
Date: Thu, 28 Jul 1994 13:04:46 -0700
From: rodge@cyberspace.com (Roger Sanger)
Subject: Electrozine Announcement

 
              THE HI-TECH TRAVELS ELECTROZINE IS DEAD
 
              But something new is in the works...
 
To Whom it May Concern,
 
I'd like to thank everyone who replied to our electrozine survey.
The response was high (85+ replies out of 400 letters sent) and
favorable (90% of those who replied wanted it).  I was quite
surprised by the ecstatic nature of so many of the replies.
 
And, concerning the Electrozine...
 
Well, we got an answer from GDW.
 
    Their answer was definitely NO.
 
    "We don't give away rights that we could sell."
 
    For a license for such a product, they want $5,000.00 up
    front, plus some kind of royalty (negotiable).  Overall fees
    would depend upon how many times the material was released
    (reprints, new versions, etc.).  Furthermore, even if they
    did grant us license, they wouldn't allow ANY reprinting of
    material copyrighted by them (astrodata, rules, etc.).
 
    Five thou is a bit much for a fanzine, if you ask me.
 
    Their representative indicated that...
 
        If we did a Traveller electrozine without their
        permission, they would sue.
 
        If we did an on-line service, such as on AOL, they would
        sue.
 
        If we went ahead with a PRINTED Traveller magazine
        without a letter of permission, they would sue.
 
        In addition, she indicated that if we did a non-Imperium
        campaign that used Traveller rules, they would sue.
 
        She said that they reserve the right to sue existing
        fanzines, but that they are not actively pursuing that
        course of action.
 
        She also stated that GDW wouldn't be giving out any more
        letters of permission to anybody for anything.
 
FOR THE RECORD, MY INVOLVEMENT WITH THIS ELECTROZINE PROJECT IS
HEREBY OFFICIALLY TERMINATED.
 
For those of you who submitted material, Bryan Borich is looking
into the possibility of turning the articles over to other
fanzines, such as The Traveller Chronicle and/or the HIWG family
of newsletters.  Unfortunately, the articles will probably never
appear in hypertext format.
 
But it was such a wonderful idea...

---
 
So, NOW WHAT?
 
I had my heart set on doing a hypertext/multi-media gaming
product.
 
With such a favorable reply to the survey, I started asking
around to see if there was any interest in creating a brand
new roleplaying game.
 
I found that there is a lot of interest among writers in doing a
new game, with the intention of blowing existing games away.
 
The only question remaining is whether or not there is any
interest in such a product, designed along the same lines as the
format I proposed for the shot-down electrozine mentioned above.
 
The components of such a game system would be combinable.  That
is, each supplement would add seamlessly to the whole.  The
game's overall table of contents and its various indices would be
updated with each new product in the line.
 
The game would be carefully structured, to eliminate endless
searching for stranded descriptions and throw-away references so
common in existing campaigns.  Such things as classes, equipment,
world descriptions, etc. would be centralized, regardless of which
installment of the game (e.g., a supplement, sourcebook, or
adventure) they happened to appear in.  In this sense the game
would be integrated.
 
This leads us to another survey.  Please answer if you are at all
intrigued by the prospect of a new roleplaying game presented in
a new medium (hypertext):
 
    1)  Would you be interested in purchasing a roleplaying game
        presented in magnetic media/hypertext format?  [Not to be
        confused with text-adventure computer games.  The referee
        would be assisted by the computer, not replaced by it.]
 
    2)  What features should the game have?  For instance, should
        it be multi-genre?  What's missing from other RPG's that
        would make this game shine?  How should your computer
        help you?  Your answers will likely determine the nature
        of the game, so let us have it!
 
    3)  In your own words, describe what to you would be the
        ideal campaign setting.  How big is it?  Where is it?
        When is it?  What is in it?  Who's in it?  What are they
        doing and why?  Etc.
 
    4)  What features should the game NOT have?  (For instance,
        what do you hate the most about the RPG's you currently
        play that you would want us to remedy in the new game)?
 
    5)  If you're interested in getting in on the development of
        this new game system, by all means, send in your ideas
        and proposals.  If this proposal gets a favorable
        response, we shall be looking for writers, editors, and
        project coordinators.  We would also like to hear from
        programmers who are interested in furthering computer
        assisted gaming.
 
    6)  Do you want to be contacted as further news on this
        project develops?
 
Sincerely,
Roger Sanger

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Editor's Note: Roger later went on to purchase the copyrights to DGP's
Travellers Digest as well as to their other Traveller-related products.
Last I heard, he was still pursuing his dream of making this material
available in a hypertext format.

