Dear all,
As we are forced to do from time-to-time, Dark Magenta is asking for your help!
Our pipeline of potential articles is running pretty dry, and we need some more authors to step forward with their ideas and suggestions for potential content. I know that there are some of you in the community that have considered writing for Dark Magenta in the past but, for one reason or another, have never got round to actually submitting something for consideration. Well, now's the time to think again!
We're looking for modelling and painting articles, battle reports, new background and fan fiction, opinion pieces, original and inventive scenarios - you'll find us very open to your suggestions, if you'd like to make them.
Drop me a PM if you've got a kernel of an idea, and we'll take it from there.
D.
When I get some more work done on my fanfic for Octavian Lars, would you host it?
Would there be an interest in mini-Sourcebooks, for minor factions? Only about the length of a normal article, a short background section, perhaps one or two sample characters, and three to four new skills or wargear items? I've got some stuff written up already...
What sort of mini-sourcebooks are you thinking, Dapper?
Something along the lines of a "Carthax sector" sourcebook, detailing the major worlds, organisations and special equipment found there?
Or were you thinking more along the lines of Adeptus Mechanicus, rogue trader, hive ganger and/or alien creature mini sourcebooks?
Articles on minor factions or specific archetypes sound like a great idea to me.
I could write a sub article for the adjoining Velterax Sub sector (not the entire sector)
The one I've been working on would be similar to the Thorian, Amalathian, etc ones already produced, but about minor factions, the little quirky oddities that lurk on the edge of the intellectual world of the Inquisition. There wouldn't be much in the way of sub-factions, as these are smaller than many of the sub-factions of the larger groups. I've been working on one based on an old piece of fluff about an Inquisitor Mendoza who executed 50 Black Templars for Witchcraft and Treason, and I have an idea for one based on a group of Inquisitors who think the Imperium is inevitably doomed. I've also got a plan for a 28mm warband of the Mendozan group, but that may have to wait.
I should preface this by saying that this is a personal opinion, and not DM policy...
I'd rather not see articles that are too specific to one player's warbands. For example, someone suggested an article on Inquisitor Marco Skoll - to me that's really of little interest. But if it was an article on the Ordo or faction that Marco belongs to, including background, equipment, new abilities etc and included Marco as a sample character, then that'd be a whole lot more interesting to me. The same goes for fan fiction - in itself I'm not interested, but I do like to see fiction as part of a larger article.
That all said, I'd rather see more articles than we have now, and if the price is that some are articles I'm not all that interested in then that's a price I'm willing go pay...
I wouldn't want to do an article specifically on Marco myself, either. It'd come across as too big headed to me.
He's not a great choice for a sample character either - while he doesn't define his own views, those around him generally think of him as Amalathian (the sourcebook now being done) and his Ordo is unofficial (although essentially the same idea as Andy Hoare's Ordo Redactor, and I often consider it's just two names for the same/related factions. Appropriate for an Ordo of lies, misinformation and secret keeping).
I really must finish up some of the half complete ideas for articles I have - there's the rules for servitor programming, as well as something I wrote on mental aids and tricks to help get into character. Too many ideas, too little time.
One thing I would like to see are some Inq28 articles - maybe a battle report or a modelling showcase would be good...
I was thinking about something about drugs and poisons, if I learn to take pictures I could also try for an inq28 battle report someday. Then there is also my little project about animals.
I haven't looked, but has anyone done a podcast or YouTube video that's an intro / how to play for Inquisitor?
Could be a good project for someone...
Quote from: Kaled on January 26, 2012, 07:07:36 PM
One thing I would like to see are some Inq28 articles - maybe a battle report or a modelling showcase would be good...
Might be able to look at something as there's some games planned for March as part of Ammobunker bash.
If I make it to the Ammobunker OpenBash, I'd be quite content to invest some extra time in one of the games so that it could be written up as an Inq28 Battle Report.
On that note, I do still have the half complete article on the pros and cons of the two different scales. It was being written for Carthax (and is delayed while I do "more Inq28 research"), but there's no huge reason that it couldn't grace Dark Magenta instead if it was polished up with some pretty pictures.
I'm mid-process of writing a small article about the Mack Conglomerate, but its tricky to know where to draw the line about informing the reader and making it interesting, but also withholding enough information for it to still be a surprise at the summer 'Clave.
Would people prefer something more general about the Conglomerate as a whole, or perhaps include some spicy tidbits and specifics relevant to the summer Clave?
Quote from: Kaled on January 26, 2012, 07:07:36 PM
One thing I would like to see are some Inq28 articles - maybe a battle report or a modelling showcase would be good...
I thought it was DM policy to not cover Inq28?
Although I suppose it has somewhat moved on from the excuse to field half a dozen space marines that it often used to be when DM first launched.
Paraphrasing http://www.darkmagenta.co.uk/submit.html - 54mm is preferred, 28mm is okay. Maybe.
While I originally agreed with that, I think that's an outdated view now that's not going to help community unification. If relaxing that would get DM a few more articles - although certainly keeping the caveat that the focus was clearly centred on Inquisitor - I certainly wouldn't object to seeing 28mm on the pages of DM.
If I can finish painting the relevant models, I could possibly finally contribute an article on The Organisation (http://www.the-conclave.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=903.0). As it is there, it's just some backstory, but i could draft up a little pictoral hierarchy, some sample characters (with pictures) and some relevant abilities (e.g. 1st Level Oath - This character gains a +20% against any attempts others may make to make him divulge information etc...)
As I say, to reach completion, I'd need to actually finish painting the band for pictures, but if people think there's some potential there, most of the work is already done, and i'd be happy to do the rest to make it more DM-friendly...
Obviously Saussure is editor so he gets final say, but my feeling is that as long as it's about Inquisitor then the scale doesn't matter. Looking at the list of individual articles published, the vast majority have no reference to either scale anyway (other than the models used to illustrate them, which in most cases was simply down to the models available to the author or to me when I did the layout). If someone wrote a good article on games set on agri-worlds, for example, I think it'd be silly not to publish it because the pictures were of 28mm models.
EDIT: Also, the DM pages could do with an update - for one thing, the contact e-mail address is wrong.
Sorry, one and all, I've been out of the loop for a few days, in India (somewhat ironically, given our recent spam postings).
In general, DM would be invested in almost anything that's already been mentioned in this thread, with the exception of articles that feature solely upon a single player's war band. I agree with Kaled here, in that that's a bit too specific.
On the 28mm issue, I have no problem with it as long as it's an example of 'doing it well'. Several months ago, Molotov was going to write a short series of articles, but they never materialised. If he (or anyone else) wants to move into those territories, then we'll gladly take a look!
D.
I'm glad to hear about the support of 28mm, as that was the scale I was planning for the mini-sourcebook models...
Apologies; it turns out that I'd managed to minimise this section of the forum. I do want to do INQ28 articles for Dark Magenta. I'd certainly appreciate input on what people think those articles should incorporate, and I'd try to get one done soonish.
Another idea for an article...
I remember a thread on DakkaDakka (I think) where someone said that Inquisitor fails both as a skirmish game and as a narrative game because the rules are too clunky to make it a good skirmish game, and nothing in the rulebook really stimulates narrative gaming. And to be honest, I think that's fair - players are pretty much left to figure out the narrative part for themselves and there isn't much guidance on it anywhere (or rather, there is, but its spread across a load of sources which makes it pretty inaccessible to new players).
So, to get to the point - an article that talks about narrative in Inquisitor would, I think, be a fantastic addition to DM. Maybe looking at narrative from the point of view of the campaign and scenarios, from the characters, and how narrative fits into the actual game itself.
EDIT: I should add that these ideas I'm throwing out are primarily ideas for articles that other people can write...