There are discussions from time to time about trying to "unify" the various active people in the "old-school renaissance." What I mean by "active" are people who are creating material and posting it on the internet, or publishing it in print form.
I think that unification is a great idea, depending on the context. However, I don't think we can or even should try to unify efforts in terms of how or what to create. Part of the vitality of the old-school renaissance, IMHO, is the diversity of interests and talents. I think we should promote the creation of diverse material, even material that covers the same ground but has a different twist.
One idea I'm implementing is a Lulu store (group) focused on the "Old-school Renaissance." The group is open to everyone who has material to share. You can provide material for free or for sale, and it can be a polished work with art or just a simple text file. The idea here is that this storefront is for the Old-School Renaissance in general, and is not necessarily focused on a commercial goal. It is focused on providing a central place for people to find all the great stuff out there.
Ok, so how it is set up?
Go here:
http://stores.lulu.com/oldschoolren
You need to have a Lulu account, and you can post material. With Lulu you can share PDFs, at no cost, or you can post print material. This is not moderated, so you can post material as you see fit. There is also a column for people to have a link to their own Lulu store, but this I have to add manually, so drop me an email at goblinoidgames "at" yahoo "dot" com, tell me who you are and what your Lulu store address is, and I'll get you added. I'll just have the list in alphabetical order.
A note about the page format:
I am very limited in how I can design a web page with the Lulu tools. I can't seem to have links to outside content, otherwise I'd have links to peoples' websites. Also, the banner and things I've created do not have to remain this way. If any talented people out there want to design a new banner, please feel free!
This will only work if we all promote the group store. I'm not saying to promote it exclusive of your own website, just in addition to it.
Who's with me!?!?! ;-)
(shaking my fist in the air)
10 comments:
Surely that's what "Fight On!" is about already Trollsmyth? Then again, another distribution point can't be anything other than good. More power to you.
"Fight On!" is not the only effort out there...
So what I'm getting at is someone could drop buy the group store, pick up the latest copy of Fight On, maybe a copy of Swords & Wizardy, then download some free material people have posted. That sort of thing. One place to look at the latest, instead of trying to track stuff down.
It sounds like a nifty idea, Dan. I keep fairly good track of BHP releases through their blog (and new forum), but it's a pain to notice when other random products come out. Having a common store to check out would be cool.
-Random
Fantastic idea. Are you going to or have already thrown this idea out there on the various message boards yet?
Keep in mind that I view this as just a starting place. There are many other possibilities of how to approach things, how we might set up another better website, all sorts of things. But you have to start somewhere.
In the end, if we get no support for this idea, then I think the whole concept of "unifying" anyone will not work. It will mean that as much as people talk about an "old-school" community, what we really have are splinters of exclusive communities that call themselves old-school. So we'll see. Either way, this will be an informative exercise.
Dan, that's for doing this!
It's a great idea. I'd suggest that work with 'mature content' be labelled as such. It's also good to distinguish PG-13 type stuff from R-rated stuff.
Cool thing, all products in one place.
As a consumer and occasional commenter about all things that seem to fall under the old-school umbrella, this is a great start. I'm glad you did it and I hope this is just a first step for possibly bigger things for everyone involved.
This is an idea that, despite all of the debating, is a great idea and I just wanted to add my voice to the chorus of those who think so.
Just thought I'd let you know that since I've joined and posted my material, the traffic to my storefront jumped considerably. I doubt it's a co-ink-i-dink, so it's good to know that there are folks lookin' for this stuff.
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