Supplement publication idea

njp@cyberramp.net writes:

@:) Step 1: Writer of Cool New Idea/Background/Ship submits document
@:) to a review group (or the whole mailing list).

@:) Step 2: Reviewers of the document send feedback to writer and
@:) document is modified accordingly.  Some playtesting probably might
@:) happen here.

@:) Step 3: Semi-final draft is sent to mailing list/GZG/Jon for OK
@:) and supplement number.

@:) Step 4: Final doc is formatted and proofed and post to
@:) official/semi-official web site.

  Joh has already spoken about this issue and seems to be fairly
well-disposed to it, so my criticism of this idea should be read with
that in mind.  I think the idea is good but possibly inappropriate.
I would expect two problems:

  First - what Jon has already mentioned - the submissions will tend
not to fit well into the game universe, or perhaps more importantly
into the game system.  By the universe I mean the various human fleets
and the Kra'Vak and Sa'Vasku, their fleets, weapons and other systems.
It is not difficult to invent weapons, systems or vehicles that don't
make sense for any of these groups.  By system I mean not just the
rules of FT (or the other games) but the spirit of those rules which
specifies that they will remain as general and flexible as possible.
It is very easy to produce a non-general system; we see it all the
time as list members post "lasers" rather than "beams".

  Second - the process is designed to handle out-of-place submissions
such as those described above.	I would expect a large number of
submissions to be rejected as happens in any editorial process.  What
worries me is that some of these rejected submissions may take on a
life of their own and become generally used, or possibly even
developed into products.  On second thought, though, perhaps this is
less a problem and more an opportunity for expansion.

-joachim