Re: (TFT) TFT Plans for 2009

[Sgt Hulka <hulkasgt@yahoo.com>]

I'd rather see an open-source version of the rules as David Jackson originally suggests. TFT is fantastic but out of print, making it very difficult to recruit players. It has been my experience that projects like this require a central authority, and the trouble with a Wiki that everyone can contribute to is that it eventually will spin out of control with a million interpretations and a million house rules with no one central source. In other words, a new comer will be faced with a hundred different ways to play the same circumstance with no central "rules as written" guidance.

Better to elicit input and publish a series of drafts that are refined over time until a document is finalized (in my own personal opinion). That document can then form the basic "rules as written" off of which house rules may diverge.

I don't mind non-RAW TFT house rules ending up in that document, so long as, through the draft and input mechanism, it is clear that the final draft isn't quite TFT by RAW.

I would point to LABYRINTH LORD as a great example of this. It is not quite exactly Basic D&D...Clerics get a spell at first level, for example, and the experience progression is slightly different. But you can pick up any Basic D&D module and play it, without alteration, using the Labyrinth Lord rules. Similarly, you should be able to pick up Death Test and use it, without alteration, with the open source version of the TFT rules. 

As a final aside, I'd love to see someone create TFT stats for the various Dark City Games modules. They're close enough already to convert on the fly, but I'd love a systematic approach to those conversions. Hm. Maybe that's something I can do and/or help with.

--- On Wed, 1/28/09, Richard Walters <rick.walters@yahoo.com> wrote:

> From: Richard Walters <rick.walters@yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: (TFT) TFT Plans for 2009
> To: tft@brainiac.com
> Date: Wednesday, January 28, 2009, 12:10 PM
> An ambitious objective for one year.  I'd suggest that
> instead you should create some sort of Wiki with well
> defined sections and perhaps solicit the effort of others in
> that kind of less formal way.  If, for example, there was a
> TFT wiki with sections outlining basic movement, actions,
> character creation, items, monsters, etc.; and if people
> could create further sub-sections beneath each category then
> you could see people expanding the content and begin to
> collect discussions that dive deep into the truly debateable
> areas of the system.
> 
> In my opinion, the books are convenient for most
> everything.  It's nice to see people publish house rules
> and supplemental material as well.  But, what I wish could
> be preserved somewhere is the debates over specific rulings.
>  After all, it's specific cases that temper a set of
> rules.
> 
> Good Fortune,
> Richard
> 
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: David Jackson <azog@bellsouth.net>
> To: tft@brainiac.com
> Sent: Wednesday, January 28, 2009 2:45:52 PM
> Subject: (TFT) TFT Plans for 2009
> 
> 
> 1)  "Codification" of the Melee/Wizard rules to a
> simpler, "open source"
> 
> 2)  Doing the same thing for the Advanced Melee/Wizard and
> In The Labyrinth
> 
> 3)  I want to do a set of generic, but high quality,  Space
> Hulk -style
> 
> 4)  A database of monsters, spells, magic items, etc.,
> which can be spewed
> 
> 5)  I've always wanted, for my own purposes, the
> conversion of several 1st
> 
> 6)  And finally, the one that's unlikely to be done - I
> want to do Creative
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