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Dumpshock Forums _ Dumpshock News, Bug Reports, Feature Requests, & Discussion _ Publish and be damned

Posted by: Rakshasa Sep 30 2004, 10:37 PM

There are several million Readers of Shadowrun books world wide.
There are several hundred Shadowrunners on Dumpshock.
A few hundred more on other Sites, presumably.

There are many very inventive story arcs in the Dumpshock Shadowrun Missions.

Who holds the copyright?

Can the Runs be compiled into a suitable paperback - or three - to offset costs?

Apologies if this is the wrong place to ask.

Posted by: Adam Oct 1 2004, 03:19 AM

The copyright on any material posted to Dumpshock is owned by whoever owns it. Simply put, if you create something and post it, you own the copyright. If you are - for some reason - reproducing something that someone else has created and post it on Dumpshock [for example, posting a short story that a friend has written], they own the copyright.

If you are asking "Why doesn't Dumpshock publish Shadowrun books?" the answer is simple: Dumpshock is not a publisher. Although some people, like myself, work at publishers and could certainly get a book published if we wanted to, that knowledge also brings us the enlightenment that publishing books is a great way for Dumpshock to not make money.

Posted by: Pistons Oct 1 2004, 12:07 PM

There's also the problem of needing to get permission from WizKids -- who currently owns the publishing rights, especially in regard to novels -- to publish Shadowrun material in a novel format for sale. Fanfic (which in essence is what your games are when stripped of all mechanics and put solidly in a story format) on websites is one thing; attempting to make them available in the mass market is another.

Posted by: Rakshasa Oct 1 2004, 10:47 PM

QUOTE (Adam)

The copyright on any material posted to Dumpshock is owned by whoever owns it. Simply put, if you create something and post it, you own the copyright.

AND

If you are asking "Why doesn't Dumpshock publish Shadowrun books?" the answer is simple: Dumpshock is not a publisher.

AND

There's also the problem of needing to get permission from WizKids -- who currently owns the publishing rights,

OK, so publishing a paperback is not cost effective. But all the worsmiths on this site warrant some recognition surely.

How about a place for Sequenced Runs, wherein the Games Master compiles his/her run at the end into a continuous story. Said GM can get the OK from their Players and the rest of the Members get to read a story without trawling through a long series of posts.

Probably the Site Admin would have to vet the content to make sure it was a readable story - maybe have two or three `Proof Readers'?

I wouldn't have thought that Wizkids could object to that?

And before you say that a GM wouldn't be inclined to do the narrative, why not ask them. I know that my current GM would and, if I ever run a Game, so would I.

It's an ego thing. The GM made the Plot, the Players embellished it and the result is a good run. Why not share?

Posted by: Fortune Oct 2 2004, 03:08 AM

I don't really see much problem with that, although not every GM would be willing, or even interested in putting in the amount of effort it would take to do it justice.

Some GMs and even Players do already chronical their online games on independant web pages. In fact there is a whole lot of Shadowrun fiction on the web. In saying this I'm not assuming that you personally don't know this fact. I am stating it more in an informational sense for those that might not.

Posted by: Shadow Oct 2 2004, 08:44 AM

I would be down with it, for my games at least. I often get PM's and such telling me how much people are enjoying reading my games. It would be cool if DSF could do something official.

In reality though I am not sure how well it could fly, but it might be fun to find out.

Maybe just a section with nothing but the IC of completed runs? you know a sub section of welcome to the shadows or something. Just move the threads in there.

Posted by: Rakshasa Oct 2 2004, 10:40 AM

QUOTE (Shadow)

It would be cool if DSF could do something official.

In reality though I am not sure how well it could fly, but it might be fun to find out.

Maybe just a section with nothing but the IC of completed runs? you know a sub section of welcome to the shadows or something. Just move the threads in there.

I'll supply the ammo, you fire the gun!

Posted by: Shadow Oct 2 2004, 04:10 PM

What can I say Leon, it just came to me.

Posted by: Rakshasa Oct 2 2004, 11:09 PM

Oh very well spotted!!!!!

Shame I don't have the French accent to go with the quote.

Posted by: Shadow Oct 2 2004, 11:54 PM

you could say,

thee knife iz thee last thing you lern

But the way you have it is fine. Man he was the best...

Posted by: Adam Oct 3 2004, 11:23 PM

Here's what I suggest: Somebody post this idea in the Welcome to the Shadows forum, see what other GMs think, and see if there's enough people willing to do the compilations, proofreading, basic HTML coding, etc. Then, get working on it, and once a few runs are done up and look good, we'll find a place to post/promote them.

If someone wants to volunteer to oversea all of this and herd cats, that would be swell.