Klingon sourcebook

[Miles R.]

Apologies as im new to the forums but was curious if there were any plans for a fan made klingon netbook?thx

[PGoodman13]

I did bring this up once, but so far have received almost nothing in the way of submissions. The offer does, however, still stand.

[Miles R.]

Im still learning the rules but once i get the hang of it ill gladly help.I used to play using the ICON rules a long time back and im an avid trekie so im not totally new.Is there anything specific you would like me to work on to help complete it or are we starting from scratch?

[Cpt. Lundgren]

I did bring this up once, but so far have received almost nothing in the way of submissions. The offer does, however, still stand.

Maybe having a joinable sub forum might work better than submissions? As for my own point of view, I am not interested enough in the Klingons to type up a large chunk of text to submit. But I might add a little to the discussion, and I am definitely interested in reading the result of it all.

A source book can be made quite general game system wise, with the rule specific parts as appendixes. But that is a design question, and arguing over that would fit quite well on a "work space area"

[The Tatterdemalion King]

Maybe having a joinable sub forum might work better than submissions? As for my own point of view, I am not interested enough in the Klingons to type up a large chunk of text to submit. But I might add a little to the discussion, and I am definitely interested in reading the result of it all.

I kind of like this idea, actually. I have a bunch of notes and design ideas, but nothing nearly ready.

[PGoodman13]

I'll ask to see if this can be done.

[Cpt. Lundgren]

I kind of like this idea, actually. I have a bunch of notes and design ideas, but nothing nearly ready.

Sounds like the rule system I am sometimes working on.

A Klingon sourcebook does also sound like a very good test case.

[Miles R.]

Sign me up please.Ill contribute with whatever needs to be done.

[PGoodman13]

Just to let you guys know, I've received permission from S. John Ross to use his "Narrating in Klingon" chapter in this project, so that's one wheel that doesn't need to be reinvented.

Still waiting on word from Steve Kenson regarding his chapters, but I'm not in a rush; I only just asked the both of them about two hours ago, and was quite surprised (pleasantly so) to hear back from S. John so quickly.

[The Tatterdemalion King]

Kenson's material is a little dated, though. And... well, boring. Starting a chapter on Klingon history with stages of technological development? A little unthematic.

[Dan Gurden]

Kenson's material is a little dated, though. And... well, boring. Starting a chapter on Klingon history with stages of technological development? A little unthematic.

Well, it was an untreated sample. By the time it would hav e made publication it might have been edited a bit.

Guys. Whatever you do, dont make the same mistakes that the last Fan-Based Klingon group made... May I suggest that someone works as editor and that person produces a book plan and farms out work to the author assigned different chapters.

Otherwise you just end up with 7 or 8 different takes on Klingon History, the Warrior Culture, and a mish-mash of partial Character Generation rules, but with nothing to connect it all up.

Or worse. The last time this came up for ICON, the Klingon language fans wanted to write a language book, the Ford Klingon fans wanted their take over the TNG Klingon fans, and then worse of all some of the contributors started feeling like their work was good enough to sell (probably a good think the project imploded before that haopened).

Just be careful.

[The Tatterdemalion King]

Well, it was an untreated sample. By the time it would hav e made publication it might have been edited a bit.

Some of the other ICON suffered from the same problems, though. Some (esp. the Way of D'era) seemed to opt for a rather dry, factually-phrased, this then this then this recounting. The total effect was that of a high school history textbook, instead of opting for the broader, atmospheric strokes and occasional flavourful specifics that help enliven a sourcebook. The TOS core, Among the Clans and (I think) the Price of Freedom were examples of gameable-feeling histories, where it seems the authors approached it as a story where the protagonist was the culture itself.

Otherwise you just end up with 7 or 8 different takes on Klingon History, the Warrior Culture, and a mish-mash of partial Character Generation rules, but with nothing to connect it all up.

I propose the first thread on the Klingon subforum should be for dibs-calling : P

[The Tatterdemalion King]

I should probably mention I have over 4000 words on a Klingon subject species I was writing up for an article series in BTFF.

[PGoodman13]

Well, it was an untreated sample. By the time it would hav e made publication it might have been edited a bit.

And, should I get permission to use his stuff, it will be again. Not as much as TTK would probably like me to, but it will get edited. S. John's stuff is going to get edited, too, though not a lot; it's pretty tight. Mostly need to make sure ICON refs are changed to CODA refs, and that a couple of those refs aren't bogus.

Guys. Whatever you do, dont make the same mistakes that the last Fan-Based Klingon group made... May I suggest that someone works as editor and that person produces a book plan and farms out work to the author assigned different chapters.

Well, it's all gotta go through me at this stage, so I guess that would be me. Once we get the working group up and going and we kind of hammer out what the book should look like, I'll start trying to figure out what goes where. I know we don't need a chapter on "Narrating in Klingon." After that...who knows? As I've said before, I'm not necessarily a huge Klingon fan. I'm just offering up my services to the fans, and trying to shepherd this thing through.

It's gonna come down to what gets pitched at me. I've got S. John's chapter. I've got Owen's chargen stuff. I suspect Steve's gonna be okay with me using his material; we've worked together before on some Shadowrun stuff, so we've got a history.

But if this whole thing becomes vaporware...not gonna break my heart at all.

Or worse. The last time this came up for ICON, the Klingon language fans wanted to write a language book, the Ford Klingon fans wanted their take over the TNG Klingon fans, and then worse of all some of the contributors started feeling like their work was good enough to sell (probably a good think the project imploded before that happened).

Owen told me some of this when he sent me the chargen stuff. Well, let's nip this in the bud right here, then.

We are NOT trying to write a language book. And we are likewise NOT trying to write out TNG and later. Now I love Mike Ford's books as well as, if not better, than a lot of Klingon material out there. He was a friend, and he's not to be dismissed...but his stuff isn't canon (mostly; every now and then someone would slip something in, it seems).

We're not trying to rewrite history, at least beyond what's already been done in on-screen retcons. Humans first encounter Klingons in Oklahoma, the Vulcans have known about them for a good long time before that, and so on. The Ranger incident in 2218 was the first time the Federation, per se, had encountered them after a long period of withdrawal. That sorta thing.

As closely as possible, we're going to stick to on-screen canon...this includes Enterprise, all the films, even Voyager. If this is a problem, quit now. If you have a problem going through me, quit now. If you have a problem with your precious words getting edited and massaged to work with the precious words of some of the other contributors, quit now.

[PGoodman13]

Kenson's material is a little dated, though. And... well, boring. Starting a chapter on Klingon history with stages of technological development? A little unthematic.

I'll have to go look at it later if I get permission to use it. But if I do get permission, I do not plan on reinventing the wheel; I'll use his material, though I'll do some editing on it to make it fit with the rest of what might come up.