MetamorphosisSigma - As with most people I type on the fly. I am sure, has I been publishing a document (as I do every day) I would have taken a few moments to spell check and correct errors.

Badmike - I have always offered to work for free. Both cartography and proofreading. I don't think they are serious about it, or care that much. They run ads like that every so often.

As I see it, they only need ONE person to proofread something and ONE person to correct setout. Inconsistencies and ambiguities should have been picked up by the playtesting. Then the additional or clarified text added, and finally someone should have gone through every page looking for spelling mistakes and poor grammer. And even poor grammer is tolerable if the words are complete and correct.

JohnGaunt wrote:As I said before . . . if anyone has questions or concerns, then PM Gnarley.

I agree with Mike; I suspect that posting at DF will end badly, especially since Len has an L4 thread.

Well, it really depends on how you go about it.  I mean, if you're going to completely condemn the project as garbage not even worth your time, as well as insult the author and all of those who worked on it, calling them dumb and wondering out loud if English is even their first language, then yes, you're most likely to get a really negative response(much the same reaction that happens around here and quite rightfully so).

OTOH, if you're more diplomatic about it and write something along the lines of(and please anyone can feel free to simply cut and paste this on the forum as their offer to help, you have my 100% blessing),

"GB, I really appreciate all the hard you guys did putting this long project together, however upon reviewing it, I believe that there were some editing/proofreading errors in it that may have been overlooked in the process.  I would love to be able to work on potentially removing some of these errors that I believe were overlooked and I will happily work at no charge as yourself and others have done through this long process, on the simple contingency that if I do do it, that you will give it a fair look as a viable corrected version for download once it's completed by me.  Let me know what you think"

I suspect that you will encounter much less resistance to it.   But hey that's me.

I just thought I would pop in here and see if I can clear up some of the misunderstandings about L4.  Some of you may know me from DF, some of you may not.

Basically, I take a lot of responsibility for what L4 is and what it is not, so please direct your criticisms to me and not Gnarley Bones or Solomoriah.  I was basically the project coordinator (for lack of a better term) at the beginning of L4 (contacting Len, developing a rapport and dragging him away from competitive bridge) and the very loooong middle (as Len likes to say), but not at the end (real life has a way of interfering).  GB and Solo stepped in after we had many misadventures with volunteer proofers/editors during the looong middle and got this into "print".

By the time they took over, it had swollen to the size that you see and I had made the decision to go with the full color CC2 maps that Len favored.

If I had to do it over again, I would have imposed a 16 page or 32 page limit and forced Len to follow DF's editorial policy in favor of old school maps.  However, if I had done so, I know that Len would have resisted and this content would have never seen the light of day.

Some folks (especially those in the collector community) have said, simply why not just release (or auction) Len's original notes?  The problem is there are none.  He lost the drafts of L4 through L10 when he moved from Chicago to California.

Others have suggested, why not sell it through one of the old school renaissance publishers and utilize a paid, professional production team?  Three issues here: (1) when we began this, there were no OSR publishers, (2) this a Greyhawk module.  It is not set in an unnamed archipelago off the southeast coast of a large continent.  Are any of the OSR publishers selling Greyhawk modules? and (3) Len insisted from the beginning that this be "free".

As for volunteers being turned down, you're right - I turned lots of people (including some of my friends) away.  I had so many volunteers, I didn't have time to address them all personally and I apologize for this.  You would be amazed how many folks come out of the woodwork for the opportunity to meet Len and get their names in the credits.  As for the proofers during the looong middle, we set the criteria that they had to have professional experience or have been involved in other DF publications.  You have no idea how much fun it is to have such a "qualified" proofer spend nine months on a manuscript and then return it with just one comment - a misplaced comma on page 54!

Will some of your comments be addressed in L5 and L6.  Maybe, but the manuscript and maps for L5 are already done.  At the end of the day, most of us tried our best and I will always be in Gnarley's debt for stepping in at the end to make the best of my bad decisions.

Edit:  Pie is good.  Cake is better.

Fid wrote:I just thought I would pop in here and see if I can clear up some of the misunderstandings about L4.  Some of you may know me from DF, some of you may not.

Fid, no reason to jump on your sword as far as I am concerned. I see your concerns and it appears you were swimming upstream on this.

I think Len might be missing the larger picture. Free is great, but good is better.

I know the debate was sort of raging over copyright issues surrounding L4, but just because it is a free download does not eliminate the copyright law. L4 is clearly in violation and WoTC can come down any time they want. Maybe they will just let it go, which is most likely.

bbarsh wrote:I know the debate was sort of raging over copyright issues surrounding L4, but just because it is a free download does not eliminate the copyright law. L4 is clearly in violation

IANAL, but I disagree that L4 is clearly in violation of copyright.

and WoTC can come down any time they want. Maybe they will just let it go, which is most likely.

Both of those are true, however.

Fid wrote:
I don't get it.  What is the issue with the avatar?  Can you guys identify it?

Change your [Edit] avatar to something you have loaded on your hard drive or something that you have loaded onto Photobucket.

King sees it, I see it, and apparently the others have it blocked or have a stronger stomach for such things than I do.

OK, something weird is happening with Fid's avatar.  Maybe it is accidental.

This is his avatar.  DO NOT VISIT THIS URL:

[Edit:  OK, Zenopus has been scarred for life.  I warned you.]

That GIF is sick.  The other GIFs are normal Greyhawk heraldry.

King and I do not share the same ISP, so something is fucked-up.

[Edit II: Anti-leeching code at the website that hosts Fid's original avatar is the cause.]

Fid wrote:What are you guys seeing?  Its the same one I use on DF, the heraldry of the County of Idee from Greyhawk.

You guys are either putting me though the noobee initiation or its linking to something bad.

I'm going to delete it to be safe.  If this is a prank, you guys win!

[Edit:  Removed my initial reactions to the anti-leech avatar.]