Two impossible ideas up for discussion.

1. Two impossible ideas up for discussion.

   #1

   I know these ideas are too "far out" to ever be realized but it is worth a small chat anyway.
   
   Strolen seminar- This one is probably impossible but a fun thought nevertheless. A seminar gathering for Strolenites where we could discuss Roleplaying, ideas, world creating, settings etc etc.
   
   Strolen idea book- A published book containing the Best of Strolen submissions.
   
   Once again; I know this is not realistic, but lets see what people have to say about it.

2. Two impossible ideas up for discussion.

   #2

   Nothing is unrealistic. We play fantasy games after all.
   
   You will have to expand on the seminar thing. We have discussed a Strolen Con in the past in somewhat joking terms. Hard to find a neutral territory when everybody is all over the world.
   
   Published book.....pdf compilation, more probable. There is stuff to make pdf's on the fly so if we come up with a good format we could probably automate that process. Pdf's and syndication are on the list for V2.0, although that won't be worked on till it is up and working for obvious reasons.
   
   Sort of need ideas for this anyway so I welcome the discussion on it.

3. Two impossible ideas up for discussion.

   #3

   Strolen seminar expanded.
   
   The possibilities for such an event are infinite.
   First and foremost playing games would dominate such an event.
   Possibly in different styles, different worlds etc.
   People could present their world settings and ideas and RL related stuff could be discussed. Speeches by some of the more jaded gamers(*cough Moon) could be held. Playing games would be the primary focus of course. Still, it's too incredible an opportunity when you get this many exceptional people together - gamers, writers(both amateurs and a few proffesionals) - to pass up a chance to put them in a room and get them talking about things we all love and want to know more about.

4. Two impossible ideas up for discussion.

   #4

   The only problem I have with StrolenCon is that if you guys actually meet me, you'll find out that I'm really not the big-breasted 18 year-old cheerleader-gymnast gamer chick that I claim to be.

5. Two impossible ideas up for discussion.

   #5

   Making the pdf isn't the hard part, compiling, editing, and layouts are. How would we determine what would be part of the "best of"? Would this be just specific posts, or would there be associated discussion included in the pdf?

6. Two impossible ideas up for discussion.

   #6

   I guess it depends on how fancy you want it.
   
   I, personally, am not a big fan of pdf's. They are sort of a pain. They do force things to stay together and more 'published' vs just supplying the raw text that they can manipulate.
   
   V2.0 printing options suck right now, but I intend to make them as useful as I can. I want people to be able to get the stuff they want in the way they want it in a way that is useful. For me, having that in a copy and paste type format is the best so I can take what I use and ignore the rest. I would be happier if the print options came closer to the need.
   
   So if you have suggestions on how to offer the content in a printable form then I would love to hear it. Otherwise I will search and peck until it seems good enough to me.

7. Two impossible ideas up for discussion.

   #7

   If the book was to do nothing but ensure the hosting costs of the site, we could sell it without compromising any copyright on anything on the site.
   
   As for the product itself. A PDF is only as good as the person formatting it. The book's content would only be as good as the people editing it. The point of said project would be to choose what you would want to include and a rough organizational pattern. Editing would occur. Then it would be handed over to someone with some publishing experience to format. Of course two things could be an issue:
   
   One we would need some art to make this feasable.
   
   Two, getting enough of us to agree on anything is like herding cats... yes it can be done but I find it unlikely.... unless someone wants to specifically spearhead the projects. Volunteers? Bueller? Bueller? Anyone? Anyone?
   
   Of course, what we could do is just make CD that is a snap shot of the version 2.0 site after it has been running for a few months. All that data with html hyperlinking... so you would just click through things... maybe even a java program to punch up random things for you to see.

8. Re: Two impossible ideas up for discussion.

   #8

   I don't know if I should be answering this, but I saw the word impossible and had to read the thread.
   
   I have already believed in a couple of impossible thing today, and I am hungry, so I am working on my quota.
   
   The Site on a CD would be kind of cool. It would have to be after you finish dumping all these things on the pretty page. Then you could list everyone's suggestions and favorites as grouped links.
   
   

9. Re: Two impossible ideas up for discussion.

   #9

   Well, a possible solution to the pdf problem.  It's supposed to be able to save ALL the media into the html file itself.  I only recently heard of this, and so don't know exactly how true this is, but it might be worth looking into if anyone wants to get on that 'impossible' distribution deal.
   
   Unipage.org
   
   And I already like their attitude.
   
   

   You are trying to view a Unipage using "Internet Explorer", which doesn't support this type of page yet. It is recommended that you install an advanced browser, such as the free Mozilla Firefox, and use it instead.

   
   
   And StrolCon sounds like a really cool idea.

10. Re: Two impossible ideas up for discussion.

    #10

    If you want to create pdf's, consider using Open office (www.openoffice.org) it's a free download that has a option to export your document as a pdf.
    
    However as Strolen pointed out, pdf's do inhibit you, since you can not do easy cut&paste into a format that is practical for your own purpose. If we would have like "The best of Strolen in PDF", I would recomend that there is links to the site in it and possibly also links to the exact submissions on the strolen site.
    
    As for copyright purpose... Yes, this is an isue and second it is not. As this site always has advocated that the resources are free, you pretty much have given up your copyright claims (at least that is sort of how I look at it.). This does not imply that someone might charge you for a pdf containing my work (unless it is the reasonable fee for hosting, distribution blablabla...).
    Distribution could be done thru this site, but also thru sites like RPGNow and the like. I know that RPGNow also provides free downloads, so the strolen one could be one of them.
    
    The big important point that MoonHunter picks out: the editing, layout, art.... might be a tiny glitch there...
    
    With kind regards,
    
    Ylorea

11. Re: Two impossible ideas up for discussion.

    #11

    (( I still smile when I read Moon's 'herding cats' comment....so true ))
    
    Maybe I need to do some serious research as far as copyrights and all that. Getting a little bit large for me making stuff up. I did some research at one time into the Creative Commons things but during that I had read a lot of negative stuff about those copyrights so I ditched that idea.
    
    Also, never really thought too hard about selling the stuff for the hosting costs but it has been mentioned to me numerous times now and hit again in this thread. We have outgrown my current plan and we barely sneak under the bandwidth for the past two months, two more months and we will be over. So the hosting costs are going to go up fourfold for me in April and it would be nice to get some help with that.
    
    March 17, another one on my list. :)

12. Re: Two impossible ideas up for discussion.

    #12

    I think the "best of" idea would be neat.  If it was formatted single column, it wouldn't be so awkward as a pdf, I think.  Quite.  Someone mentioned just having a bundle of html pages linked as the published format.  I think I like that idea better.  (Moon, didn't Johnn Four do the same thing with his roleplaying tips newsletter?)  I think, either way, we're going to have to find a good artist to help.  (Not me, the only thing I can draw are odd chibis).  Plus... how do we come up with criteria for best anyway?
    As for StrolCon....  OhpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseohpleaseGOD.  I would go to that.  Even if I had to fly to another country.  I would scrape up the money to go to that.

13. Re: Two impossible ideas up for discussion.

    #13

    As for the 'best' submissions, there are the Goldens, and HoHs.
    
    Just a hint. :)

14. Re: Two impossible ideas up for discussion.

    #14

    Its an interesting thing to think about the copyrights issues... who does the content belong to? strolen? the author? a copyleft license would make a lot of sense, since this is an open-sharing site.
    
    Once on pdf print-on-demand could work for the book instead of going through a publishing house...
    
    I agree, however, that making, formatting, and editing the pdf would take some effort and a rather long time...
    
    Finding the willing artist/art would be hard work too....
    
    I could probably cook up a few layout samples on pdf (although they will probably not be fantastic: so far I have only formatted reports and the like, so the style might not be what is wanted) on a double paged format. And I think somebody somewhere mentioned they were pretty good with photoshop...
    
    Certainly, the Hoh and Golden subs could be a base to build on, as well as all the relevent linked posts.
    
    And, after all, nobody can resist a suposedly impossible task... You know you can't...
    
    

15. Re: Two impossible ideas up for discussion.

    #15

    I am not too keen on the copyleft/GPL type license as it basically removes the rights from the author and allows anybody to do anything with it as long as they allow anybody else do anything to their version. I want the author's of the ideas to retain their rights to it, continue to get credit for it, and be able to remove it from circulation if they so desire. Submissions are theirs, they are just holding them on the site basically and allowing others to use them. Read http://www.strolen.com/level.php#s2 for my loose phrasing on this. It is on my list to better solidfy the intentions of it.
    
    Happy to see any formatting skills you have. I will never turn down an offer of help (almost never anyway :) ). It might give us the little kick we need to get us started.

16. Re: Two impossible ideas up for discussion.

    #16

    Ok, I'm game... I'll try and do some nice layout.
    
    I'll not get onto it for about 1 1/2 weeks though. But after that, I'm on it.
    
    I'll use some SRD I have for the text, and some random googled images for the pics to give an idea.

17. Re: Two impossible ideas up for discussion.

    #17

    Have been on holiday away from internet connection for a week. Did manage to find some time to get some stuff together though.
    
    got two small samples... did not use an srd, was too long to do quickly...
    
    http://www.freewebs.com/temporaryunavailable/strolen_template1104079(3).pdf
    http://www.freewebs.com/temporaryunavailable/strolen_template1804079(2).pdf
    
    Sorry about the less-than-serious text...  cannot actually remember where it is from...
    
    Will try to grab some border art from the net to give a better idea....
    [edit:]http://www.freewebs.com/temporaryunavailable/strolen_template1804079(4).pdf
    
    PS(FAO:Admin): Maybe this is not the best way to give the files? Feel free to edit at will...

18. Re: Two impossible ideas up for discussion.

    #18

    I do like where this is going!
    
    

19. Re: Two impossible ideas up for discussion.

    #19

    thanks, Val.... any suggestions for possible improvement?
    

20. Re: Two impossible ideas up for discussion.

    #20

    No, I think the next step is to select a short but good artical and do a full dress rehersal. 
    
    Perhaps such a treatment could also be a 'prize' for winning a Quest?
    
    
    

21. Re: Two impossible ideas up for discussion.

    #21

    that sounds like a good idea, so we see what an arcticle looks like with all the proper fonts, pictures, etc....

22. Re: Two impossible ideas up for discussion.

    #22

    That is exceptionally brilliant. I think I have a chubby.
    
    I need to dig into the graphics a little bit and give you the footer, header, and title sections with the pretty scrolly thing and see if we can convert them to something pdfish and useable.

23. Re: Two impossible ideas up for discussion.

    #23

    I think that qualifies as too much information...  :what:
    
    
    
    

24. Re: Two impossible ideas up for discussion.

    #24

    thanks strolen!
    
    

    
    I think I have a chubby.
    

    Im not sure what that actually means... from valadaar's response, i'm not sure i want to know either....
    
    Regardless, i'll be digging through some royalty free pics to see if i can find anything suitable for borders and the like...

25. Re: Two impossible ideas up for discussion.

    #25

    This thread is becoming important in the coming months.

26. Re: Two impossible ideas up for discussion.

    #26

    BUMP.

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