The Two Opposing Forces In D&D And Their Origins

Reading The Hickman Revolution and the Frustrated Novelist over at Monsters and Manuals got me to thinking about that dark time in the 80's when it was like someone had just switched off the light.

Speaking from being there when the double punch was delivered-Dragonlance and the Satanic Panic - it literally wiped me out...as a player, DM and shop owner.

Those who joined the hobby around that time are the direct ancestors to the modern gamer.

Folks get mad at me for saying so but it seems to be the best descriptions of both camps:

Old Schoolers bought things as inspiration, to be ripped apart and used piecemeal with individual additions and ideas.

New Schoolers are like baby birds who have to have their food chewed for them and deposited in their beaks. I suggested once to a 4e fan, mad about some rule that WotC had recently released in a book, and said 'why don't you just change the rule or not use it'...the response...'If I wanted to write my own f****** rules I wouldn't have bought the book'...and that's a quote.

Thank God I never looked for the 'perfect' game...I would have missed a lot of great gaming.

It is said that the early modules for D&D are the bane of gaming history because these items usually meant for tournament play were looked upon as the only proper way to play D&D...with TPK and Killer DMs around every corner.

But I say it was Dragonlance, the pre-generated characters riding the railroad, that brought us to where we are today, the end of the industry and the birth of the OSR.

Every subject that separates players today goes back to these fundamentally opposed philosophies.

The 'homebrewer' vs. the 'RAW'.

Updates For The CRoA Network

Ok, getting close to being back to square one.

Classic Realms of Adventure - The domain name should be resolving properly again:

I will be back posting there as soon as I finish a few more technical details.


The Eternal Keep - Is back up and running with a fair amount of linkage back in place. There are problems I know with some blogs that have been turned into ad platforms that will be deleted but I concentrated on getting out the dupes today to maximize the widget content in each widget. The next list will add 5 or 6 more widgets and I will start work on that this weekend. I might as well warn everyone ahead of time that I will be monetizing the blog in the near future. My wish is to put up a PayPal donate button and keep ads to a minimum, but the Keep is even more work now that things have to be broken up but the upside is with the next update it will have 3 times as many blogs to choose from with all the recent updaters easy to scroll through and the ability to show all the blogs in any given widget with just a click of a mouse for older posts.

CRoA: the ezine - I will start working on compiling the first issue of the ezine Classic Realms of Adventure once all the dust settles.

Darkness Over Dunwich - This blog needs updated but I was trying to wait to get through a play test of my alternate rules set for Elder Sign. I have notes for a 2 player head to head version of the game and also notes on integrating items from the Arkham Horror board game for use with ES. I'm also working on notes for an introduction book to the Arkham board game detailing getting started with the base set and adding expansions and their impact on play. I have considered starting a second ezine to join CRoA covering the HP Lovecraft inspired material I'm working on and then compiling the issues into a book down the road.

Forsaken Souls / Fiends & Fireballs (MX83) are being split into 2 separate projects. I was working on the idea of a Basic into Advanced type system, but the things I want to achieve with them are two completely different things. So I will let each follow its own path and find its own audience.

That's it for now. Next up: New videos on the Tumblr account..

Damnit! Robin Has Done It Again

I hold him directly responsible for bringing me back to the game with Microlite 20. Haven't you done enough?!

But nooooooooo...now he has done something no other human being has ever been able to do in all my years of gaming-Robin Stacey has opened my eyes to what is great about D&D.

No, not the game, the edition...you know...5 boxes or one Cyclopedia.

I started with AD&D1e and I guess there is that something special about your first.

But I have read the D&D accolades, heard them shouted down from mountains high and still couldn't understand why in the hell would anyone want to play race as class?...36 levels? Jesus...

The list could go on...and it was a pure accident... I guess following his recent series on what the various editions have gotten right in the world of D&D (I think he may have a better understanding of the entire line than anyone I have encountered) is what got me to do a bit of paleo-blogging and read his '7 days' series:

http://greywulf.net/tag/cyclopedia/

A literal lightning bolt. I was in shock. It actually finally made sense to me. After digging through the Holmes edition (my first rpg purchase ever) all those many years ago and how I jumped ship with the meeting of my first AD&D DM.

Now I have to dig through boxes and boxes looking for all the bits and pieces I have collected and actually f****** read the damn thing!

Thanks! Thanks a lot you 18th level Stealer of Time!...I curse thee Robin Stacey!...

My reading pile is now stacked higher than my head where I sit typing this from the floor up...

Oh,thanks, I guess...damnit!...why! Why did it have to click now?!

(PLEASE NOTE: No disrespect intended to any of the fine writers whose blogs I have read with (evidently) closed eyes...until now...DAMNIT!...Now more reading...)

:)

I Tried-I Really Tried (Or The Saga Of WORDPRE$$ AND OTHER PAINS)

So yeah, I have returned to the Blogger world. After feeling like I was playing a slot machine I am abandoning the WORDPRE$$ experiment.

I haven't felt so nickel and dimed to death in my entire life. After wasting hours trying accomplish the simplest of tasks and finally learning those features were only available in the 'PRO' version I have decided to return to Blogger and bring four blogs back up to speed.

I will continue to incorporate the Tumblr acct into things but the four primary sites will now be:

The Eternal Keep

ADD Grognard

Darkness Over Dunwich

Classic Realms Of Adventure

They will all be receiving an overhaul of sorts, some major some minor, but I want to get back to work and that isn't possible trying to swim through the liquid concrete of WordPre$$.

To overcome the Eternal Keep problem of widget limitations I plan on consolidating all the news aggregators into specialized lists on the blog and adding more widgets as required.

ADD Grognard will stand as it has for thoughts and ruminations.

CRoA will now reflect its new job of covering projects like the resurrected journal form of CRoA, Fiends & Fireballs (The name for the MX83 project I have been compiling) and others as time permits me to work on them.

And last but not least the Darkness Over Dunwich blog will pick back up with the completion of my rules re-write of Elder Signs and the material I'm working up on Arkham Horror.

I have to admit, I don't see what people get out of the confusing mess that is WordPress. I wondered why it seemed like everyone who moved over just seemed to disappear and now I know why.

For what it's worth, I'm back....let's get to work...

Video Game Sales Down - Tabletop Games Up

Well, I had a completely different post in mind for today but after seeing some good news for a change I decided to pass it along.

Confirming what I have posted about apparent sales in the tabletop market in general and the word out of GenCon last year the numbers are out and rather staggering.

First:

http://www.icv2.com/articles/news/22214.html

This should come as no surprise, but this should:

Video games sales down, hobby games up in 2011

"In a move that may reflect the shifting United States economy, video games sales plummeted 38% and hobby games sales are up 25%."

(Read More)

http://www.examiner.com/rpg-in-national/video-games-sales-down-hobby-games-up-2011

So, I feel pretty good that what appeared to be happening last year was sustainable, that Pathfinder continues to grow (and they deserve it - watch the videos at YouTube from GenCon for what else to expect this year from Paizo-that Bestiary Box is MINE) and for all the naysayers who say we are just a tiny speck of gaming goo and that everyone quit table top to play video games I get to proudly stand and say:

STFU

(Coming Next Time - The Consolidation Update - The Future of the Eternal Keep - CRoA Update - More)

RESET

RESET BUTTON POWER ON

TIMELINE RESET DESCRIPTION IS AS FOLLOWS:

2000 - Wizards of the Coast release D&D 3.0 and the SRD under the newly created Open Game License. Tabletop Role-Playing Games are saved by this initiative.

2008 - WotC ceases production of D&D to focus on their primary product line Magic: The Gathering.

Smaller companies, led by a bold start up-Paizo, begin to produce role-playing games that go back to the roots of the hobby using the Open Game Content from the SRD and newly created OGC sources.

2010 – The rpg ‘industry’ finally succumbs to the growth of the ‘hobby business’. With the rise of the internet and its many tools, game production takes on a whole new meaning. It is now possible to design and produce gaming materials and distribute them on a completely different scale. With the advent of Print on Demand (PoD) and digital publishing through the PDF format gaming experiences a renaissance and player numbers and sales continue to increase, a trend started in 2004.

2011 - The game market coalesces around the Open Game concept. Many declare it to be a new Golden Age of gaming, a network of players and publishers world wide, creating and sharing games of all genres while exploring the outer boundaries of the Old School Style along with the new mechanics being created on almost a daily basis. A successful GenCon finds most vendors in good spirits as sales continue to increase.

2012 – The End of the Beginning. New technologies have allowed players and publishers greater freedom to create and play than ever before. With the growing use of VTT, Social Networking sites, and A/V hardware/software and more traditional digital methods like PBeM and forum more games than ever are being played by a growing group of diversified gamers. The hobby is seen to have come full circle but now that circle goes, not around a city, but the entire planet. And with hand held mobile devices increasing in popularity and software rising to meet the challenge games can now be played by anyone, anywhere at anytime.

The Revolution is complete.

Now, all you have to do is press the button to complete this timeline reset. This may be accomplished by verbal authorization in the comments section below.

ENGAGE RESET NOW?

(WARNING: TIMELINE RESET MAY CAUSE SLIGHT NAUSEA AS TIMELINE SHIFTS AND HAPPINESS INCREASES)

New Post

Ya know, I keep trying to post something and by the third line I'm dropping so many f-bombs I would have to change the settings on the blog to mature.

The more I look at it the less I understand.

Now keep in mind, I'm not talking about 4e fanboys or 'whatever' gamers (they play whatever is new).

No, I'm thinking about all the posts I have read over the last 2 years that has not let up on how:

(A) Nobody cares what WotC does next.

(B) WotC...who?

(C) "It'll be a cold day in hell..."

(D) "D&D...are they still doing that?"

You get the idea...and don't act like you don't recognize some of those...I have a LOT more...

I think the guys summed it up best:

Steve: Ahhhhh!

Zack: Calm down, Steve. Gygax and Arneson are both dead. They can't hurt you anymore.

Steve: People cried about them dying, but when Gygax went what we really lost was a final authority on all rules arguments. And even though the number I had for Gygax was probably no longer in service, I always had that reassuring feeling like if I was really in a jam and my characters were insisting they wanted to grapple someone I could call up Gary and ask him how to resolve it.

Zack: He's gone now, Steve, but his spirit lives on in the exciting new 4th Edition of- I can't even type that out. Does anyone play that?

Steve: It's pretty fun.

Steve: For stupid babies.

Zack: I would imagine Gygax had his detractors back in the day.

Steve: Gygax didn't have 50 writers and 100 artists and color printing. He just went out there and said, hey, here's how you subdue a dragon and sell it as a slave. Here's what a robot is doing in a fantasy game. Deal with it. I made it up, deal with it.

Zack: And now a committee has designed everything.

Steve: The stupid baby committee.

http://www.somethingawful.com/d/dungeons-and-dragons/steve-old-gygax.php?page=11

So I wonder...where does that leave us now...a game that turns out like Republicare? (You get to call it Obamacare when you pass the version he wrote, not the one the Republicans agreed to vote yes for).

Just think, if the game sucks you get to blame yourself...pretty slick maneuver isn't it?

Player #1 - Man, this D&D 5e blows...

Player #2 - Well, you designed it.

New Clips For First Film To Launch In Support Of 5e

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoFyDGTnkUo

Wow...just wow...I may have to change my thinking on all this...

Well, I guess we have been told-(WARNING: LANGUAGE)-Continued

I have started a new post here continuing the discussion started at:

Well, I guess we have been told-(WARNING: LANGUAGE)

I begin with the latest comment and response:

KenwolfJan 29, 2012 04:56 PM

if you was to ask the question what osr means to you, i bet you would get a lot of different answers to that question. some people it means old school rules, some people say it means games made from the srd and ogl. some say it is all about the feel of the game. some say it is just retro clone games based on everything up to 1st edition.

you are the first person i have ever heard say that pathfinder i part of the osr. most people would say that pathfinder is just 3.75 of D&D im not bad mouthing it, if that's your thing good for you. but you are the first i have heard call pathfinder osr.

i guess i am not an osr gamer in your definition of it cause i play AD&D 2nd edition with a generous helping of 1st edition mixed in with it. i would consider me an older school gamer, but not so far as to od&d or basic.

i have been reading a lot of blogs talk about how excited they are about these developments. is that so bad really ? i have absolutely no love for wizards of the cost, but you can't blame them for destroying the osr or old school gaming. if just 2 announcements from wizards of the cost can have that bad of an effect on the community then it deserves to die.

it isn't the announcement from wizards that is driving the osr or old school gaming apart. it is people that say if you buy the new reprints then your not part of this community that are. or if you like 5E then you are a sell out. don't you think having someone tell you that would cause an argument just because you wanted to buy a gaming book ?

as for the posts that you mention. i think that's bull shit. i agree with you on that people that say we should buy them just because should kiss some ass. i have stated at a forum that i post on a bunch that i think they are over priced, and that i wouldn't buy them cause i already own a copy of them and if i wanted more i can get originals a lot cheaper on e-bay and if i wanted to put money to the charity fund for the statue i would just send them the money to begin with.

now i am gonna use your own words against you. "God forbid a company actually make a game the fans want and actually like." you just said that, so why are you so mad about it when people like wizards of the cost for doing something that they wanted them to do ??

maybe you need to read that statement that you just said and ask your self "why am i so mad about people liking a game that is produced by wizards of the cost."

i am here because i like reading blogs about the older editions of games and the stories that people have of playing those games when younger.

I replied with the following:

Ok, first, I concur with Justin Alexander when it comes to defining the stages of D&D. Yes, AD&D2e is old school. So is 3.x. His reasoning was all the editions had been different up through 3. But a fighter was still a fighter. You could recognize a fighter. When 4e hit it was a new ballgame. Justin play-tested both 3 and 4 and was excited about 4e to start with, but soon he saw where things were going, turned in his notes and has been hated by the Wizards fans ever since. But D&D is not OSR. Older D&D would be considered Retro Gaming. The OSR started in the 21st century.

Now, I'm not the first person to have a problem with Wizards. They have been sinking for 12 years. I agree with the majority of people who feel betrayed and ripped off by them.

Their track record is crap man, and they are promising a game that can't be made and certainly can't be played the way they describe. I'm a game designer. My first full RPG would have come out this year. Now I have to reconsider what I'm doing. I know they are blowin' smoke but every time they say they have a winner, well, if you think they have made a smart business move in 12 years I would like to see it. Man, they lost 22.5 million players...out of 24 million...that is awful.

Think about this for a second: You have a big box in a room sitting on a table, on the side a big bright D&D logo, a crank handle and a slot marked 'money comes out here' and you don't even know how to turn the crank.That's WotC.

Too little too late is my own view on these latest tactics. Go read what the 4e hardcore are posting. They hate us (people who aren't hardcore 4e fans) worse than ever. They blame US for the death of 4e. Is that rational?

I have my reasons for not liking Wizards and even TSR. When the 'industry' took off in the mid 80s I had opened a shop. My ads ran in Dragon magazine. I was on top of the world. 3 years of my life and every penny I could scrape together in the worst economy the country had seen since the Great Depression.

And TSR and the 'industry' sold us up the river. When the Satanic Panic started they backed down instead of telling those psychos to go to hell they screwed everything up trying to appease them. It was all about the money then. I lost everything, including my love for the game. It would be 7+ years before I would even look at a game again. I tried to get with AD&D2e, spent a small fortune on Dark Sun and all the bells & whistles just to have no one want to play. I quit gaming again.

It would be almost 10 years before I would try again. It just didn't work out. And the war was raging over 3.0.

Wizards being bought out by Hasbro was probably the final nail in the coffin.

And if you read that quote up their at the top of the page on the right by Rob Conley that is what the OSR means to me.

Before the industry TRPGs were a 'hobby business'...games made by gamers for gamers. Look at all the famous people involved in gaming from 1973-89. They were gamers. I respect Erik Mona for being forthright about his gaming background. He gave a great keynote speech in 2009 (I have the link if you would like to watch it out at YouTube-be warned...it is over an hour long. Excellent speech though). The GenCon 2011 video of Erik and Lisa is also excellent.

And here's something too when it comes to Wizards vs. Paizo. You may have heard how Wizards has been having gaming items taken off the market due to copyright infringement. Most of that has been BS. But the OSR can't front the lawyers like the big boys have so they have no choice but to pull their product, even if the charge was bogus (which it was).

Paizo's own Sean K. Reynolds announced that fans and professionals alike were free to develop new material for the new Beginners Box (which is excellent btw) and even sell it because they were not going to be developing for it. I just like the way they are straight forward about stuff like that.

And I didn't say Paizo was OSR. They use the same SRD we all do who develop games under the OGL (Open Game License) and Pathfinder fans and OSR fans tend to get along. They seem to have a mutual respect for each other.

If people want to take the chance that a company that has failed the fans every single time they have released a new edition of D&D then that's their business. But don't shout down those who don't believe them anymore.

The OSR hobby business can't wait around for people to figure out what is going on here. They are small companies. They won't last without sales. If people are saving money for whatever it is that they think Wizards is going to deliver on they won't be spending money on the 'hobby business', which will kill the last place that many of us feel at home. As a publisher and a game fan it truly saddens me. I haven't enjoyed gaming like this in years. Now it's ruined. All anyone wants to blog about is WotC. I don't care about them or any announcements they make now or in the future.

Now I have to decide what I am going to do.

(end reply)

A Poll For OSR Publishers

Having read as much as I can stomach each day of this 'shock and awe' tactic being used I was wondering what the creative members of the community have to say about this.

Now, it doesn't matter whether you are a fan publisher or a professional publisher (basically do you give your creations away for free or sell them).

If you don't want to speak I understand. But I haven't really seen much one way or the other about how publishers feel about reprint news and new edition news.

Be civil (unlike other blogs which have begun to look like fan boy forums) and state your piece.

So the question is: How do you see this affecting your own future publishing efforts?

No piddly poll thingy to the right...just post to the comments...

Well, I guess we have been told-(WARNING: LANGUAGE)

What a nice way to wake up Saturday morning:

"Seriously the grognards (lower case g) need to f****** get over themselves and stop b******* and seeing conspiracies where there are none."

-Timothy Brannan

http://wastedlandsfantasy.blogspot.com/2012/01/ad-regarding-reprints.html

So, what have we learned here.

First, the use of the term 'grognard' as a derogatory remark is pure 4e fan boy / Wizards-style BS. When I see the word it has always been a sign of respect, the oldest of the old school. Second, when someone tells you to 'get over' yourself, yet another typical statement from this group of gamers.

So what does this mean? Seems we have had some 4e fan boys hangin' out in the OSR back waters. Anyone else want to raise your hand while we are at it?

It would seem you have a right to play and say whatever you want, Tim. But it seems the rest of us are not entitled to free speech. Nice going...Hitler.

And Jason, this is not about 4e. This is not about a game system.

This is about years of an industry who finally find themselves backed into a corner that they constructed themselves and now need a way out.

This is about not giving another nickel to an organization who taught a whole new group of gamers to hate everything that came before 4e because it was, and I quote "A bunch of old neck beard grognards playing old broken games" and how they need to "get on board and support the latest edition to show their loyalty to the game"...does that sound a little familiar this morning?

That's 4e fan boy talk.

This is about an industry that has used bully boy tactics and strong armed retailers into doing whatever they are told to do upon threat of pulling their wares from the shop and then turning their backs on store owners when the chips were down. It was going on in the 80's and is still going on today.

Well folks, I could lay out the f-bombs and turn this into a real war, but that's what WotC was hoping for and as I also predicted this noise would eat up all the signal about gaming. 2 for 2 so far.

I have typed and deleted many lines this week but I think it is just time to wash our hands clean, devote our resources to gaming and forget these people existed. You know who they are. Just read their posts.

All I ask is that everyone take a moment and think about this today: The people who have provided us with materials to play the games we love while the industry turned their back on us.

Tim, I have to say...I am disappointed by your actions. Not that you want to play 1e with your kids. No, it's more about the attitude you have developed lately towards your fellow gamers. It's about the use of abusive language...and you're a teacher...with kids...is that what you are teaching them?

I hope everyone finds a seat today at a table of their choice and enjoys some gaming goodness.

20's

GLOBAL UPDATE - OR DAMN I'M GLAD I BOUGHT ARKHAM HORROR

Just a bit for those who might care.

It would seem this is going to go down as the most insane January in my memory. I look forward to that deepening of winter and slowing of the schedule that comes after the holidays. A time to reflect and to look forward to the year ahead.

Now if it would just drop below 70 degrees and the tornadoes would stop we might get back to winter.

Anyway.

The Eternal Keep has been gaining some meat again as I find time to squeeze in some updates. I decided that since the original problem may have been caused by the size of the widget I was using I decided to start with blogs that had been waiting to get on the list and then start working on the loyalty list.

For almost 3 years I have been maintaining the Keep and only ask for one thing in return-a link back to the Keep. I never noticed till today how many blogs never did that. So I'm checking blogs to see who had it linked and they are being reloaded now.

Also, email will be changing soon. This whole mess with Google and their desire to run off every user they have amazes me but humans will be humans. So I will be re-locating everything in time. I'm consolidating all my mail to one location and have already opened accounts with Tumblr and Wordpress. I have had blogs with Tumblr before and they would be a perfect fit if it wasn't for a few things lacking that I really want on a blog...namely an integrated commenting system. But I can cut code into other blogs to show a feed so I am working on that.

I purchased the domain

http://www.classicrealmsofadventure.com/

and am currently using it as the front end to that blog, but will re-direct it when the change over has been completed.

All in all a pain in the ass for the foreseeable future.

On the gaming front, yeah, thank GOD for Arkham Horror. Seems that is the only game related thing bringing a smile to my face right now. As predicted it seems that all anyone wants to post about is the one topic I'm not interested in. Sad. I really did completely misjudge this whole thing.Plus people want to crawl up my ass about what my problem is with the situation. I just hope they enjoy that 'game that is completely impossible to make' cause there may not be much to return to after they figure out what has transpired.

I will say only one other thing about that-all I have heard for years is the following:

"Oh no, I just spent all that money on 3.0 and now 3.5 is here-Oh no I just spent all that money on 3.5 now 4.0 is here-oh no..."

Same company guys...same company...nothing has changed...you want to believe it has, but if you crap in one hand and wish in the other...

As it stands I think I will throw my lot in fully with the majority, maybe for the first time in my life, and designate 3.x in all its many guises as my 'go to' for play and design. I have truly enjoyed getting to know fans of that ragged beast and have never ceased to be amazed at what all it is capable of. It may be the closest thing to a true Universal system that I have every enjoyed (sorry Steve, GURPS just doesn't do it).

Oh well, I'm grateful for all the good games, rpg and boardgame, that we have...at least old Howard P. can still get me started. :)

For those who stick it out your company is greatly appreciated and I hope to post a bit more upbeat soon. Good things are all around. I just need to get about 20 things off my back right now.

This might explain some of our Blogger problems

https://www.google.com/policies/#utm_source=googlehp&utm_medium=hpp&utm_campaign=en-us-hpp_pp

And I would look over those new Privacy Policies and TOS...not so certain I want them any further in my business...

Crossroads

The year isn't even a month old yet and already chaos seems to haven taken root. Screw the Mayans, we'll burn this puppy ourselves.

Something that a lot of people don't know about me is that my background is sales and marketing. My first business was a game store that not only went belly up but belly flopped so as to create a massive wave of debt that I paid off by way of a crappy job afterwards.

Now, I was young and inexperienced but not without council and guidance. This was the mid-'80s, just when the gaming industry took over. This was when my problem began.

Satanic panic had set in and the economy was crap. Instead of pulling for the retailers who were the backbone of the business at that time and standing up for the company TSR basically fed us to the lions.

So my problem began long before Wizards was even dreamed of.

But I know BS when I smell it.

I do not like the company. I do not trust the company. I can tell you the next 10 moves to make to break Paizo's back and destroy the OSR in one fell swoop. And it seems the OSR is already falling for it.

Somehow people have confused the OSR with D&D. Whatever those initials stand for D&D is not part of the OSR. For all practical purposes the OSR began with OSRIC. OSR is about NOW. Otherwise you are talking about 'classic' or 'retro' gaming. Big difference.

The division that WotC keeps causing with each new announcement will continue. Then everyone will go out and buy their crap again infusing enough money into the dept. to keep it running.

Anyone in their right mind can read what is being said about 5e and know that it is impossible. Come on, just look at one example-skills and feats - just this alone divides more fans than just about anything.

Without them you lose the new school player and with them you lose the old school player.

Old schoolers want to role-play. New schoolers want to build a tank and drive it through a dungeon.

This list could go on but I just wish people could see what is going on just as it has in the past and just say no this time. It might be different if we didn't have the vibrant scene that is gaming in some cases 24 hours a day, but we have what we need. And if we don't by tomorrow morning someone will have wrote it.

My own project sits at a crossroads. I am very frugal with resources but finding myself short of labor and behind schedule has placed me in the position of having to decide whether I proceed further. I know there must be others who are in the same corner and the folks who have made this a going concern have to have a case of nerves as well.

Top that with a rapidly changing tech situation (that I think has taken out Eternal Keep, but I'm still hoping) that is causing nightmares for everyone involved and I don't see there being an OSR at the end of the year.

Which is what they want. The re-print will give them the cash boost to get through (do you really think they aren't going to be holding back cases of DMGs to auction on eBay after the LTD ED runs out? $150 a pop most likely) and then the initial sales and reviews will drive the final nail in the coffin.

I notice how no one has mentioned how this game has already been in secret play tests and everyone I have read about in those play tests are 4e people. And they like it. Which means old schoolers will not.

The news on the Eternal Keep isn't good. Being unable to save the changes to the blog list means it slowly falls into decay as blogs fade away and no new ones get entered. Not to mention the amount of work involved in trying to save it just to possibly have the same tech problem again.

Yes, my position on this is extreme. I have a background in the business end of it and it didn't go well. Now, once again, I have put 3 years into development just to wake up to a lukewarm market that spent all of it's party money on that pretty dress in the window and then never got to go to the ball.

The future is unclear and I don't plan on spending this year working 20 hour days on something that there, in all likelihood, won't be a market for when it's ready.

But the real dilemma is in supporting the community. The Eternal Keep is not the only other blog I maintain. And I don't ask for money and I don't even run ads. I have done it to repay a community that has helped me as I found my way back into something I thought I would never see again. I was having a great time, tech problems and all, until I watched everyone start running after WotC like a dog after a fresh bone. That was disturbing.

If you want to get pissed at me I suppose you can. You have a right to your opinion.

But then so do I and I choose not to be a party to it.

When Alexis at Tao of D&D starts making more sense about this than anyone else I get a little freaked out.


I'm not saying everyone has went down that road. But over 75% of what I have read support WotC in these endeavors to one degree or another.

I just hope everyone thinks this through. If you really think this supports the OSR then I would ask that you spend $2 with OSR publishers for every $1 you spend on the reprints. THAT would be good for the OSR.

UPDATE

So it would seem that Google/Blogger are up to their tricks again. As bad as I hate Wordpress I am about 3 seconds from pulling the plug on this whole show. My Gmail is screwed up, I can't edit any blog and the Eternal Keep is set to private while I try to figure out what is going on (it won't let me edit the blog feed list and save it so I can neither add nor subtract blogs-and yes, I have upgraded everything - including software I didn't want to upgrade - and it still hangs on the 'save' function.

So I guess everything goes on hiatus till I finish house projects up. I expected a slowdown, I didn't expect for it to go to hell all at once.

More when I know something...