Category Archives: Savage Insider

Call For Submissions

Savage Insider, SI - Call For Submissions

PLEASE READ BEFORE CONTACTING US ABOUT CONTRIBUTING TO THE MAGAZINE.

Obatron Productions is accepting pitches for submissions (features, articles, illustrations) for Savage Insider. Open issue themes are listed below. Please do not send completed work that has not yet been pitched and assigned.

Before submitting a pitch, please familiarize yourself with Savage Insider, our pitch guidelines, our submissions page, and the information listed on this page pertaining to each upcoming issue’s theme and needs. Submit pitches via our contact form.

The Submissions Page lists standard features, what goes in them, their word counts, and rate range. That’s also where the illustration rate ranges are found. If you are assigned a piece, read our style guides to ensure you properly format your file and adhere to the directions there.

Volume 4 (As of October 23, 2017)

Issue 1: Master Plans 
A focus on higher ranked characters and games. Game Prep could focus on what goes into creating a game with a long-range plan. Mechanics Wise could go into depth on Edges for use at the higher end of the Rank spectrum. Expanded Mechanics might give players ideas of how to use options creatively in keeping with their heroism. Adventures would be meant for Heroic and Legendary Ranks.

Specific Features Already Assigned

  • All Assigned

Art Needs

  • Interiors: 3-5 character sketches (spot size, appx. 8th-page); a full-length mirror showing a different image than its reflection should (quarter-page); two more TBD

DUE DATES:

Pitches Due: N/A
Writing (includes Publishers’ Recent Releases) Due: N/A
Cover Due: N/A
Interiors Due: N/A
Advertisements Due: N/A
Tentative Release Date: October 29-31

Issue 2: Free for All 
This issue is meant to showcase a wide range of items running the gamut of genres and ranks. Anything goes, within reason. It will be the volume’s Pay-What-You-Want issue, which means some people will choose to get it for free.

Specific Features Already Assigned

  • Cover
  • Great Adventure (no additional GP pitches will be reviewed for this issue)
  • Game Prep
  • Surveyed

Specific Features Sought 

  • Character Gallery
  • Equipment Corral
  • General Interest – Budget-Friendly Gaming (no articles condoning pirating or similar practices will be considered)
  • Stories to Inspire

Art Needs

  • Interiors – None

DUE DATES
Pitches Due (Extended): N/A
Writing Due (Extended): November 10
Publishers’ Recent Releases Due: November 10
Cover Due: November 10
Interiors Due: November 10
Advertisements Due: November 10
Tentative Release Date: November 15-24

Issue 3: Holiday Centerpiece 
All holidays are fair game for this issue. Valentine’s, Independence Day, Halloween, Christmas, fictional holiday for your piece, whatever. Game Prep could be about including holidays in your game or handling games when real-life holidays spill over into game time. Mechanics pieces could take on a holiday slant; maybe there’s a new Love Edge or Scare Skill. Great Adventures might be about saving a holiday.

Specific Features Already Assigned

  • General Interest
  • Great Adventure (one of two)

Specific Features Sought

  • Character Gallery
  • Designer’s Diary (publishers only)
  • Equipment Corral
  • Expanded Mechanics
  • Game Prep
  • Great Adventures (one of two)
  • Mechanics Wise
  • Product Preview (publishers only)
  • Stories to Inspire
  • Surveyed or Random Encounters
  • Upcoming Releases (publishers only)

Art Needs

  • Cover
  • Interiors (To Be Announced mid-November)

DUE DATES
Pitches Due: N/A
Writing Due: November 15
Publishers’ Recent Releases Due: December 1
Cover Due: December 3
Interiors Due: December 7
Advertisements Due: December 7
Tentative Release Date: December 15-31

Volume 5, 2018, as of October 23, 2017

Issue 1: Winter’s Hold
Winter can be a time of struggle. Little grows during the season of cold and progress is generally retarded if not altogether arrested. Features should deal with themes of struggle, sluggishness, and the like.

Specific Features Already Assigned

  • None

Specific Features Sought

  • Character Gallery
  • Equipment Corral
  • Mechanics
  • Game Prep
  • General Interest
  • Great Adventure (one of two)
  • Great Adventures (two of two)
  • Product Preview (publishers only)
  • Stories to Inspire
  • Surveyed or Random Encounters
  • Upcoming Releases (publishers only)

Art Needs

  • Cover
  • Interiors (To Be Announced mid-February)

DUE DATES
Pitches Due: January 15
Writing Due: January 31
Round One Edits Due: February 7
Publishers’ Recent Releases Due: February 10
Cover Due: February 10
Interiors Due: February 10
Advertisements Due: February 10
Round 2 Edits Due: February 12
Final Edits Due: February 13
Tentative Release Date: February 15-28

Issue 2: Disquiet
By the time spring arrives, it may seem as if the whole world is going stir crazy. Features should reflect pent-up frustration with being trapped in something that cannot be controlled, the disquiet bubbling beneath the surface.

Specific Features Already Assigned

  • None

Specific Features Sought

  • Character Gallery
  • Equipment Corral
  • Mechanics
  • Game Prep
  • General Interest
  • Great Adventure (one of two)
  • Great Adventures (two of two)
  • Product Preview (publishers only)
  • Stories to Inspire
  • Surveyed or Random Encounters
  • Upcoming Releases (publishers only)

Art Needs

  • Cover
  • Interiors (To Be Announced mid-March)

DUE DATES
Pitches Due: March 15
Writing Due: March 31
Round One Edits Due: April 7
Publishers’ Recent Releases Due: April 10
Cover Due: April 10
Interiors Due: April 10
Advertisements Due: April 10
Round 2 Edits Due: April 12
Final Edits Due: April 13
Tentative Release Date: April 15-30

Issue 3: Awakenings 
Late spring and early summer bring life in full force. Crops are growing, young animals are abundant, and people of all ages are out and about. Features should reflect the theme of newness, learning, growing, and the like.

Specific Features Already Assigned

  • None

Specific Features Sought

  • Character Gallery
  • Equipment Corral
  • Mechanics
  • Game Prep
  • General Interest
  • Great Adventure (one of two)
  • Great Adventures (two of two)
  • Product Preview (publishers only)
  • Stories to Inspire
  • Surveyed or Random Encounters
  • Upcoming Releases (publishers only)

Art Needs

  • Cover
  • Interiors (To Be Announced mid-May)

DUE DATES
Pitches Due: May 15
Writing Due: May 31
Round One Edits Due: June 7
Publishers’ Recent Releases Due: June 10
Cover Due: June 10
Interiors Due: June 10
Advertisements Due: June 10
Round 2 Edits Due: June 12
Final Edits Due: June 13
Tentative Release Date: June 15-30

Issue 4: To Touch the Sun 
Summer heat is both welcomed and reviled the world over. Bringing both needed energy and dangerous discomfort, the sun fascinates us. Features should reflect the theme of metaphorically touching the sun, whether it’s a play on being allured by something so dangerous getting too near it will mean death or aspiring to reach something that is always forever beyond grasp.

Specific Features Already Assigned

  • None

Specific Features Sought

  • Character Gallery
  • Equipment Corral
  • Mechanics
  • Game Prep
  • General Interest
  • Great Adventure (one of two)
  • Great Adventures (two of two)
  • Product Preview (publishers only)
  • Stories to Inspire
  • Surveyed or Random Encounters
  • Upcoming Releases (publishers only)

Art Needs

  • Cover
  • Interiors (To Be Announced mid-July)

DUE DATES
Pitches Due: July 15
Writing Due: July 30
Round One Edits Due: August 7
Publishers’ Recent Releases Due: August 10
Cover Due: August 10
Interiors Due: August 10
Advertisements Due: August 10
Round 2 Edits Due: August 12
Final Edits Due: August 13
Tentative Release Date: August 15-30

Issue 5: Hair-Raisers
October is a traditional time of stories of horror and the supernatural. This issue is a wide open playground to explore all manner of things that raise the hair on the back of readers’ necks.

Specific Features Already Assigned

  • None

Specific Features Sought

  • Character Gallery
  • Equipment Corral
  • Mechanics
  • Game Prep
  • General Interest
  • Great Adventure (one of two)
  • Great Adventures (two of two)
  • Product Preview (publishers only)
  • Stories to Inspire
  • Surveyed or Random Encounters
  • Upcoming Releases (publishers only)

Art Needs

  • Cover
  • Interiors (To Be Announced mid-September)

DUE DATES
Pitches Due: September 15
Writing Due: September 30
Round One Edits Due: October 7
Publishers’ Recent Releases Due: October 10
Cover Due: October 10
Interiors Due: October 10
Advertisements Due: October 10
Round 2 Edits Due: October 12
Final Edits Due: October 13
Tentative Release Date: October 15-30

Issue 6: Free for All 
This issue is meant to showcase a wide range of items running the gamut of genres and ranks. Anything goes, within reason. It will be the volume’s Pay-What-You-Want issue, which means some people will choose to get it for free.

Specific Features Already Assigned

  • None

Specific Features Sought 

  • Character Gallery
  • Equipment Corral
  • General Interest – Budget-Friendly Gaming (no articles condoning pirating or similar practices will be considered)
  • Great Adventure (one of two)
  • Great Adventure (two of two)
  • Stories to Inspire

Art Needs

  • Cover
  • Interiors – (To Be Announced mid-October)

DUE DATES

Pitches Due: October 15
Writing Due: October 31
Round One Edits Due: November 7
Publishers’ Recent Releases Due: November 10
Cover Due: November 10
Interiors Due: November 10
Advertisements Due: November 10
Round 2 Edits Due: November 12
Final Edits Due: November 13
Tentative Release Date: November 15-24

Issue 7: Holiday Flare
All holidays are fair game for this issue. Valentine’s, Independence Day, Halloween, Christmas, fictional holiday for your piece, whatever. Game Prep could be about including holidays in your game or handling games when real-life holidays spill over into game time. Mechanics pieces could take on a holiday slant; maybe there’s a new Love Edge or Scare Skill. Great Adventures might be about saving a holiday.

Specific Features Already Assigned

  • General Interest
  • Great Adventure (one of two)

Specific Features Sought

  • Character Gallery
  • Designer’s Diary (publishers only)
  • Equipment Corral
  • Expanded Mechanics
  • Game Prep
  • Great Adventures (one of two)
  • Mechanics Wise
  • Product Preview (publishers only)
  • Stories to Inspire
  • Surveyed or Random Encounters
  • Upcoming Releases (publishers only)

Art Needs

  • Cover
  • Interiors (To Be Announced mid-November)

DUE DATES
Pitches Due: October 15
Writing Due: November 15
Publishers’ Recent Releases Due: December 1
Cover Due: December 3
Interiors Due: December 7
Advertisements Due: December 7

GENERAL INFORMATION: Features are defined with rates and a summary of what comprises them on our Submissions & Advertising page.  All contributors – licensee or otherwise – need to sign a Contributors’ Acknowledgement (found on the S & A page) and submit it upon or before assignment acceptance.

Anyone who is interested in sending illustrations (maps, minis, likenesses, etc.) accompanying their writing is welcome to do so, but only if those illustrations are of their own creation. Licensees submitting illustrations with features also need to be the copyright holders of those items and to provide the name of the artist so that proper credit can be given, otherwise the company itself will be listed as the illustrator. Rates are given per feature. In any event, illustrations will only be used if space allows if not specifically requested by SI . Preference is given to those items that are of use at the table.

Can’t get a submission in, but want to advertise? Contact us for information. Space is limited. Rates are affordable.

Survey for Savage Insider

News, Savage Insider,

Now that Mystical Throne Entertainment has rolled out its last issue of Savage Insider, Obatron Productions is getting development of its first SI issue underway. To that end, we’ve put together a survey powered by Survey Monkey to get some feedback on various concepts. With enough responses, that data will help us shape the future of Savage Insider and you can be part of that!

We welcome you to complete the Savage Insider survey today.

Obatron Productions Takes Over Publication of Savage Insider

News, Savage Insider

We are proud and excited to announce that we have been allowed to take over publication of Savage Insider, the quarterly e-zine and POD publication dedicated to the Savage Worlds community of fans and publishers.

Below is the press release by Mystical Throne Entertainment (MTE), the company that has produced the first several issues of Savage Insider.

We are holding a challenge in conjunction with MTE to boost both companies’ fan base on their respective Facebook pages, which are listed in the release. Keep an eye out for details.

SHAKOPEE, MN JANUARY 27, 2014 – Mystical Throne Entertainment is pleased to announce the appointment of Vickey A. Beaver to the role of editor-in-chief of the Savage Worlds magazine, Savage Insider.
Since its inception, Savage Insider was always led by two individuals: Editor-in-Chief Aaron T. Huss and Assistant Editor and Marketing Coordinator Vickey A. Beaver. With the growth of Mystical Throne Entertainment’s product lines and the upcoming development of new projects, Aaron is stepping down and has asked Vickey to take over the magazine. “I want to be able to concentrate on other projects,” Aaron said, “and managing the magazine was getting to be too much for me. I’m very excited for Vickey to take on this new opportunity; especially since the magazine has been ours, not just mine, from day one.”

Going forward, with the change of editor-in-chief, publication of Savage Insider will move from Mystical Throne Entertainment to Obatron Productions. Thus, subsequent issues after #10 will come through Vickey’s imprint. This move allows Vickey full control over the magazine without having to worry about Aaron’s publication schedules.

Vickey had this to say, “On a personal note, I’m excited that Aaron is trusting me to be Savage Insider’s Editor-in-Chief. He and I have worked together on it from before the debut issue, July 2011’s Building the Savage Worlds Community. I’m honored to carry on his legacy. On a professional note, I believe Obatron Productions is well-suited to taking over SI’s publication. We have a good relationship with Mystical Throne Entertainment and SI fits nicely within the branches of Obatron Productions and our plans for 2014.”

To support these changes, the original Savage Insider Facebook page and Twitter accounts have been rebranded to Mystical Throne Entertainment (https://www.facebook.com/MysticalThroneEntertainment). Vickey has established a new Savage Insider Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/SavageInsider) and will eventually take over the Savage Insider Online website (http://savageinsideronline.com/).

ABOUT MYSTICAL THRONE ENTERTAINMENT
Mystical Throne Entertainment is the publishing and creative outlet for Aaron T. Huss. He currently holds licenses for Savage Worlds and Colonial Gothic and is a third party publisher for Legend.

ABOUT OBATRON PRODUCTIONS
Vickey A. and Robert L. Beaver comprise Obatron Productions. Using freelance talent, OP creates and publishes RPG material and is launching two new branches, including Obatron Fiction, under which Savage Insider will be released.