Hi all - we have made alot of progress lately with the introduction of the FoTR league. It is alot of fun and thanks to TheJord for getting it underway.
I have amended the proposed Players Committee Action Plan (Mark II). I know there is opposition to some aspects of it so I have included a poll this time to get some feedback. Additionally, all comments, positive and negative are always welcome!
Note that:
• Steps 1-3 equals generating interest, increasing the player base, and supporting the community.
• Steps 4-8 can only proceed with implementation of steps 1-3 and with support of the playing community.
Players Committee Action Plan Mark II1) The Future of LOTR – As voted by the expanding community at The Last Homely House• The establishment of Valinor on TLHH gives us a place to discuss the Players Committee.
• FOTR movie block have been informally voted as a starting point for the LOTR TCG revival. The established league (
http://lotrtcgwiki.com/forums/index.php/board,42.0.html) is a lot of fun and getting good support.
• It is important that we involve the community in the decision making process. Polls and use of the forums in making key decisions is encouraged. We encourage everyone to share their ideas.
2) Marketing Team – Everyone can help!Let's spread the word about LOTR TCG. We want as many people as possible playing this great game.
• We need promote TLHH and GCCG.
• We need to advertise in hobby stores, conventions, other websites, etc.
• We have a LOTR magazine in development by Sete.
• Players need to demo the game to new players establish new playing groups.
3) Rules Team – We will need experienced players with an excellent knowledge of the rules.• New broken cards and combos may appear and the problems that arise will be addressed by the rules team.
• The rules book should be updated periodically.
• The establishment of an accepted FoTR movie block rulebook, or FAQ, would be of benefit to new players and to support the new league. TheJord has established an FAQ of sorts in Valinor to accompany the FoTR League.
• The rules team needs the support of the playing community to make critical decisions in the event that a problem is encountered (such as allowing the ring-bearer to cancel skirmishes in FoTR movie block – this may have been obvious to some and makes perfect sense when explained – but a decision needed to be made and accepted by the community).
4) Tournament Team – We will need Tournament Directors!It would be nice to play with real cards again.
• Volunteer Tournament Directors need to setup tournaments in their local area, supporting the FoTR move block format (lack of access to RotEL provides a barrier, but not an impossibility). Tournament directors will need to be passionate about the game and be willing to locate prize support, etc. It will not be about running tournaments to make a profit.
• We can use GCCG to setup online tournaments or to expand the existing FoTR league.
• Tournaments can be promoted on this site using an appropriate thread (perhaps in Valinor).
• A tournament system should be established, with tournament support (player sheets, tournament guidelines, tournament rankings, etc).
5) Legal team – We need someone capable of pitching the idea of a not-for-profit organisation to Decipher, New Line, Tolkien Estate. Someone with a reputation would help!• In summary, to create new material using Decipher's template we would need their approval, to use images from the movies we would need New Line's approval, to use names and lore from the books we would need Tolkien Estate approval.
• Legal approval is only necessary if we produce a product that
• It has been suggested by another player committee that they do not have permission to do what they are doing. They are operating under the legal term ‘fair trade', which as I understand it means you can do what you want provided it is not-for-profit. Another person suggested that ‘just because you can do it (fair-trade) doesn't mean you should'.
• It has been suggested that it may be possible to avoid this step, or to avoid some approvals by modifying the way we do step 7. Examples – Half slips (as per Star Wars design) and new templates.
6) Web team – We need someone willing to designing and updating content on a website.• The PC will be a not-for-profit organisation. The website will have to have the .org extension.
• The PC will continue to support TLHH as a place to meet and discuss LOTR TCG.
• TLHH has shown they are not willing to support any material that may breach copyright (and fair enough).
• The website will provide free resources for the playing community to use that will (hopefully) enhance the experience of playing LOTR – be it modified rulebooks, errata cards, alternate image promo cards as tournament support, v-cards, etc.
• The chairman of the Star Trek players committee (MidnightLich) has offered his support and a possible joint venture in establishing our own website.
7) Design team – We need experienced players/designers to design promo AI cards, v-cards, errata cards.• The best cards that are out-of-print but remain extremely useful (such as common and uncommon cards from RotEL) could be released as promo cards (with alternate image, etc) as prize support at tournaments.
• Banned, restricted and less than useful cards could be redesigned with errata or modified text so they can be reintroduced to the playing community (this may pose a problem without the support of GCCG).
• V-cards could be designed to expand the current cards available.
• V-cards can be designed to work within a range of formats – example – they may expand the card base for the Fellowship block – sets 1-3 compatible. This will make the experience of playing different formats fresh, and hopefully exciting. In doing so, the goal is to attract new players.
• Of course, players have the option of not using these cards. Tournaments can be created that ban the use of v-cards.
• The expansion of LOTR TCG has met with some resistance. The PC does not want to destroy the game by introducing unbalanced cards or to ban or create errata on good cards. The goal is to provide new playing experiences with a growing product. If successful, in time we may be able to create a new playing format, v-format using virtual cards only.
• New cards (errata or v-cards) will never be designed by players lacking the experience or skill and must be approved by play-testers (step 8).
8) Play-testing team – We need experienced playing groups to play-test v-cards and errata cards.• Play-testing groups will become more accessible as the people return to LOTR.
• GCCG may be able to be used to play-test cards assuming they can be added to the card base.
• Play-testers will need to try-out new cards in the appropriate formats and report back with feedback. Cards will be modified and retested before they are released for tournament / general use.
• I have a different model for play-testing cards. The design team releases Beta cards for the community to test. Everyone reports back to the design team. Modifications are made as required. Only cards that meet minimal opposition and have not been found to create broken loops are released and become tournament legal. This model involves the whole community, however, the amount of feedback may become overwhelming.
Topic: Players Committee Action Plan Mark II (Read 14179 times)
