Re: Submissions to Compendium...

>From:    Static <eshum@??????????????.com>
>         First, we all know that the number of submissions to Compendium
>has been low.  *Very* low.  As in "handful" low.  And that's over the past
>year.  I've of course been wondering why.  Have people lost interest in
>SJ?  Did I or the Council piss off everybody?  Is it Compendium's new color
>scheme?


First off, I'm sorry for my silence lately. I lost email access at
home, which I only recently got back. And I think that's something we
should all keep in mind concerning Compendium and the Council. None
of us are paid and we all have other lives. In my case, just so folks
get an idea of how busy I am, I'm married, I've been holding down
three jobs (teaching and academic advising positions), trying to
finish my Phd, running three PBEM games, a tabletop RPG game, playing
in a monthly DBA campaign, and, most importantly, my wife and I had a
beautiful daughter last year. Now, much of that isn't quite as time
consuming as it sounds, but over the past few months besides loosing
home internet access I've been basically laid off from my advising
job while they changed buildings and offices, plus I've been
searching for a full time, permanent teaching position. Life is
complicated.

Now, I _know_ Static's life has been just as complicated, perhaps
more so. He's moved across the country, had job issues of his own,
had trouble reestablishing internet access himself, and that's just
what I know about. So, that's how busy at least two council members
are.

I think, in the end, that's the basic reason why submissions have
been low. let's face it, most of the Council members are the main
writers for the setting. Not the only, by any means, but I doubt if
any of us would argue with Night Druid's massive influence on SJ
online, however. Life seems to be calming down for many of us, and I
think we on the Council are becoming less shy about submitting our
own work. So, let's not get too pessimistic. :)

I am going to be submitting, for example, a netbook of my own
detailing Bralspace as I've detailed it for my jammers game. There's
a lot of good material there. I know Nightdruid and some others,
myself included, are working on an IEN sourcebook. Such a book would
be awesome, IMO, and exactly the sort of the Council should be doing.

So, I say expect good stuff!:)


>         Flamewares broke out about what it means to be "official".  People
>new to this list were bitching about the "oldtimers" not listening to their
>brilliant ideas.  I got messages along the lines of, "Who made you king?
>I didn't vote for you."  Then the SJ3e yahoos went off and formed a splinter
>group without even contacting the Council -- which the list spent over a
>month voting in.

Well, I think we've settled on the proper answer for 3e, _either_
waiting some nautical rules are published, or using the vehicle (not
starship) rules in the Star Wars RPG. Someone mentioned that while I
was offline (I could read the list from work, but not send to the
list) and i think it would be a pretty good way to handle the ship to
ship stuff. If someone wanted to write up such a conversion and
submit it, they would have my eternal gratitude!:)

Let's face it, the biggest problem with 'official' material has been
the 3e conversion stuff. It has slowed us down by a massive amount.


>         I've been told that people don't submit material to Compendium
>because the guidelines -- i.e. they don't want their hard work to be
>judged by some council.  The rest of the nonsense I don't have an answer
>for, since I barely understand what's going on.  All I know is this
>constant bickering about "officialness", "canon" and the"right and true
>way to convert SJ to 3e" has made the setting unfun for me.


Well, I go with the group, _but_ we have to have strict standards. If
Compendium is going to mean anything then tyhe 'Official' material
should be well written, well edited, free of spelling errors, and it
should not contradict published material. Whether a council votes on
it or not:)

Well, that's my rant:)