Subject: MYSTARA-L Digest - 10 Jun 2007 to 11 Jun 2007 (#2007-64) From: MYSTARA-L automatic digest system Date: 12/06/2007, 17:00 To: MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM Reply-to: Mystara RPG Discussion There are 18 messages totalling 1310 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. [Spam] [MYSTARA] Mystara d20 - A Resurrection and a Revolution 2. Publishing professional game materials (8) 3. Mystara Web Ring 4. Hi and a question 5. Mystara d20 - A Resurrection and a Revolution (7) ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2007 09:22:04 +0200 From: Giampaolo Agosta Subject: Re: [Spam] [MYSTARA] Mystara d20 - A Resurrection and a Revolution On 11/06/07, Angelo Bertolli wrote: > Giampaolo Agosta wrote: > > For me at least, that's a good reason to be glad to have her back -- > > though certainly I'm also glad to have new people around, regardless > > of whether they have game design credentials or not. > > New people? You mean Mystara is attracting new people again? Not necessarily "new" in that sense. Just people who didn't post here before ;) GP ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2007 09:44:04 +0200 From: Havard Faanes Subject: Publishing professional game materials I don't know how OD&DITIES was made, but you can make pretty impressive things with WORD these days. You will need Acrobat Pro to turn Word Docs into pdfs, though IIRC there is a web service that will do this for free, possibly from www.acrobat.com Havard --- Angelo Bertolli skrev: > Sorry for multiple posts recently, I guess I get > onto certain topics cyclically. Anyway, I was wondering if anyone could > give me any advice or talk about how to make nice-looking PDFs to > publish things on the web. With all the new technology, I get pretty > envious when I see things that are being made, and I can't help but > wonder how they do they layouts so well. In particular, I'm especially > curious about how OD&Dities was done. > > Speaking of published works online, I think some of > you may be interested in this (and probably have seen it): http://basicfantasy.org/ It's basically a d20 > version of the OD&D rules, made by Chris Gonnerman et al. (Who, by the > way, also makes very nice PDFs.) I've been really impressed with this, > and I'm really tempted to start using Basic Fantasy and start > producing gaming materials for it instead of OD&D. Don't hate me for > that! I just like the idea of something like classic D&D being under > the open game license. > > Angelo > > -- > http://heroesonly.com/ | http://bitfreedom.com/ > > ******************************************************************** > The Other Worlds Homepage: > http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp > The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com > To unsubscribe, send email to > LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM > with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. > _________________________________________________________ Alt i én. Få Yahoo! Mail med adressekartotek, kalender og notisblokk. http://no.mail.yahoo.com ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2007 09:47:29 +0200 From: Havard Faanes Subject: Re: Mystara Web Ring IIRC Marco Dalmonte is still in charge of the webring. My Blackmoor site is on the webring and I have never really had any problems with it. I don't know how much people use these things anymore. I feel like I have a pretty good overview of the good sites that have been around for a while, and I assume people who make new sites will post here or on the MMB about them :) Havard --- shawn stanley skrev: > I've largely forgotten about it but I also don't > spend the time necessary to update the links page on the Vaults. > > ... > > actually it looks like the Vaults is one of the null > links in the webring, I guess I never updated it to pandius.com > > At 06:12 PM 10/06/2007, you wrote: > >I've been on the Mystara Web Ring for a long time, > but I absolutely >hate the Web Ring site interface. I ended up > deleting myself and >adding myself again trying to figure it out, but > I'm not sure it's worth it: > >Web Ring seems like more of a pain than it's worth. > Is everyone >here still on the ring, or do you care about it, or > is it pretty >much forgotten about? > > > >-- > >http://heroesonly.com/ | http://bitfreedom.com/ > > > > ******************************************************************** > >The Other Worlds Homepage: > http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp > >The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com > >To unsubscribe, send email to > LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM > >with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. > > > > ******************************************************************** > The Other Worlds Homepage: > http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp > The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com > To unsubscribe, send email to > LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM > with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. > _________________________________________________________ Alt i én. Få Yahoo! Mail med adressekartotek, kalender og notisblokk. http://no.mail.yahoo.com ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2007 16:58:22 +0900 From: Thorfinn Tait Subject: Re: Publishing professional game materials The simple truth is that these days, if you have access to one of the big guns - something like Adobe InDesign, Adobe Acrobat, or Quark Express - it's possible to make professional quality stuff. The learning curve is not all that steep, and once you have a handle on how to do things it all depends on your typography and layout skills. Of course, the problem is those programs I mentioned cost a rather hefty amount of cash. But if you are lucky enough to have access through your work or family, that's not a problem. This is how I was able to get my hands on Adobe Illustrator and make all those maps, although I am still working on persuading my father that he really needs InDesign. Thorf ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2007 09:59:23 +0200 From: Havard Faanes Subject: Re: Hi and a question --- Angelo Bertolli wrote: > > Hello and welcome. 1989? Wow that was a long time > ago. I think I started more like around 1990 - 1991, but honestly I > don't remember. I wonder if this is the typical time frame for those > of us who still play classic D&D and Mystara. Its a long time ago, but I think I may have started DMing around 1989 too. IIRC I started gaming the year before being introduced to the hobby through the BECMI D&D rules and the Known World setting. I remember my friends told me the game was alot like the Tolkien books I was reading at the time. I guess that was what got me interested. Actually my first GMing experience was with the ElfQuest RPG. It was a tricky game to GM though as it didnt have much of either monsters or treasure, which was what gaming seemed to be all about back in those days. :) Havard _________________________________________________________ Alt i én. Få Yahoo! Mail med adressekartotek, kalender og notisblokk. http://no.mail.yahoo.com ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2007 10:01:24 +0200 From: Giampaolo Agosta Subject: Re: Publishing professional game materials On 11/06/07, Angelo Bertolli wrote: > Sorry for multiple posts recently, I guess I get onto certain topics > cyclically. Anyway, I was wondering if anyone could give me any advice > or talk about how to make nice-looking PDFs to publish things on the > web. With all the new technology, I get pretty envious when I see > things that are being made, and I can't help but wonder how they do they > layouts so well. In particular, I'm especially curious about how > OD&Dities was done. I don't know what was used in OD&Dities, but there's a guy on the Italian MML (he also posts in the MMB occasionally with the nickname of aia) who's quite good with that kind of tech: from the original version of my Ochalean gaz http://www.elet.polimi.it/upload/agosta/.private/Ochalea.pdf he got this (much fancier) version: http://pandius.com/Ochalea-rev.pdf I suppose he could be the right person to ask. > http://basicfantasy.org/ Yes, it's quite nice. GP ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 10 Jun 2007 22:51:37 -0700 From: Andrew Theisen Subject: Re: Publishing professional game materials Angelo Bertolli wrote: Sorry for multiple posts recently, I guess I get onto certain topics cyclically. Anyway, I was wondering if anyone could give me any advice or talk about how to make nice-looking PDFs to publish things on the web. With all the new technology, I get pretty envious when I see things that are being made, and I can't help but wonder how they do they layouts so well. In particular, I'm especially curious about how OD&Dities was done. Not sure how OD&Dities does things, but Indesign is a pretty good tool I'm finding. ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2007 06:50:09 -0500 From: Web Warlock Subject: Re: Publishing professional game materials Well the one issue of OD&DITIES I helped do the layout for was in = Microsoft Word using Acrobat Pro. But this was a long time ago, 2002 or so.=20 I am not sure how the others were done. Hope that helps! (BTW love seeing all the new action here!!) Tim -----Original Message----- From: Mystara RPG Discussion [mailto:MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM] On = Behalf Of Havard Faanes Sent: Monday, June 11, 2007 2:44 AM To: MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM Subject: [MYSTARA] Publishing professional game materials I don't know how OD&DITIES was made, but you can make pretty impressive things with WORD these days. You will need Acrobat Pro to turn Word Docs into pdfs, though IIRC there is a web service that will do this for free, possibly from www.acrobat.com Havard --- Angelo Bertolli skrev: > Sorry for multiple posts recently, I guess I get > onto certain topics=20 > cyclically. Anyway, I was wondering if anyone could > give me any advice=20 > or talk about how to make nice-looking PDFs to > publish things on the=20 > web. With all the new technology, I get pretty > envious when I see=20 > things that are being made, and I can't help but > wonder how they do they=20 > layouts so well. In particular, I'm especially > curious about how=20 > OD&Dities was done. > =20 > Speaking of published works online, I think some of > you may be=20 > interested in this (and probably have seen it): =20 > http://basicfantasy.org/ It's basically a d20 > version of the OD&D=20 > rules, made by Chris Gonnerman et al. (Who, by the > way, also makes very=20 > nice PDFs.) I've been really impressed with this, > and I'm really=20 > tempted to start using Basic Fantasy and start > producing gaming=20 > materials for it instead of OD&D. Don't hate me for > that! I just like=20 > the idea of something like classic D&D being under > the open game license. > =20 > Angelo > =20 > --=20 > http://heroesonly.com/ | http://bitfreedom.com/ > =20 > ******************************************************************** > The Other Worlds Homepage: > http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp > The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com > To unsubscribe, send email to > LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM > with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. > =20 =20 _________________________________________________________ Alt i =E9n. F=E5 Yahoo! Mail med adressekartotek, kalender og notisblokk. http://no.mail.yahoo.com ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2007 07:05:32 -0500 From: Web Warlock Subject: Re: Mystara d20 - A Resurrection and a Revolution I have been here a while too, though maybe not as long as Jenni. Some of you might remember me, I have posted here under the name Web Warlock and I hold the dubious distinction of turning Glantri into a religious oligarchy. I also have some professional game design and authoring credits under my belt for various companies and systems and I'd like to pitch in. (give me half a chance and I'll rave about my new core book coming out at Gen Con!) I can't copyedit to save my life, but game mechanics and game balance I can do in my sleep. ;) Besides I really enjoy Mystara! NOW here is where I really get branded as a heretic. As anyone considered using Green Ronin's True20 system for a d20/3.x Mystara? Tim -----Original Message----- From: Mystara RPG Discussion [mailto:MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM] On Behalf Of Jenni Merrifield Sent: Thursday, June 07, 2007 10:44 PM To: MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM Subject: Re: [MYSTARA] Mystara d20 - A Resurrection and a Revolution Jeff Heikkinen wrote > I don't mean to be rude by asking this but I really have to. (Perhaps I simply > haven't been around long enough to know the answer?) > > Aside from heading up one project - the previous incarnation of MystaraD20 - > that frankly, pretty much went nowhere, what is Jenni's track record? She seems > to be somewhat of a revered figure in Mystara circles and everyone seems really > happy MD20 is kinda-sorta back from the dead, but, well... I haven't seen > anything that gives me any clue as to why. Does she have some game design and/or > (*successful*) project management credentials of which I'm not aware? Very reasonable question Jeff. :-) As I think someone else mentioned I was one of the earliest members on the MML - I joined the original list a few short weeks after it was brought to life by one Leroy Van Camp in the fall of 1995. I was never "The List Ogre" (that was originally Leroy and the task fell to others after he left the list in others hands), but I was often the "voice of reason" that spoke up and dampened things down when discussions started to get tense and flames were licking along the edges of every post. I have no formal game design credentials, although I have been playing and/or DM'ing one version of D&D or another since my 10th birthday in 1978 and I have developed many of my own adventures (You can find one, called "Jet Black" that is designed for OD&D at http://www.jamm.com/mystara/#jetblack) Professionally I have over 10 years of experience as User Experience Specialist - that is I participate in and sometimes manage the development and design of the information architecture, interaction design and overall experience of (usually) software applications. I worked on all aspects of a web content management server product for four years before the company was aquired by Microsoft and continued to work on it for two more years at Microsoft. Another three years at Microsoft put me into the Windows security group, working on projects such as the administrative interface for a federated authentication/authorization server and miscellaneous areas of security for what is now known as Vista. I left Microsoft at the end of 2005 and finally returned to my "home and native land" (that would be Canada) last summer where I initially spent six months working at NOKIA Canada on the UX of the podcatcher software for their NSeries multimedia phones. I am currently at an "online entertainment company" (which is really a euphemism for "online casino software company") where I work on improving the user experience for account registration and management as well as some of the games. > Also, I'm wondering what the practical difference between a "Liberal Autocracy" > as defined in Jenni's first message and the previous "Benevolent Dictator" > arrangement is supposed to be. They sound pretty much the same to me. I did not even actually put the original group for Mystara-3E in place but once in place there was no one stepping up to give the project direction and focus - not even the group's creator/owner. After we'd all floundered for a while I tentatively stepped up and asked to be made into a moderator on the list so I could manage the files and folders and then started to guide the project. One of the first things I did was recommend the use of "Personas," a tool commonly used by interaction designers (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personas), to guide project development. (designing a campaign world and designing software are fairly similar processes after all) Because I was essentially the only person who regularly stood up, directed traffic, stomped on erupting flame wars and encouraged people to stop arguing in circles, I was half-jokingly nominated as the "Benevolent Dictator". It really only meant that the list members voluntarily agreed to listen to me when it came to laying out the rules and getting things done. So, perhaps I was really more of a "puppet dictator" ;-) Someone who was on the original Mystara-3E list responded to my note asking me why I decided to switch to the "Liberal Autocracy" mode. Rather than retype it here, I think I'll resend my reply here, so you get a better idea of where I am coming from and possibly where I'm trying to go. :-D :-J(enni) -- Jenni A.M. Merrifield | walking on water and | designing to requirements are easy | so long as both are frozen design - development - usability human factors engineer user experience specialist -- ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2007 09:14:13 -0300 From: Steven Carter Subject: Re: Publishing professional game materials Any tool such as MS Word, WordPerfect, OpenOffice Writer (os/free), Scribus (os/free) can do impressive document layout. I've used WP and OOo for many, many years and contrary to what people tell you they do everything Word does, just maybe not the same way as Word. I won't get into the religious wars about word processors and text editors here though. OOo has PDF creation built in and it's available on a wide variety of platforms. I think WP is only available on Windows platforms but it too has PDF creation built in. I don't like using the built-in PDF functions on either software. Instead I use PDFCreator. I've used it for several years and distribute it via MS SMS across my engineering office. We use it extensively for making documents we need to transmit to clieints so we're continuously generating PDFs from Word, Excel, PowerPoint, AutoCAD, Microstation and tons of civil/structural/process/mechanical engineering and vendor programs. If you want really professional documents - and it has quite a learning curve - get one of the free LaTeX packages. A couple of the engineers here are working on their PhDs and the docs they create are stunning, professional works. Maybe not quite like a TSR/WotC RPG book but the layout of tables, callouts, diagrams and formula is complex. It shouldn't take much more to put in nice textures, borders and graphics. Steve > --- Angelo Bertolli skrev: > > > Sorry for multiple posts recently, I guess I get > > onto certain topics > > cyclically. Anyway, I was wondering if anyone could > > give me any advice > > or talk about how to make nice-looking PDFs to > > publish things on the > > web. With all the new technology, I get pretty > > envious when I see > > things that are being made, and I can't help but > > wonder how they do they > > layouts so well. In particular, I'm especially > > curious about how > > OD&Dities was done. ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2007 15:37:43 +0200 From: Giampaolo Agosta Subject: Re: Publishing professional game materials On 11/06/07, Steven Carter wrote: > > If you want really professional documents - and it has quite a > learning curve - get one of the free LaTeX packages. A couple of the > engineers here are working on their PhDs and the docs they create are > stunning, professional works. Well, actually that's where the learning curve gets steep -- the basic tags needed to typeset a basic text (e.g., the Ochalean gaz linked in my earlier post) are minimal. Figures are easy. Tables require a lot of tagging, but it's still easy enough. All if you accept the idea that the typesetting, not you, is going to decide the final layout (which is usually ok for technical/academic documents and even books). Anything else, including adjusting text around a figure, putting fancy borders (rather than simple lines or shadows), is definitely more difficult. > Maybe not quite like a TSR/WotC RPG > book but the layout of tables, callouts, diagrams and formula is > complex. It shouldn't take much more to put in nice textures, borders > and graphics. That's the main issue -- unless someone writes a gazetteer document class or something like that, documents are going to look professional but not fancy. GP ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2007 14:52:48 -0300 From: Vinicius RM Subject: Re: Mystara d20 - A Resurrection and a Revolution ---------- Cabe=E7alho original ----------- De: "Mystara RPG Discussion" MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM Para: MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM Data: Mon, 11 Jun 2007 07:05:32 -0500 Assunto: Re: [MYSTARA] Mystara d20 - A Resurrection and a Revolution > I have been here a while too, though maybe not as long as Jenni. > Some of you might remember me, I have posted here under the name Web Wa= rlock > and I hold the dubious distinction of turning Glantri into a religious > oligarchy. Please tell me more. > I also have some professional game design and authoring credits under m= y > belt for various companies and systems and I'd like to pitch in. > (give me half a chance and I'll rave about my new core book coming out = at > Gen Con!) Come on, tease us! > I can't copyedit to save my life, but game mechanics and game balance I= can > do in my sleep. ;) > > Besides I really enjoy Mystara! > > NOW here is where I really get branded as a heretic. As anyone conside= red > using Green Ronin's True20 system for a d20/3.x Mystara? > > Tim What is Green Ronin's True20 system? Vini > -----Original Message----- > From: Mystara RPG Discussion [mailto:MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM] On B= ehalf > Of Jenni Merrifield > Sent: Thursday, June 07, 2007 10:44 PM > To: MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM > Subject: Re: [MYSTARA] Mystara d20 - A Resurrection and a Revolution > > Jeff Heikkinen wrote > > I don't mean to be rude by asking this but I really have to. (Perhaps= > I simply > > haven't been around long enough to know the answer?) > > > Aside from heading up one project - the previous incarnation of > MystaraD20 - > > that frankly, pretty much went nowhere, what is Jenni's track record?= > She seems > > to be somewhat of a revered figure in Mystara circles and everyone > seems really > > happy MD20 is kinda-sorta back from the dead, but, well... I haven't > seen > > anything that gives me any clue as to why. Does she have some game > design and/or > > (*successful*) project management credentials of which I'm not aware?= > > Very reasonable question Jeff. :-) > > As I think someone else mentioned I was one of the earliest members on > the MML - I joined the original list a few short weeks after it was > brought to life by one Leroy Van Camp in the fall of 1995. I was never= > "The List Ogre" (that was originally Leroy and the task fell to others > after he left the list in others hands), but I was often the "voice of > reason" that spoke up and dampened things down when discussions started= > to get tense and flames were licking along the edges of every post. > > I have no formal game design credentials, although I have been playing > and/or DM'ing one version of D&D or another since my 10th birthday in > 1978 and I have developed many of my own adventures (You can find one, > called "Jet Black" that is designed for OD&D at > http://www.jamm.com/mystara/#jetblack) > > Professionally I have over 10 years of experience as User Experience > Specialist - that is I participate in and sometimes manage the > development and design of the information architecture, interaction > design and overall experience of (usually) software applications. I > worked on all aspects of a web content management server product for > four years before the company was aquired by Microsoft and continued to= > work on it for two more years at Microsoft. Another three years at > Microsoft put me into the Windows security group, working on projects > such as the administrative interface for a federated > authentication/authorization server and miscellaneous areas of security= > for what is now known as Vista. I left Microsoft at the end of 2005 an= d > finally returned to my "home and native land" (that would be Canada) > last summer where I initially spent six months working at NOKIA Canada > on the UX of the podcatcher software for their NSeries multimedia > phones. I am currently at an "online entertainment company" (which is > really a euphemism for "online casino software company") where I work o= n > improving the user experience for account registration and management a= s > well as some of the games. > > > Also, I'm wondering what the practical difference between a "Liberal > Autocracy" > > as defined in Jenni's first message and the previous "Benevolent > Dictator" > > arrangement is supposed to be. They sound pretty much the same to me.= > > I did not even actually put the original group for Mystara-3E in place > but once in place there was no one stepping up to give the project > direction and focus - not even the group's creator/owner. After we'd > all floundered for a while I tentatively stepped up and asked to be mad= e > into a moderator on the list so I could manage the files and folders an= d > then started to guide the project. One of the first things I did was > recommend the use of "Personas," a tool commonly used by interaction > designers (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personas), to guide project= > development. (designing a campaign world and designing software are > fairly similar processes after all) > > Because I was essentially the only person who regularly stood up, > directed traffic, stomped on erupting flame wars and encouraged people > to stop arguing in circles, I was half-jokingly nominated as the > "Benevolent Dictator". It really only meant that the list members > voluntarily agreed to listen to me when it came to laying out the rules= > and getting things done. So, perhaps I was really more of a "puppet > dictator" ;-) > > Someone who was on the original Mystara-3E list responded to my note > asking me why I decided to switch to the "Liberal Autocracy" mode. > Rather than retype it here, I think I'll resend my reply here, so you > get a better idea of where I am coming from and possibly where I'm > trying to go. :-D > > :-J(enni) > > > -- > Jenni A.M. Merrifield > | walking on water and > | designing to requirements are easy > | so long as both are frozen > > design - development - usability > human factors engineer > user experience specialist > -- ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2007 12:12:59 -0700 From: Jeff Heikkinen Subject: Re: Mystara d20 - A Resurrection and a Revolution I'd think C&C was the system to run with, long before True20. At least for anyone remotely nostalgic about the Basic D&D rules. Web Warlock wrote: NOW here is where I really get branded as a heretic. As anyone considered using Green Ronin's True20 system for a d20/3.x Mystara? Tim ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2007 23:11:52 +0200 From: Havard Faanes Subject: Re: Mystara d20 - A Resurrection and a Revolution --- Web Warlock skrev: > > NOW here is where I really get branded as a heretic. > As anyone considered > using Green Ronin's True20 system for a d20/3.x > Mystara? Good to see you're still around Tim! I thought about using True20, at least enought to buy the rulebook. I like the elegance of the system and the fact that it takes the D20 mechanic to its natural conclusion. The problem I see with games like C&C and T20 is that they are just not different enough from 3E to make it seem worth switching when everyone has figured out how 3e works. Lately, Ive gotten a bit tired with the whole level based games thing again (seems to occur every decade or so) so I'm exploring various non-level systems for my next Mystara campaign. I'm not above discussing True20 or any other ruleset with Mystara though :) Havard _________________________________________________________ Alt i én. Få Yahoo! Mail med adressekartotek, kalender og notisblokk. http://no.mail.yahoo.com ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2007 23:14:40 +0200 From: Havard Faanes Subject: Re: Publishing professional game materials --- Andrew Theisen wrote: > Not sure how OD&Dities does things, but Indesign is > a pretty good tool I'm finding. A friend of mine makes amazing things with Indesign, like truly beautiful character sheets. I could never wrap by head around it for some reason though. Maybe I just lack the patience... ;P Havard _________________________________________________________ Alt i én. Få Yahoo! Mail med adressekartotek, kalender og notisblokk. http://no.mail.yahoo.com ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2007 22:09:44 -0500 From: Web Warlock Subject: Re: Mystara d20 - A Resurrection and a Revolution You maybe right. C&C (Castles and Crusades) IS more old school feeling than True20 is and thus be the best fit for a "D20" compatible Mystara. I would be up for discussing the merits of the various systems. Tim -----Original Message----- From: Mystara RPG Discussion [mailto:MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM] On Behalf Of Jeff Heikkinen Sent: Monday, June 11, 2007 2:13 PM To: MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM Subject: Re: [MYSTARA] Mystara d20 - A Resurrection and a Revolution I'd think C&C was the system to run with, long before True20. At least for anyone remotely nostalgic about the Basic D&D rules. ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2007 22:19:24 -0500 From: Web Warlock Subject: Re: Mystara d20 - A Resurrection and a Revolution Thanks! I am sure my Glantri stuff is around somewhere. Briefly I had done all = of it back in the day on an old Tandy Color Computer 3 and lost a bunch = when I converted it all to PCWrite. I was able to save some of it which I = posted here many years ago (around 2000 I think). I posted it under "The Holy Lands of Glantri". Funny thing: I "revived" it all as a back story to the WitchCraft/Armageddon/Buffy RPG I was running a few years ago. Yup, no matter what I seem to coming back here. New Book: Some of you might remember I was one of the authors of the = Buffy RPG line. Well I have a new book out from Eden Studios. It is called = GHOSTS OF ALBION and it is the same rule system (Cinematic Unisystem) set in Victorian England. It has magic, demons, faeries, and all the stuff = that make role-playing fun. True20: Green Ronin's d20 variant. Check it out here. http://true20.com/ I mention True20 because Blue Rose strikes me as a setting with a reall Mystara feel to it. Tim -----Original Message----- From: Mystara RPG Discussion [mailto:MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM] On = Behalf Of Vinicius RM Sent: Monday, June 11, 2007 12:53 PM To: MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM Subject: Re: [MYSTARA] Mystara d20 - A Resurrection and a Revolution ---------- Cabe=E7alho original ----------- De: "Mystara RPG Discussion" MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM Para: MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM Data: Mon, 11 Jun 2007 07:05:32 -0500 Assunto: Re: [MYSTARA] Mystara d20 - A Resurrection and a Revolution > I have been here a while too, though maybe not as long as Jenni. > Some of you might remember me, I have posted here under the name Web Warlock > and I hold the dubious distinction of turning Glantri into a religious > oligarchy. Please tell me more. > I also have some professional game design and authoring credits under = my > belt for various companies and systems and I'd like to pitch in. > (give me half a chance and I'll rave about my new core book coming out = at > Gen Con!) Come on, tease us! > I can't copyedit to save my life, but game mechanics and game balance = I can > do in my sleep. ;) > =20 > Besides I really enjoy Mystara! > =20 > NOW here is where I really get branded as a heretic. As anyone = considered > using Green Ronin's True20 system for a d20/3.x Mystara? > =20 > Tim What is Green Ronin's True20 system? Vini > -----Original Message----- > From: Mystara RPG Discussion [mailto:MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM] On Behalf > Of Jenni Merrifield > Sent: Thursday, June 07, 2007 10:44 PM > To: MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM > Subject: Re: [MYSTARA] Mystara d20 - A Resurrection and a Revolution > =20 > Jeff Heikkinen wrote > > I don't mean to be rude by asking this but I really have to. = (Perhaps > I simply > > haven't been around long enough to know the answer?) > >=20 > > Aside from heading up one project - the previous incarnation of > MystaraD20 - > > that frankly, pretty much went nowhere, what is Jenni's track = record? > She seems > > to be somewhat of a revered figure in Mystara circles and everyone > seems really > > happy MD20 is kinda-sorta back from the dead, but, well... I haven't > seen > > anything that gives me any clue as to why. Does she have some game > design and/or > > (*successful*) project management credentials of which I'm not = aware? > =20 > Very reasonable question Jeff. :-) > =20 > As I think someone else mentioned I was one of the earliest members on > the MML - I joined the original list a few short weeks after it was > brought to life by one Leroy Van Camp in the fall of 1995. I was = never > "The List Ogre" (that was originally Leroy and the task fell to others > after he left the list in others hands), but I was often the "voice of > reason" that spoke up and dampened things down when discussions = started > to get tense and flames were licking along the edges of every post. > =20 > I have no formal game design credentials, although I have been playing > and/or DM'ing one version of D&D or another since my 10th birthday in > 1978 and I have developed many of my own adventures (You can find one, > called "Jet Black" that is designed for OD&D at > http://www.jamm.com/mystara/#jetblack) > =20 > Professionally I have over 10 years of experience as User Experience > Specialist - that is I participate in and sometimes manage the > development and design of the information architecture, interaction > design and overall experience of (usually) software applications. I > worked on all aspects of a web content management server product for > four years before the company was aquired by Microsoft and continued = to > work on it for two more years at Microsoft. Another three years at > Microsoft put me into the Windows security group, working on projects > such as the administrative interface for a federated > authentication/authorization server and miscellaneous areas of = security > for what is now known as Vista. I left Microsoft at the end of 2005 = and > finally returned to my "home and native land" (that would be Canada) > last summer where I initially spent six months working at NOKIA Canada > on the UX of the podcatcher software for their NSeries multimedia > phones. I am currently at an "online entertainment company" (which is > really a euphemism for "online casino software company") where I work = on > improving the user experience for account registration and management = as > well as some of the games. > =20 > > Also, I'm wondering what the practical difference between a "Liberal > Autocracy" > > as defined in Jenni's first message and the previous "Benevolent > Dictator" > > arrangement is supposed to be. They sound pretty much the same to = me. > =20 > I did not even actually put the original group for Mystara-3E in place > but once in place there was no one stepping up to give the project > direction and focus - not even the group's creator/owner. After we'd > all floundered for a while I tentatively stepped up and asked to be = made > into a moderator on the list so I could manage the files and folders = and > then started to guide the project. One of the first things I did was > recommend the use of "Personas," a tool commonly used by interaction > designers (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personas), to guide = project > development. (designing a campaign world and designing software are > fairly similar processes after all) > =20 > Because I was essentially the only person who regularly stood up, > directed traffic, stomped on erupting flame wars and encouraged people > to stop arguing in circles, I was half-jokingly nominated as the > "Benevolent Dictator". It really only meant that the list members > voluntarily agreed to listen to me when it came to laying out the = rules > and getting things done. So, perhaps I was really more of a "puppet > dictator" ;-) > =20 > Someone who was on the original Mystara-3E list responded to my note > asking me why I decided to switch to the "Liberal Autocracy" mode. > Rather than retype it here, I think I'll resend my reply here, so you > get a better idea of where I am coming from and possibly where I'm > trying to go. :-D > =20 > :-J(enni) > =20 > =20 > -- > Jenni A.M. Merrifield > | walking on water and > | designing to requirements are easy > | so long as both are frozen > =20 > design - development - usability > human factors engineer > user experience specialist > -- ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 11 Jun 2007 22:21:51 -0500 From: Web Warlock Subject: Re: Mystara d20 - A Resurrection and a Revolution Hey Havard! Yup I never leave. True 20 is nice, I like it better than C&C myself. But you point is = spot on about it not being different enough from d20 to really make it it's own game. And if you are tired of levels, hey that is what Unisystem is for! ;) Tim -----Original Message----- From: Mystara RPG Discussion [mailto:MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM] On = Behalf Of Havard Faanes Sent: Monday, June 11, 2007 4:12 PM To: MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM Subject: Re: [MYSTARA] Mystara d20 - A Resurrection and a Revolution --- Web Warlock skrev: > =20 > NOW here is where I really get branded as a heretic. > As anyone considered > using Green Ronin's True20 system for a d20/3.x > Mystara? Good to see you're still around Tim! I thought about using True20, at least enought to buy the rulebook. I like the elegance of the system and the fact that it takes the D20 mechanic to its natural conclusion. The problem I see with games like C&C and T20 is that they are just not different enough from 3E to make it seem worth switching when everyone has figured out how 3e works.=20 Lately, Ive gotten a bit tired with the whole level based games thing again (seems to occur every decade or so) so I'm exploring various non-level systems for my next Mystara campaign.=20 I'm not above discussing True20 or any other ruleset with Mystara though :) Havard =20 _________________________________________________________ Alt i =E9n. F=E5 Yahoo! Mail med adressekartotek, kalender og notisblokk. http://no.mail.yahoo.com ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ End of MYSTARA-L Digest - 10 Jun 2007 to 11 Jun 2007 (#2007-64) ***************************************************************