ISFDB:RPG Cleanup

The RPG Cleanup page is used to keep track of rogue RPG (Role Playing Games) related items that have made their way into the ISFDB except RPG related fiction. Once found, they will be deleted from the database.

A search on "title contains module" comes back with a couple dozen hits, most of them RPGs. Looking for a heuristic to find and kill them all. Ahasuerus 13:53, 2 May 2006 (CDT)


 * If you do find a heuristic, I'll implement it in Dissembler. It doesn't need to be simple - it can be a combination of names plus keywords. Alvonruff 05:38, 21 May 2006 (CDT)
 * Well, for starters, any publication with "Wizards of the Coast" or "TSR" in the Publisher field and "accessory"/"rule[book]"/"source[book]"/"figure"/"reference"/"supplement"/"miniature"/"figurine" in the title field is highly likely to be non-SF. Ahasuerus 16:05, 21 May 2006 (CDT)

Heuristics
I just started a Dissembler run, and noticed I didn't get the RPG heuristics in. Since you've been looking at lot of these, are the following rules correct?:

if isRpgPublisher(publisher) and hasRpgKeyword(title): workIsRpg = TRUE elif isRpgPublisher(publisher) and isRpgAuthor(author): workIsRpg = TRUE elif isRpgAuthor(author) and hasRpgKeyword(title): workIsRpg = TRUE else: workIsRpg = FALSE


 * Publishers and Authors will have a lot of overlap since TSR and White Wolf have what amounts to RPG factories complete with "house authors". They also churn out a fair amount of fiction as by their most popular RPG module creators. The idea here is that the customers who enjoyed playing these RPG modules would be more likely to buy books bylined by the people who created their favorite modules. I would guess that 70%+ of the "target" Author/Publisher combinations will be non-SF, but even 20-30% of their voluminous output is quite a bit of fiction that we would be missing.


 * Title keywords are tricky. We really need two separate subcategories here. Some are series names, e.g. "Dark Sun", and include both RPG paraphernalia and SF novels, so they don't necessarily tell us anything up front and require human intervention to categorize. Others are clear indications that the record in question is non-SF, e.g. "accessor", "module", "rulebook", "sourcebook", etc. The latter type will give us a 98%+ success rate, which is pretty good. I will create two subcategories accordingly shortly. Ahasuerus 08:50, 30 May 2006 (CDT)


 * Done. At this point if isRpgPublisher(publisher) and hasRpgKeyword(title) should have a very high success rate. Hopefully :) Ahasuerus 08:59, 30 May 2006 (CDT)


 * What about if isRpgAuthor(author) and hasRpgKeyword(title)? (Just trying to find a way to use the author list...) Alvonruff 09:03, 30 May 2006 (CDT)


 * Hm, that may work too, but there is a caveat. Given that Authors can (and often do) do non-RPG work when working for non-RPG publishers, there will be cases when an otherwise "RPG author" will write "Jim's Adventures in the Solar System", an SF title, that we will miss because of the keyword "system". I think it's somewhat safer to go by the publisher/keyword, but there is no harm in trying both approaches and checking what kind of overlap we will get. Ahasuerus 09:44, 30 May 2006 (CDT)

Targeted Publishers
Note: Substring search on the Publisher field withi Publications is currently broken.


 * Chaosium
 * Decipher Inc.
 * FASA
 * Fast Forward Entertainment
 * Guardians of Order
 * Green Ronin Publishing
 * Mongoose Publishing
 * Steve Jackson Games
 * TSR
 * White Wolf
 * Wizards of the Coast

Series names (may include works of fiction)

 * 1492 Conquista Del Magico
 * Accordlands
 * crossgen
 * dark sun
 * everquest
 * forgotten realms
 * game of thrones (definitely has fiction)
 * Marvel Super Heroes
 * ravenloft
 * Silver Age Sentinels
 * spelljammer
 * spycraft

Targeted Keywords
The following is a list of RPG-related keywords that suggest (but don't guarantee) that a Work with this keyword in its title may be an RPG-related item and not a work of fiction. Once you have confirmed that it is indeed an RPG-related item, make sure to follow its Author(s)' links to find and kill other Publications first.


 * accessory
 * accessories
 * advanced
 * booster
 * campaign
 * d20
 * d&d
 * deluxe
 * dsm
 * dungeon
 * dungeons
 * edition
 * expansion
 * figure
 * figurine
 * frq3
 * game
 * miniature
 * pack
 * reference
 * role playing
 * rule
 * rulebook
 * sourcebook
 * stock
 * supplement
 * system
 * TSR

Cleaned up Keywords

 * Module

Targeted Authors
The following Authors are responsible for numerous RPG Works and can be used to trace other suspect Authors via collaborations:

Andrew Bates Paul Beakley Carrie A. Bebris Thomas Biondiolillo Eric L. Boyd Mike Breault Anne Brown Stan Brown aka: Steven Brown Eric Cagle Rachel Caine Clyde Caldwell Craig Robert Carey Jason Carl Genevieve Cogman Loren L. Coleman Andy Collins William W. Connors Monte Cook John Crowdis Gary Gygax Paul Daly Graeme Davis Jesse Decker Thomas Denmark Dave Dorman Dale Donovan Charles Dougherty Tom Dowd Darrin Drader Jeff Easley David Eckelberry H. J. Eysenck Fanpro Fred Fields Nigel D. Findley Matt Forbeck (a number of legit TSR novels as well) Fast Forward Jason Fry Scott Gearin Bruce Graw Jeff Grubb August Hahn Shane Lacy Hensley Dale Henson Dell Harris Geoff Hassing Rob Heinsoo Keith Herber Don Hillsman John Hopler Miranda Horner Jeff Ibach Steve Jackson James Jacobs Paul Jaquays Harold Johnson Myranda Kalis Steve Kenson Gwendolyn F. M. Kestrel Steve Kurtz Michael B. Lee Ian Livingstone Roxanne Longstreet David Lyons Michelle Lyons James Maliszewski Hal Mangold John W. Mangrum Julia Martin Duane Maxwell Colin McComb Will McDermott (some fiction) Mike Mearls Matt Milberger David Miller Steve Miller - possibly not the Liaden one Kim Mohan Erik Mona Ryan Naylor John Nephew Jessica M. Ney Wes Nicholson Douglas Niles David Noonan Allan Nunis Patrick O’Duffy Bill Olmesdahl Andy Park Keith Parkinson Steve Perrin Michael Phillippi Jon Pickens Chris Pramas Anthony Pryor David L. Pulver Jeff Quick Jeffrey Quinn Sam Rakeland John Rateliff Roger Raup Nicky Rea Thomas Reid (also known as Thomas M. Reid) Mark Rein-Hagen Gordon Rennie Sean K. Reynolds and Sean Reynolds and Sean K Reynolds Ken Rolston Aaron Rosenberg Alex Ross John D. Ruemmler John Ruemmler (same as above, but no middle initial) Robh Ruppel Charles Ryan J. M. Salsbury Carl Sargent Steven E. Schend Robert J. Schwalb Jesse Scoble Mike Selinker Janice M. Sellers Matthew Sernett Kevin Sharpe Geoff Skellams Bill Slavicsek Lisa Smedman John Snead Lucien Soulban Greg Stafford Ed Stark Owen K. C. Stephens Doug Stewart Travis Stout Ian Sturrock Tony Szczudlo John J. Terra and John Terra Chris Thomasson Rodney Thompson Michael Tresca Jonathan Tweet Wil Upchurch Ray Vallese Allen Varney Loston Wallace J. D. Wiker Jennifer Clarke Wilkes Skip Williams Bill Willingham - comic books, waiting for Al to give me the go-ahead to zap them Steve Winter David Wise White Wolf (sic) World of Darkness (sic) James Wyatt Patrick Younts Tracey Zamagne

Cleaned up/eliminated Authors

 * W. G. Armintrout
 * Aron Crown Enterprises (sic)
 * Walter M. Baas (aka Walt Baas)
 * Keith Baker
 * Richard Baker aka Rich Baker aka L. Richard Baker, III aka many misspellngs
 * Jack Barker
 * Thomas Baxa
 * Wolfgang Baur, Wolfgang Bauer and Wolf Baur
 * Richard L. Baker, III
 * Kevin Barrett
 * Tim Beach
 * Kraig Blackwelder
 * Brian Booker
 * Chad Brinkley
 * Brom (a legitimate cover artist also responsible for many RPG items)
 * Frank Brunner
 * Rich Burlew
 * Anthony J. Bryant
 * James Butler (aka Jim Butler)
 * Brian Campbell
 * Joseph Carriker
 * Doug Chaffee
 * S. Coleman Charlton
 * Jennifer Clarke-Wilkes
 * Williams Connors
 * David Zeb Cook
 * Zeb Cook
 * Bruce R. Cordell (also Bruce Cordell)
 * Dave Gross
 * Elizabeth T. Danforth
 * Daniel Dover
 * Ian Eller
 * Newton Ewell
 * Peter C. Fenlon
 * Todd Gamble
 * J. F. Gonzalez cleaned up except for the lost Award record -- see the Bug section
 * Ed Greenwood
 * "Green Ronin"
 * Eric Haddock
 * Dori Hein
 * Iron Crown Enterprises (sic)
 * Michael A. Goodwin
 * Geoff Grabowski
 * James Jacobs
 * J. Wallace Jones
 * Michael Kessler
 * Dana Knutson
 * Laura Lakey (cleaned up, the cover art work left intact)
 * Kolja Raven Liquette
 * Anne Gray McCready
 * Angus McBride (and "Agnus McBride")
 * George MacDonald, who had an RPG manual to his name (!)
 * Kevin Melka
 * Christopher Perkins
 * Saul Peters
 * "Pocket Books"
 * Thomas Prusa (Tom Prusa)
 * Jean Rabe (also a legitimate fantasy novelist)
 * Kathleen Ryan (legitimate cover artist or namesake?)
 * Stephen Schubert
 * Jonathan L. Shepherd
 * Malcolm Sheppard
 * Art Slade
 * Stan (sic)
 * Stan! (sic!)
 * Georgia S. Stewart
 * George Strayton
 * Rick Swan
 * Michelle Vuckovich
 * Pierce Watters
 * Jennifer Clarke Wilkes
 * Mark Williams
 * Penny Williams
 * Wizards of the Coast (except for the ones that are labeled "unknown as by Wizards of the Coast")
 * Rich Wulf