INPUT GUIDE: CAPTAIN'S LOG 18

WE NEED FICTION

1. It must be a good story to read. The characters must have character; some could even be characters.
2. It must be possible and plausible within the rules of SFB and, where appropriate, of F&E.
3. It must not contradict the existing background material. It can expand that background material.
4. Avoid blatant and graphic sex, but a little romance and sexual tension never hurt a story.

WE NEED PLAYTEST REPORTS

We cannot, and will not, publish a product that is not adequately playtested. But we simply don't get enough reports to publish things as fast as we would otherwise be able to do.

WE DON'T NEED NEW RACES BUT. . .

We have 150 on file already (and Bruce has already done all of the Omega ones himself). But since we don't seem to be able to stop you guys from sending them in, at least do it in an organized fashion.

First, include a one-page cover sheet with the following information on it

1. Your complete name, address, phone number, the date, your Email address, and all that sort of stuff.
2. Race name (with two alternative names).
3. Biology: A one-sentence description.
4. The time periods your race is active and a one sentence history of who they fought and why.
5. The location where you want them to be. If they are within the area of the F&E map, we need the hex numbers.
6. A list of what makes them so special we should pick them over the 150 ahead of you in line.
7. Weapons and technology: A one-sentence description of each new item.
8. The following statement and your signature: "The contents of this submission are entirely my [our] own work and are submitted to ADB, Inc. under the standard terms found in Advanced Missions." You may indicate if you would be interested in investing in the publication of your race; see Stellar Shadow on page 31.

Behind your cover letter you need the following documents:

• RACE BACKGROUND ARTICLE: Covers name, biology, where & when, type of race, who they fought, Prime Teams, etc.
• RULES FOR WEAPONS AND TECHNOLOGY: Write draft rules for these items. For rule numbers, use the appropriate letter and then start with 101. If your race gets into playtest, we will replace these with official playtest numbers.
• ONE OR MORE SSDs for the ships. These can be done by hand on graph paper or by computer graphics.

It is possible that a published new race might have the biology from one submission, the history from another, and the technology of two others. ADB, Inc. reserves the right to revise, combine, edit, and extend any and all submissions (of new races or anything else).

Bruce Graw advises that most of the Omega Sector races have been designed, but he has openings for some minor races and background elements.

THE NEW SUBMISSIONS LOG SYSTEM

In the past, we handled submissions by a rather simple system. Good stuff got sent to playtest, bad stuff got sent back or tossed, and the other 80% was put "in the file for possible future use". The problem was that players would write in a year or two later and ask if anything had happened with their submission, and without sifting through an entire file cabinet, we could not even confirm that we had ever received it. [In some cases we had not. In some cases, it was still in the file. And in some cases, it had been sent back but the author assumed we remembered it and might have changed our minds.]

This system had a serious drawback, in that players who could not get a straight answer on their submission tended to become "discontented" and this spread to those gamers around them. Every gamer has dreams of being a designer, and every SFB gamer has a right to think that just maybe his name might appear in print in a future product.

We now have a new system, and all new submissions received since ADB, Inc. was born have been logged into an "index" (by the author's last name). Over the next six months, we plan to hunt down and log into this index every un-rejected proposal in the office. [This is going to be quite a chore. During the period when Steve Cole was retired, and during the subsequent period when he was forced out of retirement but didn't have time to do the job, many proposals were placed into "later" boxes along with all manner of unanswered mail and unresolved problems. Nothing is lost, but a few dozen things might not have made it into the file cabinet on the first try.]

When the system is fully implemented, any player will be able to send an Email (or a stamped self-addressed envelope) to ADB, Inc. and obtain a print-out of that portion of the index which includes his submissions. [Do NOT do this before the end of the year. Also note that Term Papers will continue to be handled by a separate system, which is not indexed to allow such a rapid response.]

Anyone who has previously sent a submission which was not rejected (or even if it was!) might want to resubmit it "just to be sure", but this is not entirely necessary.

WHAT IS YOUR NAME?

We have, in two decades of running SFB, managed to teach most of you to include your complete name, address, and phone number on every submission. But, this is the Era of the Internet, and more than half of our mail is now received electronically. And we find ourselves starting all over again teaching people to include complete contact information.

When you send in a submission by Email, include in the message your complete US mail address (preferably your permanent one, but you can include both that and your school address if you have one). And INCLUDE YOUR NAME since many Email addresses are not "name based" and many of you seem to use someone else's account.

A FEW THOUGHTS ON INPUT

Handling submissions is a difficult chore because of the egos involved. Sending in a submission bets a lot of ego on the slim chance of publication. We get far more material than we can possibly use, and while there is no such thing as a submission that cannot be turned into something useful (if ADB applies enough work to it), there just isn't time to make everything into something publishable. You must understand that often material will pass the initial screen-ing and be placed in a file for possible use in the future, and it could be years before that product goes into development. And yet many people expect that we have done nothing else but found the time to move their project toward publication. We wish we had time to do everything; please understand that we don't.