Anybody wanting to collaborate in my future DM Guild publications?

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Hi there. I was just wondering, if somebody out there wants to lend me a hand in some future DM Guild publications? Be it proof-reading from a native, playtesting, or constructive feedback to my weird game designs – any kind of help would be welcome.

My next project is titled “SIZE MATTERS” (first installment of a series I will call WEIRD ARCANA).
Here’s the (non-proof-read sleeve text):

About the author and the project:

Pjotr Frank is a veteran roleplayer, a HEMA instructor, and a graphic designer from Vienna / Austria. Since “infected” with the roleplaying virus, he tries to get hold of a worthy universal toolset for his favorite pastime. This very quest started with massive exposure to the Dungeons & Dragons rpg since 1st edition, and several enlightening e-mail conversations with Gary Gygax, in the past. Despite his ambitions as a game designer, he considers himself a narrativist with simulationistic tendencies. Gamism is clearly bottom of the table.

WEIRD ARCANA is a series of optional plug-ins for the D&D 5e roleplaying game. Rather than creating more flavour content, like new subclasses or feats, these installments aim for more basic game design options, to compliment realistic gameplay, narrative depth and a streamlined ruleset. While trying not to change too much of the original rules, or the ease-of-play game experience, WEIRD ARCANA options usually add modular houserulings, addressing issues, that the author thinks worth of fleshing out. Hopefully you find the material at hand to your liking and useful enough to use in your campaigns. Aware that WEIRD ARCANA game options may not find every Dungeon Master’s approval, the books can be used as a general reference on real-life equivalents to game figures, as well.

SIZE MATTERS is the first installment of WEIRD ARCANA. It concentrates on the much overlooked, even neglected topic of character measurements, such as body weight, body height, and encumbrance, as well as metric conversions for the more scientificly inclined DMs and players. RAW (Rule as written) does not put much emphasis to those details, and while entirely ignored by a majority of gamers, here ist a salmagundi of information, nicely adaptable to the core game, at your disposal (ambiguity intended). The work was inspired by Mr. T. Bone, who wrote GULLIVER, a quite thoroughly investigated paper on mass, scaling, and biomechanics for GURPS 3e back in 2001.

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Here’s the cover layout so far.

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Bildschirmfoto 2017-11-16 um 19.05.24.png798×1031 1.33 MB

There is still a lot of compilation work and number crunching to be done for the interior. It’s quite a feat to respect the majority of the 5e rules, while designing an in-depth size scheme, that makes sense in RL, all by myself. :sweat:

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That sounds interesting.
I was planning on getting involved in the DM’s guild

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It’s not exactly rocket science, but it involves quite some work and dedication. My first installment earned me something about 13 bucks until today. But it’s more about trying out my game design skills, than money. Upload interface on the website is a little tricky, but if you want to publish something, I would be happy to share my experiences.

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I‘d be glad to help.

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Thank you, thank you, thank you! It’s very much appreciated.
What I have in mind, is writing up quite a few game options for 5e, that kinda bother me from a simulationist point of view. But while adding depth and realism, I do not want to change the ease of gameplay. To be honest, the options are based on a stand-alone RPG ruleset I am writing on for years now. I have no clue if it is a good idea to change the way D&D is played, but maybe there are people out there who feel the same way, as I do. My first jab aims towards the rather simplistic way how 5e handles mass - which is in itself a quite tricky task, if one does not want to mess up the game balance and the slender ruleset, as intended by WotC.
If the first installment goes well, there are more topics that I would like to tackle:
• Abilitopia - infusing the 6 ability scores with more dramaturgic meaning
• a more streamlined proficiency/skill/tool-system
• Lifepath - a session zero character generating tool
• the Soul - a classic fantasy trope, but underrepresented in D&D
… the list goes on.

So, how do you want to help? Actively participating in the design process? Playtesting? Giving feedback? Or proofreading my crazy shit?

I am looking forward to your reply.

Cheers

Pjotr

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i’m interested in helping, mostly proof reading and feedback though
currently in the process of preparing stuff for my first dmsguild release(s) myself, but only “boring” old character options and one shot adventures :stuck_out_tongue:

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BTW: there is a design question I am struggling with right now.
For a boring (but essential) mass table, do you think it more helpful, if body height is represented in a linear manner (… 10cm, 20cm, 30cm, …) or exponentially (… 5cm, 10cm, 20cm, 40cm, …)?

DnDMassScheme2017
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MassScheme2016
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First is somewhat more simple and easy to use with tons of numeric granulation, while the second would be open both ways, by always halfing or doubling. What would you prefer?

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Nothing boring about that. Not everybody is crazy like me, taking on the role of Níðhöggr, gnawing on the very roots of the D&D ruleset. :smiley:

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What do think of my sleeve text so far?

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well first of all i had/have no idea what HEMA means (i assume it’s historical european martial arts after googling, but it was by far not the first thing that came up) :stuck_out_tongue:

I might leave the ‘Since’ out of the secon sentence or alternatively change it to ‘Since he got’, but maybe one of the native speakers wants to weigh in on that

I’d change the last sentence of the first paragraph to ‘Gamism is clearly at the bottom of the table.’

besides that it looks good to me and sounds interesting enough to wet my appetite :slight_smile:

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Isn’t it “whet my appetite”. :smiling_imp:

But thanks a lot for your reading over the text. It helps a lot.

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yeah it is … i only had about 2 1/2 hours of sleep from yesterday to today, so i’ll use that as an excuse :smiley:

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Hmm, is it “worth” or “worthy”? Could a native speaker clear this for me? Prettyplease … :slight_smile:

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I’d be happy to proof and edit as a native speaker.

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