Getting There

The layout is getting better, I think. There are still a lot of rough spots to tweak, but it's shaping up quite nicely. Here's a nice two-page spread, complete with illustrations and revamped tables.

Capital Ship

Some more Thousand Suns artwork, because ... why not?

©2011 David Dietrick

October is shaping up to be another busy month for me; fortunately, it's also looking to be a productive one. I make no promises about anything (except Thousand Suns, since it's being laid out right now), but it looks like a number of long-delayed projects are breaking free from the logjam and that makes me very happy indeed. With luck, it'll be an emotion shared by others. More details on this soon.

Seeking Advice

I'm looking for some advice from readers who have experience with simple, easy-to-use desktop publishing programs -- and when I say "simple, easy-to-use," I mean "simple, easy-to-use" for technological incompetents such as myself. The truth is that I have a large number of projects that I really want to get off my plate and out there for others to enjoy, but, to do that, I need to get them laid out in a format suitable for PDF and/or POD printing.

Now, I know many people would offer to lay these things out for me and I appreciate these offers. However, since these projects aren't likely to generate much income (assuming they're even sold rather than just given away), I really feel I ought to lay them out myself. Likewise, there's the fact that, when dealing with volunteers, one can hardly complain about either a lack of follow-through or tardiness in completion, two problems that have plagued past efforts on my various projects. Finally, I like to tweak and to tinker layouts, so I feel it'd be less of a headache for all concerned if I did all the work.

So, with that preamble, what do people recommend? Obviously, I can use programs like word processors and blogging software. I can even manipulate images to a limited extent. Beyond that, I am hopeless. What I want is something that lets me straightforwardly produce pages that might contain a few images, tables, and charts but would otherwise be mostly filled with text. I don't need the pages to be especially clever in their design, though I'd be glad if the program gave me some options for prettifying them as needed. I'm not adverse to paying for the program if necessary, but I'd never turn up my nose at a free program if it otherwise meets my criteria above.

Thanks in advance.

A Bit of Petty Gods News

Though I have been quiet on the matter, rest assured that Petty Gods is slowly winding its way toward release. I spent a lot of time in June getting the entries ready, as well as making sure I had all the art needed. There are still some holes to plug, as well as some further tweaking on the entries, not to mention the creation of some supplementary material I think would make good additions to the overall book. You'll be able to see a preview of the book in issue #6 of the fanzine Oubliette, which comes out in a few weeks.

One of the reasons I've been moving slowly on Petty Gods, aside from being distracted by the Dwimmermount Codex and the revision of Thousand Suns, is that I was awaiting word on a possible inclusion from a very special contributor. Happily, I am now able to tell you that, in addition to a foreword by Paul Jaquays, Petty Gods will include the entirety of Professor M.A.R. Barker's 1980 essay, "How to Create a Religion in Your Spare Time for Fun and Profit." It's a terrific article, filled with lots of great ideas and not a few insights. It's long been one of my favorite of Professor Barker's writings and I'm honored that he's granted me permission to include it in Petty Gods. Many thanks to Victor Raymond for making this happen.

Latest Word on Petty Gods

The text to Petty Gods is more or less done and has been for a while. The cover is likewise done. What remains, besides layout, is artwork or, more precisely, artwork that I assigned to a number of people who offered to help but who have not yet followed through. Now, this is a volunteer project, so I haven't been a taskmaster about deadlines and the like. No one, including myself, is going to make any money from this endeavor, so I've been loath to crack the whip thus far. However, waiting on artwork people promised me more than three months ago is holding up the release of Petty Gods and I'm only willing to go so far to accommodate the schedules of others.

So, here's the deal: if you're someone who offered to do any kind of artwork, illustration, or graphic for Petty Gods, you've got one week -- till April 19, 2011 -- to give me an update on the status of your contribution. If I don't hear from you by then, I'll re-assign the work to one of the many, many artists who've not only offered to help and came through for me but has asked to do more. In deference to others, I've kept too many of these kind offers on hold, but I can't do that any longer, because it's not fair to the artists who've gone above and beyond. Plus, I want to get this book out to everyone before summer.

Next Tuesday, I'll post an update on this project and, depending on what sort of response I get on outstanding artwork, begin assigning illustrations for any entries that still don't have them. With luck, this will ensure the book can go into layout next month sometime, with an idea toward its seeing the light of day not long thereafter.

Petty Gods Cover

Just in case you were wondering, work on Petty Gods is proceeding, albeit slower than expected. I'll have an update on that sometime this coming week, so please don't pester me about it. I feel bad enough for how long it's taken me to tie up the last few loose ends from it as it is.

In the meantime, though, enjoy this awesome cover image, produced by Thomas Denmark, which strikes exactly the right chord with me. I can't tell you how blown away I was when I saw it. Bravo.

Petty Gods News

I can now formally announce that Paul Jaquays has graciously agreed to write the foreword to Petty Gods. I'd alluded to this earlier, but I didn't want to say anything specific until it was confirmed. Now that it has been, I'm quite happy to pass the news along to everyone.

The deadline for submissions is 11:59 PM EST on Friday, December 31, 2010. I'd originally intended to be flexible with the deadline, but, since I've now got way more than 100 submissions -- honestly, I'm not even sure how many I have -- I'm going to be firm with the cut-off and not accept anything more after Friday evening, regardless of the quality or who it's from. I have a large pile of new submissions to work my way through, so please be patient while I do so.

Likewise, there are still illustrations available, if you'd like to donate a piece of art or two to this project. I'll be sending out more art descriptions to artists later today and tomorrow, so if you've not heard from me recently, hang tight a little longer. Christmas festivities have kept me away from my computer, so I'm even slower than usual to respond to these (and other) emails.

Various Updates

I've been distracted over the last week and a bit as I plow through the final edits on the revision of the Thousand Suns rulebook. Consequently, my posting has dropped off (especially reviews, of which I have a backlog) and my correspondence has been much less quick than usual. If you've sent me something recently and I've not responded, give me a day or two more and I should get caught up.

The Petty Gods project is in fine shape, with close to 100 accepted submissions now. Speaking of which: if you've received an email from me confirming acceptance and the RPGNow codes I sent to you for the complimentary Labyrinth Lord PDFs do not work, please drop me a note so that I can fix the problem.

I'd like to thank all the artists who've been helping to ensure that this book looks absolutely awesome. Of course, with nearly 100 petty gods to illustrate, I can always use more assistance, so, if you've got some artistic ability and don't mind working pro bono on a community-based project, let me know.

In the meantime, to inspire you, here's a picture of Chulg, petty god of heptagons and funerary malachite, created and illustrated by Tom Fitzgerald of the Middenmurk blog.

One More

The artwork I'm getting for Petty Gods is so good that I can't help but show it off. Here's an illustration of St. Vineria of the Eyes by Fr. Dave of the Blood of Prokopius blog. I absolutely adore the style used here.

Petty Gods Update

There's still a little over two weeks till the deadline I set for Petty Gods submissions, so there's time left if you'd like to be involved. I've gone through most of the submissions and accepted about 90 of the I-don't-know-how-many submissions I've gotten. Thanks to everyone who's submitted so far.

I've also gone through nearly all the offers of help with illustrations. Thanks to all the artists who've stepped up to the plate to ensure that this project looks as good as it'll read. Here's another sample to whet your appetites, this time from Thomas Denmark, who illustrated Garrett Weinstein's submission, Azwa, the petty god of giant stone heads:

Petty Gods Update

Just popping in briefly to let everyone know that -- shock and surprise! -- I'm not yet through all the Petty Gods submissions, but I'm getting closer. The same goes for all the offers of help for art. If you haven't heard back from me yet, give me another day or two more and I should be up to date. I'll also be posting an updated list of all accepted submissions, so those of you who still want to send me stuff will know what I've already got.

More soon.

More Petty Gods Artwork

I'm getting closer to working my way through the Petty Gods submissions, but there are still many more to sort, so never fear if you haven't yet heard from me, either for a submission or an offer of helping out with artwork. My hope (ha, ha) is to be fully caught up by Friday, December 3, 2010. I will also make a point of posting an updated listing of all the accepted submissions to date, so that anyone still thinking of making a submission will see which petty gods are already accounted for.

In the meantime, enjoy these two illustrations by the ever-awesome Mark Allen. First, Tau, guardian of tombs and cemeteries:

Second, Drasheeng, petty goddess of misperception due to intoxication:

More Petty Gods Art

Here's Odxit, the petty god of unexplained smells, courtesy of Ndege Diamond:

By now, you know the drill: I'm still receiving submissions and still working through them, so bear with me. Thanks to everyone who's keeping me busy with this stuff, though. This is going to be an awesome book.

First Petty Gods Art

I'm knee-deep in selecting entries to include in Petty Gods, but there are already several entries that stand out as particularly good. For these, I've already contacted a few artists about getting illustrations to accompany them and I've been frankly amazed by not only the quick turnaround time for these illustrations but also by their quality. For example, here's a terrific piece by Chris Huth that depicts Tricruxia, the petty goddess of forked tunnels (submitted by John Stater).

Anyway, this is just a brief update to let everyone know that I am working through all the entries and am (slowly) getting in touch with artists, but it's a time-consuming process, so I appreciate the continued indulgence. If you haven't heard from me yet, don't worry. That's not an indication of anything other than my simply being a slacker who's not yet caught up with all his emails.

On the plus side, as I work my way through all the submissions and start to see some of the artwork, I am more convinced than ever that this is going to be an awesome little book.

A Word on Editing and Proofreading

As with the submissions and artwork, lots of folks have kindly offered to serve as editors and proofreaders for the Petty Gods project. I'll likely be taking several of you up on this offer once the submissions period is over, since having more eyes on the manuscript ensures that it won't be full of embarrassing typos/errors when I release the book early next year.

For the moment, though, hold off on sending me any more emails about this, since they'll just get lost in the sea of emails I already have (and that I've nearly worked my way through). I'll make a post to the blog sometime in late December asking for volunteers to edit/proofread the manuscript and we can proceed at that point.

Thanks, again, to everyone for their enthusiasm and offers of assistance. They are greatly appreciated.

Petty Gods News

Thanks to everyone who's sent me reminders regarding submissions or offers of help with art, etc. I'm slowly working my way through them all, but it's taking longer than I anticipated, owing to the fact that I, literally, have more than 100 people to contact and I'm trying to keep this project well organized (something at which I do not excel).

Anyway, keep the submissions and emails rolling in. I suspect I'll be out from under all my backlog in a day or two more. I've been distracted by other work, real life, and an uncharacteristic case of creative lethargy, so my apologies for the continued slowness on my part.

More soon.

The Latest Word on Petty Gods

The Petty Gods project I announced nearly a week ago is still going strong. I now have nearly 60 submissions and promises of more, so I suspect the final compilation will be very meaty indeed. An updated list of all current submissions is available here. Though the deadline for submission is December 31, 2010, I appreciate the fact that so many people have already sent me their submissions. For those of you who want to take your time, please do so. This is a volunteer project, after all, and no one should be under any undue pressure. If you can submit something to me before the end of the year, great; if not, I have a feeling I'll do at least one more project of this sort in 2011, so you can always participate in that.

Now, some important updates:

• Dan Proctor of Goblinoid Games has generously offered to provide RPGNow coupon codes for Labyrinth Lord and the Advanced Edition Companion to PDFs to anyone who helps out with the book by writing, illustrating, or otherwise getting it ready for print. That was very kind of Dan and I hope it'll provide an additional incentive to send in your ideas to this collaborative project.
• I'll be spending a lot of tomorrow going through the current entries to see which ones I want to use, which ones require some reworking, etc. If you haven't heard anything from me yet -- and that's most of you, alas -- I'll be getting in touch sometime tomorrow, so thanks again for your patience.
• Once I've made some decisions about which submissions will definitely be in the book, I'll be contacting artists about illustrations. My plan, at present anyway, is to give each artist a single illustration to start, both so that we get a wide diversity of styles and because I don't want to overtax anyone's time with a volunteer project like this. If, after you've completed an assignment, you're able to do more art, let me know, but I don't want to presume too much of anyone's time unless specifically told to so.

And that's it for the moment. Thanks again to everyone who's submitted so far and I look forward to even more submissions between now and the end of next month.

Petty Gods Roster

Submissions to the Petty Gods project continue to roll in. We're closing in on 50 submissions, but the deadline is still nearly two months away, so there's plenty of time to get more in if you're interested in participating. I've updated the list here to include most of the recent submissions and, as you can see, there are lots of areas of patronage no one has yet covered. I think, however, that we have enough submissions for lost/misplaced items, as that seems to be a popular one. Of course, if you think you have a really great take on it, feel free to send it in; just be aware that there will competition.

I'll be contacting artists toward the end of this week with the first round of illustrations. I've got so many offers of help -- and thank you all for that -- it'll take me a bit longer to organize the artwork, so I beg a little more indulgence, if you don't mind. On the plus side, there's no question that I'll be able to get all the petty gods illustrated for the full compilation.

I should note here, in case anyone was unclear on this, that Petty Gods will be released under the OGL, so the entirety of its text will be Open Content. If anyone is uncomfortable with this, let me know, because I don't want to include any text that someone would rather not be released as OGC. All artwork will remain the property of the artists, who are free to re-use the art however they wish. This is to be a free and collaborative project and that means making sure everyone involved is comfortable with the terms under which it's operating.

As ever, if you have any questions, drop me a note and I'll do my best to get back to you in a timely fashion.

[UPDATED] Current Petty Gods Submissions

As of this moment, I have submissions for petty gods with the following areas of patronage:

• Accidental Death
• Addiction, Recidivism, and Uncontrolled Urges
  
• Axe Executions
• Beggars, Mendicants, and Drifters
• Blood Letting
  
• Boredom and Ennui
  
• Broken Glass
  
• Broken Relationships
  
• Butcher's Alley
• Charlatans
• Closing Time
  
• Concubines
• Cornfields
  
• Corroded Cookware and Brewing Gone Bad
• Crossroads
  
• Currency Debasement
• Damsels in Distress
  
• Doors and Locks
• Drowned Sailors
• Dying Men's Breaths
  
• Female Scholars
• Finances and Investments
  
• Forked Tunnels
  
• Frayed Ropes
• Giant Stone Heads in the Wilderness
  
• Hats
  
• Hiccups
• Hunger
• Judicious Retreat
  
• Kidnapping
  
• Lost Chapters
• Lost Items
  
• Lost Time
  
• Medlars (a kind of fruit tree)
• Misperception Due to Intoxication
  
• Misplaced Items
• Mocking
• Molds and Jellies
  
• Oppressed and Downtrodden
  
• Plagues and Traitors
• Pratfalls
  
• Preventing Flatulence
  
• Print Errors and Minor Heresies
• Protection from Angry Gamblers
• Pub-Crawling and Drunken Love
  
• Quality Footwear
• Silence
  
• Southeast Wind
• Stains
  
• Streetlamp Lighters
  
• Subterranean Darkness
• Swamps
• Ten-Foot Poles
  
• The Rock
• Things Mislaid and Unexpectedly Found
• Vandals
• Very Small Spiders
  
• Wine and Merriment
  

Now, simply because a god appears on this list does not mean that it will necessarily be included in the final product. Likewise, there's no reason that someone couldn't submit a different entry for any of the above areas of patronage. However, I think it's a good idea to inform potential submitters of the submissions I've already received so that they can tailor their entries accordingly.

I'll include an up-to-date version of this list each Sunday, so people can see how the project is progressing, but I'm exceedingly happy so far. Nearly 60 entries is pretty remarkable and enough artists have stepped up to offer their services illustrating this that I have no doubt every god will have a portrait accompanying it.

Thanks again to everyone for helping to get this project off to a great start.

Petty Gods, Once More

I'll be posting a sample petty god later today, as promised, along with some other things, but the morning and afternoon have proven a lot busier than I'd expected and my attention is elsewhere at the moment. Until then, though, I just wanted once more to thank everyone who's already made submissions to Petty Gods. I'm simply astounded by the level of enthusiasm this project has generated in its first 48 hours. I'm likewise amazed at how clever the submissions are.

This is going to be a great little book, I have no doubt.