[Games] Paper Model Ships
Here's what I accomplished today. I had today off as a "comp day," and somehow, this managed to take me all day. I missed lunch. How does that happen?
I've also been making some color pirate paper models for a side-project, but this one is paid, and I can't post pictures for show 'n' tell. At least, I don't think I can, and I'm not going to risk it.
I've also been making some paper models - or at least the black and white drawings for them, while someone else colors them - for a Savage Worlds-related fan project (no pay involved), but it looks like the Google group where it's all kept is locked to outsiders. I'll see if I can get permission to put up some sort of demo. The final product's supposed to be for-free, after all. But right now, it's basically just a few post-apoc race drivers. Racing suits, knee pads, studded shoulder guards, and guns. Nothing too special there.
In gaming news, we had our game this Saturday (the first time we've been able to get together since before Necronomicon), and it went pretty well. Fortunately, there weren't tons of clues and tidbits in this sort of campaign for the players to forget over the course of 6 weeks.
I took far longer than I expected on the pirate battle, and I've been checking the forums and consulting the rules to figure out how many ways I did things wrong. Even with a fairly simple rules system that has an index, I still manage to not thoroughly read the rules well enough. Oops. Anyway, all the fun at the Egyptian temple will have to wait until next time. Maybe I'll have time to work some more on the fancy scenery. (Yay!) John Z indicated that he knows somebody local who might make a good recruit for the playing group. Koogrr sort of kind of not-quite-recommended someone he knows from work, but suggested that because it's someone from his workplace, it would be awkward to "uninvite him" if for whatever reason things don't go well. I'll just have to wait and see if we get any new faces for the next game.
Oh yeah. I handled the mathwork for splitting the booty myself (I guess Boson Jeremy volunteered to act as quartermaster?) rather than just calling out the total and letting Koogrr worry about how to divvy it. Once it splits amongst the crew of two ships with about 60 people each, the shares get pretty small. (True, there was also some cargo, and that'll bring in some more money once it's sold, but that's a relatively small portion of the plunder.) I think I'm going to stick to this method, since it lets me keep a much better handle on the economics, and the PCs' financial situations.
In other news: Today in my email, I got two messages regarding the Advanced HeroQuest material on my web site. What a coincidence! Just two days ago, a French fellow wrote me, asking me to send him photocopies of the Advanced HeroQuest rules. I had to decline, since that would obviously be a violation of Games Workshop's copyrights. (Also, I'm not sure I even have the original rulebook around to photocopy; my house rules and "quick reference sheets" have evolved to the point where I never even have to touch the actual rule book in order to run the game. But that's beside the point.)
And then, today, I get an email from one fellow asking if he can contribute some fan material to put on the AHQ section of my site ... and then there's an email from someone at Games Workshop telling me to take stuff OFF my web site. By the tone of the message and the particulars, it's clear that he had not read any of those nice little legal disclaimers I tuck down at the bottom of pages - the ones where I rattle off every company or property that I've named on the page or on the linked documents from that page, and explain that this item is a trademark and/or copyright and/or property of thus-and-such company, and that in no way is this fan material meant to be a challenge to trademark or copyright status.
Well, not good enough, apparently. I made some fonts consisting of images that I drew, inspired by icons from the game - back at a time when I didn't even have a scanner, so scanning images and converting them wasn't even an option - and the guy basically said that as far as they were concerned, that was a derivative work, and for me to claim ownership of it challenges their copyright, trademark, whatever, and it has to go.
I'm not going to try to argue that one. Zot. It's gone. That's been on there ever since I first set up my web site, I think. Recently (like, sometime in October), I went back to revisit the ZIP files and update an accompanying text file to put in all the legalese that I've come to make standard practice. Not good enough.
Anyway, I can still see the point. I just hope this is as far as it goes. If it seems that other materials in the AHQ or WQ sections of my web site are questionable, then I'm just going to archive them (for personal reference only) and zot the whole thing.
This is one reason why I far prefer to deal with small game companies. I like making "fan material." It's a natural outcome when I make a campaign, and I feel a bit more productive when some aspect of the campaign can be shared with others, beyond whoever happened to be sitting around the table at the time.
Well, with a company like Pinnacle Entertainment Group or one like Sanguine, I can get a much faster turnaround on such things. Hey, here's what I made. This cool? I can get some feedback pretty quickly along the lines of (if necessary), "Yeah, that's cool, but, sorry, can't let you post that as-is." I might even get some suggestions on how to change it to be more acceptable, legal-wise. But a big company like Wizards of the Coast, or Games Workshop? I might get a complaint 10+ years later. (Plus, they're far more likely to give their response in the form of a lawyerly cease-and-desist, with all the scariness that entails.)