I'd like to introduce myself as the new Head Redcap for Project: Redcap. I'm aware that the community has been awaiting an announcement from Andrew, and I'm honored to be his successor. I look forward to this endeavor and would like to build upon the immense foundation that Andrew and the Ars Magica community has created in the 1,000+ pages contained in site. Let me first thank Andrew, sincerely, for selecting me for this role. A role that I accept with a strong sense of pride and excitement.
Here's my vision for Project: Redcap - Be the go-to, one-stop-shop for reference material about Ars Magica.
To elaborate, Project: Redcap is the one source wherein Ars Magica players may refer to for readily available information about the game on the web. Project: Redcap is accompanied by two other pillars that support Ars Magica on the Interweb:
Atlas Games product site
Forums (Atlas Games)
The Ars Magica product pages on the Atlas Games website provide good information on the product line, useful downloads, and errata. The forums are excellent for discussion, but not the ideal means for providing easily searched and readily available information for ArM players without having to read through postings and replies. Project: Redcap fills the need for reference material, and one of the best aspects of the site is that it is a community-supported entity. A Wiki.
A few details about myself... I have been playing RPGs since the early 80s. I've played ArM5 a few times in some very short campaigns and don't consider myself an expert with the system or setting. Hence, I use Project: Redcap often. I'm an enthusiastic fan of the game and will continue to be so as long I'm on this earth.
Enough about me. I'll simply say that I'm excited to be given this opportunity to contribute to the Ars Magica community and add value to Project: Redcap. Stay tuned for an upcoming announcement about the site and a campaign with which you all can be involved!
Thank you for stepping up and taking on this responsibility, Walter. Project Redcap is a precious resource and the community depends on it and, now, also you.
Thank you, Doctorcomics. I wholeheartedly agree that Project: Redcap is a precious resource. I use it frequently and while I've rarely been involved in ArM games being involved in maintaining the site is my minor contribution to the ArM community.
Just a suggestion - but would it be possible to have short product reviews for more recent (i.e. fifth edition) books on Project Redcap? In the past, I have found the product reviews for the earlier books to be one of the most useful features of the site. I appreciate that book authors will likely be the most attentive readers of the reviews, and we don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. So I suspect the reviews would need to be heavily moderated / vetted. Perhaps it isn't practical, but I think reviews would be useful for players who are having trouble prioritising what to buy and read across the very extensive fifth edition line.
I certainly believe that product reviews of recent ArM5 books have a place on Project: Redcap. I too found the reviews of earlier books very useful for me to determine which older books I wanted to seek out and add to my collection. I welcome thoughts from the community about including reviews of newer ArM books.
Yes. My thoughts on moderation is that people in the community are pretty good about editing their own comments if asked, so the best course would be for a Redcap editor to first ask the reviewer to make any changes necessary. I have kept an eye on Project: Redcap edits since it became a wiki, and only once did I ask for a change (that was for copyright reasons not a lapse of civility). Our community has come a long way since the (in)famous flame wars of the mid-1990s! So Project: Redcap actually has a procedure for moderating content, and the one time in 7 years that it had to be used, the poster quickly and cheerfully complied with the editor's request. \
So I don't think there is any need to worry. Review away! FWIW I have always wanted fans to post reviews to Project: Redcap so please feel free!
Congratulations and thanks for taking up this position, Walter! I value the wiki greatly, and I'm glad to see it transfer to your hands.
Note that currently, the Net Wizard's Grimoire is at a separate location. This was a deliberate choice at the time. We could import the NWG's materials into Redcap, if you'd like to, and retire the current NWG site. As Head Redcap, it's up to you to decide As in the past, I advocate for keeping them separate; putting all the NWG on the Redcap site will pollute the "comments-on-Ars-Magica" with too much "fan-created content for Ars magica" content IMO. But if gathering the hundreds of fan-created spells would be part of your vision of making the Redcap the one-stop location for Ars Magica material - it's doable (assuming you can code/automate the transfer).
Thank you. The community values Project: Redcap and I feel honored to succeed Andrew and the earlier Head Redcaps in this role. As for whether the NWG should be incorporated into Project: Redcap -- Let me take some time to get my arms around Project: Redcap and then consider whether it's feasible to incorporate the NWG into Project: Redcap. I'll of course discuss this with you and the community. Currently, I like having them separate because it permits the NWG to be tightly scoped with it's purpose and facilitates ease of searching spells and related topics. At this point I think Project: Redcap should have a page that briefly describes the NWG with a link to it. It's mentioned in the Starting Points page (http://www.redcap.org/page/Internet_site_index), but I think i deserves a singular page with a description of it's purpose.
As in the past, I advocate for keeping them separate; putting all the NWG on the Redcap site will pollute the "comments-on-Ars-Magica" with too much "fan-created content for Ars magica" content IMO. But if gathering the hundreds of fan-created spells would be part of your vision of making the Redcap the one-stop location for Ars Magica material - it's doable (assuming you can code/automate the transfer).