Bihlbo wrote:However, what constitutes "core Tome"? Only the things Frank & K put out? What about the instances where it's incomplete, like weapons? Does that get broadened to the things F&K have given approval?
My concept of the 'core' pdf is outlined in the post I made that had all that eye-rending green, orange, and red text. Almost all of those things that aren't green require some form of community material to flesh out. We need a complete OGL replacement package.
Bhilbo wrote:Personally I'd rather see the "core" defined thus: That which works best with the rest of the rules to produce a whole, complete game. This means community material has to be considered, but I'm of two minds on that:
1. F&K are the original authors and if we're setting out to make a more usable Tome reference object then let's produce the original material into a single body, then expand off that.
2. F&K have said they aren't going to get butthurt by someone using the Tome material for no-profit, credited work like this. That means that if the final product is "Den's Tome" and with the expanded material produces a better, more usable product, then the only reason not to do it is the extra effort of deciding what's "core" and what's not.
Exactly. The concept of producing such a document also necessetates a fair amount of community interaction and discussion so we can, at least, get a general idea of what content people want to be tome. It should just be more than the personal house rules the editors want.
Bhilbo wrote:Which brings me to another topic: who's in charge? If it's all open source, get the work done how you want it, when you can, etc, then it would be nice to know that up front. My preference, FWIW, is that someone wears a "producer/creative director" hat (preferably made of folded pages ripped out of a 4e book). It seems the project would benefit out of having this one person who:
- defines the technology used, ensuring contributors know how to contribute
- maintains an updated list of what needs to be done (exactly like the color-coded one Sigil did above)
- defines the project's voice, style, and formatting, and produces a guide for contributors
- edits all contributed work to maintain quality production value in terms of voice, style, and formatting
- establishes a schedule, mainly in order that pieces which depend on others get produced afterwards
- fascilitates discussion, maintaining board threads for the primary topics
- decides what makes the cut and how to organize the final product, based on community discussions
- is ultimately responsible for the shebang being good enough to be worth our efforts
That would be pretty fucking nice, but I'm not willing to take on that responsibility. I'm strictly looking at doing work on a "when I damn well can" basis. If such a person existed, I'd be willing to take responsibility for formatting and editing individual items within the project.
RadiantPheonix wrote:e.g., if Magic of Blue stuff doesn't make it in, but I think it would be cool for a campaign I'm running/organizing, I can just add [a few lines?] and include all that stuff.
With a Latex compiler, a basic understandingof Latex (which you should be able to learn from simply looking at, or even modifying the source code for the document), yes you could do that. If you had your class or chapter or whatever youd simply be able to add in "\input{TEXTfILElOCATION\TEXTFILENAME}" and compile it into a pdf, and the new content would appear in the appropriate section.
Kaelik wrote:This shit needs to stop. The concept of not 20 level classes fucking needs to be introduced in the Core book, or a bunch of fucking idiots still aren't going to get it. You need to fucking have the knight, and say "And then the Knight PrCs to something else" and you fucking need to do it in the core book, or people are going to throw a shit fit every time someone shows them a Firemage, Snowscaper, Elemental Siphon, ect.
Alright, if we want non 20th level classes in, we should have MORE of them than just the knight in the core, so it isnt the odd duck out. We would also probably want classes to stop at 5, 10, 15, OR 20 levels; levels at which you usually start qualifying for new PRCs. Sub 20 classes should provide an obvious path for advancement beyond it, like the knight that comes packaged with PRCs, or the conduit that flat out gives you level appropriate spellcasting you can advance.