Let's Get This Party Started
Welcome to The Mnemosyne Files. I thought I'd introduce myself real quick and let you know what you'll find here. A little over ten years ago, a great supplement for the Mekton II rpg was released called Jovian Chronicles. One of the employees at the local game store, All Star Games, was hyping the supplement from the moment it was announced - he, consequently, went to work for Alderac Entertainment Group in the marketing department. When I finally got it I was in love. It had everything that I loved about both science fiction and anime, wrapped up into one alloy-armored shell. The next book, The Europa Incident, added even more good stuff. After that, there were a few articles in Mecha Press magazine but nothing else.
Dream Pod 9 eventually spun off completely from their parent company, Ianus Publications, and began work on Heavy Gear. It was hoped that Jovian Chronicles would get a new treatment, and more support - and it did. Over the years a variety of sourcebooks was released, some better quality than others. When the Silhouette Core rules were released, Jovian Chronicles received an updated rulebook for those - and then that was it. Interest in Jovian Chronicles seems to have plateaued.
During the years between the release of the original Jovian Chronicles (known as the "Green Books", for their green covers) and the SilCore edition (usually called Jovian Chronicles 2nd edition) a number of websites came and went with varying amounts of Jovian Chronicles material.
Some, like EXO-Gear and the Jovian APAWorks, were true gems. But lately, I've noticed that a few other Jovian Chronicles sites have disappeared as well. Even my own website, The Datacore, faces extinction if the ISP that hosts the files ever removes them (the account is no longer active) and I don't move them somewhere else. The new people who are discovering JC, with the benefit of only the rulebook, are not able to find the resources that might suggest possible different paths a Jovian Chronicles game might take.
So I decided to do something about it. I contacted Frank Foulis, who ran the EXO webzine, and was able to get the original content that was on his site. I'm also rewriting and adding to content that is on my website to be added here, as well as scouring the Internet for "lost" content. I will also take submissions, if people want to send me content.
I chose the blog format because 90% of all gaming content is text. I don't have to fiddle around with an HTML editor and maintaining links and all that, freeing me to concentrate on content. I can easily archive and backup the entire blog and take it elsewhere if need be.
Check back frequently, as I have a lot of content that I'll be putting up. Eventually it will peter out, I'm sure, but I'd like to continue the saga of Jovian Chronicles for another 10 years if I can.
Dream Pod 9 eventually spun off completely from their parent company, Ianus Publications, and began work on Heavy Gear. It was hoped that Jovian Chronicles would get a new treatment, and more support - and it did. Over the years a variety of sourcebooks was released, some better quality than others. When the Silhouette Core rules were released, Jovian Chronicles received an updated rulebook for those - and then that was it. Interest in Jovian Chronicles seems to have plateaued.
During the years between the release of the original Jovian Chronicles (known as the "Green Books", for their green covers) and the SilCore edition (usually called Jovian Chronicles 2nd edition) a number of websites came and went with varying amounts of Jovian Chronicles material.
Some, like EXO-Gear and the Jovian APAWorks, were true gems. But lately, I've noticed that a few other Jovian Chronicles sites have disappeared as well. Even my own website, The Datacore, faces extinction if the ISP that hosts the files ever removes them (the account is no longer active) and I don't move them somewhere else. The new people who are discovering JC, with the benefit of only the rulebook, are not able to find the resources that might suggest possible different paths a Jovian Chronicles game might take.
So I decided to do something about it. I contacted Frank Foulis, who ran the EXO webzine, and was able to get the original content that was on his site. I'm also rewriting and adding to content that is on my website to be added here, as well as scouring the Internet for "lost" content. I will also take submissions, if people want to send me content.
I chose the blog format because 90% of all gaming content is text. I don't have to fiddle around with an HTML editor and maintaining links and all that, freeing me to concentrate on content. I can easily archive and backup the entire blog and take it elsewhere if need be.
Check back frequently, as I have a lot of content that I'll be putting up. Eventually it will peter out, I'm sure, but I'd like to continue the saga of Jovian Chronicles for another 10 years if I can.
posted by Rivetgeek at
1:09 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
This is really a great thing to do. I've also been worried about the disappearance of all the old sites with Jovian Chronicles material on them. Not that I really need it anymore, but JC is worthy of having a following on the web. As a matter of fact, it wasn't long ago when I realized that you're not going to update the Datacore anymore, and felt sad at that.
Come to think of it, all kinds of great little gaming (rpg) sites seem to have disappeared. I guess the coming of the blog and the more professional-looking web sites of today have raised the bar to "go public" again. Shame, really, but I'll grant you that there was a lot of useless junk out there, too. (I should know, I've gone through five-plus iterations of a personal homepage with gaming content.)
By
Joonas, at 10:37 AM
Part of not updating the Datacore has been time, as well as the prospect of bringing dozens of designs up to SilCore edition stats.
I've actually spent the better part of a year working on a vehicle design app for SilCore and I'm going to start posting new designs as well as updated old ones.
Dreams of Flesh and Spirit is going to get a similar treatment (we've lost a lot of great Tribe 8 sites, such as Mike Shaver's site with the character art) - I have the blog set up but need to start posting content.
On a more general note, I think blogs are fantastic for publishing personal game content. Updating a personal website requires so much work - if it weren't for the fact that I'm preserving the images and whatnot from the EXO articles, reposting those articles would be a snap (paste in the text, do some formatting, and publish it). I can muse, ramble, do whatever I wish without having to worry about the sytlesheet or maintaining links or updating the FTP site.
By
Rivetgeek, at 10:58 AM
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