Tasks that the establishing PC may need to complete

[chompers]

The purpose of this thread is to generate a list of tasks that may need to be completed by the PC before (or after) it is formally established. A lot of work will need to be done before April 2010 in order to pitch the PC to Decipher.

No discussion necessary on this thread - just post your ideas of what the PC may / or may not do.

Those that eventually take on formal roles with the PC will hopefully be able to use this list and prioritise what needs to be done first.

[Dogbert]

-Should certainly have a plan for designing cards/expansions and thus providing new material for the game.
-Rules committee or at least a framework in place to ensure accurate and timely rulings on controversies.
-Bridging those two lines, a way to handle errata and x-list entries. There are several cards which need overhauls to stop serious NPEs.
-A way to get people involved. Whether through contests, publicity machine, or some other method, people need to get the word out that things are getting started again.

[Sete]

-Should certainly have a plan for designing cards/expansions and thus providing new material for the game.
-Rules committee or at least a framework in place to ensure accurate and timely rulings on controversies.
-Bridging those two lines, a way to handle errata and x-list entries. There are several cards which need overhauls to stop serious NPEs.
-A way to get people involved. Whether through contests, publicity machine, or some other method, people need to get the word out that things are getting started again.

Making new expansion sets that suit the players needs and likes would be fan-tas-tic! Some sort of special sets, like Triumph and Menace Series was an exclusive of Lotr Online, so we could have whole sets exclusive on GCCG... would be superb! ^^

[chompers]

* Establish a formal proposal to pitch to Decipher in around 3 months time

* Formally establish who will take on various roles within the PC. A chairman needs to be elected (TheJord?). The PC needs representatives to coordinate major components of the PC and to also have a group of people working with them (tournament team, marketing team, design team, web team, rules team, play-testing groups, etc). Who are these going to be, how will the PC decide? The process of who leads each committee should be decided on merit and the skills that they have in conducting such a role – formal applications may need to be considered to decide who will take on these roles.

* I propose that if we are serious about the PC it is time to formally elect a chairman, and then elect representatives the head each of the major committees. The chairman and the representatives will need to communicate regularly to establish a plan of attack (can we set up private forums?). Representatives on each committee will need dedicated helpers to work with them to discuss and put into place the pieces that are needed to make the PC happen (and to form the pieces needed to pitch the idea to Decipher).

* Address the website issue – will the PC have its own website and promote TLHH forums – if so it would look good to have this website operating when the PC pitches the idea to Decipher – as the PC must be not-for-profit I can foresee issues if the PC operates from a .com website (and TLHH does not endorse v-cards, although that may change with Deciphers consent)

* Establish tournaments again. While GCCG is fantastic, it would look good when the idea is pitched to Decipher if we have tournaments running, and better still players attending them. If tournaments get going we can re-establish territorials, nationals and world championships.

* GCCG, Zorbec's etc  are great, but the PC needs to know if these programs will support the PC with approval from Decipher. If they do not endorse and incorporate v-cards it becomes a challenge to produce v-cards effectively.

* v-cards be it errata, alternative images (to re-introduce essential out-of-print cards) or completely new cards will need a design team. MidnightLich has stated this was the last piece of the puzzle put into place with the Star Trek continuing committee. Does the PC envision that we will have a product to show to Decipher, and to release a product once we have approval, if so it is time to start work on this ASAP.

* The PC needs a way to communicate ideas within committee groups without the use of public forums. Whilst the forums are good for collecting a range of ideas, too many cooks in the kitchen can make for slow progress.

* Rules team needs to be established – problems will arise with the rules in the future (they already exist now) – particularly if v-cards are released.  New CRDs will need to be released periodically. So aspects of the rules may be incomplete and need to be updated altogether. A separate rulebook for each format of play would be ideal. Star Trek recently released a completely new set of rule to address timing issues (and I suspect LoTR could do with the same) – but I am not an expert here (that is for the rules team to work out).

* Contact ST and SW continuing committees and discuss the models that they use so that the PC can adopt a model that best suits

* The PC must be not-for-profit. This doesn't mean it can't generate an income (I think – Star Trek does and asks for donations). If money can be generated to support the cost of running the PC, then an accountant will be needed to manage and distribute funds. I am not an accountant but I may be able to help with this (I am a trained high school maths/science teacher).

The list is long, and I am sure I have left some stuff out. As you can see, if the PC is going to happen then there is a lot of work involved (but I think we already knew that).

[chompers]

Big annoucement on Star Trek CC website - as of 1st January every non-unique personel and non-unique ship already printed will become part of the virtual pool of cards.

What this basically means is that all those valueless commons and uncommons that are needed to play the game, and are in out-of-print sets are now easy to use so that you can play the game. They can be printed from pdfs and used legally in tournaments to play the game. Big news for players that are new to the game.

The reason I am posting this is because LOTR has out-of-print sets making it difficult for new players to get into the game. A LoTR PC with permission from Decipher can do hige things for the game in making it accessible to new players - breathing life into the game. I hope we can get organised to the point that a PC could do this something like this - without hurting the value of rare cards and annoying the collectors.