These guidelines outline the steps you need to follow to submit an article or adventure idea to our online magazines, Dragon and Dungeon. Specifically, they help you compose and submit an article or adventure proposal. If your proposal is approved, we’ll contact you with more specific instructions regarding your submission.

By submitting any material to us, you acknowledge and agree to adhere to these Submission Guidelines, including the Terms and Conditions at the end of this document. Please read them carefully.

Step 1: Do Your Research

Know what’s out there. If you’re a D&D Insider subscriber, odds are you’re already aware of the types of content we’re looking for. Familiarize yourself with the articles we produce before you send in a proposal. This will help you know what we’ve done recently. If we just printed an article of new bard powers, we’re probably not looking to publish another article on bard powers for a while.

We divide our content into two categories: player content (in Dragon) and Dungeon Master content (in Dungeon). We’re not interested in articles that blend player and DM content. If you’re in doubt about whether something is player content or DM content, we’ll let you know. If something is equally appealing to both players and DMs (such as our Design & Development feature), it will appear in Dragon.

We publish 4th Edition content only. We’re not looking for articles or adventures written for earlier editions of the D&D game.

Step 2: Gather Your Ideas

Focus on things that players and DMs can use in their games immediately, such as a short encounter (for Dungeon) or a handful of exciting new character powers (for Dragon). Don’t re-invent the wheel or the game. We’re not looking for revisions to the 4th Edition rules or its elements, alternate magic systems, new pantheons of gods, new planar cosmologies, or the like. We're also not looking for articles that update material from previous editions; it’s not that we’re opposed to them, but we’re selective about what we update and when. Finally, we're not looking for unsolicited fiction.

For Dragon, we’re primarily looking for articles that provide players with exciting new options and ideas for their D&D characters, including new powers, feats, backgrounds, and magic items.

For Dungeon, we’re primarily looking for short adventures that DMs can drop into their existing campaigns with minimal fuss, as well as articles that have immediate use at the gaming table.

Step 3: Send Us Your Best Idea(s)

Write up your pitch and email it to submissions@wizards.com. Here are some rules and advice:

• Give us your best estimate of the expected word count.
• Include the magazine name and article series (if applicable) in the subject line. Examples: Dungeon: Ecology of the Minotaur, Dragon: Power Play—Arcane.
• Be concise. Your pitch probably doesn’t need to be more than 500 words, even for an adventure. Hit the highlights and leave it at that.
• If you’re submitting content for one of our campaign settings, let us know in your proposal.
• Embed your proposal in the body of the email. Don’t send it as an attachment.
• Feel free to send multiple proposals in the same email. The subject line of the email should include the name(s) of the magazines to which the pitches pertain. Examples: 5 Dragon & Dungeon Pitches, Dungeon: 5 Adventure Pitches.

Step 4: Be Patient

You should get an auto-reply from our system that your submission has been received. If we’re interested, we’ll get back to you within 60 days. If you don’t hear from us, assume that your proposal has been rejected either for content reasons or because it’s too much like something else we have in the works. We don’t have time to personally respond to every proposal, but stay positive and keep trying!

What We’re Looking For

We’re looking for two kinds of content: articles and adventures. We’re also looking for unique features for both magazines, so if you have an idea that doesn’t fit one of these categories, feel free to send in a pitch!

Articles
We’re primarily looking for two sorts of articles: short features (Dragon only) and full-length features (Dragon and Dungeon both). If your article presents new material for a specific campaign setting, please mention that in your proposal.

Short Features
We want to appeal to as many players each month as we can, so we’re more inclined to accept a short feature idea than a long one because we can cover more ground in a given issue. Short features are 1,500 to 2,000 word articles that usually fit into one of the following series: Class Acts, Winning Races, Power Play, Know Your Role, Guilds & Groups, and Channel Divinity.

Full-Length Features
These are 3,000 to 4,000 word articles that need more space to fully explore the ideas contained within. Ecologies, Domains of Dread, Demonomicon of Iggwilv, and the Playing series are excellent examples of this type of article. Don’t expect us to look at articles longer than 4,000 words except in extreme cases. If you send us a pitch for an article that’s 5,000 words or more, we are likely to reject it outright or (if we like the thrust of the article) ask you to trim it.

Adventures
We’re looking for several kinds of adventures, with an emphasis on shorter submissions. We’re not looking for any adventures longer than 10,000 words, which typically means an adventure of no more than five or six encounters. We’re also looking for Chaos Scar adventures (up to level 10), Side Treks, and adventures set in one of our active campaign settings. Pitches for adventures should include a description of:

• The villain (if applicable)
• The villain’s lair and/or the adventure’s setting
• The villain’s goals and the heroes’ objective(s)

If your adventure is set in a specific campaign setting, please mention that in your proposal. We prefer setting-specific adventures that are easy to adapt to homebrew D&D campaigns.

Simultaneous Submissions

We do not accept any submissions previously published by or simultaneously submitted to another magazine, website, or d20 publisher. Likewise, we don’t accept plagiarized materials.

Rights

In the event we buy your manuscript, you must assign your rights to us. That means that once your contract is signed, we’ll own all rights in your submission. The assignment contract (as well as applicable tax forms) will be sent out shortly after an article has been accepted. You’ll receive the contract by email, and you’ll be asked to sign a hard copy and return it to us, along with an invoice form. If you’re under 18, a parent or guardian must sign or co-sign your contracts. Once we have purchased an article, it might not appear in an issue for several months, so be patient. We’ll do our best to let you know when your work will appear.

Payments

Once we have received your signed contract and invoice, you should see a check within 45 days or so. We pay on receipt of an invoice, not on publication, but there’s still a certain amount of delay between us receiving your contract and invoice and you receiving your check. We just ask that you remain patient. Our starting rate for articles and adventures is $0.06 per word.

D&D Article and Adventure Submission
Terms and Conditions

In submitting any materials to Wizards of the Coast, Inc. (“Wizards”) by sending them to Wizards through its submissions e-mail address at submissions@wizards.com, the submitter (hereinafter “Author”) agrees to the following terms and conditions. For the avoidance of doubt, submission of any and all materials (“Work”) is considered acknowledgment of this agreement.

1. Author Warranties
Author warrants that he has clear title to the Work. Author also warrants that the Work has not been published previously and that the Work is not being considered for publication by any other publisher. Author warrants further that the Work is original and does not infringe upon any copyrighted material other than that published by Wizards of the Coast.

2. No Obligation
Author acknowledges that Wizards is under no obligation to acquire the Work.

3. Risk of Loss or Damage
Author agrees to retain a complete copy of all Works. Wizards will not return any Work to Author, and Wizards is not responsible for the loss of or damage to original manuscripts or revisions of it supplied by Author.

4. Independent Development
Author acknowledges that the Work may be similar to the theme, plot, idea, format, or other element of material that Wizards has independently developed or that has or may come to Wizards from other sources. Author shall not be entitled to any compensation by reason of the use by Wizards of such similar material, whether developed or acquired by Wizards before or after Author’s submission of the Work.

5. Miscellaneous
This Agreement shall be deemed to be entered into and governed by the laws of the State of Washington applicable to contract made and performed entirely therein and constitutes the entire Agreement between the parties regarding the Work. This Agreement shall take effect upon the date of submission. No waiver by one party to this Agreement of any breach by the other party of any term or condition of this Agreement shall be deemed to be a waiver of any other breach of the same or any other term or condition of this or any other agreement. If any term or condition of this Agreement shall be held to be invalid or void, that term or condition shall be deemed to be stricken without affecting the validity or enforceability of the remainder of the terms and conditions of this Agreement. Except as otherwise provided in the Agreement, any subsequent modification or termination of this Agreement shall be binding upon and inure to the benefit of and be enforceable by the successors and assigns of the respective parties.