DMsGuild: D&D Style-Guides give a unique insight into the game

[Remathilis]

While perusing the DMsGuild the other day, I stumbled upon a rather interesting little gem that is free to download: A D&D Style-guide for publishing. Check it out here:

https://www.dmsguild.com/product/25...e-Guide-Resources?filters=0_0_45476_0_0_0_0_0

Its only been on the site a month or so, but MAN does it have some interesting insight on how WotC views D&D and the Realms...

Ok, first things first: Its divided into four PDFs: An IP Guide (discussing how to use D&D's various IPs and ideas), an Adventure Guide (a rather short and bland bit of info for novice adventure writers), a Style Guide (how to create, and properly format, D&D rules and lore) and a Forgotten Realms Style Guide (how to adapt content to fit with Faerun). Each is loaded with some interesting and useful info on how WotC sees its stewardship of D&D these days.

There is so much more info there too, from languages of Faerun to a primer on the main races to the stars in the Faerunian sky. I recommend every DM grab one, if for no other reason than to peer into what WotC views as important in its brand these days.

 

[aco175]

I remember this in the old Dragon and Dungeon days if you were planning to submit something there. It does help to standardize things and help make people write clearer.

 

[Older Beholder]

Thanks for sharing this,
I've always liked reading these submission guidelines.
It was always a pipe dream to submit an adventure to Dungeon Magazine back in the day.

Maybe this will help me to focus and get something written for DMs Guild.

 

[Quickleaf]

Been looking it over the four documents and there was this odd line in the D&D IP Guide:

"Linking all planes together is the city of Sigil, characters should not be traveling there."

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Suggests they want to keep Sigil clear for official stuff down the line.

 

[Remathilis]

Been looking it over the four documents and there was this odd line in the D&D IP Guide:

"Linking all planes together is the city of Sigil, characters should not be traveling there."

I took that to mean that while adventures can feature the planes, they don't want that to backdoor open Planescape's IP as well yet. You can have an adventure which takes the players to the Abyss, but they shouldn't go through a portal in the Lady's Ward guarded by Harmonium bariaur soldiers to get there.

 

[gyor]

I noticed the IP Guide refers you to a list of common FR gods in the D&D style guide, a list that is NOT in the D&D style guide.

 

[pukunui]

There's some great stuff in the FR style guide. It's a real shame WotC doesn't bother to make sure their hardcovers follow the guidelines (e.g. The style guide says "week" is banned and one should use "tenday" instead, but "week" shows up in FR products all the time!)

 

[Parmandur]

There's some great stuff in the FR style guide. It's a real shame WotC doesn't bother to make sure their hardcovers follow the guidelines (e.g. The style guide says "week" is banned and one should use "tenday" instead, but "week" shows up in FR products all the time!)

Could be these are new internal guidelines made for just that reason, that they decided to share.

 

[Quickleaf]

I took that to mean that while adventures can feature the planes, they don't want that to backdoor open Planescape's IP as well yet. You can have an adventure which takes the players to the Abyss, but they shouldn't go through a portal in the Lady's Ward guarded by Harmonium bariaur soldiers to get there.

Well, Sigil the City of Doors & the Lady of Pain are both mentioned in the DMG; they're definitely no longer just "Planescape IP."

There's further insight into their thinking on page 4 of the D&D IP Guide:

[SECTION]Multiple Planes of Existence
While Faerûn is where most of the action should take place in a D&D RPG, the world exists as one within multiple planes. These planes classically form a cosmology known as The Great Wheel. See the Dungeon Master’s Guide for more information on the Great Wheel. The most important concept to remember is that even if the players never visit another plane, the fact that multiple planes exist is knowledge that many adventurers and sages share. Common folk might not commonly know or think about the planes but their influence may be felt over the course of a D&D adventure. Elementals from the elemental planes, for example, demons originate from the Abyss, and devils from the Nine Hells.[/SECTION]

This says that, for the time being, they want to keep the focus on Faerûn. Which makes that sentence about Sigil ("characters should not be traveling there") redundant.

The only reason I can think for them calling out Sigil specifically as a place to avoid is that they have plans to release a product dealing with Sigil.