Mix and Match
Graham Spearing was the editor of the first edition of OpenQuest, and there’s a lot of design choices that carry through even to OQ3 that came from discussions with him. He knows his onions when it comes to rules 🙂
 I pulled off my relatively new OpenQuest (OQ) 3rd edition, that takes from the Legend SRD and delivers a more streamlined expression of the game. Truth is, I’m probably looking for something just a little different from OQ, but it can form a substantial base for my game.
He goes on to give some detail about what other D100 games he’d use to make his dream version of D100.
OpenQuest Companion reaches First Draft
After taking a week off to spend time with my family, I was back at this morning. After a quick writing session, I’ve reached the first draft of the OpenQuest Companion. eta tentatively late August for the pdf, early September for print.

The OpenQuest Companion, cover by Jon Hodgson
OpenQuest 3rd Edition Changelog
I’ve updated the OpenQuest changelog, and posted as a page under the About page, so if you want to see what’s different from earlier editions of the game, just visit it.
OpenQuest 3rd Edition now on General Release!
With the end of the Great OpenQuest Mailout to backers and pre-orders yesterday, I am proud to announce that OpenQuest 3rd Edition is now generally available from D101 Games web store in both pdf only and Print + Pdf bundle.
I’m still in the process of setting up the product on drivethrurpg.com and lulu.com and will let people know when I’ve released them via my Twitter account, @d101games, later this week/early next.

OpenQuesssst itsss out.
The Great OpenQuest Mail-Out
At the time of writing, I’m about 2/3 the way of posting out all the signed and sent copies. I would be at 100% but the collection guy from the Royal Mail didn’t show up yesterday (again), but come Monday whoooooooooooshh!
This is the current state of my hallway, which is all the North American (US + CA) and Rest of the World copies, just waiting there for Monday when they will go out.
All the high tier (OQ Patrons, Art Backer copies, various Masters) were sent out a couple of weeks ago, along with EU and UK copies. So it’s with great pleasure that I’ve been receiving tweets and posts from backers/pre-order people who put pictures of their books online. Here’s a quick gallery of them 🙂
One of the backers who blogs as Vorpal Mace got his earlier this week, and has posted his first impressions.
Finally, this is a quick flip through of the Signed and Sent version. I have a small surplus that I can offer to people. If you are interested I will put your email on a waiting list, and let you know when they are on sale via my website. Email me at newt@d101games.com.
OpenQuest Signed and Sent has arrived!
It’s a sunny summer’s day here at D101 HQ and the printed signed and sent version of the book, which is going out to Kickstarter backers who backed it, has touched down.
The OpenQuester Episode 3 Magic
There’s a new episode of the OpenQuester up on D101’s youtube channel, this time I and Paul Mitchener chat about Magic in OpenQuest.
Proofs, Pdfs and Progress
[Cross posted from the OpenQuest Kickstarter, read the original here]
Hello, it may feel that nothing is happening on OQ, so here’s an update on what’s going on.
Update about the Printed versions (Print on Demand and Signed and Sent)
At the moment, it’s all about the proofs here at D101 HQ.
POD OQ + the Quickstart are still in the proofing process over at Drivethrurpg.com, but I’m anticipating the final proof to be with me end of this week, early next week. When it has, I’ll issue links to at-cost copies via Kickstarter Messenger.
Signed and Sent proofs have been signed off with the printers, so we’ve gone to print. I have an estimated delivery date of the 16th of June, so will start sending them out then.
There has been a couple of changes from what I had originally planned for the Signed and Sent version.
More Colour Plates. Instead of five colour plates, the book now has eight. It turns out I could either have colour plates individually placed throughout the book, but the binding would be glued, or grouped in a page count that is a multiple of four and keep the sown pages. Since I sold the print version on the fact that it would be sown pages, it was a no-brainer to throw in three classic Jon Hodgson OpenQuest covers (Life and Death, The Savage North, and the 1st Edition cover), taking the number of plates up to eight, and positioning them roughly half-way in the book between what could be considered the boundary between the player’s rules chapters and Referee only chapters.

The old vs new, Jon Hodgson’s Savage North covers. Proof’s of two of the colour plates for the Signed and Sent version.
An extra two pages of content have been added at the end of the book. The POD book requires a blank page at the end of the book for their printing process, which effectively means two pages. It turns out that the printed version, I can print on those two pages. So, I’ve inserted quick Religion write-ups for six dedicated religions for Empire of Gatan setting. The Five Emperors and the Imperial Mother. Now your players can have characters who follow a focused, dedicated religion, such as a War God (The General Silanous) or a Merchant Goddess (The Imperial Mother), rather than the pantheon style Imperial Way, which takes a little bit of magic from each of the deities in that pantheon, they now can.
Updated OpenQuest Pdf
During the proofing process, there’s been a few changes. The ebook pdf has been updated and is available for redownloading from your drivethrourpg.com account if you previously downloaded it. If you bought the book via the pre-order, the latest version is available via the download link that was sent in the email after you purchased the book.
Other Progress
- Catching the Wrym, gets playtested this weekend at 7 Hills an online gaming convention. I anticipate this reaching 1stDraft shortly after. It’s been a bit of a monster, being a good 30+ pages at present.
- The OpenQuest Companion is nearing first draft.
- OpenQuest SRD has been put together and will be sent out to editorial soon.
The OpenQuest Releases page has been updated with all the recent statuses and eta of releases for all the stretch goals.
OpenQuest Releases page
I should be contacting you again shortly when the POD version becomes available, and when the signed and sent version lands here at D101 HQ and the great mail out begins.
All the best,
:O) Newt
OpenQuest is a Fantasy Adventure Roleplaying Game
One of the things that I picked up on when I got the first print proof of the POD version of OpenQuest 3rd Edition was that on the title page, I missed out on the subtitle:
Fantasy Adventure Roleplaying Game
It’s been on every edition of OQ, so I put it back in, but I took some time out to think why this was important to me.
The short version.
Now that’s out of the way and everyone’s calmed down, I shall go into detail.
Sure, OQ has mythologies, settings with a sense of history and politics, creatures with history/background, but it’s all ingredients, fuel even, to get an entertaining adventure. You see, in OQ, the characters go on Quests, which are adventures. Not simulations or re-enactments of everyday life in some imagined fantasy Medieval/Dark Ages. The players want to feel the thrill of a sword connecting with an enemy, a spell making short work of a difficulty, or to see the results of a clever bit of conversation with a non-player character. Even seeing a character make a triumphant comeback after failing is all part of the expectation of a good adventure. It’s all about keeping things moving along at a quick pace (or as the Smart Party says, “You can never have enough pace”). And you don’t get that with overly complex fiddly rules or social structures in place in the game.
I bore this in mind as a primary design goal when I wrote the main rulebook, and I have kept it in mind as I finish the rules and articles in the OpenQuest Companion.
So that’s why OQ is a Fantasy Adventure Roleplaying Game, and it is important to state that upfront right at the beginning of the book on the title page.
The OpenQuester , Episode 2, now available
It’s here! The second episode of The OpenQuester. This time out Paul Mitchener (OQ Editor/Contributing Author) and I look at where we are at with the game just about to be released, our regular OpenQuest Thursday game, what’s coming up next, Paul’s Clockwork Palace and Roman books, and of course DUCKS!
This is part of my new D101 Games YouTube Channel, which as well as the OpenQuester, and other OQ related nonsense, also has episode 1 of the Infinite Road Trip which features an interview with Lawrence Whitaker of the Design Mechanism, mainly talking about their Mythras RPG (OQ’s Bigger Brother).