Pathfinder: Avast, Me Hearties! There Be an Open Call for Writers!

In honor of International Talk Like A Pirate Day, we at Jon Brazer Enterprises are making it known a few of our upcoming plan! We plan to be releasin’ a few Pirate themed PDFs over the next few months and we would like to invite ye to submit yur best pirate themed spells to us for publication, har har.

What are we lookin’ fur?
We want spells for any and all of the Pathfinder Role Playing Game classes. These are fur classes that are presented in the Core Rulebook, Advanced Player’s Guide and Ultimate Magic. We would like them formatted in the same style as Paizo does them in the Core Rulebook. We be lookin’ fur spells from all the schools of magic. But they must have a pirate theme to them. If you can see it being more useful to a crew of mates then a gang o’ landlubbers, then send it off to us. Gun/cannon spells be ok, but we be limitin’ the number o’ these spells we publish.

What be we NOT lookin’ fur?

  • Unbalanced spells. There is a good description of the power level of each spell in Ultimate Combat. We recommend comparin’ your spell to those guidelines and to spell in the Pathfinder Core Rulebook.
  • Spells not formatted correctly. If you came up with yur own custom format fur spells, that be well and good fur yur game. We, however, will not acceptin’ ’em.
  • Spells that already exist. We be looking for original spells. Don’t send us spells that ye found in another spell book (most especially the Spell Compendium). If ya do, yur spell be goin down to Davey Jones’ Locker. Har har.
  • Greater spells, lesser spells, acid fireballs, etc. Don’t be sendin’ us a spell that already exists with a minor tweet or two. We be looking fur somethin’ new and different.
  • Bad grammer/spelling, spell in pirate talk. The open call may be in pirate speak, but we not be wantin’ your spells in it. Remember, not everyone speaks English as their first language so we not be wantin’ ’em havin’ more trouble with readin’ these spells. If we have to edit your grammer much, we be firing your spell out the starboard cannon.

How should ye be sendin’ us yur spells?
Send us an email to submissions@jonbrazer.com with your spell inside. Subject Line should be Pirate Spell Submission. Attachments will get ye a keel haulin’. Place yur spells in the body of the email. We prefer to get more spells in a single email than more emails each with a single spell in ’em.

What kind of reward ye can expect fur yur spells
Now we be gettin’ to the important part here. We be payin’ 1 US cent for every word in your spell that gets published. We may be editing yur spell. So if you bloat your spell with unnecessary words, we may just be feeding the rest of the spell to the sharks.

Will we accept all spells submitted.
No. There only be so much room on the ship and we need only the best spells that be submitted off to us. If we do not accept yur spell (or we accept a spell that be similar to yurs), we be send ye an email that lets ye know that. Of course, we be sending emails to those that get accepted as well. So ye can expect an email either way.

When do we want yur spells by?
October 19th be the last day we be acceptin’ spells. If ye send us a spell on October 20th, yur spell be food for the sea gulls. So ye have one month from today to send us your best spell.

When should ye send us an email about yur spells?
We be gettin’ alot o’ emails so if we do not be gettin’ back to you by Nov 20th, worry not. We be working as hard as we can. However, if ye hadn’t received an email from us by then, send us an email remindin’ us.

[Pathfinder] Avast, Me Hearties! There Be an Open Call for Writers!

In honor of International Talk Like A Pirate Day, we at Jon Brazer Enterprises are making it known a few of our upcoming plan! We plan to be releasin’ a few Pirate themed PDFs over the next few months and we would like to invite ye to submit yur best pirate themed spells to us for publication, har har.

What are we lookin’ fur?
We want spells for any and all of the Pathfinder Role Playing Game classes. These are fur classes that are presented in the Core Rulebook, Advanced Player’s Guide and Ultimate Magic. We would like them formatted in the same style as Paizo does them in the Core Rulebook. We be lookin’ fur spells from all the schools of magic. But they must have a pirate theme to them. If you can see it being more useful to a crew of mates then a gang o’ landlubbers, then send it off to us. Gun/cannon spells be ok, but we be limitin’ the number o’ these spells we publish.

What be we NOT lookin’ fur?

  • Unbalanced spells. There is a good description of the power level of each spell in Ultimate Combat. We recommend comparin’ your spell to those guidelines and to spell in the Pathfinder Core Rulebook.
  • Spells not formatted correctly. If you came up with yur own custom format fur spells, that be well and good fur yur game. We, however, will not acceptin’ ’em.
  • Spells that already exist. We be looking for original spells. Don’t send us spells that ye found in another spell book (most especially the Spell Compendium). If ya do, yur spell be goin down to Davey Jones’ Locker. Har har.
  • Greater spells, lesser spells, acid fireballs, etc. Don’t be sendin’ us a spell that already exists with a minor tweet or two. We be looking fur somethin’ new and different.
  • Bad grammer/spelling, spell in pirate talk. The open call may be in pirate speak, but we not be wantin’ your spells in it. Remember, not everyone speaks English as their first language so we not be wantin’ ’em havin’ more trouble with readin’ these spells. If we have to edit your grammer much, we be firing your spell out the starboard cannon.

How should ye be sendin’ us yur spells?
Send us an email to submissions@jonbrazer.com with your spell inside. Subject Line should be Pirate Spell Submission. Attachments will get ye a keel haulin’. Place yur spells in the body of the email. We prefer to get more spells in a single email than more emails each with a single spell in ’em.

What kind of reward ye can expect fur yur spells
Now we be gettin’ to the important part here. We be payin’ 1 US cent for every word in your spell that gets published. We may be editing yur spell. So if you bloat your spell with unnecessary words, we may just be feeding the rest of the spell to the sharks.

Will we accept all spells submitted.
No. There only be so much room on the ship and we need only the best spells that be submitted off to us. If we do not accept yur spell (or we accept a spell that be similar to yurs), we be send ye an email that lets ye know that. Of course, we be sending emails to those that get accepted as well. So ye can expect an email either way.

When do we want yur spells by?
October 19th be the last day we be acceptin’ spells. If ye send us a spell on October 20th, yur spell be food for the sea gulls. So ye have one month from today to send us your best spell.

When should ye send us an email about yur spells?
We be gettin’ alot o’ emails so if we do not be gettin’ back to you by Nov 20th, worry not. We be working as hard as we can. However, if ye hadn’t received an email from us by then, send us an email remindin’ us.

Support the Wayne Foundation and Get Awesome RPG Goodness!

As a small business owner, Jon Brazer Enterprises does our part to give back to the community and make our world a better place. To this end, myself and others are supporting the Wayne Foundation by donating a number of our products to put together a charity bundle. For your donation to this charity, you get a PDF copy of all of the following books:

Jon Brazer Enterprises
Book of Beasts: Wandering Monsters 1
Book of River Nations: Exploration and Kingdom Building
Player Careers Pack 1

4 Winds Fantasy Gaming
Players Aid II: Monster Summoning Cards
Players Aid III: Nature’s Ally Summoning Cards

Dig a Thousand Holes Publishing
Time & Temp: Paperless Office Edition

The Impossible Dream
Dread

Third Eye Games
Wu Xing: The Ninja Crusades

Alliterated Games
Cannibal Contagion

Jess Hartley
Conventions for the Aspiring Game Professional

Pawn and Hex Games
Jumpers

DwD Studios
Adventure Idea Factory

Battlefield Press, Inc.
HeartQuest Core Rules

Wicked North Games
Azamar

Chaotic Shiny Productions
Treasure Hoard GenPack

Trevor Cristensen
Toypocalypse

Ally Nauss
Social Observance

Troll in the Corner
Argyle & Crew
Mi Gato se Incendia! (My Cat is on Fire!)
Devious NPCs and Curious Creatures
Mirkmoot I & II
World of Aruneus: Orcs, Zombies and the Herbology

Goto DriveThruRPG Today and support the Wayne Foundation!

So why are we doing this? This is best put by this Letter from The Wayne Foundation.

Hello, my name is Jamie Walton – founder and president of The Wayne Foundation.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, child prostitution has become an epidemic crime with victim estimates ranging between 300,000 and 800,000 children internationally.

Human trafficking, domestic trafficking, and child prostitution are crimes that can befall any child, anywhere, and at any time. I was once one of these children.  Like so many other victims my abusers were never arrested for their crimes.  I felt as if no one loved me or cared about what happened to me.

It has taken me many years to come to terms with the horrendous abuse I experienced as a child. Now, I am breaking my silence in the hope that I can give a voice to children who are today’s victims.

Every day, thousands of children in the United States are bought and sold for the purposes of sex.

With your help, we can give them a way out and a chance to start a new life.

The Wayne Foundation’s vision is for a world without child slavery. Our mission is to provide young women who have fallen victim to commercial sexual exploitation and domestic trafficking with a means of leaving the sex industry for good. The Wayne Foundation is committed to fighting human trafficking, child prostitution & child sex exploitation one victim at a time by providing individuals with a safe home environment that will empower them with the tools they will need to stop the cycle of abuse.

It is our intent to stop commercial sex exploitation within the United States through direct victim assistance, public outreach, and by directly working with those who shape the policies and statutes which impact victims and their abusers.

Where you come in

Every cent of profit made from this bundle will go directly to The Wayne Foundation to help them accomplish this mission. Not only will you get some great RPG and board game products, but you’ll be helping Jamie and her foundation get off the ground and into action.

You can listen to an amazing interview with Jamie Walton, hosted by Kevin Smith which will give you a much more detailed idea of what Jamie went through as a child, and why she, with Kevin’s help, decided to start the Wayne Foundation. Here’s part one and part two.

For more information please visit The Wayne Foundation Charity Pack information page.

Goto DriveThruRPG Today and support the Wayne Foundation!

The Book of Beasts and Book of the River Nations Are Up for Awards!

Jon Brazer Enterprises is proud to announce that the Book of Beasts: Monsters of the River Nations and the Book of the River Nations: Complete Player’s Reference for Kingdom Building are up for Gaming Genius Awards in the categories of Best RPG Supplement and Most Innovative New Product. See all the award Nominees here. (Sorry we deleted the link since the site has since been taken over by spambots.)

We at Jon Brazer Enterprises are thrilled to be apart of this and would like to wish the best luck to all other nominees. To vote for our books or your favorite nominated books, send an email to the Gaming Genius Awards crew and tell them why you feel you are qualified to vote for the best games anywhere. Send them an email today since the awards ceremony is during the Montreal ComicCon on Sept 17-18! Show Your Love for Jon Brazer Enterprises by voting for us today!

About The International Gamers Guild and the Gamers Guild

The International Gamers Guild (IGG) and its parent organization (The Gamers Guild) are non-profit organizations dedicated to empowering participants in roleplaying games, miniatures, wargames, boardgames, LARPs, and related hobbies to promote such hobbies in the wider community and to increase their opportunities to enjoy the hobby as well. The Central Committee of the Gaming Genius Awards are an anonymous group of directors from the Gamer’s Guild.

Book of the River Nations 2nd Printing PDF Uploaded

Jon Brazer Enterprises is committed to bringing you the highest quality products. To this end, we have uploaded the PDF to the second printing of the Book of the River Nations: Complete Player’s Reference for Kingdom Building to both DriveThruRPG/RPGNow and Paizo.com. To receive your PDF copy, goto the downloads page of the respective website and click on the Book of the River Nations link. This printing incorporates the errata and rules clarifications that had previously been available online.

While the second printing had come out earlier this summer, I had only recently realized that I had not previously uploaded it to web. If you are wondering if your print book is a first printing or second printing, first printings are staple bound while second printings are perfect bound. We apologize for not uploading the book sooner and hope that you enjoy the material.

And as always, we hope that the book is enhancing your world and your game.

The Right Font for the Right Job

Last night I was working on the cover to the next Book of Beasts. Placing the logos is a lot more time consuming than you’d think. “Does it look good here or should I move it over 2 pixels?” is a common question. Yes, being that nitpicky really is that important.

So I came to the title. I put it in place and made sure it filled the space. Done. I sat back and thought about it and I didn’t feel the font was perfect. So I changed it. About a dozen different font tests later, I still wasn’t satisfied. I narrowed them down to the above 4 choices (click on the image to see a larger version of it). To me, each says something different. The top choice says “Disney movie” to me. Its a beautiful font, but I don’t want someone looking at the Book of Beasts and thinking Beauty and the Beast.

The font below that one to me says “Gothic Horror.” It makes me think of Dracula and all the classic horror stories we geeks grew up on. That’s good, but I’m not sure if that is what I am looking for with this one. I will admit, since I used it in Book of Beasts: Wandering Monsters 1 as the logo, this font might be chosen. Branding is important.

The next to the bottom font is cool and all but … for some reason I think of Pan’s Labyrinth. While that is a good thing in my opinion, I’d prefer it more for something like if I was doing what Paizo calls the First World or White Wolf calls Arcadia or Jim Butcher calls the Nevernever. Basically, Faerie. That is definitely not what I am doing with this. But I still like the font.

The bottom font is more of what I consider to be a basic font. It presents the title in big attention grabbing letters. As a small publisher, grabbing attention is important. However, the font itself does little to promote the fact that this is a fantasy book. I could see this font being used in science fiction or modern or super heroes. Definitely super heroes.

So what do you think. Is there one you like more than the others. Is there a font you like that I didn’t use. Check out dafont.com for more awesome fonts.

What Conventions Should We Go To?

We’re looking at getting a tentative convention schedule for the next year assembled, but a lot of cons have poorly maintained (or non-existant) websites. Many others we find their website by accident instead of a simple Google search. So we’re coming to you. What local gaming cons do you goto that we should be at. Realistically, we can only go anywhere inside the area of Columbus OH, Rochester, NY, Boston, MA, and Norfolk, VA. We’re really only looking at smaller gaming cons (as small as 50 to as large as 5,000-10,000 attendees). Anything larger (or any size non-gaming focused convention) and a small company like ours tends to get lost in the sea of vendors. We’re currently looking for either Pathfinder-focused cons or a general gaming con where Pathfinder is one of the games played. I’m more than happy to run some games.

So we’re asking you. What is your favorite gaming con? Tell us! We love small cons of 50-100 attendees. They’re really small and personal and we get to know all the gamers there. Tell us about your local con today.

JBE and the 2012 Pathfinder Announcements

So GenCon is over for the year. The news coming out of the great gamer con is exciting as it always is. Most exciting for us is Paizo’s Pathfinder announcements. Incase you had not heard, the word is that Paizo will be releasing Ultimate Equipment as their GenCon 2012 release and the AP after the Pirate themed one is going to be about artifact-hunting and more Runelord stuff. All of which sounds like fun to us but we’re even more thrilled that our plans for 2012 are completely different.

We were really worried that Paizo was going to do something similar enough that it would leave us largely ignored. To date, we have 4 covers commissioned and turned in, manuscripts for large sections of those books turned in (and one is nearly finished) and deals made for several more tie in surprises. All that would be for not if the main company was doing something in a similar vein.

I’m not ready to say anything yet. We’re about 2ish months away from making any formal announcement but subscribers to our newsletter will be getting exclusive previews and first looks each month. Sign up today to stay in the know.

The “I’m Not Going To GenCon Either” Sale

Are you going to GenCon? No? Neither are we. We at Jon Brazer Enterprises want to give you the next best thing, namely getting your favorite PDFs at 20% off. From now through Aug 7th, you can grab ALL of our PDFs (that are over 50 cents) for 20% off. That’s right! All of them. Even our newest release: Book of the River Nations: Complete Player’s Reference to Kingdom Building is on sale for 20% off.

Grab them now at DriveThruRPG/RPGNow! This sale ends Aug 7th. Get yours today!

Sign Up For Our Newsletter

This past July 1, we finally launched our monthly newsletter. The newsletter is a great place to keep up to date as to what is going on at JBE and to catch exclusive previews not available anywhere else. We’re preparing our August 1st newletter now and we’ve got some special surprises coming up. Sign up today to see what we have instore.