>Quoting Peter Metcalfe <metcalph_at_...>:
> > No, it is not. The Prax work (which is not just Chris) has very
> > little to do with Pavis. Exactly what is holding it up I have no
> > idea. A manuscript was submitted in 2004. Since then the
> > level of feedback from Issaries back to the writers has been
> > between zero and zilch.
>Nonsense.
Not so. I was one of the writers.
>I communicated intensely with Chris , the project leader, on this, and
>even revised a considerable amount of the material that was submitted
>becasue it was wrong, inadequate or incomplete.
Chris is not the project leader but merely chosen by us as one of the selected mouthpiece between the writers and you. In the two years since the manuscript was released there has not been a single solitary communication by Chris to us, the writers, about the status of the manuscript. You may think this is acceptable, I consider it appalling ineptitude.
As for the material being "wrong, inadequate or incomplete", no feedback was ever given to us the writers about what you felt was so wrong about the material. A simple outline or two about what you would preferred to have seen would have readily been accepted by us sparing you much time and labor involved in rewriting the material and onto something productive. But since you never let Chris inform us about the status of the material, the only possible conclusion was that you were up to your bad old tricks of secret favorites.
As for the material being wrong or inadequate, Great care was taken to go over the existing published material to update it for Heroquest. That you so cavalierly dismiss it now only shows that when wrongfooted you make up untruths like the time you publicly claimed that the material excised from the Glorantha: Intro was done so on the grounds that it was wrong (despite reusing some portions of it thereof for ILH-1).
> > What's holding it or rather killing it stone dead is the usual
> > Greg's usual practice of confining communications to one
> > person and then telling him not to communicate anything of
> > substance (or for that matter anything at all) to all the other
> > hardworking writers on the project.
>Nonsense.
>I do insist on a project leader, otherwise communication is much to
>chaotic.
Chris's position was not project leader. He was chosen as the vessel of communication. Since the time the final MS was submitted, his last communication of substance was about it was:
I will be happy to answer questions to the extent that I know
answers and am permitted to give them.
Since that time two years ago, there has been no communication by him as to the status of the MS. Why? Because he's not permitted by you to give them!
And you wonder why nobody bothers to write for Issaries or are rushing at the door to collaborate with you?
>Someone has to take responsibili8ty to get it done.
>The original committee was SEVERAL YEARS past deadline when I began
>working with Chris.
Lie: There was no original deadline. When the group first formed it degenerated into a talking shop about Prax matters. A new group was later formed, which did take efforts in getting things done. A large part of that was due to me taking the initiative in writing several chapters allocated to somebody else in order to shame the others into geting things done. By that time, we felt confident about getting a MS out and _that_'s when you started working with Chris.
>That is the usual procedure and I've gotten by
>scheduling work with a headless commitee.
So you think the current situation - a committee head without a committee - is preferable?
> > If you want to know why so few things get published these
> > days well then there's a large part of the answer.
>I certainly used to interfere with projects to make sure they lived up
>to a quality that I would be proud of.
And ended up killing more than half of them due to your management style and unnecessary tight leash on secrets. For example, despite having a valid interest in such matters, the group was not given general access to the draft rules on Heroquest Animism.
>As far as what is holding up the Prax book now, you will have to ask Chris.
>I'm not even in publishing these days.
What a cheap attempt to avoid responsibility. For up to a year and a half, you were directly involved with the Manuscript while forbidding Chris to have any communication whatsoever with the rest of the writers. You can't just walk away from your culpability in killing the project like that and your general attitude towards freelancers (ie shafting them in favour of favorites) speaks volumes.
--Peter Metcalfe
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