Have they given up up on Birthr

[Ed Stark]

At 10:18 AM 9/10/98 -0500, you wrote:
>Sorry if my last message sounded like I was flaming TSR/Wizards. I will ask
>again though...
>Have they officially given up on Birthright or not?? Anyone? Hello?

Sigh. I answer this question every month or so, but I guess that's part of
my job.

Here's the deal: BIRTHRIGHT, as a campaign setting, is on hold--think of it
as the "physically unable to perform list" from pro sports. It's off this
year's schedule; it might show up next year; it should show up in the next
few years--its career at TSR isn't over.

Okay, enough with the sports metaphors.

Some material for BR is being/has been converted for other use. The most
radical example of this is THE SHADOW STONE by Rich Baker. It was his
second BR novel, but it has been heavily reworked and released (this month)
as an FR novel. It fits the FR world very well (thanks to Rich's and the FR
group's efforts) and tells a good story.

Other material will probably be presented as "core" or "optional" AD&D
material in the near (next year or the year after) future. We've discussed
releasing the Cerilian "world" as a sourcebook, the BR domain rules as a
universal AD&D "kings" system, and we've had other ideas. Nothing is
definite until it appears in the catalog--and, with the exception of this
year and last year, TSR catalogs have been pretty darn accurate in the
past. We expect to get back to that in the future.

In the meantime, DUNGEON, DRAGON, and POLYHEDRON, as well as the RPGA, are
supporting BR by using material as adventures, articles, and tournaments.
Despite my unavailability at GenCon this year, there were several RPGA
tournaments run for BR, and we continue to receive tournaments and magazine
submissions.

The best way to see BR get back on the schedule is to keep writing to the
magazines with ideas for articles and adventures, submit tournaments to the
RPGA, and, if you don't want to get into the heavy writing, writing letters
to TSR expressing your interest in the game setting. Participation is what
gets these worlds off hiatus and back on the schedule. It worked for
GREYHAWK in a big way, it worked for AL-QADIM in a smaller one, and TSR is
already planning other visits to other old worlds and game settings because
of renewed, rekindled, and/or vocal audience interest.

That should go for another few months ;-)


Ed Stark
Game Designer, Wizards of the Coast/TSR Division
Asst. Brand Manager
ALTERNITY Team
TSR Website: http://www.tsr.com

[Jim Cooper]

Ed Stark wrote:
> Some material for BR is being/has been converted for other use. The most radical example of this is THE SHADOW STONE by Rich Baker. It was his second BR novel,

[Ed Stark]

At 09:59 AM 9/10/98 -0700, you wrote:
>Ed Stark wrote:
>> Some material for BR is being/has been converted for other use. The most
radical example of this is THE SHADOW STONE by Rich Baker. It was his
second BR novel,
>What was his first, Ed?
>
THE FALCON AND THE WOLF, which has yet to be published. Hopefully, it will
show up sometime--either in print or on the web.


Ed Stark
Game Designer, Wizards of the Coast/TSR Division
Asst. Brand Manager
ALTERNITY Team
TSR Website: http://www.tsr.com

[TOMMY.ASHTON@asu.ed]

List,
I am just stating my two cents but it seems to me that Rich Baker has
pretty much been hosed on his novels by TSR. I will probably pick up the
Forgotten Realms novel just to see if I can figure out what Mr. Baker had
intended for Birthright. If Mr. Baker was still online with the list if he
could tell us how it was planned to fit into Birthright that would be even
better. (hint, hint)

Thanks, again Mr. Stark for being one of the select few(Mr. Baker, Ms. Bebris)
at TSR/WoWC that still cares about us Birthrighters. If that sounds harsh to
WoWC then good. I won't buy another TSR product (other than the CD ROM Rules)
until it says Birthright on it. Sorry about the rant gang.

T

[BenandAmy]

- -----Original Message-----
From: Ed Stark
To: birthright@MPGN.COM
Date: Thursday, September 10, 1998 12:01 PM
Subject: Re: [BIRTHRIGHT] - Have they given up up on Birthright??


>At 10:18 AM 9/10/98 -0500, you wrote:
>>Sorry if my last message sounded like I was flaming TSR/Wizards. I will
ask
>>again though...
>>Have they officially given up on Birthright or not?? Anyone? Hello?
>
>Sigh. I answer this question every month or so, but I guess that's part of
>my job.
>
>Here's the deal: BIRTHRIGHT, as a campaign setting, is on hold--think of it
>as the "physically unable to perform list" from pro sports. It's off this
>year's schedule; it might show up next year; it should show up in the next
>few years--its career at TSR isn't over.
>
>Okay, enough with the sports metaphors.
>
>Some material for BR is being/has been converted for other use. The most
>radical example of this is THE SHADOW STONE by Rich Baker. It was his
>second BR novel, but it has been heavily reworked and released (this month)
>as an FR novel. It fits the FR world very well (thanks to Rich's and the FR
>group's efforts) and tells a good story.
>
>Other material will probably be presented as "core" or "optional" AD&D
>material in the near (next year or the year after) future. We've discussed
>releasing the Cerilian "world" as a sourcebook, the BR domain rules as a
>universal AD&D "kings" system, and we've had other ideas. Nothing is
>definite until it appears in the catalog--and, with the exception of this
>year and last year, TSR catalogs have been pretty darn accurate in the
>past. We expect to get back to that in the future.
>
>In the meantime, DUNGEON, DRAGON, and POLYHEDRON, as well as the RPGA, are
>supporting BR by using material as adventures, articles, and tournaments.
>Despite my unavailability at GenCon this year, there were several RPGA
>tournaments run for BR, and we continue to receive tournaments and magazine
>submissions.
>
>The best way to see BR get back on the schedule is to keep writing to the
>magazines with ideas for articles and adventures, submit tournaments to the
>RPGA, and, if you don't want to get into the heavy writing, writing letters
>to TSR expressing your interest in the game setting. Participation is what
>gets these worlds off hiatus and back on the schedule. It worked for
>GREYHAWK in a big way, it worked for AL-QADIM in a smaller one, and TSR is
>already planning other visits to other old worlds and game settings because
>of renewed, rekindled, and/or vocal audience interest.
>
>That should go for another few months ;-)
>
>
>Ed Stark
>Game Designer, Wizards of the Coast/TSR Division
>Asst. Brand Manager
>ALTERNITY Team
>TSR Website: http://www.tsr.com
>************************************************** *************************
>>

I find it horribly disgusting that TSR is wasting perfectly good BR
material on FR! Doesn't that classify as heresy or something?

[LordSchmit@aol.co]

In a message dated 9/10/98 4:56:39 PM Mountain Daylight Time, xanadu@pdq.net
writes:

> I find it horribly disgusting that TSR is wasting perfectly good BR
> material on FR! Doesn't that classify as heresy or something?

Me too. This has to be blasphemy. There should be laws against that.

Then again, FR seems to have run out of original ideas a long time ago.
They've resorted to stealing stuff from the good game lines.

[The Olesens]

> Thanks, again Mr. Stark for being one of the select few(Mr. Baker, Ms. Bebris)
> at TSR/WoWC that still cares about us Birthrighters. If that sounds harsh to
> WoWC then good. I won't buy another TSR product (other than the CD ROM Rules)
> until it says Birthright on it. Sorry about the rant gang.
>
> T

Me too. I will probably buy one more non-BR AD&D product. after that, TSR will
have one less customer. Birthright is just amazing. Not even just the rules.
The diffrent feeling of magic. the Magician class. Those (I really love them)
priests of the new gods. and best of all, the diffrent feeling of the demihumans.
I like only BR elves and dwarves. the non-BR IMHO suck

[L. D. Ruiz]

not only that, but their novels/books are borderline plagerism, I take the
exmaple of the mage in the iron mask which if you read is very similar to
the man in the iron mask. New, original, material, like seen in BR is what
I want to spend my $ on.
- -----Original Message-----
From: LordSchmit@aol.com
To: birthright@MPGN.COM
Date: Thursday, September 10, 1998 9:44 PM
Subject: Re: [BIRTHRIGHT] - Have they given up up on Birthright??


>In a message dated 9/10/98 4:56:39 PM Mountain Daylight Time,
xanadu@pdq.net
>writes:
>
>> I find it horribly disgusting that TSR is wasting perfectly good BR
>> material on FR! Doesn't that classify as heresy or something?
>
> Me too. This has to be blasphemy. There should be laws against that.
>
>Then again, FR seems to have run out of original ideas a long time ago.
>They've resorted to stealing stuff from the good game lines.
>************************************************** *************************
>>'unsubscribe birthright' as the body of the message.

[CBebris@aol.co]

In a message dated 98-09-10 18:38:53 EDT, you write:

> I will probably pick up the
> Forgotten Realms novel just to see if I can figure out what Mr. Baker had
> intended for Birthright.

I have not seen THE SHADOW STONE in its current form, but I read Rich's
manuscript when it was still a BR novel. It was excellent--Rich is a gifted
storyteller, and the book was beautifully written. I have no doubt that even
converted into an FR tale, this novel is still well worth reading by anyone
who enjoys good fantasy literature.

Carrie Bebris

[CBebris@aol.co]

In a message dated 98-09-10 18:38:53 EDT, you write:

> I will probably pick up the
> Forgotten Realms novel just to see if I can figure out what Mr. Baker had
> intended for Birthright.

I have not seen THE SHADOW STONE in its current form, but I read Rich's
manuscript when it was still a BR novel. It was excellent--Rich is a gifted
storyteller, and the book was beautifully written. I have no doubt that even
converted into an FR tale, this novel is still well worth reading by anyone
who enjoys good fantasy literature.

Carrie Bebris