Diary Of A Madman’s Lab Rat, Emo's campaign from a player's POV Options

[James McMurray]

She didn't have to. She typed it in two different sentences. ;)

[eidolon]

There. I closed that little loophole!

Munchkin. ;)

[James McMurray]

I prefer rules lawyer. I didn't use that loophole to make myself king of the world. ;)

[Moon-Hawk]

On the one hand, I certainly understand the necessity of copyright laws, and I absolutely want game companies to get every penny that's coming to them. They do a lot of hard work.
On the other hand, sometimes I think the copyright laws have gone a bit far. Like Emo letting his group look at the .pdf, even though they're not using it for any games except the one with the guy who bought it. Or that if you buy the book, you still have to buy the .pdf. It's the same dang info, why pay full price for it twice?
It seems like if you go to the bathroom you have to take all your books with you or else your friends might look at them while you're not in the room and it's copyright infringement!
Drawing the line in the right place can be tricky.
Well done, FanGirl, it's a purchase you won't regret.
Emo, we miss your awesomeness.

[James McMurray]

The "right place" is the point where copies are made. Your friends looking at your book is not illegal. You giving them copies is.

[Moon-Hawk]

I disagree. As I understand it, under the new copyright laws, it is illegal to make a copy of your own media for backup purposes.
I think it should be legal to make backup copies, even if your backups are on a different media type. I think it should be legal to have several copies of your book so everyone around the table can look at it at once.
I think distributing copies is where the line should be drawn, not at making them. But, again, as I understand it, the newer laws prohibit having your own copies in certain circumstances.
I can't quote a law, that's just what I heard.

[PBTHHHHT]

http://www.copyright.gov/laws/

edit: Ok, change around because thinking back about what I wrote originally, it made me sound a bit... Anyway, if people are curious, here are the laws from the copyright office as a guideline. Hey, being informed is always important in this day and age.

[Shrike30]

As the GM for our group, I got tired of never having my book actually be in my hands. My players had chosen to go the route of the "peer-to-peer" BBB, and so the chances of my having a second copy in circulation at the game seemed slim. The conversation of "Hey, pass me the book," "Hang on, I'm looking up some random piece of equipment," "Uh, I'm running a game here, pass me the book now..." got old the nth time I had it. So, I informed the group they'd all be paying me 5 bucks to defray costs, bought a second BBB, Slapped some red duct tape onto the binding so we could tell the GM's copy apart from the "general circulation" copy, and called it a day. Pretty reasonable solution.

EDIT: actually, on reflection... I'm the GM about 80% of the time. When the sourcebooks come out, I may well simply "defray costs" again. It seems fair to me that if I'm putting out the effort of running a game, asking for a few bucks when a new book comes out that the group will be using anyway would be reasonable, even if at the end of the day, I'm the guy who gets to keep it.

[Adam]

This post is 100% personal opinions and does not reflect the opinions of FanPro LLC ...

[Shrike30]

"Pre-order" deals that are still available today? Nifty.

[Adam]

No; they're only available during the pre-order period.

[BishopMcQ]

Re: Copyright Concerns--The ideal situation I have discovered is to buy the Pre-order package. This nets you the PDF for your computer and a hardcopy book for at the table. Then, here's where my madness really shows through, buy a second copy of the book that you can use at the table top so the GM always has a copy and the players can reference their own esoteric bits.

For those of you who say that costs way too much, FanPro has created several programs where they will give you free books. Work with The Dunner and write a Mission, enlist with the Commandos and run a few games at your local Gaming store, or you can even go to a convention and run Missions. With this last option, if you run several Missions, it's possible for the credit you earn to pay for your badge so you can tour around the con for FREE!

If you think that any of these options are only for the truly elite, please PM me and I can help guide you to the proper people. Trust me, as long as you actually follow through with what you say you are going to do, results happen and free books are sent to you. (You even get to pick which books you receive.)

::Back to the thread at hand::
Fan Girl--I've been enjoying the posts that you write about the actual games and the process of a gamer being introduced to a new system. Please keep us up to date.

[Lagomorph]

I'm a bit late for the party it seems, but I'd like to welcome FanGirl anyway. And honestly, I'm very interested in seeing what emo actually does and how you and the other players deal with it.

Good luck!

[Valentinew]

FG, do you plan to utilize the collective intelligence that is DS? I figure as much advice as your GM is getting, it would only be fair.

We could post our responses here as well. We'd have to keep answers away from lore & keep it to mechanics & what can you do sort of thing.

Or did I miss the boat & that was what everyone else was expecting to begin with?

[fistandantilus4....]

No, we were all pretty much just here for emotional support and to harp on emo. Sure some of us toss in the occassional technical bit of advice, but that's really jsut a cover.

[FanGirl]

April 14, 2006
(Actually, it's technically the 15th right here and now, but let's just pretend, okay?)

Today I decided that I should help my fellow players to develop superior strategies, so that we can withstand the onslaught of madness Emo will bring down upon our heads. So I burned Aaron's cheat sheets and the official SR4 errata onto four CD-Rs: one each for the other players and one for Emo. I gave out two of them to K and G, but C and Emo continue to elude me.
(Note: I'm referring to my fellow players by their first initials for privacy reasons, but I'll refer to their characters by their "real" names.)

I then made two posts on the official school forums: one for player strategizing, and the other for resolving scheduling issues--Emo said that he would host the first session during this coming week, but didn't specify what time or date. Silly Emo. :)

In other news, K is writing a SR dice-rolling simulator on his computer because he's good at coding and stuff. I, however, have my super-duper graphing calculator to do that for me and therefore have no need to code anything. It's actually quite ironic that I'm going to be the TM, since I am perhaps the least code-savvy person in the group.

Finally, I got a package from my mom and dad today. It contained one pound and fifteen ounces of Easter chocolate, fifteen ounces of which made up a large milk-chocolate rabbit. It's quite hot in my room, so the bunny's decapitated remains are currently being stored in my mini-fridge to prevent melting. Happy Easter, everyone!

EDIT: Emo responded to both my posts. He scheduled the meeting time for Saturdays at 1 PM, and respond thusly to my strategy post: "Go ahead and plot against me. You'll only be more surprised when the dragon eats your head off. But seriously, you should tell each other what you character types will be so that we have balance in the team."

To be fair, I did title the strategy post "Fight The Man!"

[fistandantilus4....]

Perhaps if you had instead titled the post something like "Visiting with Aunt Flo" he would have left well enough alone and you could plot against him freely. Maybe you should make a new post, and go in to scary detail on the first few posts before getting to the actual plotting incase he decides to look in to it.

You would have to make a new post every week or two so that he wouldn't get suspicious about a 20 page thread about your period (or maybe 'suspicious' isn't the word I need there). But you could make a new one, maybe about VD or somesuch next time. That should work.

Or maybe I've been playing Shadowrun to long.

[FanGirl]

[fistandantilus4....]

Well, you could just try explaining the plan in calm, reassuring tones.

Or you could go the other way, pretend to be flirting with one, and make the first few posts that sickly loving "schmoochie-poos" talk. Although I think the guys will be able to stomach bleeding better. That's at least something we understand on some level.

But hey, at least you're considering it. There's hope for you. Remember that one of the greatest weapons women have against men is beind disgusting right back at us.

[emo samurai]

I'm back. I, like, totally died for your sins there.

[Kremlin KOA]

Guess who's back,

back again.

Emo's back.

Tell a friend.

[Shrike30]

"The boy is back in town!
the boy is back in town!
The boy is back in tow-ow-oww-ow-owwn!"

[emo samurai]

Strangely enough, my forum account was reactivated on Easter Sunday. But instead of coming back after three days, it was a week. Oh, well, it's best not to surpass the Son of God.

[Grinder]

Adam told you so (that it will last a week)...

[FanGirl]

Last Saturday night, I took this Universal Mary-Sue Litmus Test for Fangirl. I got a score of 26, which is "within a safe level" for RPG characters. Emo also took the test for his character, but I won't tell you his score. :P