Star Frontiersman Issue #12 ready

Anonymous's picture
Anonymous
September 1, 2009 - 12:28pm

http://starfrontiersman.com/downloads/starfrontiersman

Beefy Issue 12!
Guest appearce by Bill Logan.
Special thanks to all the artists and C. J. Williams who complied a subject index of past issues.

I've already started in Issue 13 - so send your stuff in!
http://starfrontiersman.com/contact/submissions
Comments:

Anonymous's picture
w00t (not verified)
September 5, 2009 - 10:19am
From http://starfrontiersman.com/contact/submissions

Star Frontiersman wrote:
Art submissions should be at least 150dpi resolution, be "family friendly", and preferably in PNG format. Article submissions should be done in .doc or .rtf format, have no special formatting: using only simple tables and headings of levels 1, 2, or 3, and should be double-spaced. All submissions should include:
  • Submitter's Name
  • Email address
  • One-line description of submission ('Subject' line)
  • desired byline (if it differs from Submitter's Name)
  • and an attached submission.
All submissions are being sent to Submissions@StarFrontiersman.com.

Gergmaster's picture
Gergmaster
September 5, 2009 - 3:34pm
I know that the site does not accept open office submissions, however if you send the submissions to either me or w00t we can try make sure they get into the zine. I can understand why people prefer open office over microsoft office. I actually use open office, loctus, and ms office because each have some qualities I need for particular documents.
Confucious Says:
     Man with one chopstick go hungry.
     Man who eat many prunes get good run for money.
     Man who live in glass house should change clothes in basement.

Will's picture
Will
September 5, 2009 - 4:22pm
Yeah, Larry, I know for a fact, has the Google Docs app.You can send the submission to his Gmail account, and he can upload it Google Docs and export it as an MS Word file. 

"You're everything that's base in humanity," Cochrane continued. "Drawing up strict, senseless rules for the sole reason of putting you at the top and excluding anyone you say doesn't belong or fit in, for no other reason than just because you say so."


—Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stephens, Federation

Rum Rogue's picture
Rum Rogue
September 5, 2009 - 5:19pm
I ask because I have a different laptop and a new pc that dont have MS Office on them and I am a cheap bastard* and dont feel like paying for another copy of Office.  Also, I lost my hotmail account that had the email where I bought the MSOffice for my other laptop. SO I am looking for viable options that will still be able to access the Office documents I have.

*cheap bastard= dont want to tap into me rum fund.
Time flies when your having rum.

Im a government employee, I dont goof-off. I constructively abuse my time.

Gergmaster's picture
Gergmaster
September 5, 2009 - 5:37pm
Yes I can accept open office documents, I am helping w00t out with the next issue. So send it to Larry or myself in an email. I have all of the office programs out there so it will not be a problem.
Confucious Says:
     Man with one chopstick go hungry.
     Man who eat many prunes get good run for money.
     Man who live in glass house should change clothes in basement.

Georgie's picture
Georgie
September 5, 2009 - 5:52pm
Open Office can save in both MS Word .doc and .rtf formats. There should be absolutely no issues with using OOo to produce a submission.
The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.    * Attributed to Mahatma Gandhi

Imperial Lord's picture
Imperial Lord
September 6, 2009 - 9:52pm
Excellent issue!

Just my goodness the length!  Laaaarrrrryyyyy!

Didn't we talk about this??

If you broke it down to about, say 30 pages, you would have enough material for two more issues without lifting a finger!  You gotta keep the size down, bro.  Build up a reservoir of material and then every issue is basically just a cut and paste job!

With smaller issues, all of the editing and whatnot can be done months in advance - another key advantage. 

As to anyone whining about their stuff not being in there right now - come on.  This is the problem.  You honestly can't wait a couple of months and have it get put in a later issue?  Give us, and, most importantly, Larry, a break.  His editorial control is absolute because he works absolutely hard on this zine and you do not.  No, you don't - Larry does.  So chill.  Your stuff will get in there eventually.

The Table of Contents/Index is awesome.  Well done.

Lots of Sathar in this issue.  That pleases Crom.

I see it as yet another monument to the BEST sci-fi zine on the web OR in print.

Great job everyone - and let's build that reservoir of content so that we can produce/publish on a regular basis.  (Quarterly?)

Huge props to Larry and everyone who helped him out.  I am honored and humbled to be a part of this periodical.

Ascent's picture
Ascent
September 7, 2009 - 12:51pm
Ditto that.
View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write.
"It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi
"That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi
Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild)

umungus's picture
umungus
September 7, 2009 - 5:18pm
I was thinking the same thing. I thought the length would be kept down so that it could be released more often.

At least I got to scare an alien rabbit thingy......


Anonymous's picture
w00t (not verified)
September 7, 2009 - 6:30pm
Smaller Issues More Often - SIMO!

I'm in agreement but I also hesitate.
The main question I brought up to the team is "What are the minimum types of submissions we need to make an issue?" Type = gear, optional rules, story, etc....

I would prefer a well-rounded issue but I could be way off on this one.
Maybe I should ask, "What do people most use out of the webzine?"

Please comment.

P.S. Remember that we are only a portion of the readers and submitters. I have no idea how to contact anyone outside this site besides the SF-Un yahoo group and people that have submitted in the past.





jedion357's picture
jedion357
September 7, 2009 - 8:59pm
I would say my priorities are

1. new gear (to see if something grabs me for my current game)
2. new rules or variants (its the GM in me)
3. setting or background fluff (its the GM in me)
4. maps (its the, you know, GM thing)
5. lastly I eventually read the stories (this is the lowest priority for me)

As I think over my response I realize that I love the magazine for the higher priority items not the fiction. This leads me to the conclusion that its the tools for GMing that are important to me.
I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers!

Shadow Shack's picture
Shadow Shack
September 8, 2009 - 2:19am
I think every issue should have the personal email addy of the bitch who killed off SF at TSR so we can all send hate mail...
I'm not overly fond of Zeb's Guide...nor do I have any qualms stating why. Tongue out

My SF website

jedion357's picture
jedion357
September 8, 2009 - 8:22am
Shadow Shack wrote:
I think every issue should have the personal email addy of the bitch who killed off SF at TSR so we can all send hate mail...


Why bother? She considered role players beneath her as not her social equals, besides the fact that she was famous for dressing in outrageous home made clothing and looked like a virtual clown in public. Her legacy would have been destroying TSR if it hadn't been for Wizards of the Coast thinking it was a good idea to buy it.
Her's a picture I found of her online breaking ground for the warehouse where her Buck Rogers game would sit unsold:

None the less allow me to buy a virtual beer for a fellow despirer of Lorraine Williams.
I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers!

umungus's picture
umungus
September 8, 2009 - 8:54am
I never knew the tale that one hose beast killed SF...

I wonder if she found any truffles?

At least I got to scare an alien rabbit thingy......


Anonymous's picture
w00t (not verified)
September 8, 2009 - 9:43am
umungus wrote:
I wonder if she found any truffles?


She ate them. All of them.

Rum Rogue's picture
Rum Rogue
September 8, 2009 - 10:09am
w00t wrote:
umungus wrote:
I wonder if she found any truffles?


She ate them. All of them.


Those poor truffles...
Time flies when your having rum.

Im a government employee, I dont goof-off. I constructively abuse my time.

jedion357's picture
jedion357
September 8, 2009 - 10:42am
The truth is uglier than she is
Gary brought her in for her business expertese to try to blunt the excesses of the Bloom brothers from hiring family and giving them limos but she went behind His back and cut a deal with them for buy them out. Gary sold out to her after that in disgust.
She immediately announced the demise of SF in favor of the Buck Rogers Ip that her family owned and the deal was she got paid for every item printed under that IP not for what sold! and she decreed no play testing at TSR because she wouldn't pay for people to play stupid games. Pushed the Rochy and Bullwinkle rpg and one based on a soap opera both failures. There is also a landfill somewhere full of her Dragon Dice that didn't sell. Down graded the quality of the publish materials hence 1st edition books stand up better than 2nd ed. Sued Gary over the new RPG he developed, on the grounds he had begun developing it while still a TSR employee, after the court settlement with Gary she killed that game too. Sued every kid who every put up a fan site for D&D on the infant internet as copywrite infringement. Incurred massive expenses paying lawyers to mail out scease and desist letters to all those kils. Instituted the fracturing of the fan base by a multiplicity of campaign worlds that each sold less and less. Claimed TSR was her retirement and drained the company of money. till the point the end was inevitable. It's not proven but many suspect that she hid liabilities from Wizards during the sale that they didn't find out about till after- records arent public and no ones talking (but I believe it as it fits). She alienated tons of fans who jump ship for other RPG publishers which gave the a shot at a great market share and hence sped the demise of TSR.

She did do two good things during her stay at TSR- she broguth about the D&D novels (Dragonlance etc.) which were very successful and kept the company afloat and kept one employee on the books for months while he dealt with his wifes nervous breakdown and institutionalization even though he wasn't producing work. But despite that she's a Troll that laughed all the way to the bank at the fans, Wizards and even the hobby's expense. She a blot on the landscape of RPG gaming. Had Gary gained control back of his company from the Blooms (what she was suppose to help him do) he would have continued the tradition of high quality modules and a quality product in hard cover rules- They might not have gotten past doing choose your path books and the novels may never have been as successful as they were. Star Frontiers would have seen the 3 volumes of Zebs Guide and there would have been fewer editions of D&D and very likely there would have been adequet playtesting.

Gary did get one last laugh: the court settlement for his new RPG way and exceded what he would have sold it for if she had asked! That fact came straigh from the horses mouth in an interview.
I might not be a dralasite, vrusk or yazirian but I do play one in Star Frontiers!

Ascent's picture
Ascent
September 8, 2009 - 1:48pm
That would be a counter-suit. Good for him. It must have been heartbreaking for him to watch the game he founded go to ruin. I bet he was thrilled to see a real gaming company get the license and bring the game back to life. Though I personally hate the complexity of 3x, a.k.a "Super Advanced Dungeons & Dragons". I'm thankful for the small favor of "dumbing down" the game for 4e. It has its flaws, but at least it cut down on the calculations. Everyone knows how to add, subtract, and multiply, so how elite can an elitist really be? Now, if they would just use straight ability scores for the saves and reduce the number of feats in the next version, they will actually be getting somewhere. The gain through simplicity would far exceed the cost of sacrificing a little [so-called] realism.

Anyway, I don't think the magazine needs to be as drastic a cut as bringing it down to 30 pages, but 50 pages should certainly be about the upward limit. Where possible, you shouldn't be afraid to ask people to cut down the length of their articles. (Painful suggestion considering the length of a couple of the articles I'm submitting. I suppose I'm taking one [or two] for the team by suggesting it. :( )
View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write.
"It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi
"That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi
Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild)

Georgie's picture
Georgie
September 8, 2009 - 7:34pm
I like reading about new equipment (as long as it isn't comic book-ish), ideas on rule clarifications, insights into the various races (core ones especially), system briefs, and the classifieds. The 'zine could use a cartoon.
The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.    * Attributed to Mahatma Gandhi

Ascent's picture
Ascent
September 9, 2009 - 11:41am
I like all the content. But if I had to choose, I like this stuff most:

Races
Core race expansions
New rules
Settings (e.g., Sector 9)
Equipment
Vehicles/spaceships
System briefs

But as long as you have a maximum article page count or word count, and have a 50 page limit on the magazine, you shouldn't have this problem.

(Why do my paragraphs keep merging when I post a comment the first time???)
View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write.
"It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi
"That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi
Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild)

Imperial Lord's picture
Imperial Lord
September 10, 2009 - 9:44am

And remember, you can always break up stories and articles into parts.  "Episode 1" and so forth.

In regards to D&D and that biatch Lorraine Williams, well, let's just say it's a tragedy of terrible proportions.  I ran out of anger a long time ago from simple exhaustion.  Now it's just sadness.

Well look on the bright side, at least we are proving that what she so wickedly killed can come back, rising like a phoenix.  (You may now make Battle of the Planets reference.  Thank you for that.)

I would say my priorities would be:


1. Systems briefs with MAPS (in fact it should be policy that if you make a system brief, you MUST make a map, or at least detailed instructions that a ref could follow and easily produce one.)

2. Cool artwork

3. Tips for refs (and players too, why not?)

4. Rules clarifications/optional expansions

5. Background stuff

6. New gear

I would just make a series of "inboxes" and pile in the ideas.  Edit, copy, paste.  Of course it is never that easy, but you get the idea.


Imperial Lord's picture
Imperial Lord
September 10, 2009 - 9:46am
The cartoon is an excellent idea, Georgie.

Something Dralasite-ridiculous, preferably...

Shadow Shack's picture
Shadow Shack
September 10, 2009 - 4:09pm
Imperial Lord wrote:
Well look on the bright side, at least we are proving that what she so wickedly killed can come back, rising like a phoenix.  (You may now make Battle of the Planets reference.  Thank you for that.)


Huh, I was thinking X-Men...
I'm not overly fond of Zeb's Guide...nor do I have any qualms stating why. Tongue out

My SF website

Will's picture
Will
September 10, 2009 - 5:46pm
Shadow Shack wrote:
Imperial Lord wrote:
Well look on the bright side, at least we are proving that what she so wickedly killed can come back, rising like a phoenix.  (You may now make Battle of the Planets reference.  Thank you for that.)


Huh, I was thinking X-Men...



Aren't you always? LOL

"You're everything that's base in humanity," Cochrane continued. "Drawing up strict, senseless rules for the sole reason of putting you at the top and excluding anyone you say doesn't belong or fit in, for no other reason than just because you say so."


—Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stephens, Federation

Ascent's picture
Ascent
September 12, 2009 - 9:31pm
I appear to have made an error in the Ifshnit article, the STR/STA modifier should be -5 instead of +5.
View my profile for a list of articles I have written, am writing, will write.
"It's yo' mama!" —Wicket W. Warrick, Star Wars Ep. VI: Return of the Jedi
"That guy's wise." —Logray, Star Wars Ep.VI: Return of the Jedi
Do You Wanna Date My Avatar? - Felicia Day (The Guild)

umungus's picture
umungus
September 13, 2009 - 9:50am
Will wrote:


For one, since when did Galaxy Rangers get added to the SF canon? Did I miss a staff meeting or something? 

 


I finally got around to getting some ink and printing a copy and reading it.  (I don't like to read books or zines on the computer. old I guess.) Galaxy Rangers? I assumed it was a game report of a Star FRontiers conversion galaxy rangers game. I was wrong, It says it is a Galaxy Rangers freeform RPG system. So, how is this related to SF at all? and 30 pages worth? I'm with Will on this one....
I am reluctant to say anything negative about content. I am happy to have a zine that is about SF, even if some of the content isn't my cup 'o' tea; but this isn't even SF related.

At least I got to scare an alien rabbit thingy......


AZ_GAMER's picture
AZ_GAMER
September 15, 2009 - 8:47pm
I can do some artwork in between projects, just let me know what you need for 13 so I work on something.

Anonymous's picture
w00t (not verified)
September 15, 2009 - 9:40pm
AZ_GAMER wrote:
I can do some artwork in between projects, just let me know what you need for 13 so I work on something.


Will do!