redking,
City-state of Balic working draft was post Prism Pentad but before the Dregoth Ascending, though with some comments on how things used to be under Andropinis.
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Band2, you seem to have had access to the draft. Do you still have a copy of it ?
I worked on City-state of Balic at one time.
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I have the current copy of the Balic documents.
I once agreed to edit it, and afterwards discovered that it had no rules mechanics, a dire flaw and horrible oversight in my opinionā¦ Even if minimal, no source book of any kind, even a lore book, should lack any mechanics whatsoever.
Lacking mechanics is the job of a novel, NOT an RPG.
Thus my interest tanked, and I was subsequently distracted.
However, I DID agree to edit it, and once reminded of that fact very recently, I set out to ignore my extreme irritation with the source material, and successfully completed the first chapter edit.
As a compromise with my increasing distress at a book with no rules, I stopped there and turned the finished Chapter One in to @raddu a few weeks ago to check over and give a response before I proceed onward.
I suppose I should have also sent a copy to @Band2 my apologies for the oversight. Let me know if you want a copy, ne?
Breaking the job into chapters and editing it piecemeal with breaks in between is likely the only way Iāll manage to finish it on my own. Eventually.
In any case, Iām waiting on feedback of some kind before I try to make myself tackle Chapter Two.
That is the current state of the unioā¦ cough the City-State of Balic.
As a side note, if there should be anyone who would be willing to join my efforts, or even take over my promise to edit it (perhaps not the most honorable course, but it is truly a difficult challenge for me), we can talk. Send me a PM.
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Hey Nijineko.
Iām happy for you and any other interested parties to join us on the Pristine Tower Dev Group Discord server, where we can give you communication channels and access to our shared resources and support.
If youāre willing, just say the word and Iāll send you and any other interested parties an invite.
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Big agree on this one. I prefer 3.5e mechanics, but even 5e or 2e mechanics would be better than nothing. Let me provide and example of why.
āPrias is a powerful templar. Most of the folk of the slums fear him and avoid Prias when he is on patrol. Prias is always accompanied by two strong half-giant guardsā.
Great huh? Yet, we have no idea of the nature of his power. Is he high level? How high? 5th? 10th? 15? Or is the nature of his power political as well? Is he powerful because of his half-giant guards? And how strong are they anyway? No point in even asking these questions, because we will never know.
Rules neutral stuff always flops in the sense that people have to come up with mechanics for it, which ultimately makes it not rules neutral in the final equation. Knowing that people will have to do this work anyway, why not provide them with a finished product?
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The problem is if you make it for only one set of mechanics, you make it a chore for every other edition to use.
So our solution going forward is making the main books āstats agnosticā, while adding a modular appendix with all the edition specific rules at the end which can be swapped out. People can then choose whether they want 2e, 3.5e, 4e, or 5e. (once the appendices are made).
This way you have a book with ready to use statsā¦for ANY edition.
For the specific example Redking used:
Prias (NE Templar; see Appendix A - Characters).
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Assuming those appendices ever get done.
No, I disagree with you on this.
Make them all 3.5 rules in the main body of text, and your footnote references can indicate other editions are available in said appendix. (Note that I am not saying to make it for only one rule set, I am saying the text needs to default to 3.5, and the other editions or game system rules can be in the appendix, or web enhancements.)
That way, there are clear cut rules to serve as a baseline built in from the beginning, and other editions can be added in modular fashion in said appendices.
The finished rules in the hand are better than 3 to 5 editions worth of ārules forthcomingā behind the rock over there of future appendices.
This is Athas, we donāt rely upon future anything. Everything is now.
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Donāt forget to include 6e. By the time this gets released with all the appendices itāll need to include 6e. ā¦possibly 7e. 
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Snerk (Good thing I was not taking a drink when I read this @Rovewin . )
What about 1e? Or 0e? Basic? Advanced? B/X?BECMI? Donāt they deserve conversions too?!
(Iām obviously being a little silly here. 
)
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Maybe itās just laughs but I donāt get the feeling these last bits help the discussion further much.
I actually think the feedback by @nijineko on the modular approach is helpful. Iād advise to at least take it into account going forward that development with a default/standard edition in addition to modular approaches for other editions would be an option too. All working methods have pros/cons, obviously.
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Our prior releases were 3rd edition because they had to be because of the agreement we had with WotC. New content will be created in the edition that the project decides upon. Some folks will do 3rd edition more will probably be in 5th edition. Weāll take them as we go.
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YOUR ABSOLUTELY RIGHT!
5th Edition it is!
The current plan for our team (as i understand it), it to possibly do City State style products that are edition agnostic, not mechanics free.
I canāt speak to City State of Balic (and Iām not really concerned about itās specific content right now, for the purposes of this discussion), but weād still be doing products in DnD terms, not wild and free and ready for Savage Worlds.
So, thereād still be 9th lvl Templars, and Muls with 18 strength or whatever, but not full NPC write-ups in the product, nor references to specific rules sets (warlocks needing Charisma for their invocations, or what the DC for a Psionās power is).
Do with that what you will and have all the opinions you want, but please remember that for each of us that prefers 3.5e, thereās someone who prefers 2e, and probably someone who prefers 4e or 5e as well - and NONE of our opinions about it are ārightā.
Weāre trying to create the most value for the greatest number of people.
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I am not strictly opposed to this. The original Dark Sun boxed set shipped with a Rules Book (mechanics and rules) and Theā Wandererās Journalā, which was rules and mechanics free. What I am saying is that if something like this is to be done, then when the product is published there should be at least one D&D edition rules set published with it. My preference is 3.5, because it leverages work previously done here, but 2E or even 5E is fine too. Just as long as when the product is published, there is rules and mechanics for a D&D edition available at launch.
Keeping the mechanics of D&D in general in mind when creating the fluff will make better publications.
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Well, yes of course. Making a book completely rules free was never in the cards. Weāre just trying to find a way to make it easier for people to swap in the rules they do need.
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