Quoth the Raven #21 - Submissions Open

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

... that was indeed a harrowing spate of Bad Luck. A cursed prince, murderous creatures of the deep, a run in with a mysterious thieves' guild, an isle of doomed artists and more unfortunate encounters. But that's past now. And I'd never have been able to recover my sanity after those mishaps if it weren't for her. Her beauty is like the dawning sun over the Nevuchar Springs. Her laugh is the sound of songbirds in the Svalich Woods. Her eyes as deep and mysterious as the Shadow Rift. Her name.... what was her name again? No matter. As long as she's near, everything will be just fine.... forever....

The Fraternity of Shadows is now accepting submissions for the 21st installment of Quoth the Raven, Ravenloft's most entrancing annual netbook. Based on reader feedback and the Fraternity's secret machinations, the theme for the 2014 issue will be Dark Desire.

Lust, infatuation, obsession, love lost, love found, temptation, striving, yearning, questing... so many of these emotions drive the villains and heroes of the Ravenloft setting. Whether pure or corrupted, Desire is a motivation impossible to ignore. What do you want? Who do you want? And what will you do get it? Will you still want it once it's yours? Will love inspire or will it incite? The choice is yours. Let your imagination run wild.

As always, we are looking for anything related to Ravenloft, Masque of the Red Death, or horror in general. The theme is deliberately open ended, but still a suggestion, not a restriction. If you have something great that doesn't fit in with the theme, send it in anyway!

Ruleset doesn't matter! We accept articles using any edition of D&D rules, or even other systems. Some of the best articles don't have any rules text at all! And if you're interested in having your rules converted to another system, let us know. There are lots of volunteers eager to help.

See our submission guidelines for official rules.

Submit your articles to QTR@fraternityofshadows.com. The deadline is September 30th, but feel free to send your articles in early, especially if you're looking for feedback.

And remember to always give in to your deepest wishes; what could go wrong?

[alhoon]

the theme for the 2014 issue will be Dark Desire.

You said Ivan Boritsi?

[Jimsolo]

Here's a question: is a complete short adventure appropriate for a QTR submission? I wouldn't want to submit something outside the purview of the publication.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Here's a question: is a complete short adventure appropriate for a QTR submission? I wouldn't want to submit something outside the purview of the publication.

Absolutely! both Joel and I had one in Qtr18. there have been others, in 1,3,4,9, and 12, at least.

[Jester of the FoS]

I'll probably do some Ravenloft 5e rules, maybe sone N
PCs or monsters.
We'll see if there's an SRD/OGL.

[Kadarin]

A question to the QtR:
it was - in previous Ravenloft Fanzines, and, iirc, even in earlier QtRs - possible to publish short stories. Since I have - to my shame - no idea for a monster, or an adventure, or other stuff, but I do have an idea for such a short story - appropriate for Ravenloft and the genneral theme (Dark Desire) - would that be accepted?
k.

[Joël of the FoS]

Yes, of course!

We stopped asking for art and stories in QtR not because they were not popular, but very rare!

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

Let me just reiterate this point:

As always, we are looking for anything related to Ravenloft, Masque of the Red Death, or horror in general.

[Dark Angel]

So I am very new to this process, but am wondering how this all exactly works.

I created a thread for a domain from my campaign (http://fraternityofshadows.com/forum/vi ... f=1&t=9004), but am still trying to polish it. I am still working on specifics (unless it is sufficient for an article, but that is doubtful in its basic form).

Do I finish it off in a word doc and email Gonzoron or Joel? Or does someone just pull it and assemble it themselves? Let me know and I will try to submit it this year.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

So I am very new to this process, but am wondering how this all exactly works.

See our submission guidelines for official rules.

Submit your articles to QTR@fraternityofshadows.com. The deadline is September 30th, but feel free to send your articles in early, especially if you're looking for feedback.

[Dark Angel]

Gotcha, thank you!

[Jimsolo]

The notion of doing a short story is fascinating! Here's a question on that front, though: what is the word count guideline? In my wanderings as a writer, I've come across a WIDE variety of what is considered "standard" acceptable maximum length for a short story. (Ranging from as low as 1000 words to as high as a whopping 15000.) I'd hate to work on something only to find out it's too long for the Fraternity's preference.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

We don't have any particular guideline, but how's this: Last year's QtR had about 600 words per page, and the articles ranged in length from 4 to 38 pages. (the 38-pager was the SoS preview, so if only count "proper" articles, the largest was 24 pages, so about 14,000 words.)

Soooo... write whatever it takes to tell your tale properly. Disk space is cheap.

[NeoTiamat]

Would QtR be interested in my Domain write-ups? So, basically, I went and in a burst of energy last summer rewrote some Domains (I was making a Barovian for Nathan's game, and things snowballed). You can find them here:

Barovia
Falkovnia
Phirazia
Lamordia

Isabella helped a decent bit with most of these, but especially with Phirazia. They're an average of 10,000 words, Phirazia being about 14,000 as the longest.

Obviously, all four of them are too much (though as you say, disk space is cheap), but perhaps they could be suitable as an article? If so, let me know which you like, and I'll format them appropriately and send them over.

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

yes!

there have been multiple domain writeups in The Books of S, USS, and QtR. We'd be glad to have them. Only trouble I see is that putting in all of them might be a bit much, as you said, especially since we'll be rolling out another Sea of Sorrows Gazetteer Preview domain of our own. A few domain writeups would be great, but saturating the book with them might not be.

I haven't read your linked writeups above, but is there one (or maybe two?) that you think might be most interesting? (or might fit the theme of Dark Desire? I suppose all 4 darklords fit, but that's kind of what darklords do. ) maybe save the others for a future year?

Based purely on the fact that it hasn't had a Gazetteer and the other ones have, my first gut instinct would be to go with Phirazia. thoughts?