This thread exists to centralize the planning for Issue Two of the fanzine. Subscribe (manually or by replying) if you wish to receive updates on our discussions. The top post will be continually edited with the freshest information. This is a community project, so always assume any choice not filled in, such as particular items for running features, titles of issue features, art themes and articles to receive them, things to add to the checklist, etc., is up for discussion.
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Issue Two
Theme: Mechanus
Desired publication date: ____?
Articles
Articles due date: ___?
| Running Features | Subject selected? | Author assigned | Draft rcvd? | Final draft rcvd? |
| Issue Intro/TOC | no | no | no | no |
| Planar Locations | no | no | no | no |
| Faction Focus | Yes | Yes | no | no |
| Races of Sigil | no | no | no | no |
| Log X | no | no | no | no |
| Adventure Item | no | no | no | no |
| Issue Features | Subject selected? | Author assigned | Draft rcvd? | Final draft rcvd? |
| Feature 1 | Yes | Yes | Yes | no |
| Feature 2 | Yes | Yes | no | no |
| Feature 3 | no | no | no | no |
Faction Focus: Subject: Fraternity of Order. Author: Anetra.
Feature 1: Subject: Order of Lawful Neutral druids native to Mechanus. Draft thread: here. Summon Nature's Ally list for Mechanus druids. Draft thread: here. Labyrinthine Portal travel rules and trait. Draft thread: here. Author: Jem.
Feature 2: Modron paper minis. Author: Anetra.
Art
Art due date: ___?
| Article to receive art | Theme selected? | Artist assigned | Draft rcvd? | Final draft rcvd? |
| Feature 1 | no | no | no | no |
| Feature 2 | no | no | no | no |
| Feature 3 | no | no | no | no |
| Issue cover | no | no | no | no |
| Issue general? | no | no | no | no |
Checklist:
Any potential IP issues? ___?
Credits composed: ___?
Layout assignment: Anetra
Have I missed anything? Are Faction Focus and Races in Sigil intended to be running features, or were those part of our Sigil-focused issue?
I think Races of Sigil and Faction Focus can come back when people have ideas for them but they don't need to be in every issue?
Fine by me, although a number of running features with low page count each are pretty easy to write and pad the zine a bit.
I think that those 2 should probably be recurring features.
Re: Faction Focus, I have ideas for PF Crunch (either an archetype or prestige class) for the Fraternity of Order, which is intended for this issue. If someone else wants to write this I can post what I have in mind.
Re: Races, do you think there would be IP issues with featuring the Axani in this issue? :S
I haven't the foggiest. What are the Axani? Where are they from? What license governs them?
Axani were lawful Planetouched introduced in Dragon Magazine #297. I know we have permission from WotC to use the Planescape setting and WotC IP as it pertains to said setting, but I don't know if that extends to Dragon Mag. At the time of this issue (2002), the magazine was being published by WotC, but it wasn't published as open game content.
Do we have a theme for the issue?
Issue 2 is the Mechanus issue. I have some Modron paper minis on deck and ready to go for it, as well.
Cool. I can probably get us an art piece or two for the zine, just need some descriptions.
What would the Modron paper minis count as? An "Issue feature"? I can put that in the appropriate category if so.
Regarding art pieces, wasn't there a Mechanus druid that was done for us by someone a while back, up to the stage of a sketch at least?
I have two items I would be happy to add: a lawful neutral order of druids and a discussion of use of the Labyrinthine Portal which comes with a trait of use to planar characters, if people are interested in these.
Anetra, regarding Axani from Dragon magazine, do you have the exact wording available from when we were given permission to use Planescape and WotC IP? We can see what and how much it would cover from such a source, at least to the best of our abilities.
Anyone keeping up with the extent of what if any Planescape material is going in to 5e?
Paper Miniatures: I've been doing paper minis for each issue so far (have them done for issues 1 & 2), so yeah, let's put it down as a feature.
LN Druids and Labyrinthe Portal: both sound perfect. Do you have crunch for the druids, or just fluff?
I think we were trying to work on a Planar Druid archetype for Pathfinder for this issue way back when, but I don't recall how far we actually got on it, and PF also has a lot more archetypes and options now, so it may have become redundant.
Wording for our permission to use Planescape: I don't, no. When I was trying to look into this before to find out what kind of legalese we need to put into the zine itself to cover our permission to use the IP, I was told to use basically the same thing that's on the bottom of the site. "Planescape, Dungeons & Dragons, their logos, Wizards of the Coast, and the Wizards of the Coast logo are ©2008, Wizards of the Coast, a subsidiary of Hasbro Inc. and used with permission."
Planescape in 5th Edition: All I can do is speculate, but the D&D 5e Game Designer job posting that was up on the Hasbro website a week or two ago made some reference to knowledge of previous settings being an asset ? (The posting is down now, so I can't check what exactly it said) Who knows what this actually meant, or which settings they were interested in if any, though.
Hmm. If we can use Planescape IP, are the Axani Planescape? The issue is Mechanus themed, so does their fluff specifically mention Mechanus and their role in a planar game?
I have a lot of fluff for the druids, but it could use some savage editing depending on word count desired, or I could add some more Mechanus-centered leadership stuff. The main bit of crunch I have for them is a revamped Summon Nature's Ally list specified for Mechanus. I'll post both of those for people to take a look at.
Top-line organizing post updated with discussion so far. I'm good with Anetra doing this issue's Faction Focus on the Fraternity of Order.
Depending on whether the axani make the cut, for a Mechanus-themed issue it does seem like the rogue modrons would be the natural choice for a Races of Sigil focus.
Oh! Yeah, Rogue Modrons are a great idea.
I have some Pathfinder Modron conversions as well, but I'll need to go back over them, as I did the conversion a pretty long time ago.
Thoughts on what we need to do for the second issue to move forward?
Ticking the next "no" in any row to a "yes."
We need to choose a subject for the running featurettes Planar Locations, Races of Sigil, Log X, and an adventure. An author should be chosen. This could probably take place in the reverse order. Anetra volunteered for the Faction Focus featurette and should provide a draft, to be linked from this thread. I can choose or write a Log X submission.
I have uploaded a draft of my feature article materials for the Brotherhood of the Cosmic Order, at the linked posts in this subforum. I have received no feedback and would be interested in any that people cared to provide. These could be turned into a final draft form fairly quickly.
Anetra needs to upload a draft for her Faction Feature of the modron minis or at least declare that she has a draft ready for inclusion (although I'm sure the project would like to see them).
A third Issue Feature subject should be chosen and authored.
We should find the art assets we had for the Mechanus Issue, make sure they're available, and link them from here. New art assets should be commissioned or volunteered.
Once all of these drafts are submitted and finalized the issue can be put together by someone who knows layout.
I'll see if I can dig out the art that was previously submitted, though unfortunately I think it was posted on the old site's forums and may be gone.
Will also review the articles you posted Jem, and will see about getting some of the other stuff checked into Yes.
-Sci