Where I'm up to with OpenQuest

[Newt]

Over at my Sorcerer Under Mountain blog I navel gaze about what the heck is going on with OpenQuest.

• Where I'm up to with OpenQuest

Short of it, I'm producing a slightly cleaned up version of the rules, putting back in the Empire of Gatan setting chapter and the Road Less Travelled adventure, with plans to add some more monsters (about 20 or so at the moment). Oh and the wrap round dragon cover is coming back.  But mainly I'm going to be working on getting out the 3 or so adventures I've got written up before the end of the year (and this is not including Green Hell) . There's also going to be news on the River of Heaven and Company front

 

[Prime Evil]

This is good news. I'm glad to hear that OpenQuest has a future. But if you don't have doubts about the quality of your own work, you probably don't care about it enough :)

The comment that the OGL situation almost killed OQ is concerning though. My understanding is that even if the MRQ1 SRD is no longer valid under the OGL, OpenQuest is still OK under the provision of Section 13 of the OGL. This section states that if the upstream license was terminated "all (existing) sublicenses shall survive the termination of this License". In other words, so long as you were in full compliance with the terms of the OGL, your sublicense survives when the upstream publisher loses the right to distribute the SRD. In this specific case, the inclusion of Glorantha-specific material in the SRD was a breach of Section 5 of the OGL (Representation of Authority to Contribute). Mongoose did not have the right to release this IP as Open Game Content, so when their license to produce RQ expired they were then in breach of the license. Because they did not cure this breach within the 30-day grace period, their right to distribute the SRD automatically terminated. However, due to the clause about the survival of sublicenses I suspect you are on solid ground provided that you do not reference any of the Glorantha-specific material (thereby falling afoul of section 5 yourself).

[Newt]

Just to be clear the whole "OGL situation" did not almost kill OQ. OQ's legal situation was never in doubt in my mind, in fact the whole discussion about the MRQ SRD gave me a kick up the arse to stop leaving the game fallow   

[Jakob]

Good to hear - I look forward to more OpenQuest adventures!

Though I must confess that I like the new cover and was about to get that edition in addition to the deluxe 2nd ... now I'm not sure whether I shout wait for the next edition.

 

EDIT: And BTW, even though this is not a BRP question -  any indication about when the Beyond Dread Portals crowdfunding will start?

Edited August 9, 2018 by Jakob

[Newt]

I've got Jon Hodgson on cover duties for the new edition, so that might influence your decision

Beyond Dread Portals will kickstart in January of next year. later this year (hopefully end of September).

Edited August 16, 2018 by Newt

[Jakob]

Jon Hodgson is certainly always a good reason to get a book ... (BDP cover is by him, too, isn't it? I think that's my favourite Hodgson cover yet!)

[g33k]

On 8/8/2018 at 2:55 AM, Newt said:

... There's also going to be news on the ... Company front

Excellent.  That's a product that has been on my radar for a while (most of my group, at present, are not so militarily-oriented), and that I've recommended several times to folks interested in a "Modern Special Ops" game.

Plus, it seems just SO ripe for blending with any of several other genre's for a tasty homebrew.  Add different flavors of occult, get different flavors of "Modern Urban Fantasy" with that military cast; add some SciFi elements and get something like the old "V" space-invaders franchise, or the Stargate movies / TV-series... etc etc etc.  Just a great resource!

I look forward to new news.

[ORtrail]

Sounds good Newt.  You obviously had a vision for what you wanted from OpenQuest, but being human we are usually pretty sensitive to feedback and then the doubts creep in. 

[Newt]

OK brief update: After a quick chat with OQ collaborator Paul Mitchener yesterday, I've decided to spend more time on it and I won't be pushing for its release as quickly as I previously stated. Looking more at Quarter 1 2019 than Quarter 4 2018. If like @Jakob you are interested in Beyond Dread Portals, that's going to be our next Kickstarter in Sept/October (once a few bits and pieces are out of the way).

[Newt]

On 8/10/2018 at 6:25 PM, g33k said:

Plus, it seems just SO ripe for blending with any of several other genre's for a tasty homebrew.  Add different flavors of occult, get different flavors of "Modern Urban Fantasy" with that military cast; add some SciFi elements and get something like the old "V" space-invaders franchise, or the Stargate movies / TV-series... etc etc etc.  Just a great resource!

I explored some of the avenues The Company could take in this Making off.. post I did in support of the OpenQuest Bundle of Holding

• The Making of the Company

My current goal is to do a small amount of revision to the current set of rules to bring it in line with the small changes I made in OQ Revised, and then get it in print at DriveThruRpg.com. The pdf if not the printed version as well, will also be updated to use the colour photos.

Where I go after that? Depends on how big a makeover OQ gets. Could be looking at a new edition, but I'm certainly looking at doing a scenario or two to support it