LUGTrek Netbook: Anybody Have It?

[D.S.McBride]

I was scanning through Patrick Murphy's excellent Mad Irishman site a couple of days ago, and suddenly noticed that, at the bottom of the ST: TNG page, there was a link to a fan-created, Icon-based netbook posted on-line back in '98. Apparently Mad Irishman's take on their property was a little too good for Paramount/Viacom's taste, and they shut any further production down. The link Mr. Murphy has to the netbook no longer functions; I'm wondering, does anyone have an operating link to this material? As I recall, it was 4.1 mb and in Adobe Acrobat (natch) format.

Thanks for the time and help with this.

[Doug Burke]

The Netbook was removed from Patrick's site due to legal issues, but all of its content was (and still is for a little while) present on TrekRPG.Net (and has also been transferred to Owen's Memory Icon site).

[D.S.McBride]

Muchos thanks, Doug. However, I've checked the Netbooks section and it doesn't seem to be listed there, nor is it on Memory Icon - at least from the perusal I've given it. Can you give me a quick pointer in the correct direction?

Sorry if I'm being ignorant about this; it's a disease that can hopefully be wiped out in our lifetimes.

[Doug Burke]

Originally posted by D.S.McBride
Muchos thanks, Doug. However, I've checked the Netbooks section and it doesn't seem to be listed there, nor is it on Memory Icon - at least from the perusal I've given it. Can you give me a quick pointer in the correct direction?

Sorry if I'm being ignorant about this; it's a disease that can hopefully be wiped out in our lifetimes.

That's because the netbook as a singular entity is not on the sites. Just the contents thereof. Every single item that was in the Net Book is in each of the idividual sections fot he site. NPCs are in Personnel Records, ships in Utopia Planitia Shipyards, Species info under Species Databank, etc.

You may have to dig to find stuff, but what you'll find is worth the effort (IMO).

[D.S.McBride]

Ah, arigato very much, Mr. Burke. I will become a Raider and commence my search for the Lost Netbook forthwith...

[redwood973]

What were the legal issues? Would they prevent someone who has a copy of "The Lost Netbook" passing on to others?

[D.S.McBride]

While I'm certainly not a lawyer or legal professional of any stripe, my first guess would be the demon men call (loud, echoey voice) Copyright Violation.

There are only a couple of sample pages given on Patrick Murphy's site, but even those indicate that this was definitely not a five-minute, slap-dash, get-the-thing-out-and-hope-it-impresses-my-mom amateur job. Whomever was responsible for this got Paramount/Viacom a little worried, I think, that it might start being taken for an official release - especially since it came out so soon after the ST: TNG Core rule book in '98 - and gum up the works when LUG got around to codifiying and divulging the same information. As it turns out, there never was an "official" LUG release for a number of things - the TOS crew's stats among them - and I'm certainly interested in what an informed Trekker's opinion is on what they might be.

Plus, it'll make a nice companion piece for the superb Spacedock e-releases, which I have bound and standing next to the collection of LUG works.

And re your question as to whether we're allowed to distribute this thing in private? According to the strict letter of the law, probably not, since it does involve dealing with a copyrighted property through publically accessible channels. However, I don't think that, a) as long as there's no profit involved in distribution, and, b) it's not publicized to the point where it starts becoming a detriment to the official releases (i.e., Coda), they're probably not going to release the Imperial Guard with orders to terminate "with extreme prejudice" anytime soon.

I should note again, however, that this is pure speculation on my part, and may be full of what makes the grass grow green. Anybody with some legal expertise in copyright care to throw their hat into the ring here?

[Thierry]

I have the netbook that you are looking for

[Lt Cmdr Matt]

Could you maybe send me a copy Thierry?

zak@ltcmdrmatt.com

[redwood973]

I too have the net book, but was unsure as to if I could pass it along to anyone. . .not knowing what the legal issure were.

Anyone wanting it can e-mail me and I will zip it as an attachment in a reply.

Edit to remove e-address

Edit to remove a repeat of what D.S.McBride posted in his run-down of the contents post (fourth post down from this one) about the file being too big for standard (free) e-mail.

[D.S.McBride]

I've been ignorant: I neglected to inform the Board members that I received the Netbook under separate cover a few days ago. However, if TPTB have no objection, I don't think there's a problem in doing a little distribution of this item for those who are interested.

It's an extremely well put-together piece of work. Patrick Murphy et al really went to town on this one; the inspiration that LUG and the Icon system brought about - although I guess it's not really surprising, considering there was a ten-year hiatus between FASA and the ST: TNG Core book - was reflected in the care and professionalism that went into this, the first of many fan-created works for Icon. Steve Long's unparalleled Spacedock system continues the tradition.

As far as the Netbook sharing goes, carry on...

[Phantom]

So, what exactly did this little gem of knowledge contain?

[Kronok]

Could you email me a copy as well?

adyngaf@yahoo.com

Thanx!

[D.S.McBride]

A quick run-down as to the table of contents:

1. Templates: Federations Species
Allied Species
Neutral Species
Threat Species

2. Overlays: Federation Overlays
Merchant Marine
Cardassian
Kzinti
Generic

3. Skills

4. Personnel

5. Rules and Regulations (Generating Command-rank Characters)

6. Starships: Federation Mothball Fleet
Kzinti
Klingon

7. Appendix One: Equipment

8. Appendix Two: Conversion (FASA to Icon)

As Mr. Burke stated above, all this information has been distributed among the various hyperlinks in Trek-RPG.net, but it's nice to have the original as, a) you don't have to take a guess as to whether it's the real item or not, and b) the whole thing is just a well done, attractive package.

A quick caveat for anyone who's looking to do e-mailing for this: the file is 4.1 megs, and consequently, Hotmail - at least the regular, free variety - is not sufficient to handle the download. If anyone has the capability, an FTP (File Transfer Protocol) seems to be the best method; at the very least, that's how I got it.

[Owen E Oulton]

I have a copy of the Netbook, which I put in a temp directory for download. I'll leave it up for a couple more days, but I'll be removing it on the weekend.

http://www.coldnorth.com/owen/misc/LUGTrekNetbook.pdf

Get it while it's hot!