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Saturday, February 2, 2013

Further Thoughts on What I Would Like in an OSR Magazine - A Sample Platter and Full Course Meals

Yeah, the idea of an OSR magazine is still on my mind.

What I really would want from on OSR magazine is a stronger community. An active community. A community that would feel that the magazine is theirs.

So, I would want to see some of the bigger names in the OSR contribute, writing what they are known for (or expanding their reach). So, maybe +Greg Christopher would write a new class for Ambition and Avarice, +Greg Gillespie might add a small and previously unknown barrow to the Barrowmaze, +Dyson Logos  and +matt jackson would be showcasing a new map, a new piece of insanity from +James Raggi, it's a nearly endless list. That's not even including the amazing and unsung artists that we have. Not huge articles (unless that's what they wanted) but an opportunity to expose the community to creators whose work they might not have sampled yet.

And it can't be fluff pieces, it would need to be content that stands on it's own. None of this "here's a sample of the Big Bamboozle's Book of Wonderous Wonderings and Wombats". It could be unuesed material for such, but again, it has to be able to stand on it's own.

At the same, I'd like to see others in the community write the bulk of such a magazine, as the more we create the stronger we are, and the more the community creates, the stronger the community is.

I truly believe the OSR community has more creative personalities by percentage than RPGs in general, but we have to be that way. If the community doesn't support the games we play, who will?

Yeah, this goes way beyond the actual type of content I was talking about before and goes right to the content creators. As a community we would need to take a sort of collective stewardship of the magazine, because without content there would be nothing.

I'd like to think it could be done. I've got ideas kicking around my head. I may need to kick myself in the head and see what happens with the ideas.

I'm open to all thoughts in this. Feel free to call me an idiot if you think I'm off track on this ;)

5 comments:

  1. Fight On! does this, although the current issue is way late. Are you thinking along different lines?

    ReplyDelete
  2. My concern would be, egos. Which was what seemed to have shot a few other community projects in the foot. Namely the Project ckutalik over at Hill Cantons tried to get running.

    A community Project that could have a set focus, solid leadership and Goals, plus a willingness to put contributors Egos aside for the betterment of the project would rock.

    I know it can be done, looking at groups like the guys (and/or Gals?) over at Basic Fantasy, they seem to work pretty well together. I recognize they don't put out a magazine, but the unity should be the same.

    I would love to contribute, but I sit far outside many of the names you listed.

    Art would be my best bet, and while I'm no Dyson, Poag or Mullen I know how to draw a few lines and get my point across.

    I would want clear leadership going into this, with tested editors and art directors.

    It could be huge, or it could fizzle after the first issue, but it would be fun to be apart of!

    ERIC!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Not sure I'd want a magazine so much, but having a number of OSR bloggers on the same site. LIke Huffington Post for RPG. The Weight of the combination has to be valuable when it comes to getting interviews and access for reviews, etc.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I am editing something along these lines for Stars Without Number (an excellent, if a little unknown, OSR sci-fi RPG), a blog/eZine called Infinite Stars. Indeed, most of the material is donated by the community. Look at it here:

    http://infinitestarsmagazine.blogspot.co.il/

    ReplyDelete
  5. I truly believe the OSR community has more creative personalities by percentage than RPGs in general

    And if you think this is good, you should have seen the hay-days of the World of Darkness

    ReplyDelete

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