Official Landgrab?
- Thread starter Tanuki
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hunter
Ancient - Absent Friend
Martin and I are toying with the idea of an 'official' landgrab. Basically we are considering doing a 32 world supplement consisting of write-ups submitted by the fans. These would be worlds from throughout the Imperium (and possibly beyond). The main thing is we want the world write-ups to be fairly generic and self-contained so that they are easily usable with any campaign setting (or even in different sectors). Each submission that makes it to print would be paid upon release (single payment, no royalties) and receive a free copy of the book. All submissions would be reviewed and selected by us and of course be subject to editing.
Sound like anything you'd be interested in contributing to or purchasing?
Hunter
Sound like anything you'd be interested in contributing to or purchasing?
Hunter
daryen
SOC-14 1K
What level of detail are you looking for?
Are you looking for something like the old Gamelords Lee's Guide supplement? Or do you want more detail? The other extreme in detail would be GT's planet supplements.
If you want them to be generic, then that would make it harder to have more detail than the Lee's guide, as you could only describe the current situation. History would seem to be out.
Regardless, I would be interested in contributing.
Are you looking for something like the old Gamelords Lee's Guide supplement? Or do you want more detail? The other extreme in detail would be GT's planet supplements.
If you want them to be generic, then that would make it harder to have more detail than the Lee's guide, as you could only describe the current situation. History would seem to be out.
Regardless, I would be interested in contributing.
I'd be happy to contribute.
And, hey, Hunter - what's a proper email to contact you - MJD was happy enough to accept something from me (an "Odd Job") but he said I should talk to you and get you an SSN. I tried the generic email forms, but never heard back
Try me at lloyd.a (at) attbi.com (not going to write it out to avoid spambots) if you want to save a moment.
Best,
-A
And, hey, Hunter - what's a proper email to contact you - MJD was happy enough to accept something from me (an "Odd Job") but he said I should talk to you and get you an SSN. I tried the generic email forms, but never heard back
Try me at lloyd.a (at) attbi.com (not going to write it out to avoid spambots) if you want to save a moment.
Best,
-A
trader jim
SOC-14 1K
Even Trader Jim is interested in this - but i need a workable email address- i have wanted to submitt articals in the past but cant "get" anyone!!
I've no objection to world writeups where it is easy to 'file off the serial numbers', but I've always thought that the whole point of having an official campaign setting is to make it as internally self-consistent as possible. If a world is really generic, what's the point of putting it into the OTU in the first place? I'd much prefer these writeups to be placed in a specific location with ties to neighboring worlds and shared common history of the subsector, etc. If I need to take a world from Milieu 1000 Gateway and dump it in Milieu 1100 Deneb, I can do so on my own, but to me a world that belongs in Gateway, Year 1000 and requires some editing to fit anywhere else is much more "real" than any generic world.
Hans
MichaelL65
SOC-12
That would be first publication rights you'd be purchasing, then?
Hans</font>[/QUOTE]Probably would fall under "Work for Hire," at least that would be my assumption but IANAL.
I'm going to agree with Hans here. A collection of 'generic' worlds (like "Lee's Guide") isn't particularly interesting to me, and I'd probably end up never using most/any of them. I'd strongly recommend something closer to the GT Planetary Surveys, where there are provisions for moving the world to wherever the GM wants to put it, but the 'default' is a specific OTU location, with the culture, history, and so on based on that. As long as the worlds detailed are all more-or-less 'ordinary' (no Capital or Shiwonee or Sambiqys) this shouldn't be too much of a burden either way.
Smiling DM
SOC-12
And I'll agree with T. Foster and Hans, too.
Stay with the Linkworlds approach - define small clusters. Another generic world isn't nearly as much help as a couple of neighboring worlds.
Lets face it - Travellers are outsiders - more details on a given world isn't likely to be of interest to anyone who's only around for the next cargo and a re-fueling.
Now a minor cluster, or a major trading arm is a different story. Given the level of interstellar trade and interaction that IS the 3I, defining a world in a vacuum (I still struggle to spell it without 2 c's - Thanx Marc
) is a disservice to the setting.
I recognize that cohesive definition amongst a cluster is more work than a series of single worlds, especially if you are looking to harness the talent of these boards. But from the market perspective, I'd have more use for a cluster type product (and therefore be willing to pay more) than for a book (or pdf) of 32 independent worlds.
I already have the BITS 101 series of books - If my players decide to hang on a planet for longer than 2 weeks, I already have plenty of fodder to entertain them.
Stay with the Linkworlds approach - define small clusters. Another generic world isn't nearly as much help as a couple of neighboring worlds.
Lets face it - Travellers are outsiders - more details on a given world isn't likely to be of interest to anyone who's only around for the next cargo and a re-fueling.
Now a minor cluster, or a major trading arm is a different story. Given the level of interstellar trade and interaction that IS the 3I, defining a world in a vacuum (I still struggle to spell it without 2 c's - Thanx Marc
I recognize that cohesive definition amongst a cluster is more work than a series of single worlds, especially if you are looking to harness the talent of these boards. But from the market perspective, I'd have more use for a cluster type product (and therefore be willing to pay more) than for a book (or pdf) of 32 independent worlds.
I already have the BITS 101 series of books - If my players decide to hang on a planet for longer than 2 weeks, I already have plenty of fodder to entertain them.
I'm going to add my .02cr to this and agree with the previous three posters. I would much rather buy a book that defined a smaller area than a collection of rather generic planets scattered throughout the Imperium - or worse scattered througout the _history_ of the Imperium.
I'd also rather it were set someplace where there is little to no easily available canonical material - the Principality of Caledon in Reaver's Deep springs to mind as an example. To fit this in with your origional concept, post the list of the worlds involved and let the TML, CotI, and JTAS inhabitants landgrab them as they see fit. Also have them write up the encounters, patrons and perhaps even a short adventure or two. Do it right and you could put out a series of books much like the Linkworlds.
William
RabidVargr
SOC-13
My 2cents or 19.95 is on the cluster book too. I can make plenty of indy worlds myself just by the stats and a little imagination.
RV
RV
Shadowdancer
SOC-14 1K
Scattered generic worlds or clusters, I would like to be involved.
lord irial
SOC-12
I'd be more inclined to detail planets, and to buy a book of detailed planets than clusters (though I do like the Linkworlds).
One of the problems I always had in the old days was that there wasn't enough time spent downside, and the planets weren't "complete." Usually very little detail or thought was given to things other than starports, bars, and the actual adventure locations. Most of the CT/MT planets didn't breathe as realistic places in and of themselves, with their own current issues and events, cultural motivations and idiosyncracies.
One of the reasons I appreciate the writings of Bujold is that though her universe is human, each of her planets are distinct from the others and worth spending time on, whether part of an adventure or just shore-leave.
These are, of course, my own opinions; your mileage may vary.
I would like to be involved in this project (whichever way it goes), but not sure if I have the time to allocate to it.
One of the problems I always had in the old days was that there wasn't enough time spent downside, and the planets weren't "complete." Usually very little detail or thought was given to things other than starports, bars, and the actual adventure locations. Most of the CT/MT planets didn't breathe as realistic places in and of themselves, with their own current issues and events, cultural motivations and idiosyncracies.
One of the reasons I appreciate the writings of Bujold is that though her universe is human, each of her planets are distinct from the others and worth spending time on, whether part of an adventure or just shore-leave.
These are, of course, my own opinions; your mileage may vary.
I would like to be involved in this project (whichever way it goes), but not sure if I have the time to allocate to it.
I'd be much more likely to buy a book that gave me a coherent cluster to set adventures in. Generic scattered worlds are good for non-Traveller, so if you were looking to cross-over with a potential Star Wars D20 market I guess it might work, but I wouldn't use it for my Traveller games.
Traveller source material gives us one-line entries for a thousand worlds. Occassional library data expands that one line to a paragraph. I'm so hungry for more detail that anytime I see anything more than a paragraph I pounce and leech it for my files
The GURPS world books were useful for me - but IMHO they suffered from being separate. What I *really* want to see is a series of cluster options, like the Linkworlds, for me to really bed down in.
I think a great idea would be to throw four or five worlds out to us here on COTI, and we'll detail it each according to our talents. It wouldn't take a month for us all to have corporations, navies, armies, countries, mysteries, personalities, *storylines*..... all hatched out ready for some editor like MJD or HG to cherry pick for a nice sourcebook.
Traveller source material gives us one-line entries for a thousand worlds. Occassional library data expands that one line to a paragraph. I'm so hungry for more detail that anytime I see anything more than a paragraph I pounce and leech it for my files
The GURPS world books were useful for me - but IMHO they suffered from being separate. What I *really* want to see is a series of cluster options, like the Linkworlds, for me to really bed down in.I think a great idea would be to throw four or five worlds out to us here on COTI, and we'll detail it each according to our talents. It wouldn't take a month for us all to have corporations, navies, armies, countries, mysteries, personalities, *storylines*..... all hatched out ready for some editor like MJD or HG to cherry pick for a nice sourcebook.
Doomhunk suggests a great idea and it was something I once did the following in a campaign (a non-canon, non-Third Imperium).
I defined two or three key worlds in the subsector, three or four key economic nuggets (one major luxury good, a couple of large companies, a tarriff war recently ended by Federal intervention), a couple of personalities - large and small - (a regional governor, a small-time planetary boss (a cross between Huey Long, Richard Daley and Robespierre)).
I then let my players create a few worlds each with the idea that they should play off this source material - feel free to add to it, but like improvisational theater, try not to fight what's already happened (saying that the boss shared a mistress with the Governor (ala JFK and Sam Giacana) was good, saying that he had been arrested was not).
If I had a conflict, I let the players work it out. After a lot of heated arguments, we had a very well fleshed out little chunk of real estate that our players were familiar with. As ref, I could add or tweak what we had done, but they knew as much (and occasional more) of the common knowledge as everyone and I almost never had to do a long bit of exposition as a ref. They players had ideas of where to go for information already ("Didn't Judge Harlan (the boss) exile one of his lieutenants to [World X] maybe he can help us?" - even if we never came up with that idea in the first place, it gave me a chance to improvise as much as the players, which was fun).
It made for good game play.
----
I think one way of doing a cooperative sourcebook for a cluster (is there a subsector in Ley that could be used?) is to do this:
Step 1: Find a few folks who can set out some overarching detail as a sort of "source code" and then have various folks build worlds aware of some of the local economic and political factors.
Step 2: Distribute the "source code" to various people who will create a world or two (or a background detail or two). When people are done, you see if there are any areas which are problematic - at loggerheads - and then deal with the overlap.
Step 3: Turn the new information into a new source code. Repeat as necessary.
I defined two or three key worlds in the subsector, three or four key economic nuggets (one major luxury good, a couple of large companies, a tarriff war recently ended by Federal intervention), a couple of personalities - large and small - (a regional governor, a small-time planetary boss (a cross between Huey Long, Richard Daley and Robespierre)).
I then let my players create a few worlds each with the idea that they should play off this source material - feel free to add to it, but like improvisational theater, try not to fight what's already happened (saying that the boss shared a mistress with the Governor (ala JFK and Sam Giacana) was good, saying that he had been arrested was not).
If I had a conflict, I let the players work it out. After a lot of heated arguments, we had a very well fleshed out little chunk of real estate that our players were familiar with. As ref, I could add or tweak what we had done, but they knew as much (and occasional more) of the common knowledge as everyone and I almost never had to do a long bit of exposition as a ref. They players had ideas of where to go for information already ("Didn't Judge Harlan (the boss) exile one of his lieutenants to [World X] maybe he can help us?" - even if we never came up with that idea in the first place, it gave me a chance to improvise as much as the players, which was fun).
It made for good game play.
----
I think one way of doing a cooperative sourcebook for a cluster (is there a subsector in Ley that could be used?) is to do this:
Step 1: Find a few folks who can set out some overarching detail as a sort of "source code" and then have various folks build worlds aware of some of the local economic and political factors.
Step 2: Distribute the "source code" to various people who will create a world or two (or a background detail or two). When people are done, you see if there are any areas which are problematic - at loggerheads - and then deal with the overlap.
Step 3: Turn the new information into a new source code. Repeat as necessary.
