Between finals and scrambling to get back home for quarantine, I've not posted anything in nearly two weeks. I've not been completely useless though. I've made a twitter account, @NicolsRoman4, which I will likely use intermittently. I've been reading and annotating my copy of Castle Xyntillan, and scheming to get my family to play it.
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| Aleksandr Plikhta, 'Diver' |
Oh, and I've kept up with my big project. I've been talking about it incessantly on the Discord, and I've confided more deeply in a couple people. But now I think I'm ready to make a sort-of official announcement.
POINT NEMO
...is the operating title of my underwater play zine. After seeing all the excitement around ZineQuest 2 in February, I decided that this long-incubating idea was best expressed in zine form. It's been in proper development for a month and a half, in which time I've released the basic rules for underwater play on the blog, in a cruder form than they exist in my version.
But simple rules for underwater play are just the beginning. The mission for Point Nemo is to create an all-in-one resource for running old-school games under the waves. From a scuba-diving one-shot to an entire underwater campaign, Point Nemo will have you covered. Tools, tips, items, treasure, hooks, locations, adventures and creatures for Game Masters to run their games in the deep blue.
At present, the draft is breaking twenty pages, for which the rules are effectively done. Between the bestiary, item list, hooks, adventuring locations, I expect the final draft to be at least forty, before accounting for any art.
From time of writing on the tail end of Q1 2020, Point Nemo is in pre-alpha. It's a lot of writing with no formatting, testing or art. Going into Q2, I'll be playtesting the material, first personally and later releasing a playtest packet for other GMs to test out.
That's where you come in. I'm looking for a group to playtest the material in online sessions, played through Discord. I'm currently located in the UTC+1 time zone, but my schedule is, at the moment, very flexible. If you're interested, PM me through Discord, and I'll see about consolidating a group and time. You can look through the updated rules and some instructions for character generation here.
I'll also be looking to hire on an artist and layout designer, as well as other creators as necessary. This is my first time trying to publish anything, but I want this to be a professional product. I'm willing to take my time and let the project cook to make it as good as possible. Crowd-funding is a possibility, but is not a necessity.
The goal is to have a PDF copy of Point Nemo available for purchase by the end of Q3 2020, which is coincidentally the moment I'm going to have a lot less free time. A hard copy would be the next step from there.
Besides art and layout, Point Nemo will eventually need the aid of copyeditors and reviewers, and I'll be consulting with more experienced creators to market and put the product out there. If you can see yourself in any of those roles, do message me through Discord or on this blog. I'm currently putting together funds, and nobody who contributes to the project will be leaving empty-handed.
In the meantime, stay safe and stay healthy. These are strange and hard times, and with all fortune we'll look back on them soon with relief.
Sounds pretty cool!
ReplyDeleteI'll see if I can help playtest it, but my forte is editing.
Very much looking forward to this.
ReplyDeleteYou might want to use this as inspiration for the bestiary, in case you haven't seen it already: https://twitter.com/SchmidtOcean/status/1247231196347674625
Another source of inspiration could be Peter Watts's Starfish, which also deals with human life in the mesopelagic zone. His old website contains some well fleshed out worldbuilding, even if brief: https://www.rifters.com/starfish/rifter.htm
Thanks! I was familiar with Watts from Blindsight, but this is a nice surprise.
DeleteUnfortunately, Point Nemo is off my speculative schedule, as playtesting hasn't gone through. The project is currently on the backburner while I work on something a bit more traditional, to get some experience writing and publishing before I try to revolutionize anything.
No problem with that. I believe taking time might be healthy for your project, as you may be able to form more ideas; creativity doesn't work on schedule.
DeleteI forgot to add the concept art Moebius did for Cameron's The Abyss. http://monsterbrains.blogspot.com/2012/03/moebius-alien-designs-for-abyss.html
Good luck.