frogbear wrote:
For those that have made supplements or that are in the process of it, could you possibly list some of the learnings or pitfalls for those of us considering doing one for the future?
Some questions I have:
1. How many forces to a supplement? I see Raiders has 3 or is it really 2.5?
So far it has been three forces to a supplement. All four (official and unofficial) have stuck to this. However, I don't see any reason why you would be required to stick to the 3-per model. Two is just fine, or even up to six I could see in one supplement. Heck, I could even see a list flying solo. If you are just making a pdf that isn't going to be printed then there really is no constraint. When you want things to go into print, however, that is when you have to factor in practical matters. How much is somebody willing to pay for it? Are you giving players a good purchase for their dollars (pounds)? These are questions that you can't really answer until you make it and people see it.
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2. Background. Is it advisable to develop your own or go ahead with stuff that you find a small 'official' history to work from? As a few examples that have come up recently:
- Battle of Skalathrax - expand on this or does one risk the chance of getting in trouble by Grandma Wendy?
- Battle on Prospero - Thousand Sons vs Space Wolves - as above
Check out GW's IP guidelines for a more thorough take on the matter. At the end of the day, even if you do everything perfectly, GW can bring the hammer down on you just 'cuz its their IP.
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3. Pictures. Even though it's Epic:A and free for the public, are we restricted to non published artwork (non-GW artwork)?
You absolutely unequivocably cannot use GW art, even art that appears on other websites. If GW published it, you cannot touch it. I contacted a variety of artists and asked for their permission. Yup, it was that simple. Most people I contacted were happy that I asked and the only thing they asked for was credit which I was happy to give.
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4. How did you go about your own background stories. Inspirations? Starting points?
The Raiders story was born of a chain email between Corey, E&C, Scarik, and a couple others. We started with what armies we had, tried to figure out under what circumstances they would come together, and drew up an outline. We did our best to come up with something that was viable within the GW universe but didn't interfere with other very active GW arching storylines. That is tougher than it sounds.
I took a stab at the story and nobody liked it. Corey wrote the introduction and then petered out. I continued with the story and petered out. Ben poked at it and did up a few pages and took a break. After that I got my creative juices flowing and ran with it, running the ideas past the others as I went.
I am currently writing up some fiction for another supplement and taking my time with it. I make sure that I do as much research as I can on the matter prior so that there is nothing conflicting with the stuff that is already out there. The trick is to make sure what you are reading is indeed true as compared to a fan's interpretations. A perfect example is there is a beautiful galactic map that exists on the net that shows the placement of all these different worlds. The problem is it isn't official. I started dissecting it and found a a few small problems and one glaring mistake.
Lastly you can't count on GW even being consistent. So what do you do? There are no answers on this one. If you run with a storyline and it isn't consistent with somebody's interpretation (or was consistent with GW in one book but not another) somebody is going to freak out. There is nothing you can do about this.
I hope this helps you out.
). Distant Sun is something I am really proud of.
