Heck, there's even a mock cover:
I had no idea how long the development time actually was on this project.
OSR Commentary OnThe Mall of Doom For The Mutant Epoch Rpg
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"In the twisted, dark future of 24th century America, heroes are needed
more than ever. Do you have what it takes? Recruited to investigate the
disappeara...
1 hour ago
To be fair, at least one part of it was accurate...
ReplyDelete"I'll have more specific information to share, but that'll have to wait until after I've finished my other more immediate projects, including Petty Gods."
Yes when James was with Rogue Games this was going to be a Rogue Games Release. Logos were created, a new line was created and even rough layout was started. Then things went, shall we say, nuts.
ReplyDeleteIf I remember correctly, James planned to publish (as a Rogue Games release) the just the megadungeon itself in the main book, and then follow it up with a volume of the Dwimmermount Codex every couple of months or so. I quite liked that as an idea myself.
ReplyDeleteI posted this over on the G+ version of this, but here are the highlights:
DeleteAt first we wanted to do a build your own megadungeon kit, which Dwimmermount was going to be the example. As Dwimmermount grew, it soon became apparent that Dwimmermount was too big. Hence we were going to release it.
Behind the scenes we were to release this in the winter of 2009, then Spring of 2010, then GenCon 2010, then Winter of 2010, then spring of 2011, and finally Christmas of 2011. We were far enough along, or so I thought, that I went ahead and had a logo created, lined up a great book designer, and had maps created and paid for. It was the late summer of 2011 that James and I parted company, and for Rogue Games our involvement was done.
We had many plans for this, but they were never executed. Not for any lack of planning on my end.
I wanted to do this as a boxset, with the boxset including a book for each level, a book of maps, and a book of background information. I wanted to do this as a slipcase, with the the slipcase having not only the dungeon, but an atlas, rules additions, and a megadungeon how-to guide. Heck somewhere in my files I have a fully fleshed outline for the how-to guide.
Cover looks very "WOD!" to me.
ReplyDeleteThe thing that never came across was that both James and I felt that you could still have old school with out it looking like it was old school. Rogue Experiments, the line we created where all the OSR/d20 material was going to be published, was all about taking the feel of old school, but brining a more modern take on trade dress and the like. Just because it is old school, does not mean it has to be old school.
DeleteLook at Shadow, Sword & Spell. Though I designed it using 12 Degrees, the game's look is modern. I did the graphic design and layout for RPGPundit's Arrows of Indra. That is a very old school game in scope, but the design is clean, modern, and has a Swiss feel to it.
Granted, this is not everyone's taste, nor do I realize everyone agrees with me, but we have progressed a long way graphic design wise, there is no reason to design books as if they were done on wax boards and manual type.
I should add, that cover was a mock up. I think I have a different version somewhere.
DeleteIt's the gritty, charnel, gray-washed texture of the imagery that brought White Wolf to mind because that was their "look" in the 90s. (They've ruined it for at least twenty more years!) Btw I do like the cleanness of the SSS design.
DeleteI hear you and agree with you. I took a hand's off approach to a lot of the graphic choices of what James wanted. I offered input when he wanted it, but for me, these were his babies and what he wanted he got.
DeleteI tended to ignore him when it came to Colonial Gothic and SS&S. :)
As for the look of SS&S, glad you liked it. I really like a clean style, and believe that the size of the book (6x9) does not allow for a lot of sparkle.