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From: req@warwick.UUCP (Russell Quin)
Newsgroups: net.games.frp
Subject: Re: campaign standardization
Message-ID: <314@snow.warwick.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 21-Oct-85 13:54:33 EDT
Article-I.D.: snow.314
Posted: Mon Oct 21 13:54:33 1985
Date-Received: Thu, 24-Oct-85 00:14:47 EDT
References: <2218@iddic.UUCP> <311@snow.warwick.UUCP> <882@gitpyr.UUCP>
Reply-To: req@warwick.UUCP (Russell Quin)
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Organization: Computer Science, Warwick University, UK
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In article <882@gitpyr.UUCP> cc100jr@gitpyr.UUCP (Joel M. Rives) writes:
> I must agree with Russell in his discouragement towards FRP cataloging.
I'm not trying to discourage people from doing this;  I just suspect that it
won't encourage imaginative campaigns...  and probably won't help people to
select a campaign very much.

> [...] For instance, one [...] catagory could refer to the use of magic [...]
[description elided...]
> The prohibitiveness of such a system is easily appearant.  What GM is going
> to want to sit down and write out a ten page synopsis on his/her campaign?
> Even so, it could be done!  Anybody out there willing to take on the
> challenge?  Anybody else willing to let this person take the responsibility?
> [...]
> 				      Joel Rives
> 				      gitpyr!cc100jr

A while ago, I asked who-runs-what and collected reams of mail.  Then I posted
a summary of (1) mods to AD&D  (so people knew who to ask for dogs' experience
point tables...:-)), (2) other commercial games, and (3) `homebrew' systems.
There were many people who said that they ran their own system that was too
complex too explain.  There were others who weren't prepared to discuss their
rules because they had players who read net.games.frp  (this was one reason why
I started FRPList, so that they could use a mailing list to discuss that sort
of thing).

Some of the most interesting (to me) campaigns have the least rules accessible
to the players.  So a good description would probably not be in terms of rules.
I think that any `Campaign Information Sheet' would in any event have to
contain a GM-written `why is this campaign special' section.  So are all the
other details simply trappings?  What could be better than
	`Please describe your campaign in the box provided.  Mention the
	inspiration and atmosphere if these are relevant, and the rule system,
	if any is used.'  ?

What do you want to know about a campaign before playing?  How do you find out
at the moment?  How would a CampaignInformationSheet help?  (I'm not saying
that it wouldn't;  I am asking how it would, out of a desire to know.)

		- Russell
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