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Pitches wanted (fantasy RPG) | 10 cents per word

Added 2023-09-28 16:24:31 +0000 UTC

COMPANY/PUBLICATION: SIDEQUEST

Deadline: 10 October 2023

I am actively seeking for future issues of SIDEQUEST.

We received a lot of excellent submissions during our last pitch call, which has filled out a lot of the slots for content in year 3 of the magazine, meaning we (hopefully) don't need to do monthly pitch calls to catch up on the backlog anymore and can do fewer, large scale pitch calls several times a year.

This pitch call is going focus on content that's needed or that I'm interested in for issues 29-34 which run from November '23 - April '24. Some of these slots are for very specific content that we have slated and need mechanical or narrative writers for, but we also have open articles where you can pitch a broader range of ideas. For this pitch call I want to experiment by hiring other writers for articles that typically I would handle personally, such as our iconic characters. But I believe that the world of Istar will be richer for more having more voices representing it, so I'm excited to see what y'all come up with.

Onto the pitch call!

ISSUE 29

Omen Owls, monster statblocks (5e and PF2): Omen Owls are a new monster that serve Ket, the god of death and murder. When someone avoids a gruesome death in which they were fated to perish, Ket dispatches the Omen Owls to claim their souls. These are horror-themed monsters and should evoke the feeling of being in a Final Destination film. We're looking for statblocks for 5e and PF2, ideally from the same writer, and your pitch should include some ideas for how you you would interoperate the fantasy of these horrific hunters trying to right the balance of the universe through murder via game mechanics.

ISSUE 31

Open Article: This issue has a nature/forest theme and will include a gazetteer detailing the land of Ngawe and the singing trees, an article about our iconic Goblin Druid, Mulch, and will include a new Ranger Conclave. We're looking for a 4th article up to 1,500 words with a similar nature theme.

Mulch, Our Iconic Goblin Druid: We are looking for a narrative writer to develop the background history for our iconic druid, Mulch the goblin, in an article of 600-1000 words in length. This would require no mechanical writing. A reference image of the character is attached to this email. Your pitch should be a short paragraph with broad ideas for Mulch's life pre-adventure, an inciting incident that spurred him to adventure, as well as his personality.

ISSUE 32

Peoples of the Howling Badlands: As part of a larger article we are looking for a mechanical writer to develop 2 heritages/subraces for our Istar setting. Both of these peoples live in an area known as the Howling Badlands. This was once an Elf dominion before a magical explosion irradiated the area and turned it into a magical red desert. The region is now famed for a red crystalline substance known as cinder. Neither side knows who is responsible for the explosion that ruined the region, and both sides blame each other.

- Cinder Dwarf: These dwarves have a red-hue to their skin which is a result of their consumption of cinder, the magical crystal substance which slows the petrification process which dwarves in the Istar setting go through as they age, eventually turning to stone. A side-effect of cinder consumption is increased aggression and rage.

- Eltraeth Elves: These nomadic elves live in the red deserts of the howling badlands, and have also been exposed to trace amounts of cinder through generations, though they do not actively consume it.
We are looking for one writer to do the mechanical writing for a PF2 heritage and 5e subrace for each of the two peoples, for a total article length of 300-500 words. We would not need any narrative writing for this article.

Open Article (non-monster): We have space for another article up to 1,500 words in this issue with no specific theme, so pitch whatever interests you, so long as it isn't a monster, as we already have one scheduled for this issue.

ISSUE 33

Alara, our Iconic Human Paladin: We are looking for a narrative writer to develop the background history for our iconic paladin, Alara the human, in an article of 600-1000 words in length. This would require no mechanical writing. A reference image of the character is attached to this email. Your pitch should be a short paragraph with broad ideas for Alara's life pre-adventure, an inciting incident that spurred her to adventure, as well as her personality. Alara is devoted to the Goddess of Protection, but that is the only detail about her that is set in stone.

ISSUE 34

Open Article Fantastic Location: Up to 1,500 words talking about a fantastic location that can be placed into any campaign setting. A evocative name is critical here. No one wants to go to Jim's Tower when they see it on a map. But they will be desperate to go to the Tower of Shattered Time. If your pitch doesn't have an evocative name that immediately grips me, it's unlikely to move to the outline stage. These should be the kind of locations players could get excited by when seeing them on a map. These articles are high-level macro descriptions of locations, not room-by-room encounter based locations or adventures.

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A note on the setting of Istar: In year 3 of SIDEQUEST we are putting a greater emphasis on developing our campaign setting of Istar, which has had some content produced for it over the course of the last 2 years of the 'zine. The intention is that every article will include at least some context about this world and setting. In the future, I'd like to provide a setting bible for writers to reference, but in the meantime each article will likely have multiple writers working on different elements, and when working on content specific to the setting it may require a little more back and forth with the primary writer to make sure everything about an article is clearly communicated.

Before pitching, please familiarize yourself with the rules for submission over on patreon, and check out the article index to make sure what you are pitching hasn't already been published.

The pitch deadline is Tuesday, October 10th 2023. After this time I will review all pitches and decide which ones will progress to the outline stage.

HOW TO PITCH

Please email your pitches in a separate email with the subject line "SIDEQUEST Pitch, [Pitch Name], [Your Name]". If I like your pitch I will ask you for an outline and we will proceed from there.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

CONTACT INFORMATION (please do not share the email address publicly):

Questions/submissions: info@icarusminiatures.com
Website: https://www.patreon.com/icarus_games

TO HELP YOU CRAFT YOUR PITCH:

Learn more about the publication: SIDEQUEST is a monthly RPG Magazine filled with content to use for Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition games, as well articles to inspire creativity. The magazine has 3 pillars of content: usable content, advice content, and content to inspire.
Review the submission guidelines here.
Check out our collection of pitch excerpts on this page and find more sample pitches at The Open Notebook Database and at SuccessfulPitches.com.
Do not forget to end your pitch with (1) a short introduction about yourself; (2) a paragraph highlighting your writing experience, relevant credentials and publication credits; and (3) links to your strongest work or portfolio, and online profile.

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