ComStar is a family owned company involved in the publication of fiction, gaming materials, and web content. As our small company has continued to see profit growth, we have steadily paid off all of our business debt, and continued to increase the budget for production and marketing. This has also enabled us to expand into various product lines, and look forward to continue this growth into the future.

In order to speed up the consideration of your submission, we ask that you follow the following process:

1. Read these submission guidelines.
2. You will be asked to complete a submission questionnaire. Please answer each question. You will find specific explanation/instructions for each question below. Please note that while we are sure your game idea is a very good one, we are not looking to steal anyone's idea for a game. We get a substantial amount of submissions, and may already be planning a game that you find similar to your own. By submitting a game idea, you understand that this is the case and that we are not precluded in any way from pursuing another designer's game that may or may not be similar to your own.
3. Email the submission questionnaire to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it Please note that my home email address ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) may be the return email address on future email correspondence.
4. We read and consider each and every submission, so please be patient as we work thru the submissions we receive. We do understand that your time is very valuable, and we do our best to minimize the wait time. If you do not hear back from us within 21 days, then please contact us again via email.

What we are looking for

This section of ComStar is focused upon publishing gaming material. We certainly have a preference for cross-promoting our games and fiction together (for example, a game setting that can be supported by a line of fiction will enhance both lines), however fiction is not a requirement for the game. We are very interested in products that are both short in length and full length books.

Core Rulebooks: A core rulebook consists of all the rules necessary to play a game. Examples include Combat: A Military Action Game and Mecha Aces. A core rulebook can certainly be based upon the rule set of an existing system (such as Combat being a game using the Action! System from Gold Rush Games). Most Core Rulebooks will also contain a fair amount of source material to help a gaming group establish their game world.

Sourcebooks: A sourcebook uses the rule set from the core book to help players and GMs expand their games. Sourcebooks can include expanded or optional rules, new equipment, spells, NPCs, or other material appropriate to the genre. Examples of sourcebooks could include a book of superpowers, or a collection of villains, or a book of starships.

Campaign Book: A campaign book details a setting (a complete guide to a city, a world, or a universe) that the GM and players can base their game in. Some example topics that may be included in such a book would be the history of the setting, geography, races, key NPCs or groups, plot hooks, etc.

Adventure Anthologies: Adventure anthologies are a short collection of adventures. The adventures should be designed for about 3-6 players, and for characters that are low to medium experience level (for maximum marketability). The adventures should also include simple suggestions for increasing the challenge level of the adventure (what skills or spells to add to some of the monsters/enemies to strengthen them, for example).

Game Accessory: Game accessories are products that enhance the table top gaming experience, but are not really appropriate for a 'book'. Included are such products as cardboard miniatures, counters, terrain, tiles, spell cards, etc.

Special Short Projects: These are paid for in cash (we rarely agree to royalty payments on these projects, although on a rare occasion we have done so for a repeat freelancer). This type of project can include doing a write up of a supervillain team, or an alien race, or an imperial civilization, etc. These are designed to supplement a game line.

The Questionnaire

Please download the submission questionnaire for games, complete it and email it to us at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

Creator(s) Name and E-mail Address: Please type the name of the person(s) who created the game (this will likely be your name). If the creator wishes to use a pen name, we will still need the legal name, but you can also note that you prefer to use a pen name (and what that name is). Also, please include an email address you check regularly.

Proposed Project Title: If you are proposing a book, please give the title that you would like to use for the book. If you are proposing a line of books, then please give the title of the line.

Game Mechanic/System: If you are wishing to use a pre-existing game system (such as d20 or FUDGE), please just identify the name of the system. If you are wishing to use a system that requires a separate license (such as HERO, Fuzion or d6), then please make that clear. If we are interested in your product, we can then contact the owners of that system to work out a license with them. If you are using a home grown system (one you created), then please briefly explain the mechanic you wish to use. For example, if it is a d100 game, you can say "A home grown percentile system."

Genre: Please identify if your game is a fantasy, science fiction, superhero, horror, pulp, etc. If applicable, please also identify any sub-genre that the game would fit within (for example, for science fiction it could be "Hard Sci Fi", "Military Sci Fi", "Near Future Sci Fi", etc).

Project Completion: Please tell us roughly what percent of the product is completed.

Projected Length: Please estimate (or specify if it is 100% completed) the end length of your submission (you can either use word count or page count). If you use page count, please estimate using Times New Roman (no, that will not be the final font used on the product, but is used here for standardization of length), with font size of 10.

Retaining IP Ownership: Like most game publishers, we prefer to purchase all rights to the material submitted. Please specify here if you are willing to sell all rights to the work. If you are not, please understand that this does not automatically exclude your project from consideration, but that compensation will understandably be lower.

Royalty Payment or Flat Fee: We compensate freelancers using one of two methods: Royalty (a percentage of the revenue earned from a project) or Flat Fee (this is a cash up front payment, payable upon satisfactory submission of material, and is usually based upon either the word count, page count, or a project as a whole). Please identify here which of these two methods you prefer. NOTE: Each of these methods have their advantages, and our preference is truly determined by the particular project.

Level of Participation: Please identify which part(s) of the process you are willing and/or interested in participating in (writing, editing-note: You cannot be the editor if you are also the writer, artwork, graphic design, layout, marketing). Please feel free to expand upon what aspect of each you would like to participate in. Obviously, ComStar would provide all parts of the process that you do not include here.

Sales Pitch: This should demonstrate your writing ability, and should be focused upon a prospective customer of the game. If this is the only thing you are able to tell a prospective gamer about your game, then what would you tell him or her to compel them to buy your game.

Publication Credits: Please identify what (if any) past publication credits you have. Like any publisher, ComStar would like to know if you have previously worked with a publisher. If you do not have any, please understand that it does not disqualify you from consideration (we are interested in new authors as well), however past publication credits can provide us with a reference as to your work, your experience in dealing with editors, deadlines, etc.

Short Writing Sample: Please provide a relatively short (500-1000 words) sample of your writing, and a brief outline of your proposed book. While the writing sample does not need to be from your proposed book, it should be within the same genre. If your proposal is for a Game Accessory that does not include writing, then please put "N/A".

Issues of Consideration

A few points of criteria we use in determining what to publish:

1. What games sound like fun! Yes, we are gamers, and are interested in publishing a game that we would like to buy and play ourselves.
2. Professionalism: We are going to be working together for quite a while, and we want to work with people that are courteous and professional (we certainly strive to treat you in a courteous and professional manner as well).
3. Past experience: We give very preferential consideration to people that we have worked with before (for example, some freelancers have done short writing assignments for us, and therefore get preferential consideration for larger game products, or for the publication of their fiction). If someone has worked with other publishers, then that is certainly considered.
4. Suitability of the work for fiction (so we can cross-promote with our fiction publishing arm).
5. Ownership of intellectual property.
6. Marketability: Can we meet the compensation/cost of writing, editing, artwork, graphic design, layout, printing, marketing and distribution while still making a reasonable profit on the project? If the answer is 'no', then either the costs need to be cut or the project would not be viable for us.

Thank you for reading thru the submission guidelines. We are always looking for fresh new ideas, and hope to work with you in the near future!

William Andersen
Director of Games