Craig Dalrymple
04-30-1999, 02:55 AM
Ok, I'm going to de-lurk for a few minutes and condense some
ideas and share a few of my own. I think we can have a positive
effect on the BR line, and it's hopes of a return if we are an
organized group!
Remember, this is not all my thinking, and my feet stink so I am
a little out of sorts ;)
1. Our online community must thrive.
Without this there will be little
apparent interest in Birthright, and little potential monetary payoff
for WOTC to revive it. If they see that they have some insane people
developing BR online, they might think that they could put out a feeler
product and see how it sells.
Last years "Reunion" for Al-Qadim was this kind of effort. It kinda stank
which was sad. If it was a real solid product, some of my Qadim buddies
would have snagged it. Instead, one of us cut it off by being the first and
last to purchase it.
BR surely could be worth such a product. If they did a good job with it, it
could even make money! While we are on the money subject...
There are a number of people putting out good stuff here on the list and
on the websites. This stuff is replacing product we would willingly pay for.
TSR has to see this, and it's incentive to put something "official" out and
then generate some profit on our excitement.
All of this says: Don't give up hope. We can develop the setting without
them,
and by doing so, prove that they should take another stab at it. It worked
for
the Greyhawk fans, why not us??
2. We should make regular contact with TSR in a tangible format demanding
a revival of the product line.
This should be a "real" contact, not email. Email is good for getting
attention,
but there's nothing like a stack of letters to prove it to the corporate
types. Letters
equal motivated consumers. Motivated consumers equal money!!! :)
To further this, I will personally take on a quarterly mailing to TSR for as
long as
I can stand it. Any of you who wish to join me, can send a one page
testament
to me. On this page you should demand the line be returned, and show them
your willingness to purchase new materials. :) Also, tell them that only a
troglodyte wouldn't want to bring back such a good line. I will put my real
snail mail address at the bottom of this post. If you want to put your
thoughts
on paper and send it to me, I'll forward it to TSR in ONE BIG PACKAGE that
hits em hard. This way it shows organization, dedication, and abnormal
consumer
effort. All three factors create interest in pleasing us by sparking new
product.
These letters could even indicate what product we want. Just make sure it is
readable. Please do this, I think it would be a very cool wake up call to
TSR.
Also, a monthly email petition would be wonderful. Someone else care to take
the head of that ship?? We could mass mail them all on the same day each
month
and then every quarter they could get paper mail. All of which would become
a
regular and constant organized effort to return attention to our line.
3. The RPGA
Yes, the Role Playing Geeks Association. Not to be confused with Star Trek!
All jokes aside, if you are not a member, you should join. I plan to. Then I
plan
on using this "player driven" network to get modules printed for Cerilia. I
think
the Living City line is also ideal for our lovely little setting. Living
Cerilia! Think
of the possibilities!!! We could divide real regions of the world into
"states"
of Cerilia and have players be the regents. There could be some serious
diplomatic sessions at Cons, more like the White Wolf stuff than AD&D. This
could show the rest of the RPGA the potential of the setting. Imagine going
to a Con and seeing a group of people "role playing" a setting live action
like
and then doing some setting specific modules at the dice table. The
combination
within the Living City system could be awesome.
4. Conventions
Outside of the RPGA being used as a tool for interest. There is nothing
stopping
us from running BR games at conventions independantly of the official games.
We could even form an unofficial Birthright Players League and run the same
module worldwide at conventions. Again, this would show coordinated
interest,
and there is always somebody willing to jump into an open game during a
convention. These people can then be lured into our little trap :)
5. Gen Con.
We MUST have a presence at the big one. Running a few games or trying
to get corporate sponsorship of a few games would do us wonders at
Gen Con. Maybe we could get some of the people who worked on the
line to help us somehow unofficially?? Mabye a Q&A with Rich, Carrie, Ed,
or Tony (or any of the others not mentioned). If enough of us are going and
such a thing can be pulled off it would be really cool, and also an eye
opener
for TSR.
Also, I am all for dressing up like a bunch of Vos warriors and laying seige
to the TSR booth. Nothing like a bunch of unemployed, union working, blue
collar NPC's holding a Strike to get some attention. I'm not joking either.
So
long as we are not creating a serious disturbance it could be a valid and
humorous way to draw some attention to the line.
This means: HEAD COUNT! Who's going to Gen Con???? Contact me
and we can organize a meeting off the list so the powers that be don't have
access to our sneak attack plans! :)
6. The magazines.
Send them articles and modules. All the time. Even if they aren't that good.
Force the editors to read and reject your submissions. A few might
get printed. Even if none do, an increase in the volume of BR specific
submissions will again show interest.
7. The Cerilian Council.
Ok, this is something that the Greyhawk community did when I was on AOL.
They got organized, divided up the work, and then kept the line going. This
is essentially an extension of item number one.
I'd like people who want to commit to the dirty work of actually creating
some form of newsletter that reports on the "best" of what we are all
doing. This will create an unofficially official product that can serve as
the town square for what we are all doing. We could even begin to advance
the official timeline beyond 551 MR by incorporating the best of what
we are all doing in our own games. There would be some obvious
subjectiveness here, but life is life, so live it.
A Council can keep the fire alive and organized, and pick up the slack that
TSR is not. We can develop the official online guide to the shadow world as
a community effort. We can maintain a presence at conventions. We can
submit "official" materials to the publications of TSR.
Finally, I can't even begin to dream that I can do this all alone. Nor do I
really want to be the leader of the Council. I want to help out, and keep
the game alive. I'll need lots of help, but I think that a lot can be done
to bring the product back. For now, I'll go for the mass snail mailing
filter position. Send your demands and petetions to me and I will
forward them to TSR as one big envelope. It sure can't hurt.
No bombs please. I already hurt my finger today punching a
computer at work. Hey, it shocked me first!
Craig T. Dalrymple
525 N. Quentin Rd #513
Palatine, IL 60067
P.S. This is not an invite for stalkers. Bugger off wierdo! :P
ideas and share a few of my own. I think we can have a positive
effect on the BR line, and it's hopes of a return if we are an
organized group!
Remember, this is not all my thinking, and my feet stink so I am
a little out of sorts ;)
1. Our online community must thrive.
Without this there will be little
apparent interest in Birthright, and little potential monetary payoff
for WOTC to revive it. If they see that they have some insane people
developing BR online, they might think that they could put out a feeler
product and see how it sells.
Last years "Reunion" for Al-Qadim was this kind of effort. It kinda stank
which was sad. If it was a real solid product, some of my Qadim buddies
would have snagged it. Instead, one of us cut it off by being the first and
last to purchase it.
BR surely could be worth such a product. If they did a good job with it, it
could even make money! While we are on the money subject...
There are a number of people putting out good stuff here on the list and
on the websites. This stuff is replacing product we would willingly pay for.
TSR has to see this, and it's incentive to put something "official" out and
then generate some profit on our excitement.
All of this says: Don't give up hope. We can develop the setting without
them,
and by doing so, prove that they should take another stab at it. It worked
for
the Greyhawk fans, why not us??
2. We should make regular contact with TSR in a tangible format demanding
a revival of the product line.
This should be a "real" contact, not email. Email is good for getting
attention,
but there's nothing like a stack of letters to prove it to the corporate
types. Letters
equal motivated consumers. Motivated consumers equal money!!! :)
To further this, I will personally take on a quarterly mailing to TSR for as
long as
I can stand it. Any of you who wish to join me, can send a one page
testament
to me. On this page you should demand the line be returned, and show them
your willingness to purchase new materials. :) Also, tell them that only a
troglodyte wouldn't want to bring back such a good line. I will put my real
snail mail address at the bottom of this post. If you want to put your
thoughts
on paper and send it to me, I'll forward it to TSR in ONE BIG PACKAGE that
hits em hard. This way it shows organization, dedication, and abnormal
consumer
effort. All three factors create interest in pleasing us by sparking new
product.
These letters could even indicate what product we want. Just make sure it is
readable. Please do this, I think it would be a very cool wake up call to
TSR.
Also, a monthly email petition would be wonderful. Someone else care to take
the head of that ship?? We could mass mail them all on the same day each
month
and then every quarter they could get paper mail. All of which would become
a
regular and constant organized effort to return attention to our line.
3. The RPGA
Yes, the Role Playing Geeks Association. Not to be confused with Star Trek!
All jokes aside, if you are not a member, you should join. I plan to. Then I
plan
on using this "player driven" network to get modules printed for Cerilia. I
think
the Living City line is also ideal for our lovely little setting. Living
Cerilia! Think
of the possibilities!!! We could divide real regions of the world into
"states"
of Cerilia and have players be the regents. There could be some serious
diplomatic sessions at Cons, more like the White Wolf stuff than AD&D. This
could show the rest of the RPGA the potential of the setting. Imagine going
to a Con and seeing a group of people "role playing" a setting live action
like
and then doing some setting specific modules at the dice table. The
combination
within the Living City system could be awesome.
4. Conventions
Outside of the RPGA being used as a tool for interest. There is nothing
stopping
us from running BR games at conventions independantly of the official games.
We could even form an unofficial Birthright Players League and run the same
module worldwide at conventions. Again, this would show coordinated
interest,
and there is always somebody willing to jump into an open game during a
convention. These people can then be lured into our little trap :)
5. Gen Con.
We MUST have a presence at the big one. Running a few games or trying
to get corporate sponsorship of a few games would do us wonders at
Gen Con. Maybe we could get some of the people who worked on the
line to help us somehow unofficially?? Mabye a Q&A with Rich, Carrie, Ed,
or Tony (or any of the others not mentioned). If enough of us are going and
such a thing can be pulled off it would be really cool, and also an eye
opener
for TSR.
Also, I am all for dressing up like a bunch of Vos warriors and laying seige
to the TSR booth. Nothing like a bunch of unemployed, union working, blue
collar NPC's holding a Strike to get some attention. I'm not joking either.
So
long as we are not creating a serious disturbance it could be a valid and
humorous way to draw some attention to the line.
This means: HEAD COUNT! Who's going to Gen Con???? Contact me
and we can organize a meeting off the list so the powers that be don't have
access to our sneak attack plans! :)
6. The magazines.
Send them articles and modules. All the time. Even if they aren't that good.
Force the editors to read and reject your submissions. A few might
get printed. Even if none do, an increase in the volume of BR specific
submissions will again show interest.
7. The Cerilian Council.
Ok, this is something that the Greyhawk community did when I was on AOL.
They got organized, divided up the work, and then kept the line going. This
is essentially an extension of item number one.
I'd like people who want to commit to the dirty work of actually creating
some form of newsletter that reports on the "best" of what we are all
doing. This will create an unofficially official product that can serve as
the town square for what we are all doing. We could even begin to advance
the official timeline beyond 551 MR by incorporating the best of what
we are all doing in our own games. There would be some obvious
subjectiveness here, but life is life, so live it.
A Council can keep the fire alive and organized, and pick up the slack that
TSR is not. We can develop the official online guide to the shadow world as
a community effort. We can maintain a presence at conventions. We can
submit "official" materials to the publications of TSR.
Finally, I can't even begin to dream that I can do this all alone. Nor do I
really want to be the leader of the Council. I want to help out, and keep
the game alive. I'll need lots of help, but I think that a lot can be done
to bring the product back. For now, I'll go for the mass snail mailing
filter position. Send your demands and petetions to me and I will
forward them to TSR as one big envelope. It sure can't hurt.
No bombs please. I already hurt my finger today punching a
computer at work. Hey, it shocked me first!
Craig T. Dalrymple
525 N. Quentin Rd #513
Palatine, IL 60067
P.S. This is not an invite for stalkers. Bugger off wierdo! :P