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Mailing List Logs for ShadowRN

Message no. 1
From: Gurth gurth@******.nl
Subject: [Nerps] No vestige of a beginning, no prospect of an end...
Date: Sat, 3 Apr 1999 19:47:10 +0200
Some thought has gone into the subject line of this post. Let's not waste
it by you not reading it.

Read it?

Good.

It reflects what I want to say in this message, like a good subject line
should. Now I hope I can find the right words to say it in. Probably the
way to start is by asking a question:

"What do we want with NERPS?"

The reason I ask this is because the NERPS list is doing the same thing
it's always doing -- that is to say, not a hell of a lot, or better,
nothing at all.

We've managed to bring out over the past 3 1/2 years are a re-edit of an
existing net.book, with a little bit of new material thrown in for good
measure; a compilation of old material that was written before most
current listmembers even knew there was such a thing as the Internet, let
alone a NERPS list; and _one_ new book, which had a grand total of eight
contributors out of the probably hundreds of people who were on the list
in the time it was written and compiled.

There are various explanations for this situation, such as the rise in
popularity of the world wide web, lack of time for the contributors, loss
of interest in a project, poor skill at motivating people on the part of
the Project Leader, or whatever. I don't care about any of them.

Despite numerous efforts to actually get round to making another Shadowrun
net.book, as well as to get the ones we're supposed to be working on back
on the rails, nothing is happening, and nothing appears likely to continue
to happen for a very long time to come. All attempts to do something seem
to fail, and the same goes for every attempt to (re)interest people in
writing something for NERPS.

All this leads me to think that it's time to simply call it quits. NERPS
appears to have outlived its usefulness to Shadowrun-players in the
roughly five years that it's been around, so perhaps it's best to just let
it die and go on to other things.

Feel free to prove me wrong.


--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
...when we all disintegrate it will all happen again.
-> NERPS Project Leader * ShadowRN GridSec * Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
->The Plastic Warriors Page: http://shadowrun.html.com/plasticwarriors/<-
-> The New Character Mortuary: http://www.electricferret.com/mortuary/ <-

GC3.1: GAT/! d-(dpu) s:- !a>? C+(++)@ U P L E? W(++) N o? K- w+ O V? PS+
PE Y PGP- t(+) 5++ X++ R+++>$ tv+(++) b++@ DI? D+ G(++) e h! !r(---) y?
Incubated into the First Church of the Sqooshy Ball, 21-05-1998
Message no. 2
From: Tomus Cone brother_1@*******.com
Subject: [Nerps] No vestige of a beginning, no prospect of an end...
Date: Sat, 03 Apr 1999 12:56:33 PST
>Gurth spoke:
>"What do we want from NERPS?"

Hmmm... I've put a little thought into it. Honestly I want a feeling
of direction in the SR universe, something I didn't get from the
ShadowRN list. I've been shifted about as of late (moving again within
the next month), and my only connection to RPing in general and SR in
particular has been this list. I'm hoping that everyone's been quite
because they're gathering materials together. All of my stuff is locked
away safely in California, and it'll probably be another month before I
can contribute, assuming I have an ISP any time soon. I don't wanna see
NERPS die. I believe that there is a great deal to be explored that we
haven't.

I'm also not getting anything from the ShadowRN list. Grrr.


Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com
Message no. 3
From: Daniel Sauve ahsdreamwalker@****.com
Subject: [Nerps] No vestige of a beginning, no prospect of an end...
Date: Sat, 3 Apr 1999 18:19:57 -0500
Article Proposal for: Organisations Net. Book.
Article Title: Henshin Posers
Article Writer: Kristling Dreamwalker aka Daniel Sauve
Article Topic:

I am a big fan of the Toku (abreviation of a word I can't
spell right now) or "FX Heroes" shows from Japan. These
include Sentai (in all its forms) Metal heroes, and other
Special effects Martial Arts shows.

The thrust of this article is the various "poser" groups
that imitate these heroes, from the lame "actor imitators"
to those groups that seek to actually dulicate the Henshin
or "Body Switching" power many Toku heroes have. Some try a
techy route, others think magic has more promise. Currently
I have a decker, rigger, and Magic Group based on this
concept. I've used them for everything from comic relief to
serious threats.


Daniel S.
Kristling Dreamwalker
Dreamwalker Productions
A member of After Hours Studios
and Creative Folke on the Net
ahsdreamwalker@****.com
[URL coming soon]

Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence.
-- H. L. Mencken
Message no. 4
From: Patrick Goodman remo@***.net
Subject: [Nerps] No vestige of a beginning, no prospect of an end...
Date: Sun, 11 Apr 1999 21:06:08 -0500
>Some thought has gone into the subject line of this post. Let's not waste
>it by you not reading it.
>
>Read it?
>
>Good.

This is a general call for us to get off our collective ass and do
something, yes? All right; I for one will start trying to do my part. Now
that I've gotten some nasty personal business more or less taken care of,
maybe I can get back into a creative mode here.

I've recently submitted the second draft on my walker-frame article; it
would be deeply appreciated if people would look it over and tear it up, if
necessary.

>All this leads me to think that it's time to simply call it quits. NERPS
>appears to have outlived its usefulness to Shadowrun-players in the
>roughly five years that it's been around, so perhaps it's best to just let
>it die and go on to other things.
>
>Feel free to prove me wrong.

You might be right, Gurth, but I'd hate to think the thing has just decided
to die not long after I discovered its existence and tried to help out. I
love the game, and I'd like to contribute to its growth, but with the
proliferation of stuff out there, it might not be as feasible or as easy to
come up with a centralized clearing house for that growth. It's too easy to
publish these days, and there's a general lack of appreciation for
centralization.

That being said, a lot of the self-published stuff out there is
poorly-written, badly-edited crap. I think that the NERPS material has,
traditionally, been of a higher quality. I, for one, am all for keeping the
quality up.

I hope that my scant contributions so far have been of sufficient quality.

--
(>) Texas 2-Step
El Paso: Never surrender. Never forget. Never forgive.
Message no. 5
From: Gurth gurth@******.nl
Subject: [Nerps] No vestige of a beginning, no prospect of an end...
Date: Mon, 12 Apr 1999 11:23:07 +0200
According to Patrick Goodman, at 21:06 on 11 Apr 99, the word on
the street was...

> >Some thought has gone into the subject line of this post. Let's not waste
> >it by you not reading it.
> >
> >Read it?
> >
> >Good.
>
> This is a general call for us to get off our collective ass and do
> something, yes?

To tell the truth, no. It seems to have been interpreted by everyone like
that, but it was actually a post that tried to say "Do we need this list
any longer?" not "Start doing something, (&*%&#."

However, if there's genuine interest (and I stress the "genuine" part --
if you're not going to do anything, why are you here?) I don't see why we
shouldn't give this one more try.

> I've recently submitted the second draft on my walker-frame article; it
> would be deeply appreciated if people would look it over and tear it up, if
> necessary.

Exactly. In the old days there used to be lots of feedback about the
articles that were posted, but these days if you're lucky you get two
replies...

> >All this leads me to think that it's time to simply call it quits. NERPS
> >appears to have outlived its usefulness to Shadowrun-players in the
> >roughly five years that it's been around, so perhaps it's best to just let
> >it die and go on to other things.
> >
> >Feel free to prove me wrong.
>
> You might be right, Gurth, but I'd hate to think the thing has just decided
> to die not long after I discovered its existence and tried to help out. I
> love the game, and I'd like to contribute to its growth, but with the
> proliferation of stuff out there, it might not be as feasible or as easy to
> come up with a centralized clearing house for that growth. It's too easy to
> publish these days, and there's a general lack of appreciation for
> centralization.

Which leads m to think that it's best to simply do another ShadowLore -- a
book that's open to absolutely anything and everything people want to
submit, whether it's gear, archetypes (okay, /sample characters/...),
organizations, city descriptions, or anything else that works for you.

> That being said, a lot of the self-published stuff out there is
> poorly-written, badly-edited crap. I think that the NERPS material has,
> traditionally, been of a higher quality.

Ever looked at Rob Hayden's editing skills? :)

> I, for one, am all for keeping the quality up.

<AOL>Me too.</AOL> But without submissions, that's kind of hard to do :(

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
History's what you make it.
-> NERPS Project Leader * ShadowRN GridSec * Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
->The Plastic Warriors Page: http://shadowrun.html.com/plasticwarriors/<-
-> The New Character Mortuary: http://www.electricferret.com/mortuary/ <-

GC3.1: GAT/! d-(dpu) s:- !a>? C+(++)@ U P L E? W(++) N o? K- w+ O V? PS+
PE Y PGP- t(+) 5++ X++ R+++>$ tv+(++) b++@ DI? D+ G(++) e h! !r(---) y?
Incubated into the First Church of the Sqooshy Ball, 21-05-1998
Message no. 6
From: Patrick Goodman remo@***.net
Subject: [Nerps] No vestige of a beginning, no prospect of an end...
Date: Tue, 13 Apr 1999 20:24:19 -0500
>> This is a general call for us to get off our collective ass and do
>> something, yes?
>
>To tell the truth, no. It seems to have been interpreted by everyone like
>that, but it was actually a post that tried to say "Do we need this list
>any longer?" not "Start doing something, (&*%&#."

I was, at least partially, giving you a hard time. I was fixing to post
something similar, asking if anyone was here, when you posted this.

>However, if there's genuine interest (and I stress the "genuine" part --
>if you're not going to do anything, why are you here?) I don't see why we
>shouldn't give this one more try.

I'm trying, I'm trying.... <g>

>> I've recently submitted the second draft on my walker-frame article; it
>> would be deeply appreciated if people would look it over and tear it up,
>> if necessary.
>
>Exactly. In the old days there used to be lots of feedback about the
>articles that were posted, but these days if you're lucky you get two
>replies...

I know. I've got to reply to Chris's Cerberus Project post here as soon as
I get the portable hole written up....

>> It's too easy to publish these days, and there's a general lack of
>> appreciation for centralization.
>
>Which leads m to think that it's best to simply do another ShadowLore -- a
>book that's open to absolutely anything and everything people want to
>submit, whether it's gear, archetypes (okay, /sample characters/...),
>organizations, city descriptions, or anything else that works for you.

Sort of fold Stuff and Organizations into one book? That might be the best
way to go about it.

>> That being said, a lot of the self-published stuff out there is
>> poorly-written, badly-edited crap. I think that the NERPS material has,
>> traditionally, been of a higher quality.
>
>Ever looked at Rob Hayden's editing skills? :)

Which one's did he do? I still think that the NERPS stuff I've read has
been better put-together than a lot of the crap out there.

>> I, for one, am all for keeping the quality up.
>
><AOL>Me too.</AOL> But without submissions, that's kind of hard to do :(

I'm working on it. I know you've got a few irons in the fire, the first
parts of which you've put up, but I've not seen completed articles from you
on those. Since they were actually pretty good, I'd like to see the
finished products.

--
(>) Texas 2-Step
El Paso: Never surrender. Never forget. Never forgive.
Message no. 7
From: Gurth gurth@******.nl
Subject: [Nerps] No vestige of a beginning, no prospect of an end...
Date: Wed, 14 Apr 1999 12:19:14 +0200
According to Patrick Goodman, at 20:24 on 13 Apr 99, the word on
the street was...

> Sort of fold Stuff and Organizations into one book? That might be the best
> way to go about it.

And anything else people want to post for inclusion in the book.

> >> That being said, a lot of the self-published stuff out there is
> >> poorly-written, badly-edited crap. I think that the NERPS material has,
> >> traditionally, been of a higher quality.
> >
> >Ever looked at Rob Hayden's editing skills? :)
>
> Which one's did he do? I still think that the NERPS stuff I've read has
> been better put-together than a lot of the crap out there.

ShadowLore and Foundations. They look okay, but he did things like use
lots of tabs and spaces to line out tables, which makes them hard to edit
and messes up the layout unless you're viewing them on the system they
were generated on.

> >> I, for one, am all for keeping the quality up.
> >
> ><AOL>Me too.</AOL> But without submissions, that's kind of hard to do
:(
>
> I'm working on it. I know you've got a few irons in the fire, the first
> parts of which you've put up, but I've not seen completed articles from you
> on those. Since they were actually pretty good, I'd like to see the
> finished products.

I've got some half-finished articles that I work on from time to time. My
problem is that I lose interest quickly, and pick up stuff I was working
on later. That means things eventually get finished, but it can take a
while.

--
Gurth@******.nl - http://www.xs4all.nl/~gurth/index.html
History's what you make it.
-> NERPS Project Leader * ShadowRN GridSec * Unofficial Shadowrun Guru <-
->The Plastic Warriors Page: http://shadowrun.html.com/plasticwarriors/<-
-> The New Character Mortuary: http://www.electricferret.com/mortuary/ <-

GC3.1: GAT/! d-(dpu) s:- !a>? C+(++)@ U P L E? W(++) N o? K- w+ O V? PS+
PE Y PGP- t(+) 5++ X++ R+++>$ tv+(++) b++@ DI? D+ G(++) e h! !r(---) y?
Incubated into the First Church of the Sqooshy Ball, 21-05-1998

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