of visit the conversation on the KQ Forums.

Yes, It's Official

Mon, 01 Mar 2010 23:03:49 GMT

Tales of the Old Margreve is fully commissioned and moving into design!

As a bonus, Richard Pett may be pitching an adventure for the project as well.

Tales of the Margreve

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 21:14:02 GMT

It's turning into possibly the fastest-commissioned project Open Design has ever done: Tales of the Margreve is now more than 85% of the way to its commission, and will certainly start reviewing adventure pitches in early March. It's an anthology of 8 adventures, a bestiary, and a new school of magic: 124 pages of adventure plus discussion with the designers.

If you want to participate in this Pathfinder RPG design project with industry stalwarts Tim and Eileen Connors, now's the time. Sign up today, and add to the discussion on the Kobold Quarterly Forum.

Oh, and we'll have some surprises to announce as well once the project meets the commission. Don't be kicking yourself later…

Pathfinder and Open Design: A Forest Anthology

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 20:39:56 GMT

As Brandon Hodge puts the final sections together for Sunken Empires, a new Pathfinder project is rising in the east. And it's by one of Paizo's strongest design teams, Tim and Eileen Connors. I've been admiring their work for some years (Meenlock Prison, Siege of the Spider Eaters), and I'm not the only one. After contributing to several Open Design projects, now they are leading one start to finish. I can't wait.

The project is Tales of the Old Margreve, a collection of forest tales for levels 1 to 10, suitable for any campaign. To join as a patron, please sign up today and let Tim know what you'd like to see for his new school of magic, new monsters, and creatures that lurk just outside the firelight's glow.

Man, I am so looking forward to this. Bring on the Baba Yaga!

Young Game Geeks Do Tech

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 03:31:56 GMT

I got to play D&D at an even greater level of geekiness than usual today, with a demo of 4th Edition gaming on a Microsoft Surface. This is the tabletop/game fusion that a group of great Carnegie-Mellon University students put together last year to great acclaim.

Well, they've updated their little demo into something more robust, and it's turned from "promising but full of holes" to "OMG this might actually work". Unfortunately, they don't seem to have funding for a full rollout and most of the gang is graduating this spring.... So the project's future rests on the two team members who are NOT graduating.

It seems like a choice piece of tech that I fear will never go into production, alas. But there's some details over at KQ.com. Very sweet game tech.

Kobold 4E and Pathfinder

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:00:38 GMT

Lots of great spells and monsters for Pathfinder and for 4th Edition D&D on the Kobold side of things lately, all of them immediately useful for most games. Lots of comments on the posts makes me think that other folks are enjoying them as well.

Anyway, I try to mention them here whenever possible, so without further ado:

Selket, the Scorpion Goddess for anyone needing a desert nasty
Vile derro rituals for 4E
A conversion of the boon traps article from the magazine to Pathfinder RPG rules
today's post is one by a very young author tackling an ancient monster

Anyway, thought I'd mention them. Rather good stuff piling up there, and there's a big announcement coming down the pike later in the week as well!

Free Kobold Quarterly

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 21:31:38 GMT

It's true, you can download a FREE issue of Kobold Quarterly magazine. Go to the KQ Store, add issue #10 to your cart, and enter the coupon code KQ10Free at checkout to snatch a PDF copy from our shelves.

In its pages you’ll find:

Jason Bulmahn on the Pathfinder RPG
Ed Greenwood’s Dwarven Goddess
Ecology of the Hill Giant
Wicked Fantasy: the Haffun
Secrets of the Halberd
Monte Cook’s Game Theories
Rampant Elf Lust
And so much more!

The vault will be sealed again on January 31, so act now!

Crown the King!

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 17:53:26 GMT

Yes, we've shared the 10 monstrous finalists from Pathfinder, 4th Edition D&D, and 3.5/OGL systems over the last couple weeks.

Now it's time to crown a winner! One of those finalists will appear in the spring issue of KQ. The other nine get sent back to the minor leagues to try again next time.

Please do vote for your favorite monster today.

Two More Monsters Aspire to the Throne

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 00:02:05 GMT

Two more entries in the King of the Monsters contest: the Wendigo for 4E and the Zaglossus for Pathfinder.

Both definitely creepy and full of potential for adventure. Voting kicks off tomorrow, I believe.

King of the Monsters: Treacle and Spark

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 17:22:36 GMT

Ya ask me, Treacle and Spark sounds like a TV detective series: "He's electric and possessive; she's adorably lethal. Together, they FIGHT CRIME!"

But in fact, they are two of the King of the Monsters contest finalists by Adam Daigle and Crystal Frasier, and they are rather damn good. Treacle and Spark, 8 PM, 9 Central.

King of the Monsters: Polydoros Kin

Tue, 05 Jan 2010 01:17:14 GMT

An honest-to-goodness 3.5/OGL monster is the next contestant up at the King of the Monsters contest: Polydoros Kin.

King of the Monsters: Hive Ghoul

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 18:29:52 GMT

I was stung by a bee many years ago, and still remember the burn. Now I imagine stirring up a hornet's nest, and I shudder.

A creative melding of undead and insect swarm in the Hive Ghoul for 4th Edition D&D. Worth a look for evil DMs in any edition.

EDIT: And 4th Edition designer Rob Heinsoo has given the Hive Ghoul his seal of approval in comments...!

King of the Monsters: Grievous Wailer

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 20:21:18 GMT

The fourth of the Top 10 entries is now up at KQ.com! This one is the Grievous Wailer, a fine pulp concoction for the Pathfinder RPG.

King of the Monsters: Grave Linnorm for Pathfinder

Mon, 28 Dec 2009 19:02:03 GMT

The top 10 continues with the first of the Pathfinder entries to make the cut, the Grave Linnorm by KQ regular Phillip Larwood. At CR 23, it is a fine example of Epic design.

A Very Mythos Christmas

Fri, 25 Dec 2009 19:55:32 GMT

A lense of sanity has been applied to the Spirit of Yule, and the results are disturbingly merry. Take a look at A Very Lovecraftian Holiday by Scott C. Bourgeois, and merry Xmas from all of us at Open Design.