Writing a Region
The Regions of Arcadia can come from anywhere, and we want your help in bringing that feeling of infinite possibilities to life.
As a region writer, you are literally creating the Arcadia world and deciding what goes next on the map. Our standard pay is £500 per Region, which will run between 2 and 3 months. You will be credited on all Arcadia sites, your name will echo grandly around Arcadia's hallowed halls, and as we do not ask for any exclusive rights to your creation, we're happy for you to take your work and use it for your own future projects!
If you have any questions before pitching your region, feel free to DM Adrianna or ask in the GM discord chat.
What are we looking for?
- A standard Region should suit one-shots, while still having an engaging, overarching story that players can contribute to. Contributions may be in the form of building, discovery, exploration, combat, solving mysteries ... or several of these at once. The story should tie up reasonably neatly so that players can move on to the next Region.
- We love a cheeky reference, but avoid standard D&D settings like the literal underdark, feywild, etc. -- we want to really encourage that feeling of endless possibilities!
- Of course, please make sure you have the right to use any content you submit to us if it is not your own (eg, we would have to change some details before we ran a Disney-themed Region).
- Homebrew regions with homebrew creatures are encouraged!
- We love wandering bosses that aren't meant to be killed (at first), but show up to multiple tables over time, deepening that sense of consistency.
- We also love interesting region effects -- arcane lightning, strange magic, extreme heat, time loops?! Feel free to use mechanics outside of traditional D&D, as long as they can be clearly and quickly explained within a one-shot! We love to feel like the Region is a character in itself.
- An ideal Region has opportunities for different styles of creative play -- RP and combat -- so as many people as possible can visit and enjoy it.
- As you consider the creatures that will populate your Region, enemies in typical (non-finale) sessions should generally be between CR 0-3, with additional danger coming from more enemies -- this just makes it easier to balance on the fly.
- Civilizations and sentient life are now permitted in Region pitches -- but avoid any implications that the people of Keystone are superior or in any way should "fix" other civilizations they come across. There may be evil or corrupt individuals, but no entire culture should be considered inferior or evil. The heroes of this story are every bit as foreign to Arcadia as everyone else, so all sentient life should be understood as moral equals.
- Feel free to look around the World Anvil at other Regions for inspiration, and of course ask staff or other GMs if you have any questions!
Submission Process.
Once you have your Region idea, please submit it via the google form linked here . We will want about a month of lead time between your FINAL submissions and the launch of your Region (this allows us to distribute sessions, order minis, get PSYCHED, etc), so please keep that in mind when indicating your availability.
Adrianna will get back to you with any questions or suggested changes and, once approved, will send a contract confirming your Region's dates and specifics.
We understand that some writers want to be really hands-on about the unfolding story taking place in their Region, while others are happy to send their writing to us and call it a day. We support either way of doing things, and during these talks we will clarify how much subsequent steering you'd like to do once your Region is live. We would very much like you to GM some sessions set in your Region if you can, though -- we want Arcadia writers to still feel like members of this community.
At this point you will get full World Anvil permissions, including the right to publish your own Sessions and edit and publish other GMs' Sessions.
Elements of a Region.
This is a general guide for you to gauge the amount of work required -- but we are happy to work with you on specifics to determine what best suits your Region and your available time and style.
A 1000-word GM Overview, describing:
- The story of the Region over the next 2-3 months, including how the plot will be concluded / how the problem will be solved,
- Descriptions of the edge of the Region and the Region itself
- Regional effects
5 points of interest (200 words each) that will feature in sessions.
10 stat blocks for monsters and / or NPCs
15-20 session concepts (50 words) - while we're happy for you to write these out, they do NOT need to be full sessions, only beat sheets conveying:
- Premise of the session (bulletin board info)
- Any content warnings
- Starting location
- Beat 1 (travel, puzzle, skill challenges, smaller combat ...)
- Beat 2 / climax
- Resolution
As always, feel free to contact Adrianna with any questions! If you feel that your region doesn't quite fit this format (maybe POI's don't apply, or you'll need to submit more stat blocks), then just get in touch -- this is a guide only, and we want to create something together that works for the story you have in mind.
Related Links
Keystone - Overview
Fairytale Forest - GM Overview
