Campaign to make the Rules Folders more useful - Adopt a Game!
Was George Orwell an Optimist?
United States
Corvallis
Oregon
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This list is where Patrons sign up and track progress in the Campaign to make the Rules Folders more useful (the primary campaign discussion thread is here, and the thread for individual participation is here). Patrons will take responsibility for cleaning up specific game folders, and will use their entries in this list to maintain records of what they've accomplished.
IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING BEFORE ADDING ANY GAME TO THIS LIST
Adding a game to this list represents a commitment to become a Patron for that game. By becoming a Patron, you commit to go through that games Rules Folder, send GeekMails to the original posters of threads that have non-descriptive titles, suggest names that would be more appropriate, and pay a 1 GeekGold award to each user who cooperates and responds to one of your requests (if you can't afford to do this, please just lend your moral support). Patrons also agree to list their successful conversions, using the format I've used in the initial post for Defenders of the Realm.
Patrons also agree to conduct themselves in a friendly and helpful manner. We are shepherds, not policemen. Nobody is obligated to comply with our requests - they do so of their own free well. Patrons will not get into arguments with thread owners, nor will they represent themselves in anything but a positive fashion. Remember that the people we contact are the people we hope to serve.
If you can agree to all that, you're Patron material. I'm sure you'll find it very rewarding, but bear in mind that it is also a responsibility and a commitment. Please be sure you're ready to follow through before you sign on.
Selecting your game
The first step is to look in the list and see if your game has already been selected (threads are ordered alphabetically to make that easy). Most games have a manageable number of threads for a single Patron to handle - DotR, which I used to test the method, had 169 rules threads, and I issued 19 requests, which gives you an idea.
Game with huge numbers of threads
Some games have huge numbers of threads, and would require too much time, and too much Geek Gold paid out in rewards, for any single Patron to take on solo. In such cases, we multiple Patrons can select the same game, and be responsible for a subset of that games Rules Question Threads. Since it has already been discussed, I'll use Arkham Horror as an example.
Go to the Arkham Horror game page, click Browse in the Forums section, and you'll see that the Rules folder has 1481 threads (as of this writing). That is too much for one Patron. The folder grows continuously at the new end, so we will take it on starting at the old end and working back to front. We will use the creation dates of the threads to delineate the working areas for Patrons. The threads are presented 50 at a time, with the last page containing any fraction (1 to 50 threads), so using my DotR numbers as a rule of thumb, 4 pages seems reasonable. (We can't go by page numbers, because what's on page 30 today may be on page 31 tomorrow, but it's a useful way to estimate what you'll tackle.).
There are currently 30 pages, so click the last page, then from there work back to page 27, and note that the first thread on that page is dated Feb. 1, 2007, so as the first Patron for Arkham Horror, I would note that I am taking on all threads posted on or before that date, and invite more patrons to join. The next Patron might accept the block posted between Feb. 1, 2007 and Mar. 27, 2008, and so on (see "Formatting your game item listing", below). The final Patron for this game would take everything after the penultimate Patron's block, and would include new threads going forward.
Don't take on too large a block initially! Nothing prevents the same Patron from taking on a block, then taking on a second one upon completion of the first. 2 or 3 Patrons might leapfrog through a big game like that, one chunk at a time.
Transferring your game
No matter how good our intentions, the time will come when a Patron can no longer maintain that game. When that time comes, please announce it and contact me (or whoever may have taken my place by that time), so we can find a new Patron, who would take over responsibility and continue the work for that game. I would even encourage people who want a particular game, and see it already taken, to comment that you would be available should the post ever become available.
Formatting your game item listing
Feel free to add personal touches, but please include the following info in your listing:
The number of requests you've sent
The number of changes that have been implemented
A list of the specific changes (formatted as in my Defenders of the Realm entry - see here
Also, if you're working on a block of threads for a game that requires multiple patrons, list the start and end creation dates for the block of threads you're working on.
Sending requests for title changes
Patrons may want to write GeekMails individually, but having a template to work from can make the job easier. Here's a possible format (change parentheses to square braces for thread link, customize names, change blah blahs as appropriate):
Subject: Rules question thread
Hi thread_owner,
I'm working for the Campaign to make the Rules Folders more useful. Many rules question threads have generic titles that give no hint as to their content, which in turn makes it harder for people to search for answers.
I happened to notice (url=)this thread(/url) of yours, titled blah blah. I think blah blah would be a better name for it, but feel free to word it differently so long as it achieves the purpose of making its contents clear.
It's quite simple to change the title; just follow the link and edit your initial post. If you'd be willing to do that, I'll give you 1 geek gold in token of appreciation. More importantly, you'll be helping others who have questions in the future to find answers more easily.
Regards,
patron_name
Rewarding users who change their thread titles
When somebody responds positively, please use the link (which you've hopefully saved) to visit the thread, verify the change, and tip the initial post with 1 Geek Gold. Tipping there rather than through a user's profile makes it easier to verify that they received their reward. Also, update your listing accordingly (use the same format as in my DotR entry). You needn't do that with each success individually;, feel free to add 5 or 10 at a time in blocks, so that doesn't become a chore, but be sure to get it posted in the end. We want to see what we've accomplished, and where.
If you've read this far, and want to sign up, I'd like to congratulate you. Together we truly will make BGG a better resource for everyone!
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Michal Dziewonski
Ireland
Dublin
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Update: after a looong while (I blame Essen Spiel), I'm back on track with sending out GeekMails and marking my progress in the sheet.
I will have more updates in the format requested by Sphere soon!
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Nobody taking that classic on? Well, sounds like a job for me ;D
(14 pages of 'Rules' in the Forums there... bring it on!)
Great idea, Sphere!
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Lori
United States
Durham
North Carolina
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So I've hit 50% success rate on Roborally, and set things in motion for Scepter of Zavandor. Time to take another game under my wing! I'm ashamed to admit it, but the truth is I fled in terror from the Dune and Dominion forums. However, Gang of Four seems to need improvement, yet be within the scope of my abilities. So it's on!
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This has been done before but definitely needed a relaunch...
I might have to fight luke over it but i'll take ghost stories and all expansions
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Derry Salewski
United States
Augusta
Maine
. . . give a ship.
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Someone
stole adopted Endeavor already, so I will volunteer to take this game, which I also love!
I really appreciate the initiative, sphere, and will do my best to help out!
Requests Made: 4
Changes Made/ Awards Paid: 2
User: nonnymouse
Old: IMPORTANT Question about the soldiers
New: Question: Can a soldier in the new world be replaced by a colonist?
Link
User: ilgoga
Old: The colonists after actions
New: Two Questions: What happens to a colonist after resolving an Event Box? How does the specialist Training Box work?
Link
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Matt Davis
United States
Upland
California
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I call Patron.
Update: 8 e-mails sent, 1 response. (As of 4/28/11)
User: fardoche
Thread: http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/341486/can-the-pool-get-...
Old Title: Just to make sure...
New Title: Can the pool get really big?
On a side note, I'd like to nominate fardoche for some sort of award. I sent the e-mail about his thread first and it was fixed by the time I sent the second e-mail. 
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32.
Board Game: Goa
[Average Rating:7.76 Overall Rank:30]
Ben Bateson
United Kingdom
Ross-on-Wye
Owner of original 'crappy art' GtR and pleased about it.
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I've been keeping an eye on the Goa Rules Folder for quite a while, as the author of the Goa FAQ. I expect if the long awaited re-print ever comes to fruition, then it'll become all the more active.
I'm happy to formalise the arrangement if everyone else is.
Somehow I managed to post this as a Comment, rather than a Geeklist Item, the first time round. I am competent, honest!
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Gene Baker
United States
Ocean Springs
Mississippi
Games with dragons, spaceships, and bears aren’t wargames. Call them conquest games or strategy games or crap but they aren’t wargames.
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I'll take this one on.
Requests Made: 1 for 1
Changes Made:
user gbaker59
old: More on Moray
New: Moray and Victory Conditions
Figured I'd clean up my act first. Wonder if I can tip myself?
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Wendell
United States
Arlington
Virginia
All the little chicks with crimson lips, go...
Hey, get your stinking cursor off my face! I got nukes, you know.
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Okay, with some trepidation, I think I'll take this on, since I subscribe to this page anyway. 56 pages of rules questions... No promises on speed!
Fifteen geekmails sent, and seven changed (actually many of the rules questions subject lines are very good).
Protestant rules questions (Home Card, Calais, Eck, unrest, Schmalkaldic League), Hostile landing question
LOC Tracing Supply and Treachery
Activating minor power; winter phase; war loser retrieving leader
VP w/less than 6 players, Protestant Troops & Political Control, Winter Movement, Key & Fortress Questions
Burn Books, Excom & Debator bonuses
Cards questions: Landsknechts, Akinji, City State Rebels, Foreign Recruits
Questions on: captured rulers; rebuilding minor country units; Protestant troops and electorates; using just-built units; Reformation/Counter-reformation bonuses and besieged troops; piracy targeting; Leipzig Debate; Andrea Doria; John Zapolya; Scots Raid
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Kenny VenOsdel
United States
Saint Paul
Minnesota
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I'll keep an eye on the rules forum here too.
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38.
Board Game: Ikusa
[Average Rating:7.05 Overall Rank:326]
Andrew Hodkinson
Canada
Kemble
Ontario
兵者詭道也
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Although I know it by the old title Shogun, I'll take on patronage for these rules, especially if I can help out those misguided players who levy more than one troop per province and beef up their armies incorrectly.
Requests issued: 18
Changes made / Awards paid: 14
user: Krieghund
old: Ninja Strike
new: Ninja Strike during a Battle?
link
user: BaSL
old: Diplomacy
new: Are there explicit rules on diplomacy?
link
user: Paschae
old: Waiting on a copy, any suggestions
new: Strategy and rules to stress before playing game for first time
link
user:ItaliaSPQR
old: Spearman
new: Can a lone spearmen attack an adjacent province?
link
user: Momoshiro
old: Armies & Garrisons in Shogun
new: Armies & Garrisons in Shogun
(via geekmail with the OP, we agreed this title seems okay since the thread does concern this whole rule topic)
link
user: Ke7in11
old: Combat rolling
new: With how many dice and in what order do attackers and defenders make combat rolls?
link
user: KingAnus3 (an intimidating username!)
old: Army movement/ Unit movement
new: Can you always move in and out units from your armies?
link
user: warlin
old: Army move rules?
new: How does daimyo experience relate to army moves?
link
user: vw claymore
old: Another army movement/battle question.
new: Can an experienced daimyo's army move into friendly provinces between battles?
link
user: hidalgo
old: Rules question on two-player game
new: In a two player game, can one faction be moved through another faction's province?
user: Polish5
old: The New rule book of IKUSA.
new: Is the new rule book a re-working of the original game rules?
user: Keith Schleicher
old: Turn Order
new: Does winning the bid for turn order mean you can choose first to last for yourself?
user: JJRambo
old: Army Attack and Battle question
new: Can multiple armies attack from same province and at the same time?
user: chaosyntax
old: Ronin
new: Placement of ronin - province or army card?
That seems to be all the users who have responded; the rest have not logged in for a year or so.
If you are one of these users, see this message, and make some changes, I will send you thanks (and  ).
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Luk Van Baelen
Belgium
Beerse [near Turnhout]
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I'll take this one as well: this is after all one of my 2 only 10's.
UPDATE: 13-Mar-11
Easier than I thought: YotD players behave well in this matter.
There are only 3 threads needing a [minor] correction.
All users have been contacted; all corrections have bee applied.
User: Palpatine
Old: Privileges
New: Are privileges discarded after scoring?
User: rodspade
Old: Limited supplies
New: Are supplies limited?
User: Sutured
Old: What do you do when …?
New: What do you do when the last 2 events are the same?
The job's done: I was already subscribed to the game, so will ongoing keep an eye on this.
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Steve Wardell
United States
Carmel
Indiana
I think you ought to know I'm feeling very depressed.
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I'll start off with some low-hanging fruit. I'm short on geek gold right now, so one of the smaller rules forums for now.
Requests Issued: 7
Changes Made: 2
29%
user: Blue Steel
old: Another Potential Defect of the Game?
new: Possible Configurations Leading to Perpetual Games?
user: Blue Steel
old: Quick Questions About the 1 Rule
new: Must Boost Opponent's Die with the 1 Rule if No Valid Targets?
Some of the users haven't logged in in 4-5 months, so I'm not too hopeful on a couple of these.
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Kenny VenOsdel
United States
Saint Paul
Minnesota
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Kyle W.
United States
Up Nort' Der
Wisconsin
...and furthermore, tipping answers in GeekQuestions should be fixed.
Me Grimlock teach Hulk everything he knows about smashing.
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I'll take care of Mage Knight Dungeons, and will also keep an eye on both standard Mage Knight and Mage Knight Conquest.
Dungeons had two threads that could use an adjustment. Standard MK was good, and Conquest has nothing at all.
Status:
2 Requests sent, 2 Responses (100%)
(As of March 15th, 2011)
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ThunderFall
Old: "Some Rules Questions"
New: "Counterattack Abilities, Multiple-Healing, Charge/Bound, and Free Spins"
philowar
Old: "Rules Ambiguity/Confusion"
New: "Double Traps, Sweep and Counterattacks, Critical Misses, and Healing"
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Piotr Zembrowski
Canada
Toronto
Ontario
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One of my favourites - an easy choice. Logically, I will adopt the Mare Nostrum: Mythology Expansion as well. It's a great idea.
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Jakob Silk
Canada
Ottawa
Ontario
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Fantastic idea, Sphere.
I can get started on this gem of a game. Lord knows I'm in the forums often enough as it is. Might as well help tidy up the Rules Forum for the next wave of players! Maybe help break the never-ending 'Frigate vs. Galleon' cycle, too! 
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Status (as of April 12th):
Requests Sent: 21
Changes Made/Tipped: 15
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User: aladdinsdad
Old: Repairs
New Repairing your ship back to its nominal "strength"
link
User: Barliman71
Old: Reinforced Hull and Crew Combat
New: Can Reinforced Hull be used during Crew Combat?
link
User: Barliman71
Old: Clemency and NPC scouting
New: Clemency Event Card: Can you pay to remove a Nation's bounty before being scouted by their Naval Ship?
link
User: Astrosmurf
Old: Are players Naval Ships?
New: Are player ships classified as Naval Ships?
link
User: ironJames
Old: Ship mod redistribution
New: Redistributing Ship Modifications: When selling my ship, can I place a ship mod token in the port I’m at?
link
User: Bridger
Old: NPC Movement…
New: NPC Movement: Do they only move in 4 directions?
link
User: Madazam
Old: two questions
New: Two Questions: Can I sell more than one good in demand? Can I stash more than 50 gold?
link
User: Mirrordude
Old: A fantastic session and a couple of rules questions
New: A fantastic session! Two questions: Are ship mods revealed to everyone? Should NPC naval ships scout NPC pirates?
link
User: Eisley
Old: A few rules questions
New: Multiple Questions regarding: Fleeing; Special Weapons; Ship Upgrades & Boarding
link
User: ecraven
Old: glory for rumors
New: When do you get a Glory Point for proving a Rumor?
link
User: TheRealKid
Old: First Questions after playing the hole day
New: Questions about Scouting Naval Ships & Receiving Bounties; Cargo card purchasing clarification
link
User: TheRealKid
Old: Captain Powers
New: Need clarification with van Avezaath's "Cargo Bonus' & Alexandre Villon's "May Enter Any Port" ability
link
User: FreMako
Old: Two Little Questions
New: Two Port Questions: When at port, am I subject to Hunt Priority? Does War or a Bounty push me out of a port I’m in?
link
User: Arcturus2006
Old: A Few Questions…
New: A few questions regarding reinforced hull modification, capturing ships & redsitributing ship mods.
link
User: nobix
Old: a beginner's question
New: Can more than one ship enter the same port ?
link
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Jeroen van der Valk
Netherlands
Gouda
Zuid Holland
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Progress 3 out of 21 thread titles changed
I think this is a most excellent initiative!
I'll take on this game.
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Chris H.
United States
Altoona
Wisconsin
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Changes made: 8
Requests sent: 27
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Posted Sun Mar 6, 2011 11:51 am
If I hadn't done this I wouldn't even know what thread was missing after the OP had deleted it after I sent him a message...
(And good luck to you!)
Corvallis
Oregon
I pity the fool who adopts War of the Ring!
Edit: Ah hell, I'll just do it now and call it "productive procrastination".
Saint Paul
Minnesota
Corvallis
Oregon
First, I had no idea that anybody had been contacted privately about inactivity. I had discussed non-participation generally on the main campaign thread, but I didn't mention anyone specifically.
That said, I'm not sure why you have a problem with posting info about the conversions you've accomplished. If you will open the full block of comments above, and scroll back to my first March 6 post, you'll find that I gave a detailed explanation to somebody else as to why I feel I need this information.
I must also point out that the header of this list has a section with the following title in bold: IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING BEFORE ADDING ANY GAME TO THIS LIST. The final sentence in that paragraph reads as follows: "Patrons also agree to list their successful conversions, using the format I've used in the initial post for Defenders of the Realm."
If you want to work on getting game titles changed in your own fashion, that's great. But we are working as organization, with a standard operating procedure. If you're not willing to work within our guidelines, I'm confused as to why you signed up.
I'm committed to running this campaign with transparency and an easily verifiable record of changes made. If you effect changes, I salute you, but if you don't provide the data for those changes, I can't count them. I hope you'll reconsider, and work within the guidelines. We certainly need your help.
Middletown
Connecticut
It's a damn shame that BGG has the right community for boardgame question answering, while the Boardgames Stackexchange has the right software.
Two points:
1) I think the Rules Folders are very useful, and have used them many times to aid me in learning new games. People can ask specific questions, and get help quickly. Many of us enjoy that format.
2) BGG has excellent software, which lets users deal with rules in various ways. It sounds like you're not aware of it, but BGG has full support for the wiki approach to rules questions. Have a look at the Eastfront collected rules threads wiki as an example.
BGG's software may be good, but it's nowhere near as good as StackExchange. Users can easily ask a question on stackexchange (it's just as easy as asking a question in a forum). But while the forum offers nothing else useful to rules questions except for thumbs, the entire StackExchange system is designed for that exact purpose and is optimized to make that process as effective as possible.
Carmel
Indiana
First you will need to update the "Templates" tab with your name at the end of the GeekMail body (unless your name is also Steve). Then, all you need to do is, on the "Games" tab, put the game name in column A, then in columns D, E, F, and G you put information about the thread. The URL in column H will automatically update to give you a link to the thread. On the "GeekMails" tab, it will generate the info you need to paste into a GeekMail (To, Subject, and Message). Once you've sent the GeekMail, you can put an 'X' in column B (of the "GeekMails" tab), which will hide the message body, so you will only see unsent messages (this will also update the "Sent" column on the "Games" tab). The message body will be replaced with a GeekList update. When the change has been made by the author of the thread, the GeekList update can be pasted to the CtmtRFmu GeekList, and you can put an 'X' in column C (of the "GeekMails" tab), which will hide the update (this will also update the "Changed" column on the "Games" tab).
On the "Summary" tab, put any games you are patroning in column A, and it should calculate your number of requests, and the GeekList summary can be pasted to the CtmtRFmu GeekList to show your progress.
Edit: Updated the GoogleDoc and instructions.