Gosh, I thought you were ignoring me?

Quote from: Blue DevilBullshit.  If you would actually read posts instead of just slinging insults you would see I said "Maybe he should cut it in half".

..and *I* said that it's ALREADY underpriced, genius.   So, as far as I'm concerned, you're suggesting that he give it away.

And you're basing this on your anecdotal experience of seeing D6 books at your FLGS.

Quote from: Blue Devil$500 is nothing?  What about the many free systems out there (D20, for instance which you use) which costs little to nothing to use?  

I'm not sure what point you're trying to make here.  Just because Free licenses exist, that doesn't make fee-based licenses valueless.   Does this really have to be explained to you?

Quote from: Blue DevilD6 just came back after a long time out of the public eye.  Why would someone pay $500 to use D6 when they can use D20 for nothing? (and D20 is a system more gamers know about then D6)

I can think of several reasons off the top of my head, the foremost of which is:  if the publisher thinks that the D20 system isn't suited to what they're releasing, and the D6 system fits it better.

Since you're fond of anecdotal evidence:  as an example, I'm paying to license SPIRIT OF THE CENTURY for a printed collection of some of our d20-based THRILLING TALES pulp adventures.  Why?  Because I think it makes sense.  Dual-statting for another pulp system is a no-brainer.   The reason I'm paying for a brand license, rather than just using the SOTC SRD which is free, is so that SOTC players know that this product is intended for them -- it's "official" (which makes a difference to a lot of gamers in making a purchase -- witness d20 gamers who ignore all of the third-party d20 stuff that's available, and only buy if it is 'official' D&D).

Quote from: Blue DevilYou have no idea what my background in business is, you just sling insults because it makes you feel better about yourself.  Which is why you got your ass thrown off of rpg.net anyhow.

1) I can guarantee that your backround isn't in publishing, simply based on the things you're saying, which display a staggering ignorance of how things actually work.   THAT'S what I'm basing my opinion of you on.    Just curious, though -- what IS your background?

and finally,

2) I got "my ass thrown off of rpg.net" (actually, a ban enacted about a week after I announced publicly that I was done with the site, and had changed and deleted my password) simply due to the fact that I got into a protracted personal conflict with someone who was an Administrator at the time.   He made it his hobby to have me banned.    In case you're curious, the reason I was finally banned was for "making non-specific personal attacks."   Yes, that's right....I made generally negative comments, targeting no individual or group, and they felt that was cause enough.    It was a personal vendetta, nothing more.

It is, actually, something which I'm not happy about....mostly because I was one of the folks that helped build RPGnet.  (The company I was with at the time RPGnet launched was the first commercial site who paid to be hosted on their servers -- which I don't think they even do any more -- and I was one of the first regular columnists, providing material to draw people to the site.   To be banned from the site purely because of a personal beef with someone who's not even in power any longer is a real shame.

If a Traveller license is really just a thousand bucks, I mean, shit, that's NOTHING.

Question: What exactly would one do with it?

Bear in mind that QLI Enterprises own the exclusive rights for T20 material.

Quote from: Pierce InverarityIf a Traveller license is really just a thousand bucks, I mean, shit, that's NOTHING.

Bear in mind that paying the licensing fee is the easy part.  Securing the contract to do so is more problematic. Part and parcel of issuing a license is maintaining control over your intellectual property and what sees print under your name.

QuoteQuestion: What exactly would one do with it?

Well, MARINER for one thing. :deflated: *

!i!

[*Which, for various reasons, will not happen with the original Traveller rules set.  I am nearly finished with Book 1, though.]

I'd probably crank out a book like the old Pilot's Guide to Drexilthar Subsector.  Just a subsector map, a list of UWPs, some planet notes and plenty of adventure hooks for GMs to riff off of.

RE: The above argument over WEG

The best thing I can think of is that WEG needs to tie its system to a new and awesome setting. I don't know if they have the rights to produce some of the things they did (MIB, Ghostbusters, friggin' STAR WARS), but they need something people can use the system on.

It might not hurt so bad to invest in other things than just D6, too... not sure it would help, but I can't see it hurting.

As for the price of the license, I neither know nor care. It might be a barrier to the first solution (there do need to be games you can play using D6). If not, there really isn't any problem with it.

As for who can afford it... I'm sad to say I can't currently. And if this is dirt cheap, I'm more or less screwed no matter what I intend to liscence, unless they're willing to take royalties instead.

I think there are two fundamental questions any licensee would have to ask himself: When? And Where?

At which moment in the Trav timeline? And in which sector/domain at that moment?

And the problem is that THE most attractive point in the chronology is already occupied: the Traveller universe right after the TNE atrocity. That's what Avenger Games are doing. I really like MJD, but that was a huge mistake on Marc's part... because where the hell is T5 going to be located?

Which brings up another issue: Before Marc hasn't answered that question (what is T5's setting?), I wouldn't pick up a license. (By "I" I don't mean me, or any other random fanboi.)

Hmmm... unless one could license T5's setting itself from Marc? Because face it, game design is no longer his main job exactly.

My guess is that the primary setting for T5 will be the Spinward Marches circa the 5th Frontier War, i.e. the same setting we've had for 25 years but maybe tarted up a bit.  My only real reason for suspecting this is that a lot of hand-wringing has been done over at Citizens of the Imperium in trying to correct broken UWPs for that time period, focusing on the Marches first and elsewhere second.  While Miller hasn't participated on the threads, his number #1 proxy has been acting as a go-between for the interested parties there and Marc.

Somehow that news (SM circa FFW) is both lame and cool rolled into one.

What would I do... probably Vanguard Reaches or the Beyond... those exist, but they're not canon.

Actually, no. I'd leave the SM to Marc, and I'd do the Core.

Quote from: jrientsI'm not a fan of TNE, but I don't think it was the worst rpg decision ever.  It was a gamble.  GDW was trying to turn what was increasingly becoming a niche game into a new breakout hit.  It was a calculated risk that failed.  Admittedly, they bet their own fanbase and lost some of it, but I can at least see the logic behind what they were trying to do.

And more to the point, they were making money on the TNE line.  People were buying it and playing it.  I'm not sure who, but they were moving units.  GDW's closure is often cited as evidence that TNE was a stinker, but the Desert Shield book they put out was probably their real downfall.

Don't forget that also during that time there was a huge upsurge in CCG popularity. Many distributers found that a skid of CCGs made them more money than the same skid filled with RPGs, so the CCGs got top priority for distribution often at the expense of the RPGs.

Quote from: beejazzRE: The above argument over WEG

The best thing I can think of is that WEG needs to tie its system to a new and awesome setting. I don't know if they have the rights to produce some of the things they did (MIB, Ghostbusters, friggin' STAR WARS), but they need something people can use the system on.

Hopefully the space opera Bill Coffin is working on will do that.

Quote from: Pierce InverarityIf a Traveller license is really just a thousand bucks, I mean, shit, that's NOTHING.

Question: What exactly would one do with it?

Bear in mind that QLI Enterprises own the exclusive rights for T20 material.

What would I do with a Traveller license?

Write some material set in the Imperial client states on the fringes, the pocket empires that aren't anywhere near the currently published material so that the "frontier" feels more like a frontier. Hell, I'd love to redo the Theta Borealis sector as a sector that has been declared "open" for settlement by the Imperium.

Hell, I'd just like to get the license to write Traveller stuff for sale in an effort to give back to a good game that has brought me a lot of enjoyment over the years.

Quote from: Pierce InverarityI think there are two fundamental questions any licensee would have to ask himself: When? And Where?

At which moment in the Trav timeline? And in which sector/domain at that moment?

Well, now you're discussing licensed setting material, not mechanics.  For my part, I'm interested in the effectively unused c.1977-81 "classic" Traveller mechanics and basic rules text.

!i!

Quote from: Ian AbsentiaWell, now you're discussing licensed setting material, not mechanics.  For my part, I'm interested in the effectively unused c.1977-81 "classic" Traveller mechanics and basic rules text.

Same here.  Were I to decide that Adamant should secure a Traveller license, we'd concentrate on Classic.

Hell, if I thought it was do-able, I'd license the whole kit-n-caboodle from Miller, re-release Classic and call *that* "T5".

Quote from: NicephorusCan you be more specific?  That only limits it to over half of all game companies to ever exist in the last 30 years.

:keke: I was hoping somebody would follow up with that.

The answer's Guardians of Order,  a company GMSkarka and I both worked with at one time or another.

Quote from: GMSkarkaSame here.  Were I to decide that Adamant should secure a Traveller license, we'd concentrate on Classic.

Hell, if I thought it was do-able, I'd license the whole kit-n-caboodle from Miller, re-release Classic and call *that* "T5".

If I were Marc Miller I would not license Classic if I still had unsold copies of the reprints.