Order of Priorities and something to think about.

To begin, I apologize for my absence from this forum- my allergies are all but murdering me this year. Getting to the meat and potatoes of this, there have been several story requests that have reached me even with how sick as a dog I have been.

First and foremost, while throwing ideas out on story can be fun- and with this group, rather hard not to do- we have to focus on mechanics first. The sponsors of this project have made it crystal clear that if we do not have workable mechanics in a relatively short time period we do not have the go ahead to continue. (I believe Dr. Adventure has told me a deadline of two months, but I am not certain if that was from when he spoke to the CEO, or from the 1st.)

Once we have solid, beta-testable mechanics and approval to continue, Dr. Adventure and myself will sit down with a handful of people and brainstorm over all the canon plotlines that were stitched into the core nation and secret society books as well as- with less weight- the ones that were added in the “Blue Book” run. Our sponsors have made it clear that any published book that contained d20 mechanics is not considered canon by them- though there may be a case by case consideration for some of the e-books written by staff writers- nor are they interested in the Syrne being more than long lost civilizations.

Only once we have worked out where each nation should be in official timeline if a player character in the first edition had not messed with it (and whether or not that will leave us at a dead end with some nations, and thus should be changed), will we have a framework for where we want to take the metaplot for the world. Only after we have that framework will it really be possible to start soliciting the ideas for the rest of the stories and plothooks. That will be my largest role in this project- tracking all of the story ideas coming from everyone who will be involved at that point and making sure they stay coherent. (“Wait, Pösen’s in Freiburg and Kirk that week? How???” <shrug> “UPS?” <incredulous look> “Are we talking the same Pösen?”)

If we get rights to work on the story, we have a difficult task ahead of us: we can’t allow the plot to spin too far out of control yet we have to maintain the instability that allows a small band of Heroes to make a difference in the fate of nations.

Also, keep in mind, should we get the go ahead to continue on with story, this will be a work-for-hire project. Any character that is added to the canon becomes the property of our sponsors and all original copyright will be surrendered. That will mean that other writers- who may or may not even be involved with this project at this time- will have the ability to make decisions about what that character does and you will have no legal right to protest.

Think long and hard about if you wish to sign away your rights to a beloved character. I know I’m hesitating about Tiarna Dubhain mac Dhara O Raghailligh or Wilhelm Günthar Albrecht, Freiherr Zweibrücken, though I am more than willing to give up Bantiarna Sorcha ni Chianan O Dubhglass or Günthar Dietrich Bernhardt, Graf Darstein-Birkenhördt. If you feel you are the only person who can do your character justice, that’s probably a good sign they should remain just your character.

This isn’t meant to discourage people, nor to stop you all from brainstorming on story, but just as a reminder that the odds of something that’s tossed out without the timeline worked out making it in unaltered isn’t very good.