Re: Just a thought (a little long)

> There's more than just that. First, there's "the vision thing." We
came
> across this trying to do a fantasy version of FMA. Too many people had
too
> many good ideas that were at cross purposes with each other. You need
a firm
> hand at the tiller if you want an official product full of coherent
ideas.
> If you want an unofficial, zine like compilation of random ideas then
that's
> something else entirely.
>
There is not much "vision" associated with a SG supplement regarding 
vehicles, OOB's, and scenarios/campaigns. 
> Second, someone would STILL have to edit the thing. Not just
proofreading
> and layout but ACTUAL EDITING for content. Someone would have to say,
"sorry
> your idea is not good enough." Worse, someone would have to say, "your
idea
> is great, but there's no room for it." I have friends that edited an
> anthology of Canadian SF (Tesseracts 3, for those who are interested)
and it
> is NOT an easy thing to do. It's hard, long work. 
>
I understand that, and I'm sure you'll find MORE then one person up 
to the challange. 
> Third, even assuming someone edits this, Jon will STILL want to look
it over
> to make sure that this supplement doesn't clash with his vision of
where the
> games are headed. And what if someone proposes an idea that Jon had in
mind
> for the future?
That's exactly what I proposed first off, Jon would always fine tune 
it after the fact.  But all that groundwork would be done for him, 
freeing up a tremendous about of time on his part.
> Jon was worried about this before. If Jon rejects it this
> time, but uses it later himself he could be opening himself up to a
lawsuit
> (or he ends up paying royalties to someone for an idea that he came up
with
> independantly). Sure, it's all good and fine to be altruistic right
now, but
> wait until real money is involved...
>
I might be missing something, but how can somebody sue if the 
material/content was given for FREE? 
> My feeling is that this won't work unless it's done ENTIRELY for free
by the
> group and Jon blesses it from the get go. I think a better idea is to
> produce a zine (paper zine, web zine, e-zine, what have you) with
ideas for
> FT, SG2, and DS2. These would be unofficial ideas, but it would get
them
> into the public domain and open them up for scrutiny. If a rule gains
> universal acceptance, and Jon likes it, Jon can always bless it as
> "official" after the fact.
>
That's exactly what I was trying to avoid.  Most people have a hard 
time selling "unofficial" ideas to there gaming group or other 
groups, so making them "official" is what the hobby needs to grow.  
If Jon NEVER put out another rules set/supplement again, and left 
it in our hands to further develop the systems "unofficially", then 
it would become hodge-podge and over time completely unplayable 
outside of your gaming group.  Then we would be right back where we 
started, and it would take an enterprising individual (Joe Average) 
to come along and "publish" these rules (making them official) and 
start making Jon's money all over again!  I for one can not "wait" 
until GZG games comes out with a SG (my personal fav) supplement, and 
understanding their workload, it could be over a year.	This very 
well be a reason why some players might stop playing in the future.  
I'm in NO way trying to put pressure on anybody over at GZG, on the 
contrary, I'm offering a solution.  If there was always this negative 
wait-and-see-attitude with every game, then this would be a 
prehistoric hobby.  Thus far mini-gaming has been an enterprising 
dream for many creators, and the ones that are successful where 
developed PAST the rules stage.  AGAIN, I was ONLY suggesting that 
we help take these game systems forward, with the leadership of Jon 
and his vision.  

Allan, I respect all that you said, but suppressing ideas like this 
leads nowhere.	If it never get's done, then so be it.	But if there 
is a solid core group of people that are willing to take on this 
task, then I think SUPPORT is the order of the day.  And, as 
previousely mention, it would NEED to start with Jon.

-Kevin