Post by The Evil DM on May 16, 2007 21:33:57 GMT -5
A few short months ago Bill Logan began a project to give the old Star Frontiers game a total facelift and digitally re-master the core rules and all the supplemental material.
Bill spearheaded the project and was assisted by other members of the RPGNET community. The result has spawned a great deal of interest, internet buzz and a website, that not only contains all the material from the original Star Frontiers game, but also new material presented in a fanzine called the Starfrontiersman.
As a fan of his efforts and admiring his success, I contacted Bill earlier last month when I was considering my own attempt to bring the TSR Conan game back from the dead. Since then much has taken place, Mark has successfully begun to spearhead the Conan (now the aptly named ZeFRS) Project and we have a dedicated forum and plans for a Fanzine of our own.
Bill contacted me today and expressed his interest in possibly assisting me in the project. I informed him of the current status and invited him to drop by the forums and share with us any advice he has.
One part of the correspondence I will share here is his advice on achieving the success his project is seeing:
“There have been a lot of attempts by people over the years to remake the Star Frontiers game. I have copies of most of their stuff (seven different versions in total that I'm aware of). None of them have gained the popularity of the Digitally Remastered project and I'll let you know why:
1) I didn't change the rules. Even though I've added some optional rules, all I really did was reorganize and add art.
2) I made it look pretty. Sounds lame, but it's true. The Conan project will have staying power if we make it pretty.”
I know you guys are probably tired of me pontificating on the need to keep the core stuff true to the original. More options? Yes. Better rules? Sure.
But not in the core section of the rules.
Bill spearheaded the project and was assisted by other members of the RPGNET community. The result has spawned a great deal of interest, internet buzz and a website, that not only contains all the material from the original Star Frontiers game, but also new material presented in a fanzine called the Starfrontiersman.
As a fan of his efforts and admiring his success, I contacted Bill earlier last month when I was considering my own attempt to bring the TSR Conan game back from the dead. Since then much has taken place, Mark has successfully begun to spearhead the Conan (now the aptly named ZeFRS) Project and we have a dedicated forum and plans for a Fanzine of our own.
Bill contacted me today and expressed his interest in possibly assisting me in the project. I informed him of the current status and invited him to drop by the forums and share with us any advice he has.
One part of the correspondence I will share here is his advice on achieving the success his project is seeing:
“There have been a lot of attempts by people over the years to remake the Star Frontiers game. I have copies of most of their stuff (seven different versions in total that I'm aware of). None of them have gained the popularity of the Digitally Remastered project and I'll let you know why:
1) I didn't change the rules. Even though I've added some optional rules, all I really did was reorganize and add art.
2) I made it look pretty. Sounds lame, but it's true. The Conan project will have staying power if we make it pretty.”
I know you guys are probably tired of me pontificating on the need to keep the core stuff true to the original. More options? Yes. Better rules? Sure.
But not in the core section of the rules.
