I don't recall who voted "no" on TeX, but I have to say this guy doesn't know
what he's talking about. TeX is not cumbersome. Sending proprietary files
formatted for one word processor or another and trying to convert them is
cumbersome. With TeX, you send the source file as plain text, and the other
person can make instant use of it. I assume that the people on this list are
intelligent enough to see the advantage of using the net to write this thing
up.
Also, for those who are ignorant, it is possible to create a .sty file for TeX
which takes care of the messy formatting business and creates easy-to-use
macros that anyone can learn. In other words, you can do the following:
\documentstyle{travellerbook}
\begin{document}
[stick text in here]
\end{document}
and that's all she wrote. I would even be willing to create such a file
and distribute it on the list.
Look, let's be fair and realistic. Fair in that everyone who wants to should
be able to work on part of the project and have input. Realistic in that if we
only let a few select people do the actual work, it will never get done.
About automating the generation rules: Good. I am glad someone suggested
this. We should make executables available to PC and Mac users for character
generation, star system generation, starship design, and world map generation.
We should also make the sourcecode available for people to port to other
systems.
Character generation: The homeworld limitations of law level and tech level are
a good idea, but their implementation in MegaTraveller stinks. Let's fix them,
and create a chart that clearly lists the minimum Law and Tech levels for each
skill.
Robert P. Poole [email removed]
[address removed] MIT Course VIII
311B Bexley Hall "We make Idols of our concepts, but
[address removed] wisdom is born of wonder."
-- St. Gregory the Illuminator