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Creative Commons Eclipse Phase Project

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TBRMInsanity TBRMInsanity's picture
Creative Commons Eclipse Phase Project
I was wondering if the Eclipse Phase community should create a Creative Commons Eclipse Phase Project that would be responsible for the creation of publishable quality, user generated material? The goal of the project would be to provide free content that is licensed under the Eclipse Phase Creative Commons License and stored in a central location. The central location would accept requests for content review, and any content that made it past quality control (ie conforms with the rules and doesn't change the continuity of the EP universe) would be made available. I have a friend with a publishing company that sells his work on RPGNow, and I can ask how to make this content available there as well. If any content is worthy of becoming cannon, Posthuman Studios would have full right to publish the content in a future book (and give recognition to the original author of the material). The questions I propose to the community would be: Who is interested, and would like to help? Where should this central location be? Who should be on the Quality Control Board? Is Posthuman Studios in favour of this idea?
Jovian Motto: Your mind is original. Preserve it. Your body is a temple. Maintain it. Immortality is an illusion. Forget it.
nezumi.hebereke nezumi.hebereke's picture
Re: Creative Commons Eclipse Phase Project
TBRMInsanity wrote:
The questions I propose to the community would be: Who is interested, and would like to help? Where should this central location be? Who should be on the Quality Control Board? Is Posthuman Studios in favour of this idea?
I would be interested. You may also wish to get in contact with the Eye, since they've already done some of this. Central location - again, talk to the Eye people first and check out the wiki they host there: http://www.firewall-darkcast.com/ When I'm not otherwise engaged, I spend time updating that wiki. Quality Control Board would have to be made up of volunteers, probably people with some rep. See who is volunteering, then we can discuss who should be permitted (if we're actually going to turn anyone down). PHS has expressed support for the Eye, so as long as you aren't selling for profit, I believe the answer is 'yes'.
Lilith Lilith's picture
Re: Creative Commons Eclipse Phase Project
I would love to contribute whatever I could. I actually work as an editor for my day job, in-between my fanciful aspirations of writing, so I'd be happy to offer whatever assistance I could in that regard.
The Green Slime The Green Slime's picture
Re: Creative Commons Eclipse Phase Project
^ Ditto. Apart from the whole 'having a job' part. I'm very much for anything that centralises fan content in any way, shape or form. I've painstakingly produced fan materials for several RPGs over the years and I hate that such works are prone to getting lost in the shuffle. Since the unofficial materials thus far released for EP are of such thoroughly high quality, they really deserve more than a thread of compiled links somewhere in the Homebrew subforum.
nezumi.hebereke nezumi.hebereke's picture
Re: Creative Commons Eclipse Phase Project
A lot of this stuff does in fact get posted on the main EP site under 'resources' (for example, the character sheet generator, which is *FANTASTIC* and indespensible). I think this wiki is going to get a lot of traffic, equivalent to the Sixth World wiki for SR (especially as we get more additional books to catalog).
TBRMInsanity TBRMInsanity's picture
Re: Creative Commons Eclipse Phase Project
Does anyone have experience in publishing? I've done some work as a freelance RPG developer but I've always passed my material to a publisher to make it "market ready". I think if we created a template that we can plug Community Content into, that would be a good start. Thoughts.
Jovian Motto: Your mind is original. Preserve it. Your body is a temple. Maintain it. Immortality is an illusion. Forget it.
TBRMInsanity TBRMInsanity's picture
Re: Creative Commons Eclipse Phase Project
I've talked to the people at Darkcast and they are on board. They need the following from us:
Quote:
From looking over the project, I would suggest you consider picking up something like an editorial queue with a vote up/down system (much like the Eye has). It keeps attention firmly on the pieces of information that need processing. In previous experience that has helped to keep the quality and focus of work on task. This is a lot to work with, so please don't hesitate to ask for tools you need or suggestions on how to can shape this project to achieve your end goal. I do think you probably need to put a fine point on your work, as right now Darkcast is hosting to both the wiki (which may evolve into something of a Writer's Bible + Homebrew), and the Eye - while your project seems to fall somewhere in the middle of things. I think your next critical step is figuring out the form of your destroyer: rolling the work into the wiki, keeping it separate as article collection by topic/subtopic on the site, or as a quarterly downloadable collection in PDF form.
Jovian Motto: Your mind is original. Preserve it. Your body is a temple. Maintain it. Immortality is an illusion. Forget it.
InsidiousAlgorythm InsidiousAlgorythm's picture
Re: Creative Commons Eclipse Phase Project
I worked on a few issues of Cenotaphium for Kult... I'd be willing to help when I have time. I use Quark though, not Adobe, so there may be some compatibility issues.
InsidiousAlgorythm InsidiousAlgorythm's picture
Re: Creative Commons Eclipse Phase Project
And I have domain space too. Can set up an editorial forum or drupal if need be. As long as we get a set page background (or a different background for each type of entry) I can do layout. Art might be more difficult to acquire.
TBRMInsanity TBRMInsanity's picture
Re: Creative Commons Eclipse Phase Project
InsidiousAlgorythm wrote:
And I have domain space too. Can set up an editorial forum or drupal if need be. As long as we get a set page background (or a different background for each type of entry) I can do layout. Art might be more difficult to acquire.
I would really like to use the Darkcast domain space if possible for the project as it is already the most central location for the EP community (outside the official website and forums). That being said if Darkcast doesn't have the space to host most of the material I also have some server space to host material and have the links on Darkcast as appropriate. I have an extensive background in Open Source development (which is the original inspiration for this idea in the first place) and it would be great if we could use a tool like Bugzilla to gather community publications and track them. I think we also need to have a list of reviewers that will check for stuff like continuity with existing cannon publications. As for a template for publications, I think we should use a similar template to what is used in the official books (with the dark and futuristic look) for our publications. The template shouldn't be too much more complicated then the background for each page, the stylesheet dictating the font, item shape, and spacing of the community content, and standard rules for how pictures will be added to the publication. I don't think it matters which publication tool we use to create any single publication, just as long as each publication follows the same stylesheet so end users know its part of our project.
Jovian Motto: Your mind is original. Preserve it. Your body is a temple. Maintain it. Immortality is an illusion. Forget it.
InsidiousAlgorythm InsidiousAlgorythm's picture
Re: Creative Commons Eclipse Phase Project
Wherever it ends up is fine. Just an offer. Now in the spirit of open source, I offer this link http://www.scribus.net/canvas/Scribus Tables are a bit of a pain to work with, but not impossible.
Redwulfe Redwulfe's picture
Re: Creative Commons Eclipse Phase Project
This sounds very interesting to me. I like the idea of a group that creates fan based content but takes the time to make sure the content doesn't have contradictory material within it and that the content makes since within the scope of the universe. I would like to volunteer my services as well. I am a theater tech primarily focused in carpentry but have been trained as a director and dramaturge, I have been the dramaturge on several shows and feel that the skills I gained in this position would benefit the current effort as a community reviewer. For those who do not know what a dramaturge does I will attempt to explain the relevant skills. I teach and provide the actors with historical and linguistically relevancy for them to use to understand the play and the world the play is set in. In other words I help maintain the continuity of the play by giving the actors the understanding they need for the play, an understanding of the world and language used, as well as any useful information that will help them or the director delve into the world of the play. Basically a content editor for the actors. If this is something you are looking for please let me know as I would be more than happy to help out, with the project in this or any other capacity that you need. My only drawback is that I am new to the game, but I am used to working under tight schedules as I usually only have two to three weeks of lead time on my shows. Red
There are only 10 kind of people in the world; Those who understand binary, and those who don't. Red
Redwulfe Redwulfe's picture
Re: Creative Commons Eclipse Phase Project
This sounds very interesting to me. I like the idea of a group that creates fan based content but takes the time to make sure the content doesn't have contradictory material within it and that the content makes since within the scope of the universe. I would like to volunteer my services as well. I am a theater tech primarily focused in carpentry but have been trained as a director and dramaturge, I have been the dramaturge on several shows and feel that the skills I gained in this position would benefit the current effort as a community reviewer. For those who do not know what a dramaturge does I will attempt to explain the relevant skills. I teach and provide the actors with historical and linguistically relevancy for them to use to understand the play and the world the play is set in. In other words I help maintain the continuity of the play by giving the actors the understanding they need for the play, an understanding of the world and language used, as well as any useful information that will help them or the director delve into the world of the play. Basically a content editor for the actors. If this is something you are looking for please let me know as I would be more than happy to help out, with the project in this or any other capacity that you need. My only drawback is that I am new to the game, but I am used to working under tight schedules as I usually only have two to three weeks of lead time on my shows. Red
There are only 10 kind of people in the world; Those who understand binary, and those who don't. Red
nezumi.hebereke nezumi.hebereke's picture
Re: Creative Commons Eclipse Phase Project
That's awesome. I'm currently writing a 'radio show' podcast for EP. I've drafted the first scene, waiting for my co-editor to review it. Would you be interested in reviewing it as well? My background is computers and writing, NOT directing or voice-acting.
TBRMInsanity TBRMInsanity's picture
Re: Creative Commons Eclipse Phase Project
I've Scribus in the past and I think it is an excellent tool (especially for a project like this which will be on a shoe string budget). If you want to start creating a template in Scribus that would be great. Redwulfe, how familiar are you with the Eclipse Phase continuity? Do you buy all the EP books on launch day and can read the back story in them quickly? If so, from your post, I think you would be an excellent addition to the review board.
Jovian Motto: Your mind is original. Preserve it. Your body is a temple. Maintain it. Immortality is an illusion. Forget it.
Lilith Lilith's picture
Re: Creative Commons Eclipse Phase Project
nezumi.hebereke wrote:
I'm currently writing a 'radio show' podcast for EP. I've drafted the first scene, waiting for my co-editor to review it. Would you be interested in reviewing it as well? My background is computers and writing, NOT directing or voice-acting.
Oh, that sounds amazing! I'm very interested in learning more about this.
nezumi.hebereke nezumi.hebereke's picture
Re: Creative Commons Eclipse Phase Project
Our goal is to push out two episodes by GenCon, with each episode being approximately 20 minutes long, and possibly spaced with fake (and real?) commercials. The opening one is planned to be more playful and silly, sort of in the style of 'This American Life'. The second one will likely be more dramatic, in the style of Hitchcock or Chandler (and possibly span two episodes, for a total of 40 minutes). My sister works with some theater people locally, so I'm hoping to recruit from that for local voice talent. I'll be teaching myself how to operate the sound system and looking for some free (or cheap) sounds I can put in. My wife and I are serving as writers, directors and investors in the project. Unfortunately, she works full time ++ and I work full time, so things aren't always zooming at full speed.
Lilith Lilith's picture
Re: Creative Commons Eclipse Phase Project
You had me at "Hitchcock". <3 Well, I wish you all the best, then. This is definitely something I can get behind.
Redwulfe Redwulfe's picture
Re: Creative Commons Eclipse Phase Project
@TBRMInsanity- Although currently I am very new to the system, which is a negative point to my detriment, and have only read the Quickstart rules, I will be picking up the PDFs of the entire game line this week to start delving into the world more thoroughly. I also absorb information quickly as it is a part of my day to day job and feel that I could be up to speed, on the environment that the world is set in, by the end of this month. As far as my ability to keep up with the world and product line, I will say that, if I am on the review committee then I will pick up each supplement as it is released to stay on top of the system. I take my commitments very seriously even if they are of a volunteer nature. :) I think that what you are proposing is a great idea and would love to be a part of it in any capacity that you deem fit, even if it is solely as a contributer. :) As for my ability to work as a part of a larger committee, I have the following to my credit, in additional to those outlined above. I was a play tester for several systems. I was credited in Gama World for the Alternaty game system by Wizards of the coast as well as play testing Return to White Plume Mountain for the 3rd edition Dungeons and Dragons system by the same company. I was assistant to the regional storyteller for Mage the Awakening within White Wolf's Camarilla fan club as well as a play tester for the Vampire the requiem LARP system. I currently am a play tester for the Hero system under Darren Watts in his NYC game. I worked on the maps for Kazei-5 a hero system product by BlackWyrm games, and did the translation and demo work for demos of Degenesis at Gencon for the, at the time FanPro an then later changed to, Catalyst Game Lab Demo team. @nezumi.hebereke- Yes, I would love to take a look at what you have. If you want send me your current deadlines and what you wish from me as far as feed back, and I will get to work looking it over. I will PM you my email address so you can contact me off the forum if you so choose. Red
There are only 10 kind of people in the world; Those who understand binary, and those who don't. Red
TBRMInsanity TBRMInsanity's picture
Re: Creative Commons Eclipse Phase Project
Redwulfe is helping me make a very valid point, this is a community project and as such it belongs to everyone that wishes to contribute (and you will get out of the project what you put in). I equally promise to throw my valuable spare resources (mainly time) into this project as I believe in this community and what it can produce. Thank you Redwulfe.
Jovian Motto: Your mind is original. Preserve it. Your body is a temple. Maintain it. Immortality is an illusion. Forget it.
InsidiousAlgorythm InsidiousAlgorythm's picture
Re: Creative Commons Eclipse Phase Project
I think we'll need a place to hash out the details on layout content and the like.
TBRMInsanity TBRMInsanity's picture
Re: Creative Commons Eclipse Phase Project
Would people like me to create a Google Doc?
Jovian Motto: Your mind is original. Preserve it. Your body is a temple. Maintain it. Immortality is an illusion. Forget it.
Lilith Lilith's picture
Re: Creative Commons Eclipse Phase Project
That's where I put the stuff I'm workin' on.
Redwulfe Redwulfe's picture
Re: Creative Commons Eclipse Phase Project
Would the google doc be for the organization of the community or for the living communities contributions of intellectual product? Can a google doc be communally edited for notes and such? Would a wiki serve us better? Red
There are only 10 kind of people in the world; Those who understand binary, and those who don't. Red
TBRMInsanity TBRMInsanity's picture
Re: Creative Commons Eclipse Phase Project
Google Docs is a collaborative (but invitational) tool. A wiki would be collaborative (and non invitational) tool. How open do we want to make the "in progress" material?
Jovian Motto: Your mind is original. Preserve it. Your body is a temple. Maintain it. Immortality is an illusion. Forget it.
Redwulfe Redwulfe's picture
Re: Creative Commons Eclipse Phase Project
I see. In my opinion I think the material that is in development should be closed, least we have a "too many cooks in the kitchen" scenario. That being said, it seems that Google docs would be the better option. Red
There are only 10 kind of people in the world; Those who understand binary, and those who don't. Red
TBRMInsanity TBRMInsanity's picture
Re: Creative Commons Eclipse Phase Project
I agree. I think what I will do is create a EPCP Document for collaboration, and then individual documents should be created for each work from the project. I will create the collaboration document right away. Send me an email (thomasboxall at gmail dot com) to get added.
Jovian Motto: Your mind is original. Preserve it. Your body is a temple. Maintain it. Immortality is an illusion. Forget it.
Gee4orce Gee4orce's picture
Re: Creative Commons Eclipse Phase Project
I have a template document for Apple's Pages app that closely re-creates the look of the published EP material. See an example of the output here: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2190127/EP/Advanced%20Combat.pdf
TBRMInsanity TBRMInsanity's picture
Re: Creative Commons Eclipse Phase Project
Actually you don't need to email me. Just go here to self sign in: docs.google.com/document/d/1hTS7QQ5nFy0EwtB9HtVcA9LT0gmxjCtEPMtnX60z2Rg/edit?hl=en_GB&authkey=CMb9zdQI
Jovian Motto: Your mind is original. Preserve it. Your body is a temple. Maintain it. Immortality is an illusion. Forget it.
TBRMInsanity TBRMInsanity's picture
Re: Creative Commons Eclipse Phase Project
That looks exactly what we should stride for.
Jovian Motto: Your mind is original. Preserve it. Your body is a temple. Maintain it. Immortality is an illusion. Forget it.
Demonseed Elite Demonseed Elite's picture
Re: Creative Commons Eclipse Phase Project
Gee4orce wrote:
I have a template document for Apple's Pages app that closely re-creates the look of the published EP material. See an example of the output here: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2190127/EP/Advanced%20Combat.pdf
I've been working on the same thing from InDesign. I have the left-hand and right-hand page numbering elements in Adobe Illustrator and .SVG format if that's helpful. I messaged Adam Jury to make sure it was fine to re-use those elements with proper Creative Commons attribution and he said it was as long as we avoided using the icons that appear next to the AR window elements.
"It's a poor sort of memory that only works backwards." --The White Queen, [i]Through The Looking-Glass[/i] [img]https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_zGgz13n3uzE/TWWPdvGig-I/AAAAAAAACI8/y...
Redwulfe Redwulfe's picture
Re: Creative Commons Eclipse Phase Project
I've signed in and added the doc to my docs. Red
There are only 10 kind of people in the world; Those who understand binary, and those who don't. Red
nezumi.hebereke nezumi.hebereke's picture
Re: Creative Commons Eclipse Phase Project
I can't access google docs at work, so expect me to be quiet except on Fridays (one of the few sites that are blocked. No idea why.) However, just to be clear, what precisely are we working on? There's The Eye, which provides fan-created material, and the wiki, which can contain both canon and fan-based material. So how is this one different? Is it just... faster?
Tachi Tachi's picture
Re: Creative Commons Eclipse Phase Project
In my experience, most companies don't like Google to be used to collaborate on company files, period. This is because Google technically "co-owns", i.e. has full rights to freely use, any file saved on it's system, as well as any information contained therein. Kind of like Gmail owning the content of your email. Seriously, read the terms of service.

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Redwulfe Redwulfe's picture
Re: Creative Commons Eclipse Phase Project
nezumi.hebereke wrote:
However, just to be clear, what precisely are we working on? There's The Eye, which provides fan-created material, and the wiki, which can contain both canon and fan-based material. So how is this one different? Is it just... faster?
Please correct me if I am wrong in what I am about to say. To me it seems to be about options. giving GMs options for use in there games. During the OGL explosion of D&D 3rd edition many GMs had numerous options to use within their game system. They had new equipment, feats, and classes that allowed a player to choose several thousands of options for use for their character. Some of these where non-regulated fan creations and some of them where creations that went through a regulatory community, such as a game company or community project to make sure that they had a certain level of balance and consistency. In many games I played during this time period many GMs would tell you which sources you could use to draw character information from, "you may use core books or books from the mongoose line of fantasy play aids and so on, and which ones you could not, "nothing from the blah setting or books." The Eye is one of the sources currently usable to GMs for Eclipse phase, that is striving to edit their material for publication within the context of their fanzine. Other companies or fan sites will eventually do the same, such as ours. Each one with its own individual understanding and interpretation on the Eclipse Phase universe. What we will allow in our community document will be different than what the Eye or others will allow in theirs. Non of which are wrong but each will be unique. This creates options for the GM, as well as for the players. In my games I will allow material from core Posthuman Studios books as well as fan created material from the, insert the name of our project here, or the Eye Fanzine. I may at the same time not agree with, insert another fanzine or community project's name here's view on the universe and what is balance, and thus disallow the use of that material in my games. So in short, possible not faster or better or even different, but the importance of having many resources in progress and not just adhering to one is that material will start to stream out of the community, as a whole, at a regular rate, which in turn, elevates production pressure from each other. The game has a stream of constant releases in the form of community projects, fanzines and official releases. This stream of releases keeps the game moving forward and fresh and allows a larger pool of creative minds to express themselves through their individual projects. Red
There are only 10 kind of people in the world; Those who understand binary, and those who don't. Red
sysop sysop's picture
Re: Creative Commons Eclipse Phase Project
Thread touch so I can get updates as this develops. :) If you guys need a forum space to collab let me know and I can open a forum for you on Darkcast like there is for the Eye. If you're going to do this as a PDF, I can roll another set of publication queues for the work as well (though be warned, that's a ton of work on the layout end of things). Personally I'd love to see a selection of individual web articles tagged as part of a centralized project group/collective on a monthly basis. I'm impatient and don't want to wait for a PDF collection. ;)
Quote:
I would really like to use the Darkcast domain space if possible for the project as it is already the most central location for the EP community (outside the official website and forums). That being said if Darkcast doesn't have the space to host most of the material I also have some server space to host material and have the links on Darkcast as appropriate.
Answer: We have the space. :)
I fix broken things. If you need something fixed, mention it [url=/forums/suggestions/website-and-forum-suggestions]on the suggestions board[/url]. [color=red]I also sometimes speak as website administrator and/ moderator.[/color]
Redwulfe Redwulfe's picture
Re: Creative Commons Eclipse Phase Project
This would centralize the content with other fan based content. Anyone else's thoughts? Red
There are only 10 kind of people in the world; Those who understand binary, and those who don't. Red
TBRMInsanity TBRMInsanity's picture
Re: Creative Commons Eclipse Phase Project
I think the Fanzine is a better outlet for smaller Community Content personally. For larger projects (like my Jovian Republic source book I'm working on) would do better as a published content (that follows both known cannon and the CC license). Sysop, I will work with you off line about setting up a Publishing queue on Darkcast.
Jovian Motto: Your mind is original. Preserve it. Your body is a temple. Maintain it. Immortality is an illusion. Forget it.
jhfurnish jhfurnish's picture
Third-Party Materials and Publishing
On the question of third-party materials for EP:
nezumi.hebereke wrote:
... so as long as you aren't selling for profit, I believe the answer is 'yes'.
Let me ask for some clarity here: If had a concept for a sci-fi/fantasy 'zine, designed to be sold for, say $5 on rpgnow.com, that occasionally included optional 3rd-party rules or scenarios for popular games including EP as well as Pathfinder (for example), plus the typical interviews and other items found in these - would the PHS crew object to that? Just testing the waters.
Decivre Decivre's picture
jhfurnish wrote:Let me ask
jhfurnish wrote:
Let me ask for some clarity here: If had a concept for a sci-fi/fantasy 'zine, designed to be sold for, say $5 on rpgnow.com, that occasionally included optional 3rd-party rules or scenarios for popular games including EP as well as Pathfinder (for example), plus the typical interviews and other items found in these - would the PHS crew object to that? Just testing the waters.
The Creative Commons license that Eclipse Phase is held under is a non-commercial license, so that does violate the licensing of the product. You will have to go through PHS directly in order to get rights for making such a for-profit product. On a secondary note, [url=http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/507486226/transhuman-the-eclipse-pha... kickstarter[/url] has a tier which grants you a license for the engine and game to make your own for-profit product, so if you're willing to plunk down 2500 bones to make your dream a reality, you can do just that.
Transhumans will one day be the Luddites of the posthuman age. [url=http://bit.ly/2p3wk7c]Help me get my gaming fix, if you want.[/url]
jhfurnish jhfurnish's picture
Licensing
Actually, that's not at all unreasonable. In fact from what I understand that's a rather inexpensive licensing fee. If I had it presently I would immediately pay it. At any rate, I'm very glad that the kickstarter for Transhuman has been so successful. I would like to see PHS make some money on the more hand-over-fist level.
Baalbamoth Baalbamoth's picture
fan based material... uh...
I really like some of the ideas on here. However, sometimes fan based material is great, incredible even, other times... a lot of times, it's just plain terrible. Occasionally this is just because of a total lack of playtesting of new materials other times its because the authors want to combine the core of the game with some other influence. Right now I can go to sites where they have merged transformers, mecha, furry anime, hentai etc with eclipse phase through their fan based content. It's the internet and everybody is free to do whatever they want within reason and copyright laws, but sometimes I worry about how those fan sites might color public perception of the game. regardless of what you do... I'd be pretty careful with what you include and who you allow to to be your contributors. good luck!
"what do I want? The usual — hundreds of grandchildren, complete dominion over the known worlds, and the pleasure of hearing that all my enemies have died in highly improbable accidents that cannot be connected to me."