Wednesday 5 January 2022

Now Accepting Submissions: Volume 1, In the Hall of the Third Blue Wizard


This year I will be launching a new zine, In the Hall of the Third Blue Wizard. It is now open for submissions for its first volume (printing to be funded by a kickstarter in spring). 

I copy below the blurb from the Noisms Games website:

In the Hall of the Third Blue Wizard is a new magazine which publishes hexmaps, dungeons and adventure sites for ‘old school’ fantasy games; art; and fantasy fiction. 

It seeks to promote the the beautiful, the strange, the heroic, the fantastical, and, above all, the imaginative. 

For submissions, email Noisms Games with your work attached. This should be: 

  • An original hexmap, dungeon or adventure site, accompanied by a fully keyed map (this does not need to be aesthetically pleasing - merely clear and legible), with the minimal stats necessary for use in standard ‘old school’ fantasy games (minimum 2,000/maximum 10,000 words) 
  • An original work of art, in full colour, in at least 300dpi format, for a B5 page (full or half page)
  • An original short work of fantasy fiction (maximum 5,000 words) 

We pay: 

  • £300 for a piece of cover art 
  • £200 for a full-page piece of art 
  • £100 for a half-page piece of art 
  • 2.5p per word for hexmaps, dungeons and adventure sites (no payment is made for the maps themselves) 
  • 3p per word for fiction

Payments will be made within 30 days of acceptance of the final submission and are not contingent on kickstarter funding.

The deadline is February 15th to be included in the first edition.

32 comments:

  1. This looks good. Are there any expected rules/editions? B/X/Labyrinth Lord, or AD&D/OSRIC?

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    1. Any of those are permitted, and indeed LotFP, OSE and other such variants - there is such cross compatability it should be achievable to cover all bases.

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  2. This is a bold concept but aren't you worried that paying by the world will lead people to bloat submissions?

    And how is it being produced? Will it be a PDF, PoD or something else?

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    1. Good questions.

      1) A little, but if people bloat their subissions they won't be very good and I'll reject them or edit them down.

      2) Proper print run, with accompanying PDF.

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  3. not that im not interested in the new zine, im just curious about what happened to the peridot?

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    1. The Peridot is still a thing. I am producing editions of it in between bigger projects. I'm waiting for my next big project to come out, and then I'll do another Peridot!

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    2. Glad to hear Peridot is still a thing, I like it a lot. So is the difference that Peridot is just your own stuff?

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  4. Oh yeah buddy. This is gonna be great

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  5. Interesting. After any given tone or content in the fiction and art?

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    1. No, except that long-term readers of the blog may have an advantage in being able to intuit the kind of things I would really go for. Fiction should ideally be 'OSR-adjacent'. I would love to nurture the (perhaps nonexistent) genre of dungeoneering fiction, but it wouldn't have to be that at all.

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  6. Is this for first publication rights or work for hire?

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  7. For map considerations, what is the size of the zine? Do tou want maps to fit on one page or can the spread across two?

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    1. The zine is B5. Maps should fit on one page.

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  8. Hello! "First World Rights" seems to be more in the realm of writing content. What about artwork? Can you elaborate that please? My main concern is your re-use of artwork submitted outside of this one issue of the zine. Thank you.

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    1. Artwork would be on a licensing basis. Artists will be paid for a license to produce their work for the purposes of the zine, and will retain ownership.

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  9. Hey there! If it isn't too much trouble, could you classify what you mean by fantasy fiction in this context? Obviously anything pulp-inspired springs to mind but would you be willing to consider anything tabletop-inspired? Not fanfiction, just things relating to the hobby.

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    1. Hi there - I think the safest thing to say is that if you have something that you think qualifies as 'fantasy', submit it. My tasted are broad. I'm more interested in stuff being *good*.

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  10. This looks lovely!

    Is there potential for commissioning art in addition to blind submissions? For example, a writer would like a picture of some orcs for their piece, you don't have any such art in your submissions pile, but you do have artists ready and waiting.

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    1. Not at this stage, but maybe after the kickstarter.

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  11. Is it okay for Hexmaps to allude to a dungeon but not actually write the entire thing out or should the dungeon be also included?

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  12. Interesting. Good on you for kindling the flames. We'll see if the target audience knows their stuff.

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    1. I would but I have two adventure projects I am already procrastinating on. 5000 words though...

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    2. It's certainly achievable.

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  13. Good afternoon! Just wanted to clarify, while the map should fit on a B4 page, can the explanation of the dungeon be put on a different page? Or should the entire submission be one-page only?

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    1. Yes, just submit the map and text without worrying about layout. The layout will be done subsequent to acceptance for publication.

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