Public Announcement

[Kromm]

Originally Posted by johndallman

I can see why you want the original authors to revise their articles for the Pyramid Dungeon Collection, but good articles are likely to go unrevised simply because their authors are no longer reading the Illuminator, and don't know about the project.

This is true.

Then again, those people aren't in touch with SJ Games via any other channel, either, and have just about all changed their contact info in the intervening decade or two. The process of hunting them down is another thing we haven't the resources for.

Thus, a Daily Illuminator is better than nothing. We've also mentioned the project here, I've mentioned it in social media, and I know several people have shared some of these mentions elsewhere. Ultimately, we're hoping GURPS fans and writers will pass the word.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Kromm

Ultimately, we're hoping GURPS fans and writers will pass the word.

That's what I reckoned. I started looking for S E Mortimer, who had some excellent articles in Pyramid#2 (although they're for a broader fantasy style than DF) and rapidly discovered she's Dan Howard's partner, and thus presumably aware of this initiative.

[The_Ryujin]

Can't believe I"m just finding out about this.

While it sucks to hear that Pyramid is closing shop (especially since I was slowly working on an article for it) and hope this is only a temporary situation, if this means more core GURPS for us I guess it's for the better.

[Kromm]

Originally Posted by The_Ryujin

While it sucks to hear that Pyramid is closing shop (especially since I was slowly working on an article for it) and hope this is only a temporary situation, if this means more core GURPS for us I guess it's for the better.

I can say without exaggeration that there are four – and soon to be five – GURPS first drafts awaiting playtesting at least in part because Steven and I have been too busy with Pyramid in various capacities. An important proposal also had to wait for Pyramid. Our editorial resources for RPGs (rather than board, card, or dice games) are very limited, and the monthly pace of Pyramid tends to challenge them.

None of which is the same as me saying, "Yeehaw – Pyramid is shutting down! I'm one haaappy camper!" I am (or was) a regular contributor, and the occasional break from GURPS projects to write short pieces was a welcome one. And as I said upthread, not having a way to phase new talent into the system is cooking my noodle at the moment.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by Kromm

None of which is the same as me saying, "Yeehaw – Pyramid is shutting down! I'm one haaappy camper!" I am (or was) a regular contributor, and the occasional break from GURPS projects to write short pieces was a welcome one. And as I said upthread, not having a way to phase new talent into the system is cooking my noodle at the moment.

Maybe an annual issue would serve to generate extra buzz, phase in new writers, and provide a place for those smaller articles.
As submissions come in they could be evaluated for the issue, rejected or kicked back with a suggestion to submit it for a supplement.

[lachimba]

Originally Posted by Refplace

Maybe an annual issue would serve to generate extra buzz, phase in new writers, and provide a place for those smaller articles.
As submissions come in they could be evaluated for the issue, rejected or kicked back with a suggestion to submit it for a supplement.

Or a DF/DFRPG specific magazine/ annual issue.

A collated monster volume where everyone gets one monster.

A traps volume where everyone gets one trap.

A spells volume where everyone gets a spell.

Many ways to encourage micro articles.

[Rasputin]

Originally Posted by lachimba

Or a DF/DFRPG specific magazine/ annual issue.

A collated monster volume where everyone gets one monster.

A traps volume where everyone gets one trap.

A spells volume where everyone gets a spell.

Many ways to encourage micro articles.

I don’t think I’d go so far as to go one per person (editing would be a nightmare, and I have over 30 suitable monsters), but DFRPG at least allows “stealth” issues. A bestiary is a good example, since more than one person can contribute; a spellbook is another. For more variety, there could be the Dungeon Fantasy Game Masters’ Guide, where you could have up to a dozen folks writing articles about little topics, which one of them weaves them into a semi-coherent whole.

[lachimba]

Originally Posted by Rasputin

I don’t think I’d go so far as to go one per person (editing would be a nightmare, and I have over 30 suitable monsters).

Editing one page from an author is substantially easier than editing 30. Editing 30 pages from 30 authors that DONT form one article is still easier. Its only when they overlap that difficulties arise.

The scale of difficulty increases at a faster rate than the page count.

Regardless every monster book is always going to be ten or twenty separate "arrticles" because they are all self contained.

Ritual Parh Magic had a book where spells were sourced from many different authors. Thats NOT GURPS Magic so I wouldn't try that, but it would fit with traps and magic items.

[Andrew Hackard]

Originally Posted by lachimba

Editing one page from an author is substantially easier than editing 30. Editing 30 pages from 30 authors that DONT form one article is still easier.

I disagree with your final assertion, at least as far as maintaining consistent style is concerned.

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by lachimba

Editing one page from an author is substantially easier than editing 30. Editing 30 pages from 30 authors that DONT form one article is still easier.

Originally Posted by Andrew Hackard

I disagree with your final assertion, at least as far as maintaining consistent style is concerned.

I agree with Andrew on this one: I just had cause to edit eight submissions from six or seven different backers for characters, and it was very challenging. Each makes different mistakes, has different assumptions about what's fun, and (at least in the DFRPG case) brings along different levels of "oh, you mean that's NOT how you do this?" when it comes to point accounting, trading points for disads or whatever. It's VERY challenging and time consuming.

Doing something which requires writing skill instead of "fill out character template" would be even more work.