Aberrant RPG - A silly day dream

[Sandy Davis]

Well, I have a dream, that aeon could be bought by the players that love it.I mean if a few hundard people chiped in we could get teh rights and start a small publishing house.By no means do It hink we would make any profit,but I think we could make a good game.

After all we have so many good writters here.We could make a stab at making a game.And Just becuase we may not gain any profit, we may not losse anything.

I mean, I think I could put up 500-700$,and I knwo that is not a lot.But it is a start..We could make it on a pay web site, sell the core rules as e-books, sell them at local game stores..start small.I mean It is not a varry logical thing to do but then again I am sure if enough people wanted to we could just make a new game world,one like aeon but not under the copy right laws,that is if it came to that.

Also, if we started out small, we could put adds in our books...Not a far shot..comic books do it.Sure this litlte trick may get harsh words form the die hards,and the critics but the fact is that money dosen't grow on trees.And if we did this, we should be humble at the start,at least untill we have our feet on the ground.

And so I ask you all, is this a silly day dream,aa dream, or a posssable goal?

[Hugin]

I would hesitate to refer to anyone's dreams as 'silly'. It is unkind and merely opinion. I do however see this as a dream. A pleasant one, but nonetheless a dream.

One thing Bruce Baugh has mentioned at several points in his informative posts is the obscene difficulties in actually publishing games, difficulties both monentary and otherwise.

The likelihood is that purchasing Aeon from WW, if not outright impossible, would be extraordinarily expensive. A group project the one you describe has been attempted on the Web before, and has failed before, simply because of the old axiom 'too many chefs spoil the stew'. We are an opinionated and grumpy lot. Hell, look at our discussions in regards to house rules, we can't even agree on those, and we acknowledge them to be only opinion.

No harm in dreaming though.

[Sandy Davis]

Well, one the idea was not that everyone woudl have a equal say in the rules, and the back ground.And while too man chefs ruin the stew, not enough spices do as well. If it was going to be a new game, we could have many authurs could do things "news papers" and minor chartacers that add spice to the story.

As for the rules, well.Only a set group of people should have a real say in the rules.And the rest could make "fan powers"..In the end, it comes down to this, is going to be easy if we did this?No, is it going to be possable, yes.Remeber that TSR started much the same way, so did WOTC,and yes for every company liek that thousands failed.But I have a dream, where the games are built for the those who love the games,and not for the money it put in the makers pockets.

If WW wants to take it's ball home, we can make our own.After all, who among you has any fear that we coul not make a better game.Both in story and in rules?I know I am new here and most of you probaly think I amnot that smart..but I say this,would you rather let things stay the same or risk a little to make things better?

We could start it off as a small project on a web site,and over the months work on it..I am not asking that we all work on it,but rather that if any of you would .I couldget one the biggest rule laywers to ever live to help on the machinics of the game..But as I said this a dream,and I am thank for any feed-back..more so of the good kind^.-`

[Asche]

I'll tell ya what Sandy.. YOU do the leg work and let me know what I need to do next.

I have high hopes and plans for my epic and the dream you mention here is quite that. I wish you all the success you'll need. Just let me know how much WW wants and where I have to sign.

::holding breath in anticipation::

[Matt]

The reality of it is that if White Wolf couldn't make a decent profit out of it, neither could we. Even if you could raise the money to buy the game, how are you going to pay for people to work on it? Why do we have to buy the game to continue publishing it? Fans can publish their own material as long as they want, provided that you don't claim ownership or attempt to seek profit from it. If you want to see something happen, offer up some of your money to get people interested in working on a new book. You won't get any of the money back, and the odds of the book actually being written are slim, but there is a chance that you could at least get something for your money.

I am not going to tell you can it can't be done, because I would love to see someone pick up the mantle for the line as much as anyone, and have offered my site and my skills as a designer to anyone willing to do so. But the work that it takes to produce a high quality book simply makes it almost impossible. I can tell you from experience that web publishing is not easy. I have worked on developing at least 50 different books/columns/web sites for the Aeon continuum. Out of all those projects, which all those different people, only a handful were ever completed. And they were only short stories.

That is the reason that I have made the forum the main interest of the site, so that I don't have to rely on Joe Schmoe to actually produce the article that he promised for this month's issue. I wish anyone willing to continue on with the line the best of luck.

[Sandy Davis]

Before dissmiss the facts about a game like this, we must frist look into what White Wolf did to fail, one it id not go for the right market, two it did not put enought into advratisment,three it has a has market for it's product that is not like what Aeon was about.

NOw this being said, we can look in what ways they did get it right.And we can work out the problems, wiether the game systems is or is not worth keeping.Wiethr or not the aanmes shoudl be kept the same.If we should Bring the new product to a large publishing house and have them do that,or do it our selves.Should it be an online thing where the people pay to down loud the rules and th e system,or should it stay in the hard paper formate, maybe both.Most of these would be bassed off how swerd white wolf is.

As for the reasons not to do this,theere are many.But as the saying goes, be resonable, demaned the impossable. THe leg work aboout aprouching white wolf, well, that is an odd thing, as I do not know what number to call, let alone what ask for..I am just saying this coudl a be a dream,and I will work on the leg work,that is if I know that some people will help on the other fronts.

So far what I got, is some smal cash, the will to see this threw,a good rules lawyer who can do some other things,a web progamer and dream. Istill have a dream.

[Sandy Davis]

Quote:

Originally posted by Jack Chance:
I still think they fumbled TR and AB, not too mention A!, and I still hate V:tM (sorry)... But this looks good. Really good. I loath it when WW makes me love a game I so wanted to hate.

So do I!And this why i think somethign liekt his could work where the failed.

[Brucifer]

who wants to make a profit (me) - (joke)

No-one!!! I think i speak for every Ab player in the multiverse when i say "we wanna see the books man". E-books and pdf files are all well and good but I think we want those groovy glossy covered books with all the neat secrets that we get from games designers.

However, think on this - White wolf may not want to start a precedent for fans/players taking the game into their own hands and making a go of it....

peace bruvva.

[Sandy Davis]

Stop speaking logic!

[Kane Knight]

I have a dream...

Well, it's more of a nightmare. I'm naked and standing in the middle of a wrestling ring, and facing off against Ghandi and MLK Junior. They've just pulled the biggest swerve in history and turned heel, and I'm facing 'em in a handicap match buck nekkid.

But I digress.

Sandy, you'd already established that such a venture wold not be for profit, and the concept would be unlikely to make money anyways. so why shell out for an official license when we can continue to function in an unofficial fashion? Books can still be put out in electronic format and whatnot,. organised by a collective of fans and players...

Best of both worlds...

[Widget]

Case in point...

Book number 1 - Brain Waves - is currently in production and the people involved are putting a lot of talent and effort into it.

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[Sandy Davis]

And as much as this a good thing art is not the thing that maters to me the most.Or even a big part of it.

[Kane Knight]

Quote:

Originally posted by Widget:
Case in point...

Book number 1 - Brain Waves - is currently in production and the people involved are putting a lot of talent and effort into it.

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Aye I saw the hype to see it be finished, even in e-book format makes me all wamr and swquishy inside.

[Matt]

Sandy, I agree that the artwork isn't nearly as important as the text, and if you are looking at what percentage each plays towards the whole, the artwork doesn't come close. For me it's probably a 85/15 split.

So while I essentially agree with you, the point is that the art is the final 15% of the piece. It's what helps underscore the written word. It helps set the mood for a piece, and I agree 100% with a picture being worth a 1000 words. Take the characters from the character contest. Every time I read something from Ashnod, Apep, Endeavor, or Teknokat I think of those pics. It helps me think about their character, and makes the character seem more real to me. Also, it helps get the reader interested in a given section just because it catches your eye.

For the context of Brainwaves, I think artwork is definately the finishing touch. We already took the time to make the book look and read like any other Aberrant book, and now we have spent the last week working on the artwork to help sell it to the reader. When we are finished, people will want to have this baby printed and bound. The artwork seals the deal.

Now, back to the point of this thread, which is whether people should continue on with the line. If people are willing to produce material for it, then go for it. It's very rewarding, but a lot of hard work though. I get the same rush working on this that I originally got starting this site, and would love to continue doing this, because it's a great feeling. But it is taking a lot out of me to develop Brainwaves, and I am working with a few great people, and we already had 50 pages in the can before we got started.

I know that Ian Watson had expressed interest in writing developing some additional material. Also, the EON guys are working on several new books, and will probably continue as long as they can. I would include my name in here, but I would only join in if the right team were to develop for a project. If you want to spend some of your money to help out with the line, offer to help these people out.

[Sandy Davis]

Well, I think I solved one of the bigest problems in Aberrant, both in the rules and the canon feel to the game

Quantum does not change the power of you powers.It is the pool of engery you have to use, nd what powers you can use.

Powers go from 1-10 dots with a system of changing aorund the powers abit.It works to be that yougetpowers that arejust as strong but less chartacer with one in a lot of powers for veryr little real reason.