PDA

View Full Version : Gods help me...



MrNexx
2007-08-12, 02:15 AM
But I did it. I proposed a book to Wizards of the Coast.

No, I am not drunk. Crazy, perhaps, but I've had this book knocking around in my head for about a year, and I figured it was time to own up to it.

AVE CAESAR, MORITURI TE SALUTANT!

Zincorium
2007-08-12, 02:21 AM
The obvious questions being:

1. What is the general theme/gist/summary of the book?

2. Have they in any form agreed to it?

3. Do they have actual editors there? All signs point to no, but they could be there, locked up in the basement and fed on stale TPS reports...

MrNexx
2007-08-12, 02:23 AM
I just sent in the proposal, so I don't have a response, yet. The general gist of the book is a Races of book on goblins, hobgoblins, bugbears, and orcs.

Kyace
2007-08-12, 02:25 AM
Good luck.

MrNexx
2007-08-12, 02:26 AM
Thanks .

BardicDuelist
2007-08-12, 02:27 AM
Best of luck to you.

Zincorium
2007-08-12, 02:28 AM
That sounds really useful, actually, although since I don't hold to the standard presentation of those races I'm not sure how much mileage I could get out of it as a DM.

Honestly the 'races of' books are more for players, getting to know the ins and outs of the race and have PrCs, feats, etc that actually represent the race and make it somewhat unique. Or at least make it less likely that everyone is human.

KIDS
2007-08-12, 03:39 AM
Best luck to you, and I'm sure the famed SHELA agrees with you! :smallsmile:

Morty
2007-08-12, 06:38 AM
Best luck to you. I always belived that orcs and goblins don't get enough spotlight.

Yeril
2007-08-12, 06:51 AM
The complete goblin? :smallbiggrin:

Xuincherguixe
2007-08-12, 07:08 AM
Yeah, seems to me they need a book on some of those guys. A lot of the races have little to no flavor. It wasn't until Shadowrun that I thought Orcs(or Orks) had the potential to be interesting, and Warcraft until I thought fantasy Orcs could be cool.

Bugbears I frankly haven't got a clue about, save for that they are closer to Tolkein's Orcs than the current incarnation of D&D's (they used to be smaller didn't they).

Every race should be awesome, unless it's a just a joke. And even then they should still try and make it good.


And Gruumsh totally kicks Corellon's butt. In Deities and Demigods he's even better looking! Proving that just because you're androgynous does not mean you have to be attractive.

The New Bruceski
2007-08-12, 07:18 AM
Tucker's Kobolds: a how-to guide.

Ranis
2007-08-12, 07:52 AM
Races of Slime?

The Glyphstone
2007-08-12, 08:08 AM
Races of Brutality? Races of Monsterness? Minions of the Dark One?*












*hehehehe..

cody.burton
2007-08-12, 08:23 AM
Sounds good. If it doesn't break any agreement with WotC, could you tell us how you are planning to portray goblinoids? Are they going to be truly evil? Or are you going to do what Races of the Dragon did with Kobolds, and make them a good, but insular and misunderstood society?

AslanCross
2007-08-12, 08:33 AM
I think that's a great idea. I always wanted to see them as more than smelly and angry flunkies.

Tengu
2007-08-12, 08:44 AM
Would Goblins (http://www.goblinscomic.com) happen to be your source of inspiration?

Ah, Goblins, the webcomic where all humans are evil and all humanoids are simply misunderstood, so they are justified to kill those humans by dozens. It's like teaching equality by showing that homosexuals, women and afro-americans are better than the White Caucasian Heterosexual Male.
(Take the above description with a pinch of salt. I like Goblins. Though the webcomic was much better when there was more plot and humor and less boring full-page battles.)

Volug
2007-08-12, 08:47 AM
someone in my school is going to post a book. its mostly on dragons and such. dont now much about it, but i do know that the person HAS NO LIFE. he said it himself that DnD is his LIFE. hes freakin weird.

best of luck be with you any way

Ranis
2007-08-12, 11:04 AM
someone in my school is going to post a book.

Huh?

...............

Castaras
2007-08-12, 11:09 AM
...but i do know that the person HAS NO LIFE. he said it himself that DnD is his LIFE. hes freakin weird.

Real Life, you mean? That's very dangerous, isn't it?

And what's the problem with being weird? :smalltongue: :smallwink:

slexlollar89
2007-08-12, 11:30 AM
i wanted to submit a book of my campaign world, but i dont have all of it written up. but i degress, Races of the Orc will be awesome, kudos for having the gonads to submit man!!:smallbiggrin:

MrNexx
2007-08-12, 12:06 PM
The working title is Races of Savagery. Goblins, believe it or not, will not be too much of an inspiration (though I love the webcomic and y'all should immediately catch up on it). Since I don't currently have an agreement with WotC, I'm not going to say too much about the approach I plan to take, though if you look at the character "Ghoruk Ulkrunnar" on my webpage (www.editors-wastebasket.org/nexx/), you'll see some of the things I've done in the past with such an idea.

And thanks for all your support, guys.

Neon Knight
2007-08-12, 12:17 PM
This has the potential to be the single most awesome supplement, ever. Hobgoblins and orcs are my favorite races, both as enemies and as characters.

If this becomes reality, I will most likely worship MrNexx as a deity.

MrNexx
2007-08-12, 12:39 PM
This has the potential to be the single most awesome supplement, ever. Hobgoblins and orcs are my favorite races, both as enemies and as characters.

If this becomes reality, I will most likely worship MrNexx as a deity.

Hey, 9,999 more and I'm GOLDEN! ;-)

Thanks. I have high hopes for it.

Wraithy
2007-08-12, 01:48 PM
races of savagery? nice. before I read that name I was thinking of names like races of the tribe or races of the hoard (the latter sounded too WoW though), races of savagery sounds great, I've allways wanted a book on gobbos 'n' orcs.
make it 9,998 :smallbiggrin:

tarbrush
2007-08-12, 02:12 PM
Complete Git? Complete B***** was reserved for the half breed book :)

slexlollar89
2007-08-12, 02:42 PM
but seriously, simply having the nerve to send something... nice one! i am not a huge fan of orcs and gobs, but after you r book gets published you could get another follower 9997:smallsmile: !

MrNexx
2007-08-12, 03:52 PM
Complete Git? Complete B***** was reserved for the half breed book :)

No, that's reserved for the expansion on politicians. ;-)

Matthew
2007-08-12, 03:56 PM
Good luck with this proposition.

Shhalahr Windrider
2007-08-12, 04:05 PM
Hm.

If that makes it to the shelves, it might just wind up being the first Races of... book I buy.

Best of Luck.

Jack Mann
2007-08-12, 10:35 PM
Hey, good on ya, popcorn tyrant. Hope they like your proposition.

Out of curiosity, have you done professional RPG work before, or will this be your first sally into the industry?

MrNexx
2007-08-13, 12:14 AM
Hey, good on ya, popcorn tyrant. Hope they like your proposition.

Out of curiosity, have you done professional RPG work before, or will this be your first sally into the industry?

I've written a book for Palladium, which hasn't been published yet (due to their financial situation, they haven't published anything for Palladium Fantasy in a few years). I've got 5 articles for the Rifter under my belt, and another in Hermes Portal, which is a semi-official Ars Magica publication (not put out by Atlas, but the line editor for ArM has been published in it in the past).

Tor the Fallen
2007-08-13, 02:37 AM
I just sent in the proposal, so I don't have a response, yet. The general gist of the book is a Races of book on goblins, hobgoblins, bugbears, and orcs.

Those are my favorite races.
Best of luck.

MrNexx
2007-08-13, 10:11 PM
Bugger . (http://rpg-crank.livejournal.com/15490.html)

Jack Mann
2007-08-13, 10:30 PM
Sounds like they probably didn't read the letter itself, and never saw your credentials. That has all the markings of a form letter. You might try going through different channels, so that they know they're dealing with a professional.

Alternately, write up some articles for the new Dragon and Dungeon magazines, and, after they've seen some work from you personally, you can suggest your book.

This is an irritating setback, but it doesn't have to be a dead end.

BardicDuelist
2007-08-13, 10:40 PM
That really sucks, but I would recomend you try submitting some of the ideas to their magazines. Sure, it's not as good as a book, but many of your ideas that I've seen on Cranky Gamer are good and could get published. Wizards seems to care little about weather or not you've been published in third-party sources unless you have gotten acclaim, but getting into somthing they do (since they are doing Dungeon and Dragon when Piazo's license runs out) might be the way to get noticed by them.

I would have bought that book, for what it's worth.

Paragon Badger
2007-08-13, 11:00 PM
Le sigh.

It would be rather interesting to play an orc, bugbear, or other traditional baddy campaign- or hey, to have the main villians be a particular tribe of such baddies. :smallconfused:

Meh, I have a long standing grudge against the Wizards. :smalltongue:

I mean, heck, they made like 4 (some not even that good...) books devoted to the Drow. >_> How lame is that? I'll just read some R.A. Salvatore, thank you. :smalltongue:

Yet there are only a handful of books on things that you're liable to encounter in nearly every campaign you play.

Matthew
2007-08-14, 02:02 AM
Never mind. At least they replied. I would take JackMann's advice on board. Alternatively, you could try hawking your ideas to a third party D20 company.

MrNexx
2007-08-14, 02:08 AM
I'm also going to try hitting some Cons in the area. It might help if I get face time with WotC employees. Thanks, Jackmann, others, for your advice.

Meat Shield
2007-08-14, 07:22 AM
Keep at it Nexx. I would LOVE to have a Races... book for those guys. Races of the Dragon was worth it for the kobolds alone. A book with goblins, hobs, orcs, and bugbears? OH MY........

Shhalahr Windrider
2007-08-14, 09:27 AM
Sounds like they probably didn't read the letter itself, and never saw your credentials. That has all the markings of a form letter.
That's an understatement.

They didn't even use a personalized form letter. No "fill in the blanks" lines at all.

Really makes you feel appreciated, huh? :smallyuk:


This is an irritating setback, but it doesn't have to be a dead end.
Indeed. Keep on pluggin'. I look forward to seeing what comes of this.

slexlollar89
2007-08-14, 09:52 PM
man, i cant bekleive that your idea which apears to be well thought out, useful, and generally frigan awesome, was'nt accepted! im sure if you go through am agent or an actual representative, you can be able to present the idea in a manner in which WoTC would like more.

keep that orc-filled train goin, man!

adanedhel9
2007-08-15, 07:36 AM
Disappointing, but not really that surprising. I wish I could remember the context in which I saw an article explaining this type of response; if I remember I'll post a link. Basically, you can't expect a publisher to even look at an unsolicited proposal, much less consider it. There's too many legal risks if the publisher even acknowledges your idea.

It's not about your level of professionalality. It's about everyone else's.

Charity
2007-08-15, 07:55 AM
Sorry to hear they didn't even want to hear about it, you could try jumping through their hoops, or go to a 3rd party organisation, or if you fancy a gamble, you could go down the vanity publishing route, and flog it your own self... If you need to be put in touch with some publishers, my wife works in the industry, drop me a line at I'll put you in touch with some folk, I think it costs a pretty penny though...

yango
2007-08-15, 08:09 AM
Interestingly enough, IIRC there was a homebrew splatbook on the WotC boards on this exact topic. I think they even called it Races of Savagery for a while too...

MrNexx
2007-08-15, 10:13 AM
Interestingly enough, IIRC there was a homebrew splatbook on the WotC boards on this exact topic. I think they even called it Races of Savagery for a while too...

Really? I'll have to search for it, then... I pullled the name from my own self.