Wowio.com, the United States’ world’s foremost source for free, downloadable books is now available to all persons globally, who can provide a credit card number.  Artesia series 1-3 remain available and popular as daily download choices.  Those who haven’t downloaded Artesia should do so, and make sure to thank the sponsors.  Each download puts money into the pockets of both wowio.com and ASP.

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As many in the community know, news about Artesia is not exactly an every-day thing.  Despite our efforts to provide timely news updates as frequently as possible, there are periods of inactivity.

Although we’ve had a month absent of any updates, please be assured that we are hard at work developing content and other goodies.  Our long-term goals are to produce free, downloadable A:AKW content for distribution at this site.  We would also like to provide resources for Guides who want net-space to hold and develop their campaigns, as well as interacting with other Guides and players.   If you have suggestions about what players and Guides need, please feel free to be one of the first to post on our forums.

Check back soon!

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Hey everyone!
I can’t discuss exactly what we have in the works, but I can tell you this:
* We’ve got a number of game scenarios in the works at various stages.
* We are actively commissioning more scenarios.
* We are not currently working on any source books. That’s not to say there won’t be any in the future. I would very much like to see source books written.

So what does this seem to mean for the franchise in the near term?

The work entitled “Universities of the Middle Kingdoms” (UOTMK) by A. Dave Lewis may (or may not) be in active production. Mr. Lewis posted an impromptu rough draft of a map on April 8th in the ASP forums, fueling speculation that the project was alive and moving forward. No direct, specific news has emerged since, but Mr. Olavsrud’s statement would seem to imply that UOTMK will be scenario-length, rather than sourcebook-length. (It should be noted that Mr. Olavsrud’s comments on length may be more appropriately compared to Burning Wheel scenarios, which are much longer and complex than typical d20 linear-adventure scenarios. Mr. Olavsrud is a regular editor to the Burning Wheel system).

Cults of the Known World, The Middle Kingdoms Sourcebook, De Re Militaria, and The Book of Secrets are not going to be making any published appearances in the short term, or at least in the form that most forum posters have postulated.

Mr. Olavsrud continued:

I should make it clear that I don’t just see scenarios as one-shot stories that you play and they’re done. Each one should provide setting information, NPCs and even cult write-ups that you should be able to use again and again.
In any case, I’m keeping my eye on this thread. When we are ready to start working on source books, I’ll keep it in mind. So keep the ideas coming.

Interested in discussing this topic? Feel free to visit Archaia’s forums, or start a discussion about the future of Artesia and Artesia: Adventures in the Known World right here at Mayhem’s very own discussion place. It’s quick, easy, and non-invasive.

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Artesia comics are now available for free download at Wowio.com.

Note: while the comics are free to read, one must have a valid credit card subject to being entered into their system in order to get access to the books. There are no charges involved in the actual reading and downloading. Also, there is a cap of five (5) downloads per 24-hour period. Therefore, astute math-oriented readers will not that one cannot download the entire first through third cycles of the Book of Dooms in one sitting. Artesia Annual 1-3 are not available, nor is Artesia: Besieged 1 or 2. But come on, this rocks.

I wonder why ASP hasn’t mentioned this?

Link to Wowio.com

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Link to Known World Forums

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How does one begin a beginning?

Where does the initial burst of inspiration come from to create a story? Perhaps this question/problem is what keeps more people from attempting to create their own content for pen & paper role-playing games like Artesia: Adventures in the Known World.

During our creative process, it was my impression that simply coming up with “Point A” was more difficult than connecting “Point A” to “Point B” to “Point C”, etc. What I took from that little lesson was that working with the first idea you dream up might not be the “best” idea you write, but it might “get the ball rolling” in the right direction, faster than you might otherwise come to that “right” idea. This process also has left Ryan and I with a lot of ideas (more about that below).

At this stage of development, Ryan and I were working more or less independently, with the intention of direct collaboration once we had a few ideas that we both thought were dynamite. I began my search for a scenario topic by re-reading the sourcebook’s text about the Middle Kingdoms (per the submission guidelines’ call for MK-related scenarios). I jotted down notes about different areas/topics that were relatively unexplored by the sourcebook, while crafting characters in my head that I thought would be fun to write about at some length.

“But Mooom, what if they don’t like me?”

I have no idea what ASP wants from writers, beyond what the submission guidelines suggest. Also, I’m a self-conscious writer. I’ve done my share of pen work, but never for public consumption. Therefore, the notion that I may get a rejection letter is scary. It’s probably scary for everyone, including seasoned writing professionals. I had, and have, to keep in my head that my reasons for writing and submitting a pitch were internal: I want to improve as a writer, I want to maintain a collaborative relationship with my long-time friend Ryan, I want to improve my abilities as an A:AKW Guide. As long as these are my goals, I don’t think I can fail, regardless of whether the proposal is successful or not.

What do we do with all this junk?

Eventually Ryan and I began comparing notes. Ideas that shared mutual elements were given special attention, those that were adverse, offensive, or unwieldy were discarded or put aside. We discovered that there is a happy unintended result to our process: Ryan and I have a small library of ideas for future scenario proposals.

What makes a complementary scenario element? We tried to pick smaller ideas that co-exist in a scenario setting that could create multiple facets of a story, but wouldn’t result in two separate storylines. This was harder than it sounds; If you, as a hard working writer think you’ve struck adventure gold, only to have your partner say it will overwhelm the other plot line(s), it can be a disappointment! I think the end result of this process is that all of our plot elements lead to and compliment each other, rather than splitting off into tangents.

Next: Part #2: Putting Pen to Paper, or How to Annoy One’s Self.

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The reality of taking on this type of project or virtually any other polished writing is that it takes significant amounts of time, effort, and the ability to accept criticism.

These are some questions that I wish I had asked myself before Ryan and I began work on our scenario-for-submission, and that other people may benefit from asking themselves:

1) Do I have the time to write this scenario pitch?

It’s taken Ryan and I between two and three months to finish our pitch. The finished work obviously falls within the submission guidelines (i.e. 1500 words, or less), which means we produced roughly 500 words of polished material per month, and we spent at least a little time on the pitch five nights a week. Divide that production number by two, as there were two writers.

250 edited, polished words per person, per month of development. Is this crazy slow? I don’t know. The end may justify the means, it may not – at this point we don’t know. Regardless of outcome, we couldn’t have moved quicker and felt comfortable with the writing/editing cycle.

2) Who’s on my “team?”

Ryan and I worked together as creative equals, with neither party having a veto over the other in any aspect of the scenario’s development. I feel this created a significantly stronger end-product, but added to construction time. We’ll see how it fares, but that’s how we operated.

It could be argued that one author would be quicker, as one writer means one creative voice, with no discussions taking place over what elements should be included or disregarded. But, it could also mean a lot more time in the editing phase, or simply a lower-quality product due to “writer’s blinders,” where the sole writer cannot fathom that his/her ideas are anything but wonderful. Having more than two writers or editors? I don’t know what would happen, but at three or four people, you’re beginning to have “a lot of cooks in the kitchen.”

3) Do I/we have an editur editor to review my/our work?

No one writes perfectly on the first draft. Most people don’t produce pure gold on the second, third, or even fourth draft. If you are uncomfortable with others editing your work, recall that ultimately your piece will stand or fail based on how it reads thematically, grammatically, stylistically. (I’m going to have to look some of those words up.)

4) Do I know the story background?

This one seems like a no-brainer… most people who write scenarios for submission are going to be intimately versed in the world. I would consider myself to be very close to this description, yet I repeatedly had to refer to all of the source material that I had on hand. Ryan and I tried to verify every factual statement made in the scenario proposal, to make sure it complied with the “canon” of the A:AKW sourcebook. It cannot be stressed enough: no proposal that makes serious errors about fundamental principles behind the game’s background or mechanics are likely to succeed. Do I know this to be true? No, I am not privy to the inner workings of ASP’s gaming department. That being said, a failure to demonstrate “doing your homework” will probably result in FAIL.

5) Am I prepared to fail?

We are, but it will still sting. We’re human, and no human likes to strive for a goal and be denied accomplishing that goal. The ultimate desired outcome of crafting a scenario proposal shouldn’t be money or fame (as this project will not likely result in either, no matter what level of success you obtain), but about producing a piece of work that adds your voice to a wonderful game and story. If you think you’ll be turned off from Artesia, A:AKW, or ASP if you’re turned down… don’t do it! Why artificially separate yourself from such a bad-ass piece of work? It’s not worth it.

NEXT: Part #1: Sewing the field, planting the seeds.

One administrative note: If you wish to comment on this post, or any other entry on this site, please do so via this site! I won’t respond to comments about middlekingdoms.net, or any of its content, except here on the site itself, with exceptions made for e-mail under “unusual” circumstances. We have a forums section that we’d love to grow into a community, so don’t be a stranger.

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“We’re still working on the submission guidelines; they will be posted to the Known World site (and probably also to the forums) as soon as they’re ready (emphasis added -ed.)… A scenario set in the University of Therapoli is planned for August release (and GenCon) as the first of several scenarios connecting some of the Universities of the Middle Kingdoms.”

August 2008 is 7 months, 1 day away. GenCon Indy is 7 months, 15 days away.

Links:

GenCon

ASP Submission Guidelines

The Known World Submission Guidelines

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Link to Cosmic Therapy Contact Page

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