There's a poll up today in the Open Design forums about whether the limited edition format is working for people. Some gamers seem to think that limited editions are somehow wrong or unfair or something (ask them, not me, I love secret collectible stuff with a passion).

Anyway, if you'd like Open Design to keep materials in print, or keep the private/exclusive/limited to the chosen few, please weigh in on the topic in this thread.

I'm preparing the commission for the next projects, and I wanted to ask current and former patrons about how much feedback you prefer at the commission stage.

The first Open Design was a head-to-head slugfest of something like 6 proposals, knockout style, until one pitch was the winner and went into the design phase. That was interesting (the vote never goes quite as I suspect), but part of me wanted to get away from the voting.

So the following projects had fewer and fewer proposals to choose from, until in the case of Blood of the Gorgon, there was no voting between projects at all.

However, many patrons have said "I like watching the process, and the proposals all sound good." Plus, I know some patrons feel they want something very particular, and obviously there's disappointment when a certain project isn't commissioned. Heck, I've felt that myself, when the project I was rooting for didn't wind up on top. Fortunately, though, the chosen project has always been interesting from a design perspective. Probably because there haven't been a lot of dud pitches.

As you may suspect from all this, I'm debating whether the Open Design announcement tomorrow will be for one project, or for a choice of two or three. Do you LIKE having the options, or do you find them annoying?

I await the will of the patrons and the public.Poll #1180339 Freedom of Choice
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

I prefer an Open Design commission to be....

So people keep asking me about the NEXT project while I'm still working on this one. In a vain effort to figure out what the next one might be like, here's a preliminary poll. I know there are no titles or details on the options, but it might help me figure out how many people are really interested, and what they are interested in.

If you have considered signing up, but just don't care for the first project, I'd be especially interested in your comments.

Poll #812045 The next Open Design project
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: None

Which project type(s) interest you most?

How likely are you to be a patron of the next project?

As a patron, would you return for the second round?

The most appealing part of Open Design is...

I have a scrawled, jumbled list of topics that *I'd* certainly like to pursue, but I'll save those for a few months, just because I don't want to see a Mongoose competing publisher's project with a similar title appear in, oh, January.

Ok, back to my Secret Designer Lair, to hammer out some more of "Steam & Brass". Thanks for voting!

There's a longish interview about this project and some related topics at The Prussian Gamer blog. Go take a look.

Also, I'm debating starting the design stage early, probably with a first post around June 1. I'd work up expanded outlines, maps, or major NPC creation for the top vote getter; final text would still wait until the greenlight stage. As of today, the top candidate is Steam & Brass, the city adventure featuring a clockwork mage, a frustrated devil, and the Mouse King.

The upside: Hey, at least small batches of the project are written sooner than I promised. Things might go from "greenlight" to "final text" faster as a result.

The downside: If the project doesn't reach greenlight, I'll be taking that locked content to paper publishers. And it probably means I don't write the remaining design essays.

What do you think? If you aren't currently a project patron, I'd love to hear from you in the Comments section.

Poll #734018 Running the Red Light June 1 (Current Patrons Only)
Open to: Friends, detailed results viewable to: All

Should design start before the project is funded?

If the design starts in June, what would you like to see?