I am reposting these messages for your information.

Joe

*****

Dear Lambs Bride and Adventures for Christ,

Here is my proposel for a d20 and Fudge conversion of DragonRaid.  This is
to be a concurrent edition of the game that uses current AFC published
materials, and meant to be an option for the Adventure Master in addition to
the new DragonRaid 2nd Edition rules when they are released.  Similar
projects may be seen in such publications as Prime Directive, which uses
both the Star Fleet Battles Prime Directive game engine, and the GURPS
engine, or in books like GM Secrets, which uses both the d20 engine and the
Fudge engine.  It's also seen is such publications as Chant, which uses both
the Legendary Journeys and d20 engines.

Purpose: The d20 system and Fudge systems offer Adventure Masters and youth
ministers several advantages over the original 1981 DragonRaid materials and
take advantage of inovations in game engine design that have developed in
the last twenty years.

1> Both the d20 and Fudge systems allow for quicker mechanics resolutions
for the new Adventure Master.  The goal is to do away with meta-gaming,
where the students and AM focus on the mechanics of the game, rather than on
the role-playing and teaching.   Both the d20 and Fudge systems use a
non-look up system that eliminates need for a game screen or constantly
referring to books.

2> Both the d20 and Fudge systems use less game preperation time for the new
Adventure Master.  The goal is to give the AM more time to prepare the
actual teaching and do the appropriate biblical study, and less time on
going over game mechanics.   A> Creation of new Dark Creatures and Once Born
is quick and simple, and can be done on the fly by the AM using Fudge or
d20.  B> Conversion of non-AFC materals for use in lessons is easier and
takes less time using Fudge or d20.

3> Both the d20 and Fudge system use less formulated information, and less
paperwork.  The goal is to give the new AM and new students a low to
non-existent learning curve for the game mechanics.  Mathmatical formulas
and long worksheets for a character that should fit on a 3x5 card are seen
by some as a major obsticle for people to getting into a DR lesson. Spending
an entire lesson sesson on developing a character is seen by some youth
leaders as a waste of time that could be spent on actual teaching. The Fudge
system in particular would facilitate next to no time at all being spent on
character creation, 5 to 10 minutes.  In d20 it would require 15 to 20
minutes.

4> Both the d20 and Fudge system could attract new students that would not
normally be interested.  The goal here is to convert Players of RPGs to
Students of the Word.  The d20 system in particular is currently the most
popular system on the market.  Running a d20 "game" may be more appealing to
certain segments of youth.  And, a Fudge "game" may be more appealing to
certain segments of young adults.

5> What the purpose is NOT:  The goal is NOT to run a D&D version of
DragonRaid.  The d20 and Fudge mechanics are to assist the AM in his lesson,
not to allow children to degrade DragonRaid into a "Christianized" D&D game.
I've already written a "Christianized" D&D game for Gamers (see my
information on The Remnant and Sherwood Forest campains for D&D). DragonRaid
is not for entertainment purposes, but for disciplship purposes. A d20 and
Fudge edition of DragonRaid would make life easier on the AM and lesson the
learning curve on the students.

Specifics:  I propose that AFC move to form a committee of committed
believers who are familure with DragonRaid, Fudge, and d20 to investigate
the ways in which this can be accomplished, if at all.  The idea of parallel
mechanics is fast becoming "industry standard" for game companies.  Please
prayfully consider this, as I believe having Fudge and d20 as viable
mechanic options for the AM will open MORE doors for DragonRaid to change
lives for Christ.

Rodney E. Barnes M.Div.

*****

To Rodney Barnes and members of the DragonRaid Mailing List:

First, Rodney, thank you for your proposal. We appreciate your support of
DragonRaid over the years, recognize your expertise in gaming, see much
evidence of your commitment to Christ, and enjoy your participation on the
mailing list. For these reasons, we have examined your proposal carefully
and
have taken a look at what would be required were we to convert DragonRaid to
a d20 system.

Without beating around the bush, we want to let you know that we have
decided
at this time not to implement a d20 or a FUDGE version of DragonRaid.
Putting
gaming arguments aside for the moment, we feel that the licenses for both
systems are too restrictive. For example, according to
http://www.fudgerpg.com/#Copyrights, "If you wish to distribute copies of
all
or portions of Fudge or derivative works based on Fudge for a fee or charge,
other than in a magazine or other periodical, you must first obtain written
permission from: <address deleted>." We do not feel we should need to obtain
written permission from any 3rd party to publish DragonRaid, especially from
someone who may or may not be a believer. 2 Corinthians 6:14 states, "Be ye
not unequally yoked together with unbelievers, for what fellowship hath
righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with
darkness?"

The license for the d20 system is even more restrictive:

"9. Changes to Terms of the License
"Wizards of the Coast may issue updates and/or revisions to this License
without prior notice. You will, at the earliest possible opportunity,
conform
in all respects to the updated or revised terms of this License. For a
period
of 90 days You may continue to distribute any pre-existing material that
complies with a previous version of the License. Thereafter written consent
should be obtained from Wizards of the Coast. Subsequent versions of this
License will bear a different version number." (Quoted from version 4.0 of
the License.)

As you can see, if we used the d20 system, and then Wizards of the Coast
changed the license in such a way that we were out of conformity, we could
be
prevented from distributing our own material after a period of 90 days.
DragonRaid was published once: in 1984. There are still thousands of copies
of that same edition which we are selling in order to raise money to pay for
the 2nd edition. If we had been using this license, there would be a very
good chance that all that material from 1984 would be useless now. That,
obviously, is a position in which we do not wish to find ourselves.

As to the reasons behind your proposal, there are points to which we agree
and
there are points to which we disagree. On the points to which we agree, we
will be looking at ways other than changing the system to d20 or FUDGE to
solve those issues. But we would like to take the time to respond to these
issues in the order in which you presented them.

1.We agree with your goal "to do away with meta-gaming." That has been a
goal
from the inception of DragonRaid. We want players and AMs to concentrate
more
on the teaching situations and less on game mechanics. That is why the
current rulebook is one of the thinnest RPG rulebooks available for any game
(only one other example comes to mind: TWERPS (The World's Easiest
Role-Playing System), which uses one attribute to resolve everything:
Strength). DragonRaid uses the Success Grid to resolve just about every
"gaming" situation, and that generally is the only thing an AM needs to have
in front of him. Each player has a copy of this grid on his or her character
sheet, so there should be no need for constantly referring to rulebooks.

2.Regarding game preparation, we will have to disagree on both your points A
and B. For A: we do not recommend that AMs create dark creatures on the fly.
The purpose of dark creatures is to teach about a particular sin that can
crop up in the Christian's life. These "sin enchantments" require
significant
thinking to be balanced teaching situations, and we do not believe that kind
of effort and detail can be done on the fly. For Once Born encounters which
result in conversion, there are many example characters pre-generated in the
back of the Adventure Master's Manual. For point B: conversion of non-AFC
materials is not something we wish to address, as (depending upon the
material being converted) it is potentially a violation of another's
copyright. Therefore, though we realize that some players and AMs do this,
this activity is not condoned or supported by Adventures for Christ.

3.We agree that the character creation process in DragonRaid is tedious and
overly complicated. Steps are being taken to address this issue in the new
system, and our rules czar, Joe Revesz, has posted some of these ideas to
the
DragonRaid mailing list for comment by the players and AMs. Any feedback on
this issue (and our proposed solutions) would be greatly appreciated.

4.While DragonRaid has been used for evangelism, its main purpose is to
disciple Christians. So while we believe DragonRaid can be used as a tool to
bring someone to Christ, we must agree with Paul when he says, "How then
shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they
believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a
preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written:
'How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who
bring glad tidings of good things!'" (Romans 10:14-15). There is no
substitute for the preaching of the Word from the pulpit or for personal
evangelism: it is the regular means by which God effectually calls believers
to Himself.

Our main "market," so to speak, is not gamers anyway: it is Pastors, Youth
Pastors, Sunday School Teachers, and others who will run DragonRaid not as a
game for recreation, but as a ministry. While we welcome hobbyists into the
DragonRaid community as some of our most important members (because it is
there that we find some of the best ideas for how to make DragonRaid
better),
our commitment to DragonRaid as a discipleship system for churches stands
firm.

5.Regarding your point 5, we agree with you that the goal of running a
DragonRaid session is to disciple Christians, not to play a Christian game.
However, we disagree that using the d20 or the FUDGE rules would make things
easier for the AM, other than for current d20 and FUDGE players.

Again, we thank you for your commitment to DragonRaid and for your support
of
its ministry through the years. We hope that this response does not
discourage you from working with us in the future, as we believe we can both
benefit from each other. Truly, iron sharpens iron, and we are encouraged by
the fact that you took the time to propose this solution to us.

In Christ,

The Adventures for Christ committee of the Lamb's Bride Project.
--
Rich Sezov
Assistant Director, Adventures for Christ
---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.569 / Virus Database: 360 - Release Date: 1/26/04