NEW RACE SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

STAR FLEET BATTLES already includes a lot of races, with more scheduled for publication over the next two years. These include more galactic races (Vudar, Xorkaelian, Nicozian), the Magellanic Cloud Module (Budavi, Maghadim, Eneen), Omega (over 20 new races), and two new galaxies (each with more than a dozen new races). Should the marketplace demand even more new races, there are over 100 on file and a new one arrives every single week. Given all of this, one must seriously ask if the Star Fleet Universe needs or has room for any more new races. And yet, players continue to send them to us (at the rate of one per week) and we have created these guidelines to help them present these races to ADB Inc. in a manner that is the easiest for us to deal with.

1. WHERE IS YOUR RACE?

Races can be in one of several areas: an established galactic area such as the "home area" (i.e., the F&E map) or one of the new galaxies (e.g., Omega), in no particular area at all (suitable for players to use in a free campaign), or as a package of new races (e.g., eight new races in a new galaxy). We will eventually open up the Sigma and Sargasso sectors for new races, once the market shows a need for them.

If your race is in an established galactic area, you are going to have to explain to us why its sudden appearance is not going to disrupt the established history. Even better, you're going to have the devil's own time explaining to us why your race has enough money to build an interesting fleet of ships but was able to get this money from a tiny area, and why the neighboring races don't just take your race over. (In Stellar Shadows non-historical products, this is not a factor.)

If your race is not in any particular area, you obviously have no such problems or requirements. However, such a race could not be historical. ADB Inc. will, in the future, create a new area known as the Sargasso Sector. This area includes many races, each occupying a small area separated by relatively vast "neutral zones" from other races. Players can mix any races they want, from any products, creating their own universe. Your race could well be one of the ones they select.

If you are sending a package of new races, you should review the New Galaxy provisions as this is the only way such a thing can be published. (That is, you're going to have to be prepared to pay the printing bill yourself.)

2. PREPARING A PRESENTATION

Your race presentation should include all of the rules, history, and technology that it will need. [To have a better chance of success, these should all work together and make sense. For example, the Xorkaelians include a tiny group of "masters" and a huge horde of slaves. Their ships have a central redoubt where the masters (and the bridge, and the transporters) are located.] You should include enough ships (perhaps 15-20) to show all of the basic classes; you do not need to include a hundred ships to match every possible class and variant found in the Alpha Sector. (You should let us know that you have these ships.)

Your presentation MUST include a one-page summary including the race name, your name and address, your phone number, your Email address and web site (if any), the date of your submission, and a brief summary of the location, history, technology, and biology of your race. You can simplify the process by not sending the full presentation, but just this summary and two ships (a cruiser and destroyer).

You can send your race submission to ADB, Inc. as hard copy of an Email attachment.

3. POSTING TO A WEB SITE

If you wish to post your race to your web site or to another web site, you must first submit it to us, your posted version must include the ADB Inc. evaluation we will send to you, and the web site it is posted to must be an Authorized web site; see ADB Inc.'s web policy sheet for details. Note that posting a new race on a web site can seriously reduce its chances of being published as an official ADB Inc. product; consult with ADB Inc. for ways to reduce this problem.

4. LEGAL PUBLISHING

You must specifically understand that you CANNOT publish your race on your own. Publishing a new race "for use with SFB" is not legal under the copyright laws and will result in serious legal problems for you as you will violate ADB Inc.'s copyrights. However, you can effectively do this by publishing your race under ADB Inc.'s Galaxy project line. You pay for the printing, ADB Inc. sells the product, and you receive a share of the proceeds. While you get only a portion of the total revenue, the total is much larger since the product is sold as an official SFB product, and will earn more than you could get from illegal publishing.

5. CHANCES OF QUICK PUBLICATION

Back to the point of just how many new races are needed, you have seen above that ADB Inc. has new race products on its own schedule and must seriously ask if players want more new races than that. You chances of being one of the races picked for the next product not on the current plan are about one in two hundred. If you want your race printed before then, you will need to consider some options.

A. Give it away free on the web. You get a bit of honor and glory, but not as much as you would if it was done as an official ADB Inc. product, and of course you get no money. You will need to have your race authorized by ADB Inc. and put it on an ADB Inc.-Authorized site.

B. Have it printed as a designer-funded Galaxy project where you pay the printing bills. If your product is popular with the players, you will make money, perhaps a lot of it, on your design. It is possible that your project might prove so popular we might republish it as a regular product (as Module E1 is being republished as Module C5). At some future time, we will have Sargasso sector modules including several new races and each designer can "buy in" to the product by paying for his own race's section of a larger product. This is not currently on the schedule but is something that could happen in the future.