Guidelines for Submission

What Is The Oerth Journal?

The Oerth Journal is an e-zine produced by fans of the Greyhawk Campaign Setting, and dedicated to publishing creative, quality works for the World of Greyhawk setting by TSR. The Oerth Journal is distributed free of charge, and is available at the Canonfire! website and around the internet.

Sections

Below is a list of the major article features presented in The Oerth Journal. Please, don't feel restricted to it. We’re always eager for new ideas and developments. We welcome ALL EDITIONS of the Dungeon and Dragons game using the World of Greyhawk. Most articles of are of edition-less format.

Alternate Oerths

This section deals with divergent campaign ideas, alternate story lines, or dramatic changes in canon/ continuity. Authors of this section are encouraged to explore the what-if’s of the Greyhawk Campaign Setting and the implications therein.

Denizens of the Flanaess

We are looking for detailed examinations of a single monstrous creature. The article should include a physical description, behavior, interests, history, lair, secret plans or agendas, possible interactions with Player Characters, and a probable future. Additional material, such as unique magic spells or items, weapons, or lore, are desirable but not required.

Gateway to Adventure

Spotlighting adventures set in the World of Greyhawk, Gateway to Adventure submissions should be short to medium-length modules suitable for insertion into an ongoing campaign. Long adventures will be considered, but may be serialized or published separately, subject to the decision of the editors.

Gazetteer of the Flanaess

This section is devoted to adding detail to undeveloped areas within the Flanaess. There is no standard format for this department, though city/ state stat blocks below are good start for the basics. Any area that is sparsely detailed in existing Greyhawk lore, and as a result, makes an excellent starting point for anyone interested in contributing to The Oerth Journal, but unsure of their grasp of "canon". Individuals, establishments, guilds, events, locations, and adventure hooks are just a few of the possible articles.

Of Oerth and Altar

Myriad deities and holy orders of Greyhawk are the cornucopia of this section. Each submission to this department should detail a single deity of the Flanaess. We are not presently interested in reprint entries of the various deities already been covered in The Oerth Journal, Dungeon/ Dragon magazine, Polyhedron, and official Greyhawk documents. If you do not have access to these, the editor is quite willing to tell you if a deity has already been covered somewhere.  We will consider particularly strong or divergent entries of previously treated deities, but these are not a priority.

Rogue’s Gallery

Mysterious and cunning movers and shakers are all about the Flanaess. This section details the many NPC’s and organizations in the World of Greyhawk providing backgrounds, motives, histories, and developments.

Tales from the Green Dragon Inn

This section is dedicated to any and all Greyhawk fiction writers and their works.

The Good Oerth

Submissions to this department explore an area outside of the Flanaess, including such locales as Hepmonaland, the Land of Black Ice, the Sea of Dust, or regions even further afield. Articles may detail an area as small as a city or unusual feature, to one as large as a kingdom or broad region.

With Boccob's Blessing

This section presents an in-depth view of a single unique magical item, artifact, or relic is examined and detailed in each installment of this department. Submissions should include a physical description; history; goals and aims of the item, if intelligent; powers; curses, repercussions, or malign effects of using the item; the location or possible locations of the item in Greyhawk; and adventure hooks.

Guidelines For Submission

Before you start writing, send us a query outlining what your adventure or article covers and how long you expect it to be. When you reach the final draft, please include any relevant sources, a word count, and your name, so we might be able to prepare.

   The Oerth Journal staff is always interested in in-depth examinations of the nations, cities, and sites of the Flanaess and their history, as well as in-depth adventures, artifact and magical item histories descriptions, detailed write-ups of various personage of the Flanaess, and just about anything else related to Greyhawk. 

   The Oerth Journal is not accepting submissions of generic spells/ magical items, scribbled notes on a "really kewl campaign you once ran”, (though organized & detailed notes are great), or anything not having to do with the World of Greyhawk setting. We also prefer not to publish anything already released or available on the internet without a substantive rewrite and/or additional material, including anything posted to a board or mailing list within the last twelve months.

Art Submissions

We ask that all of your images be clean, crisp, with a high amount of contrast. All art submissions should be emailed to oerthjournal (at) gmail (dot) com, and will be forwarded to the Art Director for approval. We do not accept previously published art, work that is not your own, or any second hand graphics from other websites. If you have an original illustration that reflects heavy Dungeons and Dragons or Greyhawk based environments or NPC’s, we’d be glad to take a look. Things we’d really like to see would include compelling NPC portrayals, city/ state/ geographical maps, unique dungeon maps (for adventures), and background/ décor art.

The Basics (In Nine Easy Steps)

With few exceptions, submitting an article to The Oerth Journal staff asks that all authors follow these important steps:

1)        Review these guidelines, including  the formatting guidelines below.

2)        Send a query/ proposal to oerthjournal (at) gmail (dot) com in 1-2 paragraphs.

3)        Wait patiently (it can sometimes take a week to look over all the emails).  If we do not reply within 7 days, feel free to harass us.

4)        Submit the manuscript if approved, to the above address.

5)        Wait patiently (again, reading and editing the article takes time)

6)        We'll look it over, add lots of notes, and 9 times out of 10, ask for revisions, clarification, and whatnot. Feel free to trade e-mails with whoever is editing your article. Depending on the article, we may request you follow a specific outline.

7)        Rewrite it and send it back.

8)        Somewhere around here, we'll decide the article is pretty darned OK, and stop sending it back.

9)        Cheer when the article, hits the OJ! Show it off to all your friends and confuse your relatives! Thank Zagyg, I’m free! =)

Formatting Guidelines

To ensure that your article receives the best attention, we ask that you use this document as your template to write your article in. The document contains all the styles and formatting for The Oerth Journal, which allows us to publish your article even faster! =) 

   Further, please be sure to remove all extra spaces after sentences and periods. Make sure you spell-check, check your grammar, and apply whatever templates (if any) apply. The follow formatting guidelines will also assist in getting your article published more expediently:

·         Provide articles in English (American or British spellings).

·         Spell names and magic items references should be in lowercase, italic typeface, ie. heward’s handy haversack.

·         Note that names of races (elf, dwarf, halfling) are NOT capitalized.

·         Monster references should be in lowercase, normal typeface, ie. ogre

·         New spells and creatures should be detailed completely, as per the edition or system of your choice.

Legal-Type Stuff: Authorship and Plagiarism 

Determining true authorship over the internet in the era of e-mail, mailing lists, and "cut-n'-paste" is effectively impossible for the Oerth Journal. As such, we rely upon the honor system - that the person submitting the article is either the author or has the consent of the author. If the article draws heavily upon or quotes material from another source (be it an official Wizards of the Coast product, a Dragon magazine article, an online file, a popular fiction book, or whatever), we expect the source and author (if known and applicable) to be attributed. If an article is found to be blatantly plagiarized from another source, it will be rejected and we will not accept further submissions from that person. Articles that update earlier material are considered separately. 

Ownership Rights & Regulations

Dungeons & Dragons, AD&D, Dragon Magazine, Greyhawk, and the World Of Greyhawk are registered trademarks owned by Wizards of the Coast/ Hasbro. All characters, character names, and the distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks owned by Wizards of the Coast, Inc. Unless otherwise noted, all individual contributions are copyright their respective authors.

Origins of the Oerth Journal

The Oerth Journal has gone through many incarnations but began from tender roots with the Council of Greyhawk, an informal organization of gamers dedicated to keeping the World of Greyhawk a viable campaign world. At present, the Council has expanded to include many fans that now meet online at Canonfire! , to discuss matters of the actual campaign world. The site also maintains the Greytalk mailing list.