Fudge RPG - Webzine: Zine Status 5

Because of the new topics that have been opened up, there are some
significant updates and additions to this one.  Please let me know if I
have missed anything important.

1) Name  [Settled--Basically]
By group vote: (The) Fudge Factor
(Discussion continuing on the possible article, which is pretty evenly
divided but without much passion against either.)

2) Volunteers to tap  [Always open]
(Speak up if your willing or if I missed your declaration)
(I'm not holding anyone to these, just getting an estimate)
jwells@netten.net  (short article every other month)
spallinoaj@dp.net  (a few articles a year)
raven@phoenyx.net (a few articles a year)
jason_ga@southcom.com.au (up to 1 per 3 months)
swiftone@alumni.psu.edu (once a month as needed)
adamj@dumpshock.com (depends)
morrow@fnord.io.com (if available)
missingjn@dixie-net.com (on request not to exceed 4000 words)
gmtcackler@yahoo.com (one every few months)
woed@earthlink.net (monthly to bimonthly or so, maybe more)
myles@irls3101.ck.cit.alcatel.fr (one every 3 months)
ed@edtheartist.com (once per month)
mcc@watson.ibm.com (once per month)
Malagigi@aol.com (interested, just not right now)
tim.seiger@sun.com (availability unknown, but willing)
RohanL@tepapa.govt.nz (story cycle writeups)
ghostgames@fudgerpg.com (some material from cons)

We're looking at an arbitrary date of Aug 28 as a "First Issue" goal.  The
more material we receive prior to that, the more kinks we can work out.

3) Licensing/Rights to articles [mostly Settled]

'zine would have only the non-exclusive right to include the article in
the zine and its archives.  The author would retain all other rights.

As a free resource, the zine falls under the easy form of the Fudge
license.  Steffan has confirmed that all that would be required is ONE
"About Fudge" and "Disclaimer" section per issue.

The zine itself would not grant any rights to the reader other than
permission to read online: authors must be contacted for that.  This will
be made clear on the site/issue.

Carl (rave@phoenyx.net) has raised the issue granting rights for paper
copies.

4) Hosting  [Open to debate]
raven@phoenyx.net has offered space on Phoenyx.
adamj@dumpshock.com has offered space on HTML.com.

Phoenyx is currently leading.  Until we have content, this isn't a
time-critical issue.  A suggestion has been made to have two sites, with
one acting as mirror/backup of another.

I'd be willing to shell out for a real domain name wherever we end up.

5) File Format  [Settled]
HTML, Lynx-friendly (i.e. ensuring that tables don't kill it in lynx, no
image-maps, etc).
There is talk of exporting to other versions (PDF, postscript, etc.)  With
a templating system this should not be a problem, but some work may have
to be done to adapt the layout, since an HTML layout is made for the
screen, not for printouts.
The articles should either be printer-friendly, or have a printer-friendly
version available.

6) Organization  [Mostly done]
A selection of topics that articles fall under.  Each issue would not have
each topic.
Current suggested list:

-Adventures (ready or close-to-ready to run Fudge adventures)
-Characters (characters written up in Fudge terms)
-Rules (alternate rules for Fudge)
-Toolbox (items, places, and situations that can be dropped into a game)
[Recommended for removal, and then not]
-GMing (how to use Fudge to run a game)
-Business (publishing Fudge materials)
-Ideas (anything that doesn't fit elsewhere -- raw setting ideas, etc.)
-Creatures (animal and plant descriptions, habitat, how to
use and stats) [Recommended to be merge with Characters]
-Conversions (might have to be careful here, but how to
change X to Y doesn't have to cause IP problems)
-Accessories (equipment, weapons, and goods (and this being
Fudge, and based on a recent discussion, these could range
from very broad stokes to detailed descriptions))[Recommended for removal,
and then to stay]
-Places (cities, towns, regions, even worlds) [Recommended to merge with
Campaigns, and then counter-argued]
-Campaigns (settings and these could be continuing series
where the author (or authors in a shared setting) publish
multiple articles detailing a world, it's peoples and plots)

Themes have gotten for and against arguments, so we'll probably follow the
APA and Pyramid model of themes every now and then, but not each issue.

There is discussion about whether these catagories should be used for
archival purposes only, and not for deliniation in the issue.

7) Regularity  [Mostly Settled]

It seems the consensus that our current submission rate can support a
monthly magazine, and may not support anything more frequent.  Ergo, we're
looking at a monthly zine with an open mind towards more frequency if we
can get the submissions to support it.

As we aren't paying, we have no practical limits on word counts, but most
articles will probably fall between 1,000-5,000 words.

I'd like to have enough material for the second issue before we launch the
first.

8) Price and availability  [Settled]

Most everyone seems agreed on free cost and freely available.

9) Editing Process [In debate]

Carl (raven@phoenyx.net) has suggested a model involving a "Leadership
Team" of 5 people.  The position duties could be:

Editor-in-Chief
--Responsible for overall direction of zine and coordinating the
Leadership Team.  Assembles edited articles into zine.

Senior Editor
--Responsible for culling the wheat from the chaff in articles, assigning
editors to articles and/or sending articles back to authors for revision.

Editor
--Makes minor edits and communicates with authors.

Publicist
--Promotes the zine and advertises new issues.

Webmaster
--Analyzes logfiles, updates issues and archives, handles technical issues
not dealt with by provider.

Carl's model involves a generally consistant vision between the team
members, enforced by the EiC having veto power, and the rest of team being
able to replace the EiC.  This has generated some debate on all sides.

Issues that are still open:
-Are these the team positions needed?
-Should the EiC have veto power?
-Must the team consist of an odd number of people, or should the EiC's
vote be slightly weighted?
-Who will fill these positions?
-Can EiC or the team oust team members?
-Should the EiC be renamed to something like "Project Manager"

Overall though, everyone agree's that Carl has described a solid and
effective model.

Current volunteers:
Brett (swiftone@alumni.psu.edu)  [EiC]--has also volunteered to take a
stab at initial web design, which may or may not make Webmaster redundant.
Carl (raven@phoenyx.net) [Senior Editor]
Jason Anderson   [????]
Bill Hamilton   [Editor]--as time allows

10) Including Fiction  [In Debate]

Everyone agrees they don't want to house bad fiction.  The consensus seems
to accept good fiction, but also doubts there's much out there.

11) Violence and/or nudity in art.  [In Debate]

Discussion has centered around not unduly offending or upsetting anyone.
We're likely to adopt the same standards most other public zines and
magazines use.

12) Reviews  [In Debate]

It has been pointed out that negative reviews aren't helpful to Fudge (at
least not on the Fudge zine), and only allowing positive reviews is
somewhat pointless.

Adam Jury (adamj@dumpshock.com) suggested that reviews of NON-fudge
materials that could be useful in Fudge games could be a useful column.

13) Conversions  [Mostly Settled]

This is a maze of twisty legal passageways, all alike.

Consensus seems to be this is legal fair use that companies (aside from
Palladium) won't protest.

14) Issues vs updates  [Settled]

Most everyone agrees that a monthly zine is best presented as an issue.

15) Polls  [In debate]

Insert all typical poll debates here: validity, authentication, etc.

16) Ratings

Anyone familiar with Pyramid's ratings will know of the debates of how
random they are, and how potentially useful they are.  If anyone
well-versed in the Pyramid debates can bring forth an "optimum" solution,
that would be useful.

However, as a non-login based system, ratings face an immediate problem.

17) Domain

fudgefactor.com is taken, both fudgefactor.org and fudgefactor.net are
available.  Debates about the origins, meaning, and potential loss of
those domains are continuing.



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