Status of Upcoming Products...*ping*

[Kzintosh]

Hi all (though I suppose Colin or Hunter would really be the one to answer this question)!

Any news regarding upcoming supplements for 2320 AD? Colin had provided some tidbits awhiles back...just wondering if that's solidifing up nicely, or perhaps something else in the works.

Just to recap, I think the following would be lovely:

A tech book (read "LOTS 'un LOTS of gadgets)

A booklet for each colony world (more detailed map, more colony details, blah blah blah)

A ship book! Perhaps ala "Ships of the French Arm," or would nationality groupings be more appropriate (e.g., one for France, one for the ESA, one for the U.S./Australia, etc)? Or maybe like Traveller...Fighting Ships of Human Space, Merchants of the Core, etc.

Supplement for each of the alien species.

Things of that nature.



Thanks all for the replies!

 

[Kzintosh]

Geeze...my spelling is atrocious. Sorry!

 

[shanksow]

Those are all good ideas!

 

[Colin]

Well, I would like to see a Tech book, more likely 3-4 tech booklets, similar to the "Chromebooks" of the old Cyberpunk game, but smaller. A mix of gear, robots, drones, guns, fashion, services, foundations, what have you, a way of fleshing out the 2320 universe.

At least one book of vehicles, specifically aimed at vehicles used in adventures. This may go as high as three, I suspect.

Ship Books. Likely 3-5 of them, in the 64-page range. Roughly divided up into campaign type: military, merchant, exploration, troubleshooting/corporate. Each book would also contain extra rules to support the given campaign types. Maybe one of alien ships.

Atlas of the Core, Atlas of the American Arm, Atlas of the Chinese Arm, Atlas of the French Arm. Alien World Atlas. Each book would go into more detail on each world and large outpost, expanding a great deal on available information, but only to a point. Most would be 64 pages. Alien World Atlas might provide more information on the aliens themselves. Either that, or a series of Alien books, each covering 1-2 aliens, and their homeworlds, colonies, etc.

Starport Locations: A book depicting several key, generic locations within a starport. This could be a series (Frontier locations, space station locations, etc.)

We would likely be looking for submissions for many of these products, but I would have to get guidance from Hunter on that.

Another possibility in the works is a sourcebook covering the years from 2300-2320.

Personally, I likely will not be involved with 2320 for much longer, maybe a year at most. I have other (non-gaming) projects that I plan to pursue.

Thanks.

 

[kmsoice]

Well, I would like to see
<snip>
Personally, I likely will not be involved with 2320 for much longer, maybe a year at most. I have other (non-gaming) projects that I plan to pursue.

Thanks.

....uummm, let me guess. That is the sound of a gauntlet being laid down ... any takers?

 

[Colin]

Don't get me wrong. I plan to do several of these myself, at least one from each list, over the next year. After that, any involvement on my part would be sporadic at best. Maybe a SCiFi20 conversion.

 

[kmsoice]

Atlas of the Chinese Arm,
<snip>
We would likely be looking for submissions for many of these products, but I would have to get guidance from Hunter on that.

... and here is my gauntlet in response. For some months now I have been working (ok, just puttering) on an Atlas of the Chinese Arm. Between the 3 (4,5?) sentient alien races, the pirates and the terrorists I like the place and think it has way more Role Playing potential than the other arms. So far it is only a skeletal framework, a scattered mass of disjointed idea and links to works by others (oh god the copyright issues!). I am not going to pretend to be a professional writer, I am not, but I am going to do my best. For the rest of you fans out there; step up boys, Step Up.

 

[kmsoice]

Well, I would like to see

When I first saw this wish list I thought Colin was kidding, I mean this is a huge list worthy of a major new gaming system needing a whole team of writers, a doubling of what was made for 2300AD by GDW and a new bookcase shelf to hold it all. Can we really expect some publisher to ever make this? Especially if this community is loosing Colin?

But then I got to thinking [and keep in mind that I am clueless about Colin's plans and the whole publishing/gaming industry. Colin/Hunter if you tell me to shut up and go away I will] it might be possible if:
1) Even if more than 50% of the 2300AD websites have disappeared since 2000 there is still a huge body of work done by fans out there and it would be a shame to waste it. Look at the websites
http://www.kurotokage.org/2300AD/
http://www.robmyers.org/jiex/
Could anyone else do any better? Would we even want to? I remember watching the director's comments for the making of the Lord of the Rings movies and Peter Jackson talking about hiring on two of the the more successful Tolkien artists into his movie. PJ was saying that he got a better deal than he thought he was, not only did he get two great artists but he got the two people whose vision of the Tolkien world already formed, unconsciously or not, the basis of the vision of the Tolkien world for the rest of the public. The viewing public did not have to get used to a whole new vision. Obviously this would all require approval from those who originally wrote those websites, I am just saying I think it would be worth the effort.

2) Wikify it. Instead of one writer by distributing the work load we really could get Colin's wish list done. Ever used Wikipedia? It is amazing. I have been a lurker on 'UFO Alien Invasion' website and just came from the wiki for City of Heroes and I am amazed at what the wiki concept can do for a game. I think that allowing people to invest a little of themselves in the 2300AD universe could really hook them in. I always have a little idea on some random subject in the 2300AD universe. My little idea may not be worth much by it's self but group it together with other people's little ideas and you start to get something really important that everyone is going to want to see. Colin could be relived of the drudgery of writing and become as he is on this forum, a super moderator with the power to set the template, edit, lock and ban. The rest of us can do what I think we secretly love to do, nitpick endlessly [come on, you know you do!], especially when it comes to cross-referencing material for consistency and realism.

I can imagine that the above two ideas would wreck havoc with the normal way to produce a commercial, revenue generating product. So let me make one more foray into things which are none of my damn business.
3) Instead of making the payment for the finished product, make the payment for the right to access (view only? view&edit?) the website. Major contributors (i.e.those whom we had to ask permission for copyrighted material from their website) could get some kind of discount/bonus access (i.e. management rights to the entry that was based on their article).

Have I gone to far? Probably, shutting up and going away now. But hey... it could be great.

 

[aramis]

kmsoice:

1) you have no right (literally) to integrate others works into a wiki. It would be copyright infringement.
1a) You may start a wiki and ask others to contribute.
1b) Advocating for copyright infringement is a violation of board rules.
2) Even if the authors go ahead, it will not be the "official" 2300
2a) The materials published by QLI are.
2b) the canonicity of the QLI materials is subject to change by MWM.
3) I've seen efforts to do "Buy in to group to gain access to and to develop game X"... they have yet to be commercially successful. Not that they might not do so in the future.
3a) Doing so with materials which were formerly available for free does not build a customer base... it builds resentment.

 

[Beech]

Wikify it...

I was keen to do this a while back, I even started to set one up pending Hunter's (& Marc's) approval. I asked Hunter, but couldn't get any feedback from him so it is laying abandoned out there.
Great idea though.

 

[kmsoice]

1) you have no right (literally) to integrate others works into a wiki. It would be copyright infringement.

Absolutely, that is why I mention in point 1 and 3 that it would require permission from the fan website authors.

2) Even if the authors go ahead, it will not be the "official" 2300

If community made 2320AD material is done with the approval of Colin/Hunter is it any more or less cannon than 2320AD material done by Colin alone?

3) I've seen efforts to do "Buy in to group to gain access to and to develop game X"... they have yet to be commercially successful. Not that they might not do so in the future.
3a) Doing so with materials which were formerly available for free does not build a customer base... it builds resentment.

I would have to defer to those who know the industry on that one but with regards to your point 3a you are probably correct ... so is there any need for the original material to be taken down? Only the new, updated and community expanded version be in the wiki.

 

[rfmcdpei]

Wikify it. Instead of one writer by distributing the work load we really could get Colin's wish list done. Ever used Wikipedia? It is amazing. I have been a lurker on 'UFO Alien Invasion' website and just came from the wiki for City of Heroes and I am amazed at what the wiki concept can do for a game. I think that allowing people to invest a little of themselves in the 2300AD universe could really hook them in. I always have a little idea on some random subject in the 2300AD universe. My little idea may not be worth much by it's self but group it together with other people's little ideas and you start to get something really important that everyone is going to want to see. Colin could be relived of the drudgery of writing and become as he is on this forum, a super moderator with the power to set the template, edit, lock and ban. The rest of us can do what I think we secretly love to do, nitpick endlessly [come on, you know you do!], especially when it comes to cross-referencing material for consistency and realism.

Speaking as someone who has a fair amount of non-canon material up on the Internet, I'm fairly skeptical of the viability of the idea. An example: It took years to hammer out the basic assumptions behind the Tirane Sourcebook, and it's still very much a work in progress, with further complications thrown in by 2320 (Santa Maria's continued existence, New Albion as a British colony separate from Wellon).

I can imagine that the above two ideas would wreck havoc with the normal way to produce a commercial, revenue generating product. So let me make one more foray into things which are none of my damn business.
3) Instead of making the payment for the finished product, make the payment for the right to access (view only? view&edit?) the website. Major contributors (i.e.those whom we had to ask permission for copyrighted material from their website) could get some kind of discount/bonus access (i.e. management rights to the entry that was based on their article).

Building up a vast online cross-referenced encyclopedia is a huge task, and isn't going to be made easier by excluding non-participaqnts--who, presumably, would like to use the material--from reading and contributing.

 

[Anders]

One of the biggest problems with "open" projects is the lack of central vision. I was involved in the Orion's Arm project, and while I loved the setting and its scope it was very hard to keep together or consistent. Some people did space pirates, others Greg Egan. 2300AD already had that problem with the tacked-on cyberpunk elements.

People writing their own non-canon takes on a setting in different directions make it richer: you can pick the pieces that fit your version, and ignore the rest. My own current 2320 is a bit of a Ken MacLeod/Richard Morgan take on the setting (with Alastair Reynolds, Greg Egan and Charles Stross hiding in the wings): while I find Etranger amazing most militaria bores me to tears, and I only use bits and pieces. Similarly other refs may be running more Tiranese, cyberpunk, military or agent-based takes on the setting, requiring different versions. This is why we need a solid canon but also plenty of interesting high-quality non-canon additions.

What I would like to have a wiki for is simply to look up stuff and setting details. What is the name of the US president? What was the name for the 2291 Dunkelheim "coup"? How many passengers does a Zephyr take? Who are the most popular teenage heart-throbs in France right now? How do I remove Le Moonchi popups from my portacomp?

 

[oletheros]

What I would like to have a wiki for is simply to look up stuff and setting details. What is the name of the US president? What was the name for the 2291 Dunkelheim "coup"? How many passengers does a Zephyr take? Who are the most popular teenage heart-throbs in France right now? How do I remove Le Moonchi popups from my portacomp?

I have a story idea about a man who wrote a novel in 2298 called 2320AD. In that novel, the War of German Reunification went differently and the French didn't tell anyone about the encounter at Arcturus. In the novel, this reset the clock on the Kafer invasion, but it happened in much the same way. Mind you, he wrote it three years before the big invasion actually occurred. There was a lot of public anger towards him during the invasion and, in 2301, he was assassinated in Paris.

There's more, of course, but that's why I want to write the story. But it would be neat if he showed up as a setting detail that someone else's game referenced.