"want to write scenario book" Topic

Hello to everyone
I own a huge and selected library of rare, OOP, antiquarian books and primary archice sources on military matters concerning above all Italian military history with enphasis on colonial,risorgimento and ww1, ww2 african campaigns and sideshows. i'm a lazy wargamer an figure painter but always in search (with good results) of interesting info/sources for devising tabletop scenarios. Years ago i obtained a copy of hand drawn battle map and report from a German veteran association of a small action in the north of Italy involving a 16° SS kompanie , a XMas Italian navy commandoes platoon attacking a Us or Canadian river position. I own same kind of material for French, German or Italian obscure battles/skirmishes that are just calling me for designing wargame scenarios. My idea and dream would be to write and publish/distribute some booklets of TOE, account and 90% scenarios only for 2 sets wargame rules i use with some very few friend wargamers here in Italy. I like only to play with Rapid Fire (for WW2 and sometimes WW1 ecc..) and TSATF for colonial..they are not the most palyed rule sets here in Italy but i don't care too much of the Italian market and neither the Italian wargame comunity which is above all interested in tournaments rather than historical studies. So my potential market for those scenario books (written in English of course) would be USA, UK, Australia, Canada ecc….My doubts are on how could i legally do that…Is it possible, without infriging copyright or acting unpolitly, to mention in my scenarios that they are, for example, aimed at players using Rapid Fire or, in case of colonial, TSATF?..of course orders of battle and minis neede will reflect those choices…the idea would be, in general, to produce scenarios booklets dealing principally if not only wit Italian or Italian army connected (or French colonial or german colonial) battlefields..and the titles will reflect this..but it should be clear that they 'll be aimed to be ued with the above mentioned 2 set or rules.
thanks in advance for your much needed advices and opinions

Before you write a book, learn how to use paragraphs, capitalization and spacing between sentences.
Learing how to avoid run-on sentences would not hurt either.

Lest you consider me rude, let me point out one thing. The purpose of a book is to communicate, and your above paragraph turned me off with its sheer grante bulk.
I would not spend the money to decode a book if it was written like that.

Contact the publishers of the rules sets and ask if you can do so. Easy.

Jon, who whizzed in you Wheaties? Seems Folgore communicates better in English than I suspect you do in Italian.

Folgore, although rude, OFM is correct. A little editing will go a long way.

Justin also hit the nail on the head. I might suggest providing tailored force lists for 3-4 different rules sets for each scenario. Cast a wide net, catch more fish.

Jon, who whizzed in you Wheaties? Seems Folgore communicates better in English than I suspect you do in Italian.

Irrelevant. The OFM is not soliciting advice on publishing anything in Italian.
A publisher would also consider the quality of ALL writing before commiting to a scenario book. I know I would.

Less rudely, it might be appropriate to contact the publishers of each rules set you wish to reference.

I have never met a rules designer who did not love people to write scenarios for his rules so ask them but I am sure you will get a positive response.

If you publish the books with the actual OBs and then conversions for your rulesets that should be fine. It is easy enough to convert a scenario when you have the raw numbers.

I maybe irrelevant, but still rude.

Such egregious errors in communication could surely be dealt with a softer hand when it is obvious the writer's native language is not English.

Or American, for that matter. ;P

maybe my post was so not so clear…but somebody miss the point…i must also add that mr "John the OFM" understood nothing of what i was asking not only because of it's rude, unasked and underserved reply but also because i was speaking of something else…. Anyway, probably i was misunderstood..i have no intention to contact or involve a publisher..i can perfectly do it by myself (i had an experience in the international wargame market wih my Italwars line of minis) obviously i'll be help in correcting/translating my wrtings in English..but that was not the main question..just to know (please no answer required from John) if its possible, in your opinion, to mention in a scenarios booklet published by me …things like " playable with rapid Fire or TSATF rule sets" or " miniature scale/ratio according to Rapid Fire ecc.."..That's all..and sorry again for my poor English.

"if its possible, in your opinion, to mention in a scenarios booklet published by me …things like " playable with rapid Fire or TSATF rule sets" or " miniature scale/ratio according to Rapid Fire ecc..""

Justin Taylor has already answered your question.

Contrary to John's opinion that a book is to communicate – I think the real purpose is to sell. We do agree that poorly written will not sell so it must be well written, and for the love of god get an editor and try to find someone who writes training manuals or something for regular people (to learn from) so it's well written and well presented.

I have to ask why you would limit your audience to two or three rule sets when you could write a general book and make it for all rule sets? You avoid any legal issues and capture a broader audience. I would also wonder why you would not want to try a publishing company as well to see if you can't use them to again access a larger market?

Folgore, I think there are two issues in play here, assuming I am understanding you correctly.

"i have no intention to contact or involve a publisher..i can perfectly do it by myself" Getting your work published is not the main issue; your comment indicates that you know how to do that, which is good.

Instead, you asked, on the Law Message Board, about the appropriate use of published intellectual property of others. Justin Taylor's answer suggested that you should contact the publishers of the rules sets you wish to utilize, and ask for THEIR permission to use, or make reference to, their copyrighted material. Besides being required, that would seem to be the courteous thing to do. I'm sure you'll agree that using the work of another, without proper permission and/or acknowledgement, is morally wrong, to say nothing of being illegal.

I hope this clarification is of help to you.

..of course i agree..and i'll do it….was just asking how was the pased experence of other similar projects…which was the trend ecc….
tks for the clarification

"have to ask why you would limit your audience to two or three rule sets when you could write a general book and make it for all rule sets? You avoid any legal issues and capture a broader audience. I would also wonder why you would not want to try a publishing company as well to see if you can't use them to again access a larger market?"

Because the dove business..im my opinion stay in something very specifical..not general..because it's above all a hobby venture not only commercial and…above all.. just for the sake of fun and glory :)

If you are looking for an editor there is a company that specializes in wargames editing. They could probably help you out if you are interested.

blueslushy.com/lauren

Just so there is no misunderstanding, I am John the OFM at a diferent computer.

i also suspect that his fairplay, social and cultural backgound, education, knowledge of foreign languages, and professionality in presenting a work planning or project, are not only inferior to mine but also to the one expected by the zulus or mahadist 19 c. warriors that i would like to depict in my scenarios…:-)….

I take back everything I wrote above. Obviously, you need absolutely no guidance in writing scenario books in the English language, and I wish you well in your endeavor.

Have a nice day, and ignore any and all advice.

It is my understanding, as a layman only, that you MAY indeed reference other products. You could publish a scenario book of Colonial scenarios and say "For use with The Sword and The Flame." and as long as you do not copy any of their text or use their trademarked logos, you should be OK. In most cases,

I have seen a disclaimer along the lines of, "This is not an officially sanctioned TSATF product." or something like that.

People manage to do it in the RPG industry, so it should work for historicals.

But as Justin pointed out, the polite thing would be to ask.

Best,

Rob

You would do well to partner up with an English speaking (with excellent English skills). It can be tough to write things as a second language without having your native sentence patterns and presentations creep into the document.

I am not volunteering for this job – indeed with my spelling and typing skills I need all the help I can get some days.

I think if you ask permission, you will find the folks that own the rights to the rules you are using would be happy to grant you the permission you seek. The only problem is if they no longer own all the rights to the rules. Then things may be a little difficult. Generally if you put a little trade mark notation next to the name of the rules and put a footer on the bottom of the page stating that "TSATF is a trade name owned by he-who-owns-it and published by he-who-publishes-it" you and use the name without fear of reprisal.

Occasionally, you run into problems like the Tolkien clan that refuse to allow Hobbit to be used by Gary Gygax . . . so these short folks became halflings. You can do something similar if push comes to shove.

The afore going is my personal opinion and should not be construed as legal advice. I am not offering to represent you and you should not construe my comments as an offer of legal representation. If you need a legal opinion, you should hire an attorney in the jurisdiction where you require representation.

Best of Luck,

mjc

When offered completely forthright advice addressing a specific stated goal:

"So my potential market for those scenario books (written in English of course) would be USA, UK, Australia, Canada ecc…"

…a personal attack is a poor response:

"i also suspect that his fairplay, social and cultural backgound, education, knowledge of foreign languages, and professionality in presenting a work planning or project, are not only inferior to mine but also to the one expected by the zulus or mahadist 19 c. warriors that i would like to depict in my scenarios…"

Honest criticism is often harsh. That doesn't make it wrong.

Allen

Tks for those suggestions..the picture it's far more clear..of course advice, permission, project sent before to the designers/owners of the the rule books i mentioned was and still is planned and overdue..but it was necessary for me also to know how usually people acted in the past in similar occasion. so the the feedbacks (except one) had been, as alwasy, dedicated and very useful.
last remak please Allen when you said "Honest criticism is often harsh. That doesn't make it wrong"…where did you find in OFM unneeded and undeserved double replies those 2 essential words "Honest & criticism" ?

You know, Folgore…
If you had said that you were writing a book in Italian, you would have heard no word from John the OFM.
If you had just communicated in a post, ditto.

However, you said that you wanted to "write scenario book". Well, that raises the bar, and you can't play the "How dare you pick on me! English is not my first language!" card.

If you announced your attention to compete in the Olympics in the 100m race, and your best time was 14 seconds, would it be rude to say that you have to work on your speed?
If you were 5'6" tall and wanted to play basketball in the NBA, would it be rude to point out that you need to be a bit taller?

I have no doubts about the depth and accuracy of your research. That is not the issue, and never was. You need to work on your English writing skills to have any chance of people buying your scenario book.

Hells' Bells, man. It is hard enough to decipher rules and scenario books written by Native English speakers. When I say you need work, you need work.

Signed
"John the OFM" at work.

PS I am looking forward to it, if done right and is readable. I could use some guidelines on assembling a 25mm Abyssinian army, and an Italian or Mahdist army to oppose them.

PPS But, if you re too thin-skinned to take criticism, thn maybe it will not be worth buying. I have seen far too many wretched "How dare you criticize me!" books in my time.

Getleman OFM or/and WPTE..
the point it's totally different…i never ask your opinion about my written English or worst about the way i edit my writings..i was clearly talking about something else..copright, US and British traditions and precedent on writings booklets concerned with game rules..and so…into a supposly friendly and relaxed forum of people collecting minis, playing game and producing items related to that..people with much more experience than me…and to which, being a non Ameriacn or UK citizen, i'm honoured to have been accpeted in the forum. But you stick talking and criticizing something totally different for what i posted and so, as you insist, you deserve your answer:
I'm not British, i'm Italian..my mother tongues are both Italian and French (lanquages totally unknown to you except maybe when you have to read instructions to open a spaghetti sauce metal can) but my English, compared to others and compared to your knowledge or Foreign languages, is absolutly correct and fluent to allow me to read, work, write, publish a wargame set of rules and pick up very succesfully, as i often do, US and UK blonde, blue eyes girls…..so please i hope than now you can sleep well and less worried about such subtilities…
signed: Folgore "The Italian speaking in Pigeon English"

Wow.
Had I known in advance how much smarter you were than I, I would have never brought up your need of some polishing of your writing. That was foolish of me.

I don't think I will be buying your book after all. I am probably not smart enough to read it.

I can't believe what I'm seeing . . . [shakes head]

So, we've apparently established that inaccurate stereotypes transcend language barriers. Man, THAT'S good to know.

"…spagetti sauce metal can…"??

"…US and UK blonde, blue eyes girls…"??!?

[bangs head on desk]

The whole planet's effed…

[moves on, sadly…]

Folgore- you've risen to the bait here and it doesn't read well. Still, I can understand your reaction.
Your reception here was less than warm- I've no idea why(and it wasn't just the OFM). On reading it, I felt embarrassed to be on the same forum.
As a Brit I can confidently say that your English is a lot better than my Italian. I would also guess that your booklet writing style will be a lot different from your posting style.
However, if you're venturing into a professional area then criticism is something to be valued. That doesn't mean it couldn't have been brokered more politely.
Good luck with the scenario book. I would think that not only will you have no trouble in obtaining any necessary permissions, you may even be able to squeeze some sponsorship out of it.

Most books are edited/proofread moreso than a mere post on a message board. Why anyone would assume otherwise is baffling.

Aaron, either you jest, or there are a great many woefully written wargames rules you have yet to read. 8^)

Allen

"I'm not British, i'm Italian..my mother tongues are both Italian and French (lanquages totally unknown to you except maybe when you have to read instructions to open a spaghetti sauce metal can) but my English, compared to others and compared to your knowledge or Foreign languages, is absolutly correct and fluent to allow me to read, work, write, publish a wargame set of rules and pick up very succesfully, as i often do, US and UK blonde, blue eyes girls…..so please i hope than now you can sleep well and less worried about such subtilities…"

Proof that Italians too can be immune to irony.

Allen

…..aecurtis and OFM…irony is really not your cup of tea…..

….and…my first two copies of this ipothetical and soo much opposed booklet …signed by me with my poor ortography…will be send, naturally for free and with my compliments…together with a package of spaghettis and a mandolino..to mr OFM and Mr D. Johnson ….tks

If I can read it, I will give it a fair review.

And I think I will leave it there to go and eat some spaghetti and try to pick up a blue eyed girl.

certainly better…don't you agree with me at least for that?

Yes.

Folgore,

Lose the attitude and the arrogance, pal. You want to sell your product in the English-speaking world, be prepared to take some constructive criticism.

Ciao

Slán

Au revoir

Bye

I suddenly remembered that if you have nothing nice to say you shouldn't say anything at all. Good luck Folgore, you are going to need it.

Hmmmmmm yeah, i'll just stay away from this trainwreck as well, one question through does the blue eyed girl have to a natural blond.

Should have been 'have to be a natural blond' of course.

The OFM's response was needlessly harsh and rude – gee, what a surprise……Folgore rose to the bait and paid the price. OFM gets away scot-free. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose at TMP. Is the OFM really the Editor's secret alter ego? One wonders………

…conclusion: TFM needlessly unpolite, totally missed the point as i was asking, clearly and in a brilliant form, only a legal advice.but his rude answers were not totally to be condemned as i appreciate people who expose himself and it's not coward …his 54 stifles testify that….i received also useful and helpful answers for this and i said thanks to the few elegant and professional minded TMP 's menbers that answer me correctly..for those 2/3 others which did'nt resist in exploiting in an histerical and efeminate manner the situation with ridicoulous commentary…i can only say that their writings were totally useless..as i still have toilet paper in my bathroom