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If I do one it will most likely be Rubble and Ruin adventure (I am including two in the monograph which I want to get to Dustin at about the same time as the contest deadline).

Two buyers!

In my world that makes you an authority on the subject!

Nick will have a better answer – I’ve been using this software for one day now – but I think what you are asking about is found under the Page menu. My plan is to set up a two page document – in “letter” format, and then insert more then enough pages for my monograph. The after setting up two text boxes for the columns (and linking them), save two master pages – one for the even and one for the odd pages. Then apply each master as appropriate. If anyone had any thoughts about this, I would love to hear them.

Me again, So my current plan is to use my own line art in the interior – it should count as neither good nor bad, and if used judiciously I think it will work fine, but there is this “Robot Parking Only” sign here at my real job that I’m thinking of photograph (plus, I take the train through the ruins of East St. Louis each day and there are some half collapsed buildings that I may try). Any advice on using photography? What sort of resolution do I need for a small “single column wide” image? Again, I greatly appreciate all the helpful comments I have been receiving, Rich

Thanks to both of you -- I'll be looking into Scribus.

Thanks – that worked great. I have “editable embedding allowed” for both!

Hello All, Well I have a draft of four out of five chapters of Rubble and Ruin and I am starting to worry about assembling the final monograph. I have a few questions and I would love to hear any advice the folks at this forum might have to offer. Here they are (in no particular order, and with a certain amount of rambling): 1: font ownership. Chaosium says the authors must own the fonts in their works. I am using Arial and something called “OCR A Extended” both of which shipped on my laptop when I bought it. Anyone know if I can use these fonts? How do I find out? 2: Inexpensive clip art. DriveThrouRPG has lots of inexpensive clip art – most with commercial license but I can’t seem to find any with a post apocalyptic theme – anyone know of a good source for inexpensive PA artwork? 3: Everyone loves an index – but I’m a little intimidated by the prospect of putting one together. What do people think of an index to all the tables and lists and major headings only – for example an entry for each of the beasties in the monster section, and a listing for the “robot powers” list and the “automobile chasses” table – but not much more depth then that. Thanks, Rich

Last time I came up with the idea two weeks before the deadline – is it legal to plan ahead for these sorts of things?

I heard people complain about that from time to time, but I generally play with very numerate people so it just never comes up in play – it is a total none issue for me.

"Look forward to seeing your monograph. Does it allow telephathic dogs as sidekicks, too?" Yes!

I am looking forward to this... (I case you thought no one cared).

It is out: Chaosium Inc. !!!!!!

Here is the skill list for Rubble and Ruin -- I don't think it will help much for Glorantha. [table]Combat|Basic|Page Artillery *|special|52 Brawl|25%|52 Energy Weapon *|special|56 Firearm *|special|58 Grapple|25%|60 Heavy Weapon *|special|62 Martial Arts |1%|68 Melee Weapon *|special|69 Missile Weapon *|special|70 Parry *|special|70 Shield |special|78 Communication|Basic|Page Bargain |5%|52 Command |5%|53 Dog Handling|10%|New Disguise|1%|55 Etiquette *|5%|56 Fast Talk |5%|57 Language *|00%|66 Perform *|5%|71 Persuade|15%|71 Teach |10%|82 Manipulation|Basic|Page Art *|5%|50 Craft *|5%|54 Demolition |1%|54 Fine Manipulation *|5%|57 Food |15%|New Heavy Machine *|1%|62 Repair *|15% |73 Sleight of Hand |5%|78 Technology |Age - 20%|New Mental|Basic|Page Appraise |15%|50 Communications Technology|1%|New Dirt Farming|25%|New EMT |0%|New First Aid|30%|Redefined Gaming|Int+POW%|60 Health Care|0%|New Knowledge *|5%|64 Literacy |Age - 20%|67 Physician |0%|New Science *|1%|75 Strategy |1%|80 Surgery |0%|New Technical Skill |1%|82 Trauma Medicine |0%|New Wilderness Skill *|10% |New Perception|Basic|Page Insight |5%|63 Listen |25%|67 Navigate |10%|70 Research |25%|74 Sense |10%|77 Spot |25%|78 Track |10%|83 Physical|Basic|Page Climb |40%|52 Dodge |Dex+Dex%|55 Drive *|20% |55 Hide |10%|62 Jump |25%|63 Pilot *|1% |72 Ride *|5% |75 SCUBA |5%|New Stealth|10%|80 Swim |25%|81 Throw |25%|83 [/table]

I fully agree with frogspawner.

I know people who view skills as “universal truths” – these are the “real skills” and those aren’t. I don’t do this, instead when I start a campaign I decide if I am going to use what I call an “open” or “closed” skill set. In a closed skill set I list all the skills that I will ever require in the game, and then the players will know from the start how to focus their limited character resources. (This approach is consistent with my view that mechanics take the role that cinematograph does in movies – they both draw the attention to those details that are important to the director’s vision of the story.) If I was doing a mountain climbing game, I might have three or four different climbing skills on the skill list, but I might not have any, for example, artistry skills. In an open skill game, I let the players freely create skills that describe their characters (freely – within reason), and then I judge each situation as it comes up regarding the applicability of the skill. For example, a 1920’s horror game, I might call for a History roll. One player whose character does not have the skill might ask if he can use Archeology. Depending on the situation, I might say “sure, but at a -15%” or what ever. For the record, over the last couple of years I have been leaning a lot more towards closed skill games.

Around my house it’s “Jay Jay the Jet Plane”... If anyone is interested, I will be blogging about Rubble and Ruin on my blog on this forum (just follow the “Blogs” link in the upper right corner of this message). Please feel free to visit. Rich

I’ve got the first three chapters out to two play-testers! I thought people might be interested in this – on the inside front cover of the monograph I have a small section called inspirations. Inspirations There are many different forms of post apocalyptic stories each with their own flavor. Rubble and Ruin focuses on only one vision of the future – the following stories most closely capture the feel of the Rubble and Ruin world: A Boy and His Dog (Film: 1975) or the original story by Harlan Ellison Le Dernier combat (Film: 1983) [if you haven’t seen this film, don’t worry that the film is in “French”, it contains almost no dialog.] Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome (Film: 1985) [if you haven’t seen this movie, then this might not be the best game for you to play.] The Postman (Book: 1985, David Brin) [The movie version of this story removed all the cyborgs and artificial intelligence that are central to Rubble and Ruin.] Dhalgren (Book: 1974, Samuel Delany) [The social elements of this story greatly influenced the fluid gang-structure of the rubble, even though the autumnal city is very different from the one presented here.]

I've just started thinking about the artwork -- so right now I have nothing. Sorry.

It will be a big one. I currently have 54 pages using an 8 point font – when I was working in 10 point it was almost 80! I’ll have to improve my layout skills before I will know for sure, but Dustin called the proposal a “monster”. Rich

Today I got word that R&R has been accepted! Let’s hope this goes well. I am currently looking for play testers – if you are interested, let me know! I have character generation finished – if you would like to make a few characters and let me know what you think, I would like to hear from you. Rich

I put a lot of thought into what I was going to propose – I could see two ways to do the monograph. The first would be to write a generic “create-your-own-PA-world” work something like Aftermath! The other approach was to take one PA world and detail it. In my mind the world that you get in a PA setting depends heavily on the “A” part – since I wanted to include a lot of “cool” science fiction stuff that I had developed for my own games I finally settled on doing my “Dungeons and Dragons with guns” setting. That said, R&R will have a lot of material that can be useful for a variety of PA settings – even if you trash my world and history. Most of the professions should be generic enough for any 20-years after game. Likewise the skills and specialties should be generally applicable. For example, I have a more detailed medical system which is of value in games without magical healing – R&R has skills like Trauma Medicine and Surgery. So the short answer is, yeah I think you will find the material helpful for most PA games, and a lot of them can be run with very little modification.

The world started life as an Aftermath! Game. The cosmetics-and-robots bit is just a product of my lysdexia (the hardest part will be trying to catch all those before it goes to print).

Hello, I just heard from Dustin that my monograph proposal has been accepted! Below is how I described the monograph to Chaosium. I am currently hoping to get it submitted by early summer 2009. If anyone is interested, I would welcome some volunteer play testers! Please let me know if this is something you might be interested in. Thanks, Rich -------------------------------------------------- Rubble and Ruin: A Basic Role Playing setting monograph. It is twenty years after the end of the global wars and our world lies in ruin. Once great cities are now nothing more then bombed and shattered hulks populated with bioengineered soldiers, giant rats and rouge robots. This is the world of Rubble and Ruin a setting for Basic Role Playing inspired by the classic post apocalyptic fiction of the 1970's and 80's. Chapters: Chapter 1: The Ruined City. This 7,000 word chapter introduces the ruined city and its denizens. It gives a short timeline and a "gazetteer" of the major components of the setting. It also introduces the concept of "prospectors"; those brave (or foolish) adventurers that enter the ruins in order to recover bits and pieces of technology to trade the enclaves. Chapter 2: Characters. Over 13,000 words presenting six cultures, seven new races, a complete listing of all skills and specialties used in Rubble and Ruin - including 13 new skills, a complete listing of the professions available to the different cultures, plus a section on powers giving simple mechanics for biomodifications, cybernetics, nanopsionics and dozens of new failings. Chapter 3: Spot Rules. A chapter with over 10,000 words giving expanded rules for those things of special interest in the rubble; barter, firearms, building and fighting from cars, and the prospectors best friend the common dog. Chapter 4: A World of Rubble. A chapter with 8,000 words detailing the world from the game master's perspective. It includes some overview material as well as a bestiary, information on hostile elements of the environment, and sample gangs. Chapter 5: Adventures. This chapter has two 5,000 word introductory adventures and four 500 word adventure seeds. The first adventure, "The Vent Fan" describes a small underground bunker that a group of prospectors discover while hunting for salvageable technology. They quickly learn that there is an underground complex surviving from the second Global War - populated with various monsters and full of valuable technology. The second adventure, "Kicks on Route 666" details an inter-gang race with lots of post-fall cars, vehicle mounted weapons and very few rules. Be sure to gather information on your competition before the race - and you might want to also sabotage their vehicles. The four adventure seeds introduce oddities that can be found in the ruin and that a game master can expand into several sessions of adventure. Common Trade Goods: The monograph ends with over 10,000 words about equipment and other items that can be found in the ruin; everything from tools and weapons to nanites and hand-held sensors. All the gear has trade values and encumbrance as well as short descriptions wherever they are needed.

I also do not know who made the cut – I e-mailed Dustin back and asked if he had any idea when the “winners” would be announced. I haven’t heard anything yet.