Re: [DL] Of combined books and other things... [long]

[Xotzil@aol.com]

>>--nothing set in Stone, mind you,

I should hope not. He might get annoyed, and we wouldn't want that... :-P

Just raced through a month's worth of digests, so I'm sorry if I'm a little late with my two pennies (confederate, o'course).

Combined Books:

Way back in the moderately early days of AD&D, there were only three books you needed. Player's Handbook, DM Guide and Monster Manual. Eventually, TSR came forth with the Fiend Folio (and Deities and Demigods for those who went through the former book like a Hackmaster through a Flumph). Later, came "The Complete <insert class> Handbook," which other companies picked up to create splatbooks with, and thereby began a somewhat tedious cycle of creating more books to buy [for us] and more books to write [for them].

I'm not dogging PEG, here. I've not regretted picking up one of their splatbooks yet (though the original S&R pushes that envelope a little, I must admit). I certainly don't feel violated as I do with AEG's Clanbooks, or White Wolf's WoD books (particularly now that they're 'revising' them), but, inevitably, a critical mass is reached, and you run out of those types of books to write.

If a company slows down putting out new product, there's a real danger that people will lose interest. A lot of gamers have really short attention spans, and if there isn't something new and shiny for them to point at and say "Ooo...new..." to from one company, they'll get enticed by another. While the combined books are a way to keep output coming, and give people something new and shiny to keep them interested (while keeping the company solvent), I'm not entirely convinced it's the best way.

See, I STILL have regular arguments with my local about High Noon. They are the embodiment of why GRW didn't work.

"It's a train game."

"No, it isn't a train game."

"It's called Rail Wars."

"Yes."

"So it's a train game."

"No! It's cowboys."

"So there are no trains."

"No. Zombies and steamtech and cowboys and stuff."

"So what's the story?"

"Rail barons fighting to build the first line to California."

"So it's a train game..."

(and on and on ad nauseum)

The worry I have about all three lines sort of merging is the idea that players new to gaming, [uninformed] owners of gaming stores, or just old hands who have become jaded by being screwed over too many times by the industry in general are going to believe that they NEED to have all three "systems" to play any of them. I'm not saying that you shouldn't cross-polinate, because personally, I think the DL uberstory is great, but that combining things may do more harm to you in the long run than good.

The Black Book idea sounds interesting, and doing some modules to support it would be a cracker of an idea (start the Adventure in LC time, than jump back to WW to do a "these events are what led to this..." then jump forward to do the real prequel in HoE), but doing source material spread through the three lines just feels...wrong.

Mind you, I'm just a consumer, (and one of the ones who walks into the major cons, looks at the PEG table and whines "But I HAVE all this stuff already...") and I know y'all have probably analyzed this to death before even seriously considering it...I'm just basing my own views on what contact I've had with similar ideas, and very little of it seems to have, thus far, been successful.

..course, before y'all came along, neither was a cowboy and zombie game, so what do I know? <g>

GWN vs. Black Circle:

I'm not a Canadian (though living in Minnesota, I might as well be), but I have to admit that I too have been wanting this book to come out for a long time. Da Nort' dere ya just has such a unique flavour to it that I think you could get a lot of mileage out of it. Mounties, Inuit, GR vs. Oil vs. Gold in Alaska, Wendigo, the OTHER coon-asses... It would also round out North America nicely. I know you're fighting the good fight, John, but even if it dies, please try to see to it that it comes back Harrowed.

Having said that, I wouldn't want you to necessarily do it in place of Black Circle. Let's face it. Doomtowners are drooling over that book, and with good reason. Even cardfloppers who don't play DL itself will buy it, simply because everyone loves the Whateleys in DT (and if they don't, Travis sends Enoch after them, but only if Tzipporah's busy). Again, speaking not as an expert, but as an [I hope] informed consumer, it would be a Good Thing for Pinnacle if both of these books appeared.

Epitaph's:

I'm sorry to see these go. Personally, I was moderately impressed with the first one (low points were the bios, which, while nice and all weren't something that I would normally feel happy about paying for), and moreso with the second. I'm betting the third will be even better, as it takes a few to get your head 'round that kind of format.

I liked the comics, and the short fiction in each was great. I could make use of the adventure in the first one, and I'll admit that I haven't yet read the adventure in the second.

Single Sourcebooks for the Future?:

I know you've said in the past that you didn't like the Tales of Terror format stuff, because you wanted the posses you were writing for to feel they were getting directly involved in the action. While Ghost Busters and Dead Presidents will most assuredly do that (I don't know enough about what's going on in Rain of Terror to be able to comment about that), I still think that the ToT stuff was a fantastic resource.

See, it's one thing to have a world to play with...particularly one as huge as the Weird West. You've got miles and miles of open space to plunk your favourite towns in, and pages and pages of critters to terrorize them with. But having said that, I* don't always know where to begin.

ToT (and I'll extend the umbrella to include BE:TN and BE:TS as well) gave you seeds to start with. And what seeds they were. You had passels and passels of things to look at and alter to your heart's content, or use to spawn new adventures and campaigns of your own. Sometimes being given a nudge in a direction is more of what you need to make an epic than a blank slate, and ToT (and the two BEs) did this in spades. I'm not saying you should change your mind about them, and I DO like that that "big choices" are being done in module form for us to get our hands dirty with, but I also like the other, so please think about it?

Magazines and Fan Scribbles:

John has posted several times that Transactions of the Royal Martian Geographical Society is looking for material (and that they pay as well...). Start there. Starting your own magazine is expensive, and I don't think at the moment it's something that PEG can consider. Perhaps if the license takes off in a new direction and they get a little more liquid capital, they can think about it, but T$R and GDW are still [regretably] MUCH bigger than PEG, and can afford to make such things happen.

Who knows...if TRMGS gets enough material, PEG may think again.

All of the above is only meant as suggestions, o'course. I'm not an expert, nor do I play one on TV (yet), and I really want nothing but the best for PEG, 'cause they put out the best durn game out there.

Now all I have to do is wait for RoT and the Collegium book.

How many days until Christmas?

--Jacques (Chris' friend)