Limited License wishlist...

[Flynn]

Good morning, All,

To my knowledge, the Limited License will be a go, but there's no news as to when all the legal and marketing details are going to be worked out. Those things take time, and I'm not privvy to any of that information. (All I know is what's been released here on the boards, so your sources of info are as good as mine. Better, if you know someone on the inside...)

I do know that the Limited License will not allow publishers to use the OTU in any fashion, so some of the good Baron's suggestions won't fly as they currently stand. Remove any OTU references and you've got a strong list of products. I would advise you to be careful about promising more than you can deliver, as that is the bane of many PDF and print game publishers alike. (It's also a big part of the reason why I'm not going into details about what I would like to do with the Limited License.)

For those that wish to contribute to the OTU, the Fair Use policy for both QLI and FFE allow you to do so, much as I am with Stellar Reaches, but you cannot make any money from the action. While your work is never officially sanctioned for appearing in such a fanzine or publication, the past has shown that quality work often results in requests to work on official products that may legitimize your efforts, so long as they fit the official view of the OTU.

If/when the Limited License comes to pass, I will investigate what it will take to become involved, and will most likely give it a try. I won't stop publishing Stellar Reaches to do so, unless doing both becomes too burdensome. The fanzine will always consider helping quality work see the light of day. I can't say at this time how FLTGames (the name of my gaming group since 1997 as well as my future LL imprint) will handle the Limited License work, without knowing more specific details about the license. For that, we'll just have to wait and see.

Hope this helps,
Flynn

 

[Jame]

I had something which I PMed to Hunter, but he never replied. Then I lost interest...

 

[Flynn]

Focus and follow-through are the only way to make something like this work. Stellar Reaches is good practice for me, as I often have issues with both of those elements, and I want to make sure I can consistently deliver if I'm going to tackle something like this.

Hasta,
Flynn

 

[The Hinterworlds Rambler]

I'm not promising anything, but I am starting a game company, with or without Traveller. I have no choice. I must apply the things I have trained all my life to do, it is a question of when. I intend to bite, chew and rend off way more than I can, But it is what I want to do for a living. I find it less productive to look too closely at what other PDF companies are doing, and focus more on what I'm doing. From what I have seen so far, there is indeed a great many companies producing materials, but many of them lack the value for the cost.

No references to the OTU will be severely limiting, and asks the question why should these products have the name Traveller on them at all? It forces writers to develop thier own ideas, yes, but it also dilutes the attention to the topic as much time will be spent reinventing the wheel, (or grav module as the case may be.) on things like character classes and the other stuff that gets repetitive coverage.

Does this also cover use of the design systems, as in we won't be able to use them?

I can understand the Peerage not wnating chaps writing volumes about powerful aliens that unbalance the flow of the OTU. (and I would personally avoid such stuff) A proper Writer's guide would solve this, but then you have to write the writer's guide.

I am at an age and an inclination to find out if my lifelong fascination with robots, aliens, and starships (and games, what?) is going to amount to anything, or if it is a dream best left unrealized, or some sort of delusion. I know that everyone and their grandmother is doing pdfs, but I see a niche, and my instincts tell me to go for it.

Pardon my impatience, but I have officially built my last set for the excreable play "Our Town" for the umpteenth time, and now want to get to something I actually enjoy.

 

[Flynn]

To some, Traveller is a set of assumptions for a sci-fi environment, not the OTU (hence the designation ATU). For others, Traveller is a system (although which one is always a matter of friendly and not-so-friendly debate.) For many, Traveller is the OTU.

In order to protect his intellectual property, MWM has said that the OTU is off limits. I can't blame him at all for that.

Hunter has already marketed the idea that ATUs are viable for product lines, based on his marketing strategy for 2320AD and the Honorverse product lines.

What the Limited License will let you do is use the Traveller rules systems (accept for GT) in an ATU. This means you get to use High Guard or T20 or TNE's FS&S to create starships, etc., without any complications, and use the published combat rules, etc., for characters.

There is another way, but probably much harder without developing a rep among Traveller fans first: you can approach MWM directly for a Full License and do work for the OTU.

For example, if I thought that Stellar Reaches was of sufficient quality for me to, say, charge a few bucks per issue, I'd have to go to Marc and convince him that I'm an okay person to let have a Full License.

But I don't have much in the way of a rep among Traveller fans except for a few articles on Freelance Traveller, some PDFs in the QLI file library, a few listings in the credits of a handful of QLI and Avenger products, and an article on a minor race that supplements the Sydymic Cluster Sourcebook. There are guys here that have written full supplements and are listed in more magazines and books than I have in my Traveller collection, which is only somewhat extensive. So I don't know if I have what it takes to approach MWM with a plan to do Full License work in the OTU. (I may, and I may not, but it's not my decision, ultimately.)

So, in short, here's what it'll boil down to:

* Limited License: Full use of Traveller rules systems (except for GT), with no OTU or Product Identity.

* Full License: As Limited License, but can include OTU and Product Identity.

Hope that helps,
Flynn

 

[Fritz_Brown]

And, Flynn, things like character classes are part of the rules system, not the OTU.

 

[Flynn]

That's right, Fritz.

The only thing you can't touch with the Limited License is the OTU and Product Identity. Everything else, from characters and combat to starships and world generation, would be available.

I strongly suggest others interested in the Limited License to develop at least a simple generic background, if not a full-blown ATU setting, from which to hang their work.

Aside from the setting products themselves, however, the more generic the background, the better, particularly if you are planning on releasing books on ships, vehicles, cybernetics, etc. Those kind of things should be developed with a plug-and-play mentality. Locking them to any setting means that they are less likely to used outside of that setting, and you lose some of your audience.

These are things I've noticed from the 3E PDF market, at any rate.

Hope they help,
Flynn

 

[Flynn]

One Final Note, His Excellency,

I'd suggest that, even if you are going to create your own game company, please don't give up your day job until it's meeting your needs. Some people, like Hunter, are lucky enough to be doing what they love, but they have to juggle that with home and family life, at the risk of not making any of it work.

Joe Fugate wrote on these boards that DGP almost cost him his marriage and his family. He's not alone.

The creative force behind BITS are so busy with their day jobs that they can't work on much BITS stuff at this time, despite their huge success in the past. (They're still out there, though.)

Most people in the business don't make enough money at it to make ends meet, which is why the few that do are held to such high esteem. I am definitely going to look at the Limited License as something I do to bring in a little extra money while doing something I really enjoy, but I'm not quitting my day job over it. (I enjoy Traveller, but I love my family more.)

The more work you put in, and that's required for quality, the less you earn to compensate for that. Many part-timers in the industry usually bring in less than a hundred or two a month, and full-timers rarely make enough to support anyone above college student levels. One guy I read about makes more money painting miniatures and selling them on eBay, but he writes and publishes because it's a dream of his.

The moral of this story: Don't do it expecting to make a living at it, and don't do it for the money. If you're going to do it, do it for the love of the game, and don't rely on it for your rent.

Hope that helps,
Flynn

 

[The Hinterworlds Rambler]

Sound advice, and I second it, though I must point out that every venture has risks. I have heard (and already gone through) many horror stories of the gaming industry, and most of it comes down to RL sidetracking and geek-on-geek flimflammery. Life is full of many such pitfalls. Now that these obstacles are identified, they can be more easily avoided.
I have an ethical structure that makes it impossible for me to screw anyone in a businesslike manner, and it comes from years of being the screwed.

I do not intend to "quit my day job" as I am my own day job. The only way I could quit is when they hammer me into my pine box. I'll take any proper risk if it gets me farther away from schlocky musical theater. I know there is more to life than that.

Also, I am not scared by the risk. And I do not even see it as a risk. If my marriage were to go under for doing something I enjoy, then I married the wrong person. My wife accepted long ago that my true calling is doing "space stuff" and she encourages it, which is what she should do.
Besides, any woman that has Star Trek Videocassetes from her teenage years with the Original (1960s) airdates written on them has no room to crack! I lucked out in that regard, I have a hot wife who is almost as big a geek as I can be, in some cases even more so. (I cite the racks of Buffy DVDs as evidence.)

Many may see this as a thankless, frustrating venture, and I can see the point, but from where I sit, I have nothing to lose, and many things to gain aside from money. If I can create something out of nothing and sell it, even for a nickle, then that's something. Im my case I would be making something out of nothing and trash, what?

I will not be so arrogant as to say that I am out to "change the game" but I am out to bring a level of development to my products that defy some of the conventions of RPG stuff that keeps it RPG stuff.

 

[Malenfant]

Personally, I'm not sure why they don't just release all the Traveller systems (or whatever systems they want to make available for people to use - just not the settings) as OGL and leave it at that. Sounds like it's basically the same intent...

 

[clementk]

Originally posted by Malenfant:
Personally, I'm not sure why they don't just release all the Traveller systems (or whatever systems they want to make available for people to use - just not the settings) as OGL and leave it at that. Sounds like it's basically the same intent...

Except that OGL means no funds from products that use it go back to the original company. I don't believe this is the case with the limited license from what I've seen here on CotI.

I've said before that CT or some edit of it should have been released for free on pdf by now. With even Fudge now gone OGL and some similar methods out there now it's worth looking into for Traveller IMNSHO.

 

[Golan2072]

Ok, I've made up my mind: I will not charge even a penny for my Solar Triumvirate setting; I'll publish it for free via PDF; you all deserve it

My current plan is to publish is piecemeal in Stellar Reaches and then, once complete, publish it as one big PDF with Flynn's help.

 

[Flynn]

2-4601,

Sounds like we have a plan. As you can, send me what you have, and we'll look it over.

Looking forward to working with you,
Flynn

 

[Malenfant]

Originally posted by Casey:
Except that OGL means no funds from products that use it go back to the original company. I don't believe this is the case with the limited license from what I've seen here on CotI.

Well, apart from the fact that it should drive sales of the rules that it's based on (ie if the CT system goes OGL, then people would buy the CT rulebook). That's how it works for D&D I think. Though it may only work if you have a lot of sales of that to start with.

 

[Flynn]

Please bear in mind that the reason the SRD works like it does is that there are specific items in character creation/advancement that aren't detailed.

What would CT hold back that would require one to buy the core CT book?

-Flynn

 

[Antony]

I was just wondering if there has been any further news regarding the Limited Licences?