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HexploreRPG's avatar

I love the ideia. Somehow it reminded me of two things:

1) the book Invisible Cities, by postmodern italian author Italo Calvino, in which he takes on the role of Marco Polo describing surreal and oniric cities to the great Khan.

2) the actual account by Marco Polo of his voyages, which is filled with myrth and mystery. E.g. when he describes a rhino, it is written in such a bizarre way that you can barelly recognize the animal.

Just my two coppers

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James Maliszewski's avatar

The response to this approach of describing the setting has been very positive. It's different than my usual style, so I'm pleased to know it was well received.

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David Rollins's avatar

I love the travel log format! It reminds me of Stephen Sechi’s Tamerlin guiding us through Talislanta. I think Chronicles didn’t even have rules in it!

I like how you break down the rumours into hooks in bullet points after. The travel log discusses the locals in a way that both gives context for the adventure hooks and provides NPCs who will have different interests in them.

The small slice I see here has me intrigued with this place! More of these please!

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James Maliszewski's avatar

I'm glad you like it.

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darius/dare carrasquillo's avatar

Love the idea. Also just as a book collector i think zines are more interesting and also as a player zines are easier to deal with.

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James Maliszewski's avatar

I hadn't even considered this angle. I certainly prefer printed books myself, but I often get the impression that that's an increasingly unusual opinion.

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darius/dare carrasquillo's avatar

i mean it's all good, i just prefer products in print, and print is expensive, so zines seem to have a much quicker road to production.

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James Maliszewski's avatar

I know only too well how long it takes to get a larger book written laid out, and printed, so it's my hope that doing 'zines will speed production a bit.

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Jose Moreno's avatar

The best to do the releasing setting info in zine format is Gabot Lux with the Beyond Fomalhaut zine. This Epistle example provided is great writing though. Very cool.

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James Maliszewski's avatar

I'm glad you enjoyed it. I haven't taken a look at Beyond Fomalhaut, though I remember liking Gabor Lux's stuff in Fight On! way back when. Perhaps I should check it out.

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Sean McCoy's avatar

I’m humbled that you liked the idea! And now that I see it in writing, I really love it. It reminds me of Myst/Riven which I loved as a kid. And it feels more like a fantasy world than the typical more encyclopedic stuff I’m used to seeing in settings books. Can’t wait to see more.

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James Maliszewski's avatar

My natural inclination is to write something encyclopedic – too many years in academia, I suppose – so this is a chance to step out of my usual comfort zone and try somethng different. I'm glad people seem to be enjoying it.

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