Idea: New 'Journal' online

Posts: 3187 · Posted: Sat May 26, 2007 11:23 am

Idea that just popped in my head..gah get it out!!!

1-2 pages of news/articles about Judges Guild every month or so.
Collected data like what products are on the schedule, 1 of a .... Hex detailed, Where in the world is Bob Bledsaw Smile

, who knows..but something that people can contribute to and is a centralized place for news about Judges Guild.

Ideas, Good, bad, or am I just crazy Wink

ShaneG.

Posts: 3999 · Posted: Sat May 26, 2007 1:41 pm

I love the idea so long as someone else manages the online publishing.

I would contribute reviews.

Heck, I already have a number of them written over at ASGI (Killjoy's online store). I could expand and alter them for a wider setting.

Another interesting thing would be additions to published scenarios...add ons like maps, NPC's and additional areas to explore. For instance, a workable map of the village over the top of the Dark Tower would be useful (hand-drawn and scanned onto the web, of course).

There might be copyright issues...but I doubt that Bob Bledsaw is likely to hold back his approval.

It could be a fun shared project.

Posts: 404 · Posted: Sat May 26, 2007 2:42 pm

Believe me, publishing is a LOT more difficult than it seems. Even publishing a couple pages a month could, as a sideline, take up an entire week of nights.

Richard Tongue used to publish the excellent OD&Dities fanzine, before it overwhelmed him. The same for Tome of Mystara, and even a revived Pegasus from the Geilmans (print and PDF format).

Even a few pages a month will take up a lot of time, energy, and sanity.

That said, I would love to to a print version of Pegasus myself, but as that would be competition for my day job (not that there's any RPG advertising out there, anymore, but that's not how the company thinks of it), that is out of the question.

I'd be happy to support the online effort in any way I can.

Maybe I could host it on www.adventuregamespubs.com

I've reconsidered the whole forums idea for now; there's more than enough forums coverage already of JG stuff. Between the forums at Necromancer Games, Troll Lord Games, Dragonsfoot, the Wayfarer's Inn, and the Acaeum, I hardly have time for any OTHER forums...

Posts: 3187 · Posted: Sat May 26, 2007 3:23 pm

Well my grain of an idea would be free, and only as large as contributions were given to it. Mainly I envisioned it as mostly news for Judges Guild with contributions (be it maps, reviews, etc). Wouldn't want this to overwhelm anyone, but a sentence here, a paragraph there can add up from 1 to a hundred different sources. (I'm thinking a go with the flow type deal - can't be created every month, when ever then..no pressure of time tables, page count, etc - tis why I thought small.)

Anyway good to hear support. Smile

ShaneG.

Posts: 180 · Posted: Sun May 27, 2007 12:49 am

I'm sure everyone has noticed that the JG site sponsored by Necromancer has not been updated in well over a year. There once was a good deal of fan material making its way to that site. It is my understanding that Melan and others had more material to submit, but the lack of a webmaster or Necromancer support has placed that work on hold. I too had been working on a submission, but set it aside with no hope of a host. I was working on 3.5 update to the Inn of the Sunken Bridge, originally printed in Journal P. I was even making maps of the inn at 1" scale for miniatures. If there were no IP issues to overcome, I bet there would be a lot more fan material.

Posts: 55 · Posted: Thu May 31, 2007 9:29 am

The question is always the survival of the publication after the initial burst of enthusiasm wears thin. But hey, why not, I could contribute an idea here and there... maybe just a few magic items, or really small scenarios. You need an editor who can spur on people to get off their rump and do something, and that can be very draining after a while.

leadjunkie: the only one of my planned free materials I finished after Greenpiece went missing is Strabonus, which is available on www.cncplayer.net. Right now, my job serves as a good outlet for creative writing, and I've recently focused more attention on making a fan mission for the Thief2 computer game. I want to do more later, but just don't feel the need to create more RPG stuff right now. There were a few larger projects I planned (like detailing the Old South Road area in Barbarian Altanis) which are definitely dead, though.

Posts: 3999 · Posted: Thu May 31, 2007 11:16 am

Sometimes people think that a fanzine or other amateur production is not a success unless it runs for a long time.

In fact, some of the short run or one-shot publications are the ones that are considered most valuable and collectible in our own hobby. Among the most valuable are publications from companies that did not long survive even as labors of love.

One advantage of an electronic publication is that the need for constant infusions of cash is not as all-dominating. Also, as long as a disk holds the data, an electronic magazine remains in print.

My pdf's of Judges Guild products...purchased for next to nothing from DrivethruRPG.com...are pretty cool...and I actually refer to them more often than the originals. My copy of Temple Book I is much more useful now that I have it in electronic form. It was electronic copies of Citadel of Fire and Dark Tower that drove me to collecting the real things.

I think there must be far more Greyhawk fan material out there than was every published by TSR.

Mark Cool

Posts: 1200 · Posted: Thu May 31, 2007 11:46 am

One option is to consider is to initially issue the periodical in PDF and if there is enough interest, set them up on a site such as lulu.com as perfectbound softcovers for people that prefer them in that format.

Posts: 180 · Posted: Thu May 31, 2007 9:24 pm

[drools] There were a few larger projects I planned (like detailing the Old South Road area in Barbarian Altanis) [/drools]

[cries] which are definitely dead, though.[/cries]