The Fair Folk - The Project
Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 12:38 pm
Children of the Night: The Fair Folk
Well, this is a pleasant step up from a random thread of sample Faerie.
Goal of this thread is to keep all participants in this project (which is getting bigger at a rapid rate) informed of what everyone else is doing, and to discuss the various behind-the-scenes stuff.
On the whole, I want to keep this project fairly simple, and hopefully get it off to 'press' sometime in the nearby future. The bulk of the submissions are done, so let's work towards getting this out in the nearby future.
===============================================
The Production Crew
NeoTiamat = That is, me. I'll be taking overall reins over the project by virtue of having written upwards of 85% of it. I'll be doing rewrites, adding supplemental material, and probably working on statistics.
Kaitou Kage = Kage has written the remaining 15%, and is second in command. He has overall responsibility over getting the art done, and over the eventual conversion to PDF.
EO = EO is our editor, and it going to be his job to organize my fairly raw writings into a good netbook. I'll help where I can, but this is best done with a fresh eye.
A G Thing = Our supporting artist. Between him and Kage, this should be a pretty well illustrated netbook, if I do say so myself.
Sorti = Sorti shall be our Stat-Maker for 3rd Edition versions of the menagerie.
There's also a few people who have offered a bit of help (or whom I have asked to help), but don't have a specific role:
Nathan of the FoS = I've asked Nathan to help with the editing and such, though he may end up being too busy (and too lacking in current internet access) to help much.
Lostboy = Lostboy offered to do the PDF conversion.
===============================================
The Final Product
Basically, what we have here is a collection of ten unique Faerie and three unique Faerie-related locations. The way I envision the final netbook is going to be something like this:
-Cover Page: Some lovely piece of art, perhaps of the Midnight Market. I believe Kage has ideas regarding this.
-Introduction & Essays: Here will go all my various ramblings on the Fair Folk, on such topics as Faerie Names, Faerie Wars, etc, etc. Basically, Van Richten's Guide to the Shadow Fey Lite.
-Individual Entries: Now for the thirteen Faeries. Each Faerie will consist of the write-up I have for them, along with a piece of portrait art, and at the end a stat-block and some combat notes (an expanded version of what exists now). These will be in 4th Edition (See below for my reasons for this)
As far as order goes, I am thinking that we want to arrange the individuals in ascending order of CR, starting with the weakest (Lucas Silver) and ramping up to the strongest (The Linnorm). The locations could go either before or after.
-Appendix/Player's Guide: This is a section that is, as of yet, theoretical, but may include a collection of feats and items for PCs
-Appendix/Monster Manual: Another theoretical section, this would contain a variety of minor-Faerie that don't have writeups, but exist to provide supporting cast and minions for Faerie campaigns. You might have a stat-block of Redcaps, for instance.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Why 4E? = I'm going for 4th Edition statistics here for two main reasons.
First, I have concluded that I'm pretty dismal at making 3E stat blocks. 4E seems easier to use.
Secondly, as a newer Edition, 4E doesn't have as many Faerie monsters for DM's to use. If a 3E DM needs a Faerie, he has five Monster Manuals, two Ravenloft Denizens books, and a wide assortment of miscellaneous books to choose from, many of which have quite good Faerie. 4E doesn't have as wide an assortment yet.
===============================================
Google Documents
One thing that I've learned doing the VRS Files is that it can get quite confusing when you have multiple documents flying around, and its entirely possible for edits to get lost.
As such, I'm going to use modern technology. For those not aware of them, Google Documents is a function of Google that lets you edit an uploaded document in real-time. So two people can be looking at a Faerie, and as soon as one of them edits, the others can see the edits. The advantage here is that we can see the editing done immediately, and thus everyone can be kept as up to date of the current product as possible. Go to Google Documents, and you see an up-to-the-minute accurate version of the Faerie project.
There will be two Google Documents uploaded. The first is the actual Faerie book, which will be available to all participants to view, and to myself, EO, and Nathan of the FoS to edit. The second is the Appearance Briefs, which are more in-depth descriptions of what the Faerie look like, based on a template Kage provided. It will also be available to all to view, and to myself, Kage, and A G Thing to edit.
I'll upload everything as soon as I have the time, probably later today. If I don't have them yet, please send me your emails (I believe I have everyone's but EO's), so that I can give you access to the Google Documents.
===============================================
Questions
A few things left to discuss, which I'll throw open now.
Title = What do we call this thing? Currently the name is Children of the Night: Fair Folk, to link it to the tradition of CotNs in Ravenloft, both standalone and in the Monstrous Compendiums. That said, I am open to new suggestions for titles.
Appendices = The main reason for the two appendices is to give me something to do while everyone else is editing and drawing (which I expect to take a while). That said, it may be extraneous and too much work, particularly if I have to do monster stats as well.
Monster Statistics = We could also try to do 3E monster stats, and thus have both 4E and 3E, but that would require someone else volunteering to do them, as I am not good at it.
Essays = I've quite a number of them, but they're fairly haphazard. Should I trim them back to the basics, or try to expand to cover weak areas? In either case, what should I cut / write?
===============================================
Questions, comments, observations or lamentations?
Well, this is a pleasant step up from a random thread of sample Faerie.
Goal of this thread is to keep all participants in this project (which is getting bigger at a rapid rate) informed of what everyone else is doing, and to discuss the various behind-the-scenes stuff.
On the whole, I want to keep this project fairly simple, and hopefully get it off to 'press' sometime in the nearby future. The bulk of the submissions are done, so let's work towards getting this out in the nearby future.
===============================================
The Production Crew
NeoTiamat = That is, me. I'll be taking overall reins over the project by virtue of having written upwards of 85% of it. I'll be doing rewrites, adding supplemental material, and probably working on statistics.
Kaitou Kage = Kage has written the remaining 15%, and is second in command. He has overall responsibility over getting the art done, and over the eventual conversion to PDF.
EO = EO is our editor, and it going to be his job to organize my fairly raw writings into a good netbook. I'll help where I can, but this is best done with a fresh eye.
A G Thing = Our supporting artist. Between him and Kage, this should be a pretty well illustrated netbook, if I do say so myself.
Sorti = Sorti shall be our Stat-Maker for 3rd Edition versions of the menagerie.
There's also a few people who have offered a bit of help (or whom I have asked to help), but don't have a specific role:
Nathan of the FoS = I've asked Nathan to help with the editing and such, though he may end up being too busy (and too lacking in current internet access) to help much.
Lostboy = Lostboy offered to do the PDF conversion.
===============================================
The Final Product
Basically, what we have here is a collection of ten unique Faerie and three unique Faerie-related locations. The way I envision the final netbook is going to be something like this:
-Cover Page: Some lovely piece of art, perhaps of the Midnight Market. I believe Kage has ideas regarding this.
-Introduction & Essays: Here will go all my various ramblings on the Fair Folk, on such topics as Faerie Names, Faerie Wars, etc, etc. Basically, Van Richten's Guide to the Shadow Fey Lite.
-Individual Entries: Now for the thirteen Faeries. Each Faerie will consist of the write-up I have for them, along with a piece of portrait art, and at the end a stat-block and some combat notes (an expanded version of what exists now). These will be in 4th Edition (See below for my reasons for this)
As far as order goes, I am thinking that we want to arrange the individuals in ascending order of CR, starting with the weakest (Lucas Silver) and ramping up to the strongest (The Linnorm). The locations could go either before or after.
-Appendix/Player's Guide: This is a section that is, as of yet, theoretical, but may include a collection of feats and items for PCs
-Appendix/Monster Manual: Another theoretical section, this would contain a variety of minor-Faerie that don't have writeups, but exist to provide supporting cast and minions for Faerie campaigns. You might have a stat-block of Redcaps, for instance.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Why 4E? = I'm going for 4th Edition statistics here for two main reasons.
First, I have concluded that I'm pretty dismal at making 3E stat blocks. 4E seems easier to use.
Secondly, as a newer Edition, 4E doesn't have as many Faerie monsters for DM's to use. If a 3E DM needs a Faerie, he has five Monster Manuals, two Ravenloft Denizens books, and a wide assortment of miscellaneous books to choose from, many of which have quite good Faerie. 4E doesn't have as wide an assortment yet.
===============================================
Google Documents
One thing that I've learned doing the VRS Files is that it can get quite confusing when you have multiple documents flying around, and its entirely possible for edits to get lost.
As such, I'm going to use modern technology. For those not aware of them, Google Documents is a function of Google that lets you edit an uploaded document in real-time. So two people can be looking at a Faerie, and as soon as one of them edits, the others can see the edits. The advantage here is that we can see the editing done immediately, and thus everyone can be kept as up to date of the current product as possible. Go to Google Documents, and you see an up-to-the-minute accurate version of the Faerie project.
There will be two Google Documents uploaded. The first is the actual Faerie book, which will be available to all participants to view, and to myself, EO, and Nathan of the FoS to edit. The second is the Appearance Briefs, which are more in-depth descriptions of what the Faerie look like, based on a template Kage provided. It will also be available to all to view, and to myself, Kage, and A G Thing to edit.
I'll upload everything as soon as I have the time, probably later today. If I don't have them yet, please send me your emails (I believe I have everyone's but EO's), so that I can give you access to the Google Documents.
===============================================
Questions
A few things left to discuss, which I'll throw open now.
Title = What do we call this thing? Currently the name is Children of the Night: Fair Folk, to link it to the tradition of CotNs in Ravenloft, both standalone and in the Monstrous Compendiums. That said, I am open to new suggestions for titles.
Appendices = The main reason for the two appendices is to give me something to do while everyone else is editing and drawing (which I expect to take a while). That said, it may be extraneous and too much work, particularly if I have to do monster stats as well.
Monster Statistics = We could also try to do 3E monster stats, and thus have both 4E and 3E, but that would require someone else volunteering to do them, as I am not good at it.
Essays = I've quite a number of them, but they're fairly haphazard. Should I trim them back to the basics, or try to expand to cover weak areas? In either case, what should I cut / write?
===============================================
Questions, comments, observations or lamentations?