"The General" ..question

R.S. Barker

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Greetings,

In the past I had made mention about this idea, and the post was sort of buried in the midst of another thread, so I'd like to get your thoughts on a "The General" magazine collection on CD-Rom.

First off, I'm well aware of the pressure and delays that MMP is facing with current projects and time tables for new releases, and that they may not be in a position to work on such an item at the present moment.

I'm also aware that Hasbro owns the rights to The General magazine, so any such collection would probably have to be a 3rd party product produced with the blessings of Hasbro and its partners.

Dragon Magazine produced the first 250 copies on CD-Rom, and it remains one of the best collections of its type, given its searchable index, and ease of which the various modules and add-ons could be printed for home/personal use. The original price was $69.99 and was worth every penny.

So, would you be interested in such an item - and secondly, without contacting Hasbro - has this subject been broached before within the ASl community ?

I'm thinking that if a few of us were to get together, and make a proposal to Hasbro, explaining in detail what we planned to do,
and that any such project could include advertisements and a web link to Hasbro/Avalon Hill that such a project would in some way be a way to help draw more people into the board gaming world AND more importantly give the community access to a wonderful resource.

PDF formatting might work, or even a massive Help Guide interface is even plausible for that matter.

In any case, please let me know how you feel about this subject, and if its been spoken of before, my apologies for wasting your time.

Cheers,
 

Priest

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That's a very good idea R.S., I would buy a copy of such a CD. Now all you have to do is convince Hasbro that it would be worth their while. :thumup:
 

Ole Boe

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I think its a good idea too.

I would even consider buying it for myself, even though I'm only one or two issues short of owning every General with ASL content. Having it on a searchable CD would be much more convenient.

...but I thought MMP had the rigths to all TAHG ASL material, also the material published in the General. They have made available for free download a number of scenarios first published in the General (A-H?), and didn't FKaC incude some reissued General scenarios?
 

Rilie

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I'd buy it! I've always loved my old copies of the General and get a lot of milage out of them!
 

rdw5150

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SGT HOLST said:
Hi

I think its a great idea, but MMP will never let it happen.


Scott
There you go, Scott, bashing MMP at every step.

Did you ever think that MMP does not own the freaking RIGHTS to all the (NON-ASL) General stuff? After all it was put out by another company entirely. But of course when MMP got ASL maybe they got rights to all the non-ASL related General stuff, who knows.

Nothin' to do with MMP in this case.

Somehow I am certain all the lawyers would be swooping in to suck the blood out of this project :devious:

Peace

Roger
 

Houlie

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Just curious as I have never read a copy of The General: is it very relevant to ASL other than some scenarios? Didn't it mostly highlight other Avalon Hill games, too?

At this stage of my ASL career, I am wondering how many more scenarios I need. I probably average about 15 games per year and dozens more "must play" scenarios (from The General) will only mean more great games that I am unable to get to.
 

Ole Boe

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If memory serves me right, the General contained around 100 ASL scenarios, and probably articles enough to fill half a dozen Journals.

Some issues had no ASL content at all, some only a scenario or two, while other were loaded with ASL material - especially from 85-89, i.e. between the release of ASL and the first Annual.

I didn't start playing ASL (or any other TAHGC game) until 92, but most of the Generals were still available at that time, so being interested in both ASL and several other TAHGC games, I started to collect them.
 
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Countertroll

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I would order a copy in a minute.
Many of the ASL articles still have value.
The scenarios certainly do.
Heck, I have even started to buy some of the 'classics' that I passed on the first time. Reading some of those articles would be cool (are we talking ALL of the General, or ASL material only)

I am all for any official ASL goodies which can be loaded on my laptop. Rule Book, Scenarios, Articles...hook me up.
 

R.S. Barker

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Thanks for the positive comments guys. 8)

are we talking ALL of the General
Absolutely. I see an entire collection available on CD-Rom so that this fantastic resource is available to everyone. See below for more thoughts on this topic.

Some issues had no ASL content at all, some only a scenario or two, while other were loaded with ASL material - especially from 85-89, i.e. between the release of ASL and the first Annual.

Exactly the reason why such a collection on CD-Rom would be a boon to SL/ASL players and regular Avalon Hill (and Victory Game) players.

Games like B-17, Air Force, Panzerleader to name just a few all seemed to get a couple articles to either expand that game, or give historic background. As well, such a collection might help introduce/reintroduce players to another AH product and that in itself propogates the continuation of the AH series of Board Games.

I guess the next question is:

Whom would I contact to ask about such a project, and more specifically, does anyone know for sure that Hasbro still holds The General Magazine copyright as their own ?

Cheers,
 
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Gunner Scott

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Hi here is the person you wanna contact Josh Izzo:

jizzo@hasbro.com


But I really hate to burst your bubble, but more then likely he will come back to tell you that its MMP you gotta talk to.


Scott
 

Priest

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R.S. Barker said:
I guess the next question is:

Whom would I contact to ask about such a project, and more specifically, does anyone know for sure that Hasbro still holds The General Magazine copyright as their own ?

Cheers,
Hasbro
 

Pitman

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MMP says they have the rights (through Hasbro, I am presuming) to reprint General stuff. If I recall correctly.
 

Harold

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Yeah but than ebay would be flooded with the collections of the paper version Generals which would go for big bucks. Hmmm, maybe that's a good thing ;)
 

paulkenny

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I vaugely recall that The General magazine was not part of the Hasbro purchase. I might be mistaken though.
 

rdw5150

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SO, MMP may or may not have the rights to the ASL General stuff.

But, what about the non ASL General stuff? I would not think they would have those right since there are numerous games in those magazines.

Then again, perhaps once somone sold a game to Avalon Hill, they had to sign over all right and when Hasboro bought the AH stuff, they got those rights as well.

While I would JUMP at such a CD, I'd like to get the facts straight so that I can discuss it the MMP basher(s) :D

Peace

Roger
 

ChrisBuehler

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I would also be interested in such a CD. If Hasbro has the rights to the non-ASL materials and MMP has the rights to the ASL material, perhaps MMP could put out a CD with only the ASL content of the various General issues. It really boils down to the contracts and what MMP can do. :rolleyes:

We should not jump to conclusions without knowing all the background information.

Chris
 
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