Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 11
  1. #1
    Craig Dalrymple
    Guest

    Reviving the line

    Ok, I'm going to de-lurk for a few minutes and condense some
    ideas and share a few of my own. I think we can have a positive
    effect on the BR line, and it's hopes of a return if we are an
    organized group!

    Remember, this is not all my thinking, and my feet stink so I am
    a little out of sorts ;)


    1. Our online community must thrive.

    Without this there will be little
    apparent interest in Birthright, and little potential monetary payoff
    for WOTC to revive it. If they see that they have some insane people
    developing BR online, they might think that they could put out a feeler
    product and see how it sells.

    Last years "Reunion" for Al-Qadim was this kind of effort. It kinda stank
    which was sad. If it was a real solid product, some of my Qadim buddies
    would have snagged it. Instead, one of us cut it off by being the first and
    last to purchase it.

    BR surely could be worth such a product. If they did a good job with it, it
    could even make money! While we are on the money subject...

    There are a number of people putting out good stuff here on the list and
    on the websites. This stuff is replacing product we would willingly pay for.
    TSR has to see this, and it's incentive to put something "official" out and
    then generate some profit on our excitement.

    All of this says: Don't give up hope. We can develop the setting without
    them,
    and by doing so, prove that they should take another stab at it. It worked
    for
    the Greyhawk fans, why not us??

    2. We should make regular contact with TSR in a tangible format demanding
    a revival of the product line.

    This should be a "real" contact, not email. Email is good for getting
    attention,
    but there's nothing like a stack of letters to prove it to the corporate
    types. Letters
    equal motivated consumers. Motivated consumers equal money!!! :)

    To further this, I will personally take on a quarterly mailing to TSR for as
    long as
    I can stand it. Any of you who wish to join me, can send a one page
    testament
    to me. On this page you should demand the line be returned, and show them
    your willingness to purchase new materials. :) Also, tell them that only a
    troglodyte wouldn't want to bring back such a good line. I will put my real
    snail mail address at the bottom of this post. If you want to put your
    thoughts
    on paper and send it to me, I'll forward it to TSR in ONE BIG PACKAGE that
    hits em hard. This way it shows organization, dedication, and abnormal
    consumer
    effort. All three factors create interest in pleasing us by sparking new
    product.
    These letters could even indicate what product we want. Just make sure it is
    readable. Please do this, I think it would be a very cool wake up call to
    TSR.

    Also, a monthly email petition would be wonderful. Someone else care to take
    the head of that ship?? We could mass mail them all on the same day each
    month
    and then every quarter they could get paper mail. All of which would become
    a
    regular and constant organized effort to return attention to our line.

    3. The RPGA

    Yes, the Role Playing Geeks Association. Not to be confused with Star Trek!

    All jokes aside, if you are not a member, you should join. I plan to. Then I
    plan
    on using this "player driven" network to get modules printed for Cerilia. I
    think
    the Living City line is also ideal for our lovely little setting. Living
    Cerilia! Think
    of the possibilities!!! We could divide real regions of the world into
    "states"
    of Cerilia and have players be the regents. There could be some serious
    diplomatic sessions at Cons, more like the White Wolf stuff than AD&D. This
    could show the rest of the RPGA the potential of the setting. Imagine going
    to a Con and seeing a group of people "role playing" a setting live action
    like
    and then doing some setting specific modules at the dice table. The
    combination
    within the Living City system could be awesome.

    4. Conventions

    Outside of the RPGA being used as a tool for interest. There is nothing
    stopping
    us from running BR games at conventions independantly of the official games.
    We could even form an unofficial Birthright Players League and run the same
    module worldwide at conventions. Again, this would show coordinated
    interest,
    and there is always somebody willing to jump into an open game during a
    convention. These people can then be lured into our little trap :)

    5. Gen Con.

    We MUST have a presence at the big one. Running a few games or trying
    to get corporate sponsorship of a few games would do us wonders at
    Gen Con. Maybe we could get some of the people who worked on the
    line to help us somehow unofficially?? Mabye a Q&A with Rich, Carrie, Ed,
    or Tony (or any of the others not mentioned). If enough of us are going and
    such a thing can be pulled off it would be really cool, and also an eye
    opener
    for TSR.

    Also, I am all for dressing up like a bunch of Vos warriors and laying seige
    to the TSR booth. Nothing like a bunch of unemployed, union working, blue
    collar NPC's holding a Strike to get some attention. I'm not joking either.
    So
    long as we are not creating a serious disturbance it could be a valid and
    humorous way to draw some attention to the line.

    This means: HEAD COUNT! Who's going to Gen Con???? Contact me
    and we can organize a meeting off the list so the powers that be don't have
    access to our sneak attack plans! :)


    6. The magazines.

    Send them articles and modules. All the time. Even if they aren't that good.
    Force the editors to read and reject your submissions. A few might
    get printed. Even if none do, an increase in the volume of BR specific
    submissions will again show interest.


    7. The Cerilian Council.

    Ok, this is something that the Greyhawk community did when I was on AOL.
    They got organized, divided up the work, and then kept the line going. This
    is essentially an extension of item number one.

    I'd like people who want to commit to the dirty work of actually creating
    some form of newsletter that reports on the "best" of what we are all
    doing. This will create an unofficially official product that can serve as
    the town square for what we are all doing. We could even begin to advance
    the official timeline beyond 551 MR by incorporating the best of what
    we are all doing in our own games. There would be some obvious
    subjectiveness here, but life is life, so live it.

    A Council can keep the fire alive and organized, and pick up the slack that
    TSR is not. We can develop the official online guide to the shadow world as
    a community effort. We can maintain a presence at conventions. We can
    submit "official" materials to the publications of TSR.




    Finally, I can't even begin to dream that I can do this all alone. Nor do I
    really want to be the leader of the Council. I want to help out, and keep
    the game alive. I'll need lots of help, but I think that a lot can be done
    to bring the product back. For now, I'll go for the mass snail mailing
    filter position. Send your demands and petetions to me and I will
    forward them to TSR as one big envelope. It sure can't hurt.

    No bombs please. I already hurt my finger today punching a
    computer at work. Hey, it shocked me first!


    Craig T. Dalrymple
    525 N. Quentin Rd #513
    Palatine, IL 60067

    P.S. This is not an invite for stalkers. Bugger off wierdo! :P

  2. #2
    Ben
    Guest

    Reviving the line

    Wow, Craig! You apparently took some time out of your life to write all
    that stuff. I think it's time we showed somebody important that we want this
    thing back. If we decide to do anything in particular, I'm in.


    Ben A.

  3. #3
    Daniel I Bell
    Guest

    Reviving the line

    > Wow, Craig! You apparently took some time out of your life to write all
    > that stuff. I think it's time we showed somebody important that we want this
    > thing back. If we decide to do anything in particular, I'm in.
    >
    Me too... just as the Empire of Anuire can rise again,
    so to can BR!

    - -from a guy who is dusting off his Vos Warrior costume

  4. #4
    Jim Cooper
    Guest

    Reviving the line

    Ben wrote:
    > Wow, Craig! You apparently took some time out of your life to write all that stuff. I think it's time we showed somebody important that we want this thing back.<

    I would hope that we already _have_ been noticed. Ed, do 'The People
    Responsible for Bringing Back Defunct Product Lines' at WotC know we
    exist? Who are they? Isn't Bill Slavicsek the TSR Brand
    Marketer/Manager or something like that? What do we have to do to get
    them to notice us?

    > If we decide to do anything in particular, I'm in.<

    Well, I'm not sure if I'm beating a dead dwarf or whatnot here, but we
    already have - last year in fact. The Birthright Online City Project
    was started for this very reason [to keep BR alive].

    Apparently though, , but the majority
    of this list seems to be all talk and no action! Or rather, all lurk
    and no posting. Neither I nor the other project coordinators (if I'm
    not mistaken) of the BROCP have neither heard nor received any new ideas
    for this ambitious online drive to keep BR alive - for months now.
    Where is all the enthusiasm we saw at the start of 98? Alas, our Grand
    Poobah, the Great & Mighty Simon, has retired from the project, in no
    small part (only IHMO of course) because of the lack of interest in this
    project. Btw, darkstar, are you now the defacto head of this project,
    or are we leaderless?

    Craig has it right - we need to do this ourselves, but we *all* need to
    help if we are going to get noticed by the big-wigs of WotC. If only a
    few names on submissions are noticed by those guys at WotC, our hard
    work won't work in our favour.

    Indeed, I see many great BROCP post-worthy stuff being generated on this
    list. All it takes to start is an idea, a question, a query. I can't
    see why we should limit ourselves to one small corner of Aebrynis. Who
    says that we should limit ourselves to just the Imperial City? For
    instance: questions that could turn into articles on the history of
    Cerilian dragons; talk about The Gorgon that could turn into a DM's
    secret of the Gorgon's Crown submission; guidelines on the background of
    the gheallie sidhe; a catalog on new Powers of Cerilia; a write-up on
    the Isle of Caelcorwynn turned into a Player's Secret supplement; an
    adventure supplement like KotGD within the land of adventurers: Aerenwe,
    etc., etc.

    We already have a place to store all our great ideas - Ian has been kind
    enough to oversee this website. Keith also has a sister site that will
    double for extra space. Manni does warcards. In short, we've got the
    talent all here. All we need are *your* ideas fellow BR fans. Lets do
    this and bring back BR!

    Cheers,
    Darren

  5. #5
    Craig Dalrymple
    Guest

    Reviving the line

    - -----Original Message-----
    From: Jim Cooper
    To: birthright@mpgn.com
    Date: Friday, April 30, 1999 1:51 AM
    Subject: Re: [BIRTHRIGHT] - Reviving the line


    >Apparently though, , but the majority
    >of this list seems to be all talk and no action! Or rather, all lurk
    >and no posting. Neither I nor the other project coordinators (if I'm
    >not mistaken) of the BROCP have neither heard nor received any new ideas
    >for this ambitious online drive to keep BR alive - for months now.
    >Where is all the enthusiasm we saw at the start of 98? Alas, our Grand
    >Poobah, the Great & Mighty Simon, has retired from the project, in no
    >small part (only IHMO of course) because of the lack of interest in this
    >project. Btw, darkstar, are you now the defacto head of this project,
    >or are we leaderless?
    >

    Jim,

    I guess I owe you an apology. I fond the BROCP some time ago
    and got the quick impression that it was only detailing the City
    of Anuire.


    While I would personally find this fascinating, I don't really use the
    city much in my campaigns. It's my own personal preference mind
    you, not some haughty conceit.

    As I am a working man, husband, father, and then gamer I looked
    at the main page for the site, thought it looked really great, but wouldn't
    be much help for my game, and then never came back.

    I suppose I should take another look eh?

    THanks for the response though, this is what I was looking for. I
    want to find the people who care and help them. Why don't you
    do us all a favor and post the URL for the BROCP so I can visit
    it later this weekend and see how I can help.

    I promise to do so if you promise to send me some snail
    mail to forward to TSR

    Craig

  6. #6
    Ben
    Guest

    Reviving the line

    Alas I do most of my gaming in Brechtur, so the Online City hasn't
    helped me much, either. We need more material about the other lands too.

  7. #7
    Stephen White
    Guest

    Reviving the line

    If someone can e-mail me the address of the person to write to at TSR
    (WoTC?), I'll send them a snail-mail from here (UK) and try to get a
    correspondence going with them.

    I'll start the letter now in anticipation.

    Yours,

    Stephen.

  8. #8
    Bob Cauthron
    Guest

    Reviving the line

    I have seen some posts on this thread. To the person who started it,
    Craig I believe, I say more power to you, it was a damn fine post, excuse my
    langauge. To Jim, who had a worthy reply to it, well said.
    I am a person who has played in br since its release years ago. I enjoy
    it tremendously, both as a player and a gm. So have other people I have
    gamed with. Some still do. My campaign is a mix of things, and it did have
    other gms in the past. So it is a hybrid now.
    I subscribed to this list primarily to learn how other people viewed
    the setting, and secondarily for ideas and so on. Over time, I have realized
    that there are many knowledgeable, skilled gms/players on this list.
    Exceedingly so (that's a compliment, not a criticism). The sheer depth of
    what you listmembers have created and modified is incredible.
    While I have absolutely no idea how many people are on this list, I may
    not be alone in what I am about to write here. With regards to helping the
    br cause, in whatever way, I have very little to offer. I have no computer
    skills, nowhere near the depth of data that many seem to have, and I know no
    one in the gaming community outside of where I live. My "talent," such as it
    is, is that I can take some material and make it halfway interesting. That's
    about it. Posting is only done by me when I feel strongly about something,
    or I have made the determination that something is pertinent and relevant
    (this applies to me).
    This is why I am a lurker mostly, and an occasional poster. For others,
    they may have equally applicable, if different, reasons for doing so.
    The reason I am posting this is to start a potential dialogue on this
    issue, which I think is directly related to this thread. Because if gh can
    be revived, it is definitely worthwhile to restore br. If I am wasting
    bandwidth here, that is not my intention.

    Bob

  9. #9
    gingerprince
    Guest

    Reviving the line

    >Ok, I'm going to de-lurk for a few minutes and condense some
    >ideas and share a few of my own. I think we can have a positive
    >effect on the BR line, and it's hopes of a return if we are an
    >organized group!
    snip all the excellent ideas.

    Sounds good. Just a couple of things that I want to add, does the
    TSR/ WoTC have big ads for this list and the Netbook? If not then they
    should do. Secondly, Dragon should have a monthly slot for dead campaign
    worlds. There should be room now we've finished that travesty Wyrms of the
    North.

    I guess we have to make it worth their while by writing good
    articles and adventures. BR seems to be lacking a big campaign to drag
    people into the world, I guess the Shadow World would have been. Once my
    exams are done, I'll chain myself to the PC.

    Nick

  10. #10
    Sidhain
    Guest

    Reviving the line

    What's sad is they are reprinting all the drivel AD*D stuff (Council of
    Wyrms, Menznoberansan or however tis spellt--no offense to those who like it
    but I didn't care for it--I could come up with better campaigns in an
    eyblink)

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Similar Threads

  1. Create ley line
    By BRadmin in forum Main
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 08-09-2009, 11:38 AM
  2. Jaeger's Line
    By Sorontar in forum Main
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 06-29-2009, 03:01 AM
  3. Ley line
    By Sorontar in forum Main
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 09-23-2008, 06:47 AM
  4. Ley Line Question
    By Thomas_Percy in forum BRCS 3.0/3.5 Edition
    Replies: 7
    Last Post: 03-04-2006, 09:08 AM
  5. Roele Line
    By Wrb41977@aol.co in forum MPGN Mailinglist archive 1996-1999
    Replies: 8
    Last Post: 01-07-1999, 06:42 AM

Tags for this Thread

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
BIRTHRIGHT, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, the BIRTHRIGHT logo, and the D&D logo are trademarks owned by Wizards of the Coast, Inc., a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc., and are used by permission. ©2002-2010 Wizards of the Coast, Inc.