Tuesday 2 March 2010

Getting Started on...Getting Started

It's been quite a busy week, I'm afraid, but a very good one. OD&DITIES seems to be flying off the electronic shelves, and I've been busy breathing a deep sigh of relief, while I continue work on OD&DITIES 14. I'm hoping to put it to bed by the end of the week; I'm giving all the articles another once-over right now. This time the layout is coming together a lot more smoothly, thank goodness.

WIth OD&DITIES brewing nicely, I'm getting ready to start work on my next project. One of the things I think is great about the OSR is that it gives an opportunity for the same games that were the introduction to role-playing for a lot of people to be in print and available once again. This hobby continually needs fresh blood, and fewer and fewer games seem really tailored towards the new player.

As part of that, I wrote a column in the first run of OD&DITIES, 'Getting Started', which I have in the past attempted to put in book form. Last time, it was a 40 page A4 PDF, which I first wrote for OD&D, then converted to 3.5E, then back to OD&D, until frankly it was something of a mess. Now it is long-lost to cyber-oblivion.

So I'm going to have another go at it. I'm thinking an 80 page A4 pdf, or a 128-148 page A5 paperback, which will try and cover all the basics of 'how to run a Labyrinth Lord campaign'. Where to get the books, run-downs on the available supplements and adventures, how to put a group together, writing campaign settings, dungeons, adventures, NPCs, the works. A full and complete write-up. I haven't actually written a single word of the MS yet, but I have a lot of notes and it's a book I've spent almost a decade on, in one form or another; I'm hoping for a release in August-September.

Coming this week on the blog: A review of Barrataria's Companion, and some 'writer's notes' from Issue 13 of OD&DITIES.

2 comments:

  1. It's not lost to oblivion. I have a copy of the OD&D version as a PDF. You want I should email it to you? Email me at mwschmeerATgmailDOTcom.

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  2. I've enjoyed the original column as I've discovered and gotten caught up on the original 12 issue run, and was quite interested when I read that you had intended to compile those into one volume. I was disappointed to discover no such work still available. So it is great news indeed, to hear you are picking it up once again. I am a bit shocked that it has grown to such proportions, though. It will be interesting to see what you finally put out. Good luck with it!

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