[dq-rules] Re: DQ Open Source... here's a start...

["John M. Kahane" <jkahane@comnet.ca>]

      Hullo, JohnR,

>On Mon, 14 Feb 2000 04:26:32 -0800, John Rauchert wrote:

>What I hope this project is about is a bit more than throwing some
>rules together and saying here you go we're done.  The feeling that I
>get out there is that people want something that they can feel is
>"official" and "up-to-date". These are vague feelings that extend
>beyond more skills and colleges.

      I tend to agree with you on this, but let's face it - if folks
want something "official," they aren't going to get this, simply
because it's not official, it's something a group of people on the
'net have decided to do.   The only official version of this is the
stuff that we already have that was published by SPI/TSR. 
"Up-to-date," on the other hand, is a more realistic image of this,
methinks, simply because the fans on the 'net who are involved in
this are basically adding a new base of material to an already
existing game.

>We are uneasy about accepting any work done beyond AW as somehow
>"official".  I am here to say we draw a line in the sand.  We (the DQ
>community at large) should be the final arbiters of what is official. 

       I agree with you here, but see my comment on "official" above.
 The caveat to the whole project has to be that it *is* unoffficial.

>The large corporations don't care about this game, the designers may
>care but are now busy with other aspects of their lives, it is only the
>DQ community that truly cares what the future of this game will be.

       Given the gaming industry today, this can't be all that much
of a surprise to most of us.   I think that when it comes right down
to it, the only ones who do care about the game, whether it be DQ or
some other cancelled, lost-in-the-mists-of-time rpg, are the fans of
said game.

        Just as long as we don't do this in a "core system" kind of
fashion that one has with GURPS and some of the other generic rpgs
out there.   That isn't what DRAGONQUEST was, and it sure doesn't
live up to the spirit of DQ.

... Old heroes never die, they reappear in sequels. (M. Moorcock)

       JohnK
       jkahane@comnet.ca
       http://www.comnet.ca/~jkahane