"Dear JB" Mailbag #48

Dear JB:

Over the past few years I have noticed a sort of divide between segments in the fan base. I’m sure most people are aware of it but maybe can’t put it precisely into words (at least I have an issue doing so). I want to talk about 3 of these quickly before I get into the main point. There will obviously be overlap between them, but I imagine them as multiple overlapping circles.

1. The new age enthusiasts- these are typically younger people in my experience. Very much into the hobby as a whole; watching lots of YouTube videos on topics, picking out new dice constantly, buying all the new books, really enjoying character art etc. Maybe they don’t play that often, but they love the hobby and they interact a great deal with the community. They also seem to be the most interactive and present in online spaces.
2. The old age enthusiasts- These people share similar overlap with the Grognard, but aren’t inherently insufferable. They seem to enjoy specific over general (in most cases), they like to have explicit rules, and they don’t typically care for the simplification of races/classes. They also don’t tend to care for the smushing together of races, like the change to half-orc and half-elf. There seems to also be a bent for more realism or more explicit rules for how and why things work in certain contexts.
3. genuine exclusionists- This group of people would like nothing more than to exclude every person, or type of person, they don’t like from the game. They are the biggest gatekeepers and the first ones to chastise someone else for simply playing a different way or wanting to follow a non normative story beat. They dislike the race changes in 5.5 because they genuinely think orcs are some sort metaphor for certain real word people and it helps them justify in their minds their racism. They also like the overcomplexity of the game because it is another way they can gatekeep people who don’t share their near obsessive need to know all the rules and break them in a way that aggrandizes themselves.

Now my main point. It definitely seems when compared with older books, 5e seems to lean towards “DM’s now have the flexibility to make it up, run the games how they want, and our rules are here to facilitate that.” But that’s not really true at all because that’s always been the case. I play 3.5 a fair bit and there are tons of rules that we have over time either ignored or change because they felt right for our table. 5e seems to be intentionally sparse of precise information about things.

I’ve always viewed myself as a bit of a mix between groups 1 and 2. I enjoy a lot of the dnd content in the hobby, I like to buy new books, I watch lots of YouTube videos, but I do like my rules (at least at a baseline) to have specificity and my lore to have depth. This does not seem to be the case for a lot of the content released by WotC recently. I just finished going through the Heroes of Faerun book and while a lot of it is good, there’s just a bunch of lacking information, especially in regard to the factions.

For the Order of the Gauntlet, a faction that the 5e developers have basically made themselves, they reference the Code of Scales and Weights multiple times in their entry. They even state that initiates are required to learn by heart the code itself. But where is the code? Literally, where is the code? Even a small creed? How is this knightly order any different from any other knightly Paladin-esque order that we’ve all made? Some people in group 1 may say, “Well, the DM can make the code because they may want the group to be different in their world.” But I don’t buy these books so they can do basic brainstorming for me. I buy these books because I want to play in a community known setting, with things like this already thought of. If I wanted to make a new Paladin order and write my own code, I’d do it.

It just feels extremely negligent and lazy on the part of WotC when it comes to stuff like this. It’s like they don’t want to add any constraining features or guidelines to their lore under the guise of allowing DM freedom but in actuality it’s just the shirking of actual lore creation. There’s just a vagueness everywhere in these books when there shouldn’t be.

It seems like Wizards has taken the enthusiasm from group 1 for granted because the company knows that releasing books with a few character options (some obviously untested- banneret) and some updates with a great deal of vagueness for the various regions will still sell to people. And then when group 2 points this out, or had complaints, there’s often accusations of them belonging to group 3. My main point is that I still obviously love the game. But I feel there has been backlash against any pushback of the vagueness and what seems like the dumbing down or simplification of the rules. Or what feels like sterilization of races like the orc. It feels weird that every race is just as good as all the other races at everything, despite us all knowing that orcs are just generally stronger than most races. And I don’t feel like it’s being exclusionary, or God forbid racist, to point that out and then not be lumped with the crack pots of group 3.

This turned into a rant. Apologies. I’d love to hear others thoughts on this topic though.

Disappointment With New Books (aka SunnySpade)

 

Dear Disappointment:

This isn't a rant. This is an expression of your feelings of disappointment and frustration, carefully and succinctly explained. Here are my thoughts (since you asked):

#1  You have to understand that the company currrently publishing D&D (WotC/Hasbro) cares far less about you...or even the game...than it does about making money. You can call this "corporate greed" or you can call it "performing their fiduciary duty for their shareholders" but regardless, this is how it is. In order to do this, they have shifted their product to have THE BROADEST APPEAL to THE MOST CUSTOMERS possible, in order to MAXIMIZE PROFITS. It has long been known that the most profit is made every time the company can compel its fanbase to purchase (yet another) set of "core rule books;" this is the main impetus for putting out a newer version of the game every 8-10 years. But if you want to know WHY the designers feel lazy, negligent, and uninterested in "constraining features or guidelines" (what some might call "rules") it comes back to this:

Broadest appeal.

Most Customers

Maximize profits.

This is their business strategy. They don't want to be "niche" or "boutique;" they want to take advantage of the game's incredible international popularity and global presence to reap as many dollars as possible. To do that the game must be "everything to everybody" and "easily accessible." Adding (or enforcing) rules, systems, and procedures turns off that pipe line of cash.

#2 You're operating under some false premises when it comes to your perception of (what you call) "old age enthusiasts" and "genuine exclusionists." I shall endeavor to enlighten you so as to disabuse of your false notions (apologies if that sounds condescending...no offense meant).

I am NOT an "old age enthusiast" (which I'd hazard to guess is probably closer to the "OSR" scene). I am an Old Geezer who plays AD&D (1st edition) exclusively. This might cause you to lump me in with the "insufferable Grognard" crowd, but I'm not someone who came to the game out of a wargame tradition (which is where the G-term comes from)...I started with D&D over forty years ago and it's the same game that I still play. Wargames can be fun, but that's not my primary focus, nor my area of expertise.

However, while I have an exclusive preference for AD&D, I am anything but "exclusionary." The gates to my game are WIDE OPEN (so long as there's room at my table) and I have gamed with a huge variety of people of all races, creeds, colors, genders, religions, politics, ages, etc. People come to play D&D...I run D&D. That's not "virtue signaling;" I'm telling you the FACTS.

But I don't play 5th edition. And I don't play "5.5." Partly because, for all their production values, they are extremely poor games. But MAINLY because AD&D is just the best game on the market. And, yes, it's still "on the market" (available as both ebook and print-on-demand).

Am I one of "the first ones to chastise someone else for simply playing a different way?" Absolutely, I am. Because I don't buy into the corporate slogan of the game being "everything for everybody (just give us your money)." But I'm not just telling people YOU SUCK and slamming the door in their faces...I am trying to help people find a better way of playing D&D, so that they can maximize their enjoyment and satisfaction. 

To be clear: I do not think of myself as terribly special when it comes to running D&D. There may not be a lot of people who can "do what I do" but MOST people can get to a fairly close approximation, and I'm sure that quite a few people do it better than me, or could do it better than me with a little time and effort. Even a game with as much "overcomplexity" as AD&D isn't rocket science.

Oh, and also? I don't keep away people "who don’t share [my] near obsessive need to know all the rules." The only person I expect to know the rules of the game is the Dungeon Master (at my table, that's usually me) because the DM is the referee, the facilitator, and the final authority of the game being played. This imperative ("know the rules, DM") applies REGARDLESS of which edition you play. If the rules of 5E are too much for you to glean as a DM, I'd suggest a system with a smaller page count...AD&D, for instance.

#3 I feel for you, that you are facing (what seems to be) "backlash against any pushback of the vagueness and what seems like the dumbing down or simplification of the rules;" this, again, is the way of any insular community that feels 'attacked' from people within their own group. I am sorry you feel afraid for being branded an "insufferable Grognard" and a "racist" simply for being ballsy enough to stand up and say the Emperor has no clothes. Welcome to my world! Remember that ALL of us...geezers and young 'uns alike...started out under the banner of "D&D gamer." The faction-izing of the RPG community is (in large part) TIED TO MONEY. Just remember that.

Seriously. Groups with labels (like the OSR or the NuSR or whatever) have a vested interest in keeping their brand intact because "brand loyalty" equals "returning customers." This is the way business works. Are there other ways business works? SURE. But this is a relatively easy and unimaginative one. Business isn't really rocket science, either.

IMAGINE THIS: what if the business decided to RE-PUBLISH 1st edition AD&D as its ONLY edition, simply updating the artwork and tidying up the rule inconsistencies that came from publishing the books in sequential order, and perhaps organizing the information in a way that was easier to absorb while otherwise keeping the system exactly the same. And, let's say, that they simply became "the company that publishes AD&D" and threw all their corporate support for that system, creating on-line DM tools, adventures, FAQ pages, forums, etc. What would happen?

They'd still sell books. They'd still make money. They'd still attract new people. But the APPEAL of the game would be to a much smaller crowd...meaning they'd sell fewer books and make less money. Which would not satisfy the corporate shareholders who would then oust the CEO in order to find someone with "new ideas" about how to create "more revenue streams."

Because that's the world we live in.

You, Disappointed, are running up against the people who have BOUGHT IN to what the company is selling, the people who see D&D as lifestyle, as an identity, as a way of belonging to a community. And even though that community has been shaped in large part (either purposefully or "organically") by corporate ("business") interests, it still operates like any other community: you're one of us or you're one of them.  You now have four choices available to you:

1. Quit your bitching and get back with the program (buy, sheep, buy!)
2. Join the self-exiled (and possibly stumble into another "community" like the OSR)
3. Waffle between the two (and continue to suffer the pangs of frustration as you are now)
4. Opt out, find a new hobby, or just ignore what's going on in the wider hobby while focusing on your home game.

None of these are particularly easy choices, but they're all doable, and you have the power to make your own choice in the matter...no one's holding a gun to your head and making you buy or play D&D in a particular way. Own your power, pal.

Sincerely,

JB

***EDITED to add Reddit user's handle (per request)***

Legal Musings

Back when (the American version of) The Office was running, I made every effort to catch every episode (which was back before I had cable and access to DVR technology). I found a YouTube link to what is one of my absolute favorite scenes in the entire series:

Check it out.

For context, if I'm remembering correctly, Michael had left the Dunder-Mifflin company over being reigned in by on-site corporate stooge (Charles) and then formed his own paper company (with Pam and Ryan) in Jerry Macquire-esque manner. The D-M corporates confronting Michael in this scene have decided it is easier and more convenient to buy out Michael, ending his enterprise, rather than compete with his tiny company in an already-shrinking market.

The analogy of this scene doesn't map 100% to the RPG market, but there are lessons to be learned. 

Copyright law, in its current form, is pretty much an American invention...despite its origins in England/Europe...and was structured to serve an American objective: encourage industry. If anyone were allowed to copy, distribute, and profit from a creative individual's work (without paying the initial creative) than what incentive would there be for the creative in question to, well, create? Why would ANYONE be bothered to put in the effort and sweat of creation just to see someone else, with an eye for profit and a better marketing team, steal your work and reap the benefits?

The ability to copyright one’s work exists to incentivize creators to create.

But while holding a copyright provides some protections versus would-be thieves and liars (i.e. “plagiarist profiteers”), it is not an all-encompassing carte blanche. The term “fair use” in copyright law is (yet again) a concept originating in America designed to encourage and incentivize industry, rather than stifle such possibilities because of the fear of litigation. Fair use is the reason the Margaret Mitchell estate (Gone with the Wind) was unable to stop the publication of The Wind Done Gone; fair use is the reason Oracle was unable to stop Google from using Oracle's Java API code in Android phones.

Two things to always consider: 

1. copyright law protects the expression of an idea, not an idea itself
2. copyright law is designed to promote creative industry

Copyright law is different from trademark law. You can't write a game and call it Dungeons & Dragons; "Dungeons & Dragons" is a trademarked property. But trademarks mainly apply to brands and logos: "Dungeons & Dragons" (and "D&D") are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast/Hasbro. "Wizards of the Coast" and "Hasbro" are ALSO trademarks of Wizards of the Coast/Hasbro.

"Mind flayer," on the other hand, is not trademarked property.

If I write an adventure that includes an encounter with a mind flayer, am I infringing on WotC's copyright? So long as I don't include the creature's stat block (i.e. the expression of the idea of "mind flayer"), then probably not. Could WotC sue me over the use of their intellectual property ("mind flayer") without permission? They could, but they wouldn't have much of a case: the main argument they could make is that I am siphoning off their business, which is a bogus claim for a number of reasons, the main one of which is this:  WotC/Hasbro does not hold a monopoly on adventure writing.

Again, copyright law exists to encourage creative industry. Fair use exists to encourage creative industry. My use of a mind flayer in an adventure does not prevent WotC/Hasbro from selling books; on the contrary, if it is a popular/successful publication it probably encourages consumers to purchase more books in order to make use of it. And it does not prevent WotC/Hasbro from publishing their own adventures which might include mind flayers...it does not replace/supplant their ability to do business in this vein, for a number of reasons that should be rather obvious.

[okay, just in case it's NOT obvious: WotC/Hasbro would have to somehow prove that they have sole rights and privilege to publish D&D adventures, which would go against decades of examples to the contrary and would also be the same as proving they have the right to a monopoly...which courts in the USA tend to look down on]

But what if I wanted to write a supplement called "All About The Mind Flayer" describing the creatures' culture, society, and statistics; creating an entire variant background and description of how to use the monster in one's game? A definitive collection of gameable content; an "alternate history" of mind flayers, if you will...would THAT seek to subvert and replace a key intellectual property of WotC/Hasbro? Would it be perceived as undermining their business? Could the Hasbro corporation file a lawsuit against me?

Let's be clear: persons and corporate entities can ALWAYS sue you. 

Doesn't mean their lawsuit will be successful. And D&D has been explicit in every iteration that they fully expect owners of the property (Dungeon Masters) to feel free to create their own worlds, modify the game to suit their needs, change it as they see fit.

Yes, JB, sure...but monetize those changes? Isn't that infringing on the company's copyright?

Remember: fair use. A doctrine established to prevent the stifling of innovation and the discouragement of creation for purposes of industry (our delightful capitalist society). In this particular situation, it's instructive to check out the landmark case of Sega v. Accolade. Despite it being with regard to video games, many parallels could be drawn in a hypothetical legal battle with the publishers of Dungeons & Dragons. In brief:

• Accolade (video game maker) reverse-engineered Sega technology to create video game cartridges that were compatible with Sega's new Genesis console, circumventing Sega licensing.
• Sega sued receiving an injunction against Accolade, citing in part Accolade's unlicensed use of Sega's (copyrighted) computer code in their game design.
• Accolade appealed and won based on fair use doctrine; the injunction was lifted, Sega was forced to pay the cost of the appeal, and precedent was set for decades to come including that functional principals of computer software cannot be protected by copyright law.

The case is worth reading (and studying), not the least of which for its later ramification on trademark law. Are "functional principals" of computer software much different from the "functional principals" of a roleplaying game? That's something that would need to be decided in court, but given the plethora of RPGs that have made it to market using similar language and terms as D&D (and which haven't been sued to death), my guess is: not bloody likely.

[and Hasbro could hardly argue an independently published book "Compatible with the World's Most Popular RPG!" tarnishes their trademark brand. Even a low quality product is just more evidence of the ubiquitousness of their product. Apologies for the digression]

However, in the end, the real question is always one about MONEY. How much money gets made by independent publishers? How much money does the corporation lose because of third-party publishers? How much money would it cost them to litigate every perceived infringement (not just issue a "cease & desist" notice) given the doctrine of fair use and the potential impact to the company's bottom line?

Now...

It's difficult to imagine that Little Ol' Me might ever fall into the crosshairs of Hasbro's corporate attorneys given how little money I represent, especially when I've gone out of my way to NOT use their registered trademarks (or "mind flayers") in my published books. I mean...really? To paraphrase Michael Scott, I can just start a new game company tomorrow...I have LOTS of names for game companies.

But that's ME...a hobbyist game publisher. I don't need to sell books to live...to eat or to pay rent. I do it because it's enjoyable and it's a creative outlet and because it's put a little extra money in my pocket, somewhat validating my participation in the hobby. Other people...people more financially invested or leveraged in the hobby...might be a LOT more "risk averse" than I am.

Thing is: I AM risk averse. I've been sued before (an old medical bill that wasn't covered by my insurance went too long overpaid when I was living in Paraguay for three years...eventually got straightened out); not a pleasant experience. I spent 15 years working in a field that involved interpreting, establishing, modifying, and enforcing superior court and administrative orders. My advice to folks has always been to stay on the right side of the law and work within a system, rather than trying to circumvent it...keep your nose clean, in other words.

And, in my estimation, that's exactly what I'm doing. 

I don't use the OGL in my books. I've entered no licensing agreement with WotC/Hasbro, free or otherwise. My books use my own text, copyright me. Many concepts and ideas are inspired by and/or borrowed from other games and RPGs (as well as works of fiction). I don't plagiarize. I try to give credit for inspiration and ideas when and if it is due, but it's impossible to cite ALL the creative influences on one's work. When my work is compatible with an existing work or game, my hope is that it will encourage people to play that particular game...raising all tides, so to speak. 

That's the biz, as I see it. And while 'good intentions' really don't matter (certainly not compared to money, sadly) I am still participating in creative industry...exactly the kind of creative industry that copyright law is designed to encourage and incentivize. 

Okay...that's enough for the moment.

Fair Use Friday

Anyone looking to stream a terrific interview should check out the Roll For Combat guys' YouTube video with Ryan Dancey. Yes, it's two hours and twenty minutes long...time you could spend watching a film or something. I listened to the thing while doing household chores and waiting in my car at (a very rainy) soccer practice. It's fascinating, not only discussing the legal ramifications of the original OGL, but also the history, purpose, and intention of it, why it came about, how it affected the gaming industry, possible consequences of WotC/Hasbro's attempt to "revoke it," and reasons why they would torpedo themselves (and upset their fan base) taking the actions they are.

If you're a person interested in the nuts-and-bolts of the industry behind the hobby, it's very good stuff.  Certainly more informative and interesting than anything I could write about the subject myself.

Moral Compass

So. Let me be the first to admit that any "fame" (notoriety) or "fortune" (beer money) I have acquired in the RPG hobby is almost entirely due to the internet. 

And yet I am hopelessly naive about the business of using the internet in any kind of effective way. I have a (personal) Facebook page that I never update or look at. I have a Twitter account that I only use to follow local sports team reporters. I don't use Instagram or TikTok or..."Mammoth?" (that's a thing, right?) or even have the apps to access them.  I don't really worry about "cancel culture" or being "cancelled;" if the few hundred folks who check up on what I have to say suddenly stopped doing so, it really wouldn't affect me very much at all. I'd probably even continue writing books (slowly)...just because I've now, at this late point in my life, found that I enjoy the act of creating and self-publishing game material.

But, of course, I have the luxury of acting this way, because I don't rely on this RPG stuff as my livelihood. It is not my means of supporting (feeding) my family. It is not the way that I pay my rent. I can act in cavalier fashion, because if no one purchased another book from me or if I never wrote another blog post again, it would not affect my quality of life one iota. Hell, it might improve my quality of life, if I tossed everything aside and started a bagel shop or something (I don't know...just spitballing). I could still play D&D (with friends and family) even if no one outside my locale wanted anything to do with me...and to be clear there are VERY FEW people outside my locale (even in the RPG community) that even know I exist, even now. 

I'm just some dude: a faceless name in this niche of a niche hobby.

James Raggi is not a faceless name. In fact, as far as publishers go in the so-called "OSR" I daresay he's the BIGGEST name in the biz. Gavin Norman's OSE may sell more than Lamentations of the Flame Princess, but LotFP has been around longer. Dan Proctor and Stuart Marshall may have penned their retro-clones earlier, but the scope of their ambition was far more limited than Raggi. Goodman Games may be a powerhouse in the OSR world, but they have an entire team of individuals doing the work that Raggi has taken on his own shoulders...at least, that would be the assumption based on press releases (Joseph Goodman isn't quite the shameless self-promoter that Raggi has been over the years). 

Everyone else is 'small potatoes' in comparison...and with good reason. Raggi's impact on the OSR business has been immense. Turning his passion into a livelihood, as opposed to a garage-band hobby. Cranking out high quality product rather than vanity press releases. Pushing the envelope of artistry and taste and innovation within the OSR realm. Taking risks and blazing trails in ways that few, if any, had the gumption to do.

All that might make me sound like some kind of "super-fan" of Mr. Raggi. I'm not. I've purchased exactly two of his products over the years: a PDF of Death Frost Doom and a slim hardcover of LotFP volume 1, "Rules & Magic." Most of his products are simply items in which I have no interest. Many of the ideas that fascinate and entertain James as an artist and creator hold no water for me. It's not that I find the content abhorrent, revolting, or morally repugnant...it's just not 'my thing.' Same as I'm not into the cutesy D&D exemplified by Strixhaven Academy and such.

Likewise, I don't follow his blog these days (haven't for years, ever since it became mostly biz-related / promotional), or keep up on Raggi's role in whatever's the latest OSR drama. LotFP does, however, continue to exhibit it's own gravitational force in the waters I swim, and so I am at least peripherally aware that the company continues to limp along, existing.

On or around January 2nd, I had the chance to listen to Raggi's video declaration of "commercial suicide;" for those uninterested in the state of James's physical, mental, and financial health, I'd recommend skipping to minute 18 in the video. For those who don't want to bother, I can sum up pretty easily: going forward, James has decided that his company (LotFP) will publish products by artists and creators regardless of any controversy surrounding said individuals or any public outcry for giving such individuals a platform to express themselves creatively. 

I think I've listened to the entire screed some three times now (generally with the speed turned up), and I find myself 100% supportive of his position, his reasoning, and his moral compass. In fact, regardless of any commercial success or "suicide" that might result from such a stance, I think it's the only rational position...or position of integrity...that Raggi, as the man he professes to be, as the possibility he professes to believe in, can take.

Back in 2021 I wrote a post describing how I would henceforth forgo questions of politics (or opinion or belief) when it came to my gaming purchases...and, in part, this was due to with the fatigue of arguing politics and the downright inanity of trying to "vet" or police every product that crosses my path. Raggi's non-manifesto manifesto is a cry for logic and reason...a statement based in the fact that the internet (and social media) is not necessarily reality. For all any of my readers know, I may well be something extremely different from what I represent on this blog...people I've never met in person, but with whom I've had plenty of 'net interaction might be completely fictitious avatars representing, well, anything (any person) who has a finger that can poke at a keyboard.  Those of us who allow ourselves to be controlled by "internet opinion" or any story/rumor/gossip/scandal are...hoo-boy, we are asking for it.

But set all that aside (i.e. just keep it in the back of your mind while I write the next bit): we humans (yeah, all of us) are HUMANS...fallible humans. Some of us are real fuck-ups when it comes to getting along with our fellow humans on this planet...and, yet, there still exists within all of us the chance to create something of positive value for our fellows and (the possibility, at least) future generations...REGARDLESS of our failings.

Set aside the "gaming scene" for a second and let's look at a different scene: the National Football League.  The NFL is an industry that generates billions of dollars per year...it is gigantic. And, yet, the employees of this organization (players, coaches, owners, admin staff) contain individuals who are fallible humans. Some beat their domestic partners. Some are sexual predators. Some are rapists. A handful have been murderers. And many of these individuals could (in their younger years) have been accused of the same kind of BULLYING that schools have attempted to crack down in the last decade or two. 

And yet...and yet many of these people do HUGE, POSITIVE things for their communities, donating their time, their fame, their fortune to helping individuals in need. Visiting cancer wards in Children's hospitals on a weekly basis. Digging wells in Africa. Rebuilding homes wrecked by hurricanes. Donating millions to disenfranchised children and victims of domestic violence. Raising money for cancer research. And THAT is just the "charitable" aspect of the NFL...the NFL itself creates jobs and revenue for all the people whose livelihoods are tied to the sports: hotels and restaurants and bars and service industries and all that goes with the billions of dollars of television revenue. That's putting food on tables and gas in cars.

All that besides the entertainment the League brings...and besides the way sports teams galvanize communities, bringing together individuals of all different races and religions and beliefs in support of their hometown colors.

Some of the people in this world are real pieces of shit: guys like Harvey Weinstein for example. I'd imagine that many of his victims are happy that he was convicted in a court of law and is now in prison. Probably there are those who wish Weinstein's punishment had been harsher or had happened decades earlier (the allegations of his sexual predation and rapes extend back to 1980). 

But say Weinstein had been jailed and thrown out of the movie business decades earlier; what would be the impact on the lives of individuals. Weinstein was directly responsible for the launch of many young actors and filmmakers careers. His company produced many uplifting, moving, and groundbreaking films. He's been an activist and philanthropist on a number of health and social issues; he was a founding member and board director of the Robin Hood Foundation since 1988, raising hundreds of millions to fight poverty. Miramax (Weinstein's company) release and distribution of The Thin Blue Line in the that same year is directly credited with gaining the release of wrongly convicted death row inmate Randall Adams...I'd guess he'd have some nice things to say about Mr. Weinstein.

[this 2017 analysis of Academy Award acceptance speeches from 1966 to 2016 found that Weinstein had been thanked or praised in 34 speeches—as many times as God, and second only to Steven Spielberg]

Point being: Weinstein is an example of human potential...a person with the capacity for doing both good and evil in this world. Plenty of other examples are available, from Alfred Nobel ("the merchant of death") to Marion Zimmer Bradley (whose aid was invaluable in getting many young authors...especially female authors...their start in the publishing biz). The longer people are around on this planet, the more opportunities they have to do both good and bad. Doesn't mean we should condone harmful actions (harmful actions should be condemned), nor am I trying to imply in any way, shape, or form that "the end justifies the means," or that good actions excuse bad actors; they do not. I'm only pointing out that good can come from anyone.

Back to LotFP: Raggi is not about supporting "the good;" his concerns (aside from those of his profession) is supporting creativity and art without judgment...at least, without judgment on matters and concerns outside of the art being created. And as I wrote above, I support this position. If I were James, I'd be running out and soliciting creators from ALL points of the gaming spectrum, making LotFP a truly egalitarian publishing house catering to beliefs from every side of the market: left, right, center, and "weird."

Because creativity isn't bad...the act of creation is a positive thing. I truly believe that. Some acts of creation are more positive than others...greater or lesser lights, I suppose. But creation is better than destruction; far too much of the latter in our lives. Creating, sharing, building...people need more of this, as much as we can get, at least until our species reaches that enlightened stage where a critical mass understands that we are all part of one body, one world, one existence. 

[sorry, don't want to wax too philosophical, but one should realize that positive and negative are simply two forces going different directions and assigning one as "good" and one as "bad" is actually a mistake as both forces are necessary and essential for existence. However, as the vast majority of people on this planet tend to be unenlightened individuals who get bent out of shape over destructive forces...especially when those forces occur in our own lives...and tend to fear death and not see the eternality of the human soul, I think it's best to focus (at THIS STAGE of our species' development) on the less problematic (causing) side of the force equation, i.e. the positive, and let God handle the rest. For now]

Now, I am sure there are folks out there who feel that it is against their principals to support (i.e. pay money to) a company that supports (i.e. does business with / pays money to) individuals, talented or not, who are 'bad actors' (i.e. people who behave in a fashion one disapproves of). I grok that. I have principals that determine how and what I support, too (for example, I refuse to shop at Walmart...for many reasons). 

But I also recognize the truth and wisdom in Raggi's statement: just because a hate-filled person (say, Hitler) writes a hate-filled book (say, Mein Kampf) doesn't mean people who bother to read it will become hate-filled, any more than "bad" people who read, for example, The Bible will suddenly become holy, Godly types. I suppose there are "impressionable" types who are easily manipulated, but the sheer amount of manipulating material in the world today utterly dwarfs the tiny amount of game material being produced ANYwhere, let alone by one lone indie publisher in Finland. Imbeciles and the ignorant are likely to fall into vast pits of crazy long before they succumb to the influence of elf-game propaganda.

Creation is preferred to destruction. Vote with your wallet. Encourage better creations (whatever "better" means to you). But don't discourage the act of creation itself

I still can't say I'm a super-fan of James Raggi's LotFP imprint. But I am a fan of the possibility for which he stands. Hopefully, his health will improve in 2023 as a result of this new authenticity.

Happy Friday, folks. 

; )

Killing It Softly

All right...maybe a very SHORT blog post. 
; )

There is weirdness in the virtual (internet) air these days...anxiety over Dungeons & Dragons that I simply don't understand. Stuff about One D&D and the new OGL and the "death" of the game or the "death" of the OSR or...I don't know. Anxiety.

And I conclude this is just a cyclical thing, because Once Upon A Time, many years ago, I had similar anxieties. The Game Will Die. Go extinct...like the dodo. And my children's children's children will never know the joy of kicking in a dungeon door and sticking their imaginary blade in some fairytale monstrosity.

Alexis used to give me a hard time for worrying about that kind of thing. 

Who would carry on the legacy of D&D when all the old idiots like me had passed from this planet? Who would be left to understand the "right" way to play D&D?

*sigh*  It seems like every few years I have to take stock of my own past idiocies. It's a constant process of refinement called "living an introspective life."

Cyclical. I was recently hipped to this old Raggi blog post from waaaay back in 2008...never read it at the time, and only heard about it through this video post of him reading the transcript.  However, even if I had read it back in 2008, I'm afraid much of it would have been over my head...just as it is clear from the comments that much of it was over LOTS of folks' heads. The problem is, he is conflating multiple issues into a single rant and thereby burying (or at least, confusing) the kernels of truth that he'd hit upon. 

It's taken me decades of self-work and re-wiring analysis to synthesize this kind of thing. Here's probably the best bit:

You're not playing a game pretending to navigate your playing piece (called "a character") through some story where you get to be the hero! You are using the rules to pretend to be someone and experience and react as that person would though a dangerous world. Nothing more, and nothing less. If you want to be the hero...then you get to try. To guarantee success is to defeat the entire purpose of role-playing.

[if you want to read the most pertinent bits of the post, rather than the entire screed, I'd suggest beginning your read AFTER the indented tangent]

And, you see, to me that IS fun...if by 'fun' one means an enjoyable pastime that one wants to continue pursuing for the pleasure of it. Despite his provocative title, Raggi doesn't "hate fun;" he hate's a particular brand of time-wasting that some folks (including he himself!) lazily assign the convenient label of "fun."  

I can grok that. I've been hitting the holiday goodies and holiday booze a little too hard lately myself (and my waistline bears witness to the fact). Tis the season, as they say. And while it's all well and good to hate one's lax discipline in January (and vow to take steps to rectify the back-sliding), it's important that we appreciate just why we have this period of time when we "let ourselves go:" we are enjoying the company of our fellow humans and sharing a bond of seasonal joy (and stress!) together.

Which is, of course, one of the great benefits of the Great Game of Dungeons & Dragons. It helps us connect with our fellow humans, sharing joys and excitements and stresses with them in a fashion that is UN-likely to leave (real) folks dead and bleeding on the ground.

Has crass commercialism killed the spirit of Christmas? I realize that sometimes it can feel like this. But what IS the "spirit of Christmas?" It's not like Jesus (the dude my fellow Christians and I celebrate) was born on December 25th...that was simply the day the Romans celebrated their winter solstice festival...the darkest day of the year and the mark of the return to growing light in the world. Folks wanting to listen to cheerful music, decorate their homes with lights, give gifts, and eat/drink special foods with loved ones this time of year should feel little guilt in their holiday enjoyment...whether they're believers in Christ and His message or not! If you're celebrating your shared humanity...and not robbing and murdering folks...then you're probably showing more "Christmas spirit" than MANY of us display for MOST of the year.

I celebrate Christmas in my own way...just as I play Dungeons & Dragons in my own way. I have adapted holiday traditions of my mother's family, my father's family, and my wife's family, as well as creating traditions of my own for my own family. My children will synthesize these traditions and add their own twists and tweaks...just as they will do with their D&D games. Just as their children will do, some day down the road.

Will the continued commodification of D&D and the iron grip of corporate greed destroy D&D? Are you kidding me?

Pick up an extra copy of your favorite rule system (print on demand is still available for many books). Teach the game to someone young and imaginative. Pass along the rules to them to explore on their own. Share your joy. Engage with your fellow humans in a deep and meaningful way...one that is active rather than that of the passive consumer.

Doing this might assuage some of the anxiety. Maybe even cause it to dissipate entirely.

I (half-)joke that I'm an old man. "Old" is an extremely relative term. I'm not even 50 (that's next year), and my low impact, semi-healthful lifestyle has kept me at about the same level of fitness for a couple decades. Even so, I've been playing D&D for longer than many players have been ALIVE...that makes me a real geezer in relation to the gaming community.

Here's my "geezer wisdom" for my fellow gamers this holiday season. Worry less, play more. Play for the experience; play for the connections it makes with others. 

I'll talk at y'all in the New Year (or possibly, next week). Have a happy one, folks!

Random Notes

Just warming up the mental muscles this morning...maybe the typing fingers, too.

• The Seattle Seahawks boarded a plane to Germany today for a game versus the Bucs in what will be the first ever NFL game in that country. They're off to Munich which is, perhaps, my favorite German city ('course I've only ever been to three or four cities in Germany...).  I've heard ticket prices are something in the neighborhood of $500 with some 3 million folks trying to get in the game; one would assume the sport would appeal to a large segment of the culture. For my part, I wish I could go just to get back to Bavaria, which is MY version of Disney Land (i.e. "the happiest place on Earth"): mountains and castles, beer and schnitzel, cathedrals and museums, the Autobahn...sheesh. An abundance of riches. Hope the 'Hawks have fun.

• In sad news, a child was murdered at a local high school, another victim of gun violence. Not a crazed psychopath with mass shooting agenda, just a hormonal 14 year old with far-too-easy access to a handgun. Now, multiple lives have been ruined: victim and shooter, family and friends, students and teachers. I know the school well; it is the public school that serves the same neighborhood/community as my kids' elementary school. Many siblings (at least six) of my kids' classmates attend the school. A sad, frightening day yesterday. 

• In happier news, Washington State continued to be a bastion of sanity and democracy judging by the election results of 2022...and it appears such was the case for a lot of the country, stymying the predicted Red Wave. That makes me somewhat...hopeful? I won't say more than that, because delving into the politics of this country makes me equal parts sad and angry, and I know it tends to rile up my readers. Thank you to everyone who voted (one way or the other): our democracy only has a chance of being a representative reflection of our society if we make our voices heard. Voting is the way we do that.

• In my publishing "business:" sold a bunch of books lately. Must be the holiday season. Thank you to everyone who's given me money: as I've written before, it's much appreciated and encourages me to do more.

• In general gaming: picked up a copy of Jeffrey C. Dillow's RPG Adventures in Fantasy Gaming. First published in 1980, I'd never heard of this game before finding it on the shelf. Compact, hardcover (the good kind), lovely illustrations, it is somewhat reminiscent of Fantasy Wargaming being based off a wargaming model (by which I mean: something like a combo of ODD+Chainmail with a heavy emphasis on the Chainmail). Unlike FW, though, it seems far less inclined towards the medieval/historical and far more fantastical and...dare-I-say...American-ish (Fantasy Wargaming is distinctly Euro-centric, in my opinion). Looking forward to the chance of digesting it. Appears to have at least a couple of adventure scenarios in it that I might purloin (including rather nice maps).

[oh, wait...here's a review]

• In television: started watching Reservation Dogs with the wife. Fantastic show. Equal measures funny and heartbreaking. I've had some extremely limited experience with tribal nations in Washington (both in general and as part of my former job) and my aunt in Montana worked as a federal liaison to the tribes for the last couple decades. Oklahoma isn't the same as Washington and Montana but there are shared similarities of reservation life.  Just a really well made, well cast, well written production...must see TV.

• In Dragonlance/D&D: nothing to report. However, it is my birthday Sunday and perhaps I can wrangle some D&D play out of the family. We'll see. After getting up at 6am to watch the Seahawks play in Germany, and then heading out to watch my son's morning soccer match, I might just decide to take a nap. But we'll see. 

Okay. That wasn't a terribly bad "warm up." Now let's see if I can get something a bit more substantial.

Marketing

I am too exhausted (after yesterday) and too pressed for time (the soccer begins again...in about one hour), to write my own blog post today, so instead I'll direct my readers' attention to this great post over at The Tao of D&D. It's absolutely amazing...definitely worth a few moments of your time...and, well, amazing.

[haha...that last sentence is a joke for Alexis]

; )

It's a riff off my own recent post about teaching D&D to others (and how that's done), and Alexis ably points out some of the issues that crop up when you start skipping down that path. Check it out.

Happy Friday, folks!

How Money Spends

As I type this, I am waiting for a dude to show up to my house to fix my artificial fireplace. The bill for this repair will probably be in excess of $500, but having suffered through the entire month of January with cold tile floors, I'm ready to spend...after all, what good is a fireplace that doesn't work? Decoration?

Some time in the next ten days I will need to make a deposit of about $600 for tuition for the kids' school next year. Next month, my family is planning a ten-ish day vacation that will include hotel fees of hundreds per night (we won't discuss airfare). In March will come due the bill for the premier (year round) soccer team my son is on...don't know when my daughter's comes due (different team) though hers is substantially less. Then, of course there are her piano lessons ($30 a week), softball fees, flag-football for the boy next month (he wants to give it a try and has a cannon arm so...okay)...that last one is going to be $135, perhaps because it has Russell Wilson's name on it.

I need a haircut. I need a dentist appointment. Just had the car in the shop for two days but (fortunately) everything was under warranty, so no cost there...although the car won't be paid off for another year or so of monthly payments. And gas is more than $50 a tank right now, which sucks unimaginably. Phone, internet, streaming services, cable bill, insurance, mortgage, utilities, etc...it all adds up. Buying the stuff I needed for doing laundry cost me $25, but should last a couple weeks.

Gross sales for books in January (print and pdf)) was a bit more than $300. Good thing the fam doesn't rely on me for income. I just do the grocery shopping.

Over a hastily swallowed breakfast this morning, I explained to the kids how credit cards work. That's a good conversation to have (had to disabuse the 7 year old of some strange notions) and one I expect to have multiple times over the next couple years. Conversations about borrowing and debt and interest and predatory lending practices are not really the kind of thing my parents talked about with me as a child...which is too bad, as I ended up finding out about some of it the hard way. But educating 'em, hopefully, will insulate them from at least some bad decisions in their future. After all, in real life you don't get to roll up a new character just because you screwed up with choices you made.

The burden of living in a world of money concerns is a great reason/excuse/justification for escaping into the fantasy world of Dungeons & Dragons (or ANY role-playing game), where players are directed to magic holes in the ground over-flowing with treasure, ripe for the taking (and armed with the skills and equipment needed to take that treasure). Given the needs of LIVING (even fantasy living) is there really an obligation to include an alignment axis in the game? Characters have to EAT, after all...given that little factoid, does it matter whether my character is good or evil and that a monstrous being holds to any particular faction?

I know, I know...I said I wanted to start a series of posts about "world building" and here I am talking about money/treasure (again!). But the thing is this concept of money is of critical importance to D&D...I daresay that along with 100% commitment/investment, it's a foundational concept that has to be nailed down in your head/heart for any world building to be successful. 

Otherwise, you end up with faulty thinking along the line of this recent post from Noisms. 

And lest anyone think I'm throwing Noisms under a bus here, I wrote a very similar post waaaay back in 2010; it did not offer his "solutions," but the "problem" raised was (more-or-less) the same: too much treasure enters the game as a necessity of character advancement. And, after reading through the comments, I can see I was still thinking along these lines as late as 2017 and had not for sure changed my opinion till 2020 or thereabouts. That's a long time to be laboring under a misconception.

The issue is not one of too much money in a campaign. The issue is one of not enough things to SPEND that money on. And that, my friends, is a world building issue.

As I mentioned (briefly) in this old post, the AD&D reward system is tied tightly to the game's fantasy economy, especially with training costs and living expenses, two things not present in the the various editions of "basic" D&D. OD&D has living expenses (p. 24 of Book 3) equivalent to 1% of a character's XP for players who've yet to establish a stronghold/barony, but no training costs...I suspect that "training" was implemented by Gygax as a direct method of curbing PC wealth because the costs involved are exorbitant; so much so that the training section may be the most house-ruled part of any AD&D campaign I've seen, being discarded or heavily modified in every group I've witnessed.

Regardless, in a well-run campaign, excessive treasure accumulation shouldn't be an issue because PCs should be spending cash almost as quickly as they earn it. Almost...a constant state of being flat-broke is generally disheartening to a group of players, discouraging them from playing at all. The balancing act that all DMs must walk is allowing them to accumulate while still keeping the players hungry.  And THAT is not a matter of being stingy with treasure...it's about giving them things to spend that treasure on.

You want examples? Okay.

First: consider the kinds of things YOU spend money on...things like food, shelter, travel, vehicles, etc. Now consider what you might purchase if you HAD more money: better food, better shelter, better vehicles, nicer tools, etc. Now consider the fantasy world you live in and what the fantasy equivalents of these things are: do you want to sleep in a ditch, a hovel, a roadside inn, a manor house, a castle? Do you want to eat gruel or something a little fancier? Do you want to have bargain bin adventuring equipment or stuff that's going to function better and more reliably and is sturdier / less prone to breakage? 

Do you want to be a lone traveler on roads rife with orcs and bandits, or an armed caravan that discourages interlopers on your way from town to town. Do you have enough animals that you can ensure your mounts stay fresh? Do you have a wagon for carrying goods, including provisions for the entire outfit (animals included! working horses need grain, not just grazing!)? You definitely don't want to be slowing down for forage. How about spare parts for those wagons/carts...how good are the roads? Are there roads where you're going? If not, you'll probably need a mule train (with drivers) to pack all your gear. 

Do the characters dress like peasants? Do they hang out in tiny farm villages, trading jewels for food and homespun? Or do they make for the larger towns and cities looking to bedeck themselves in silks and furs and filigreed armor? Ermine capes and jeweled pedants and giant, fancy hats that display their ostentation should be the goal of successful adventurers.

Let's talk about "fencing goods" for a moment...the practice of turning loot in easily spent coin. Coins, as I pointed out in this recent post (and others) are simply a medium of exchange, for goods and services. You change the ancient crown of Rodrick the Fifth for 50,000 g.p. because you don't want to wear it and it's easier to split the take among party members. But once you receive your share...say, 10,000 gold pieces...what do you plan on doing with your half-ton of coins? Put it in sacks and pull it in a cart? No: you exchange it for portable valuables, like jewelry your character WILL wear: bracelets, broaches, necklaces, rings (finger and other), etc. Or you buy expensive gifts for local nobles, trusted retainers, guild masters, and such. Not only does one's possessions (and generosity) signify the character's growing status/prestige, but it should be worth bonuses to reaction rolls, morale and loyalty of retainers, etc. as detailed in the rule books!

Are your characters high enough level to cast raise the dead? Cure disease? Remove curse? Turn stone back to flesh? Everyone bitches and moans about level drain...did you know there's a restoration spell in AD&D? The sample price (on page 104 of the DMG) suggests a cost of 10,000 g.p. "plus a like amount per level of the recipient." That's pretty steep, but since the party probably doesn't have a 16th level cleric, it may be the price they have to pay after an extremely brutal encounter with wights or wraiths. The local patriarch is probably okay casting the spell on credit (which the party will need to pay back after several ventures)...and so long as they have similar alignment, the church may be willing to forgo interest on the the balance.

And speaking of those cash-gaining adventures...just how exactly do your players discover the next lucrative dungeon to plumb? Are they hearing rumors of long forgotten shrines and lost cities? Okay...so how are they finding them? Are they paying sages (2,000 g.p. per month in B/X and OD&D) to research locations and maps? Are they paying "finders fees" to unsavory and untrustworthy types for "authentic" maps to these places? Assuming they are out-of-the-way adventure sites (that haven't already been looted) do they need to hire ships to take them (and their retainers and their provisions and their gear) to far off islands, inaccessible coastlines, etc. Ships cost money, too...so does their crew, captain, navigator, provisions, etc. But with the heady prospect of making MORE money...well, it's an investment in hopes of a return.

When it comes to the coinage of D&D, I take a page from the book of Anthony Huso (whose blog I find quite enlightening) and try to keep in mind that one silver piece can be considered to have the spending power of $1 (US). Viewed in this way, a gold piece is nothing more than a twenty dollar bill. 30-180 gold pieces to outfit a 1st level character in B/X means the neophyte adventurer has a maximum of $3600 to his or her name, and a average of $2000.

That's not a lot of money! How fast can YOU burn through $2000? The federal poverty line in the United States for a family of four is $26,500 per year...the fantasy equivalent of 1,325 gold pieces (about 110 per month). When the Rules Cyclopedia talks about "dominion income" of 10 g.p. per month per family, this is ruler income in services rendered by the peasants, not the actual amount of income (or "service equivalent") being generated/earned. Or, to put it another way: peasants don't work solely for the benefit of the ruler. That's what slaves do. MOST of the peasant family's work is going back into its own household (feeding, clothing, and sheltering itself) with part of the surplus being paid out as a form of "tribute" to the lord (and taxes are separate altogether). And when I say "most" I mean probably 90% or more.

SO... 100 gold per family per month...1,200 gold per year...still gives us "impoverished peasant" (or rural agrarian society) but with PLENTY of coin...or, rather, coin equivalent (keep saying to yourself medium of exchange). Just remember: it's not that the peasants (and bakers and butchers and candlemakers) have coffers overflowing with golden coins. They earn (or create) "stuff" and then they exchange that "stuff" for other "stuff" in a constant flow of distribution and redistribution, setting aside a portion to pay taxes and church tithes and/or (perhaps) aid their fellow humans.

And just as in real life, the dudes at the top skim a portion off the top of everything to stack in their vaults.

An adventurer coming to town with a boatload of cash doesn't suddenly change the economy. Economy's don't change over night.  And communities able to subsume large amounts of wealth (townships and cities) are even LESS amenable to change...all that treasure is just getting dispersed and distributed.

Look: how much experience does a magic-user need to earn to reach 7th level? 60,001 in AD&D (my edition of choice). Assuming 85% of that experience comes from treasure (not an unreasonable assumption) and perhaps 80% of that treasure is monetary (rather than magical), you're looking at a character that's accumulated somewhere around 40,000 gold pieces over the course of her career, the fantasy equivalent of some $800,000. Quite a chunk of change, right?

But this the equivalent of gross income...income not counting expenses (what the PC spends on outfitting ventures, fees, taxes, costs, retainers, etc.). You know what the average gross revenue for a bar in the United States is? $330,000. That's average. There are a lot of folks who'd call a 7th level adventurer pretty successful (among my current players, we've yet to see someone achieve 6th level). Just how much game time does it take for said magic-user to reach 7th level? I'd think that might be a more accurate measure of "success."

[and, hey, while some folks might say "just surviving is success," remember that this is a game where dead adventurers can be raised fairly easily]

In that previously cited post, one commenter stated it had taken two years for a character in his campaign to achieve 7th level. $400K per year? That's hardly more than one would earn running a pub...an average pub. Not even a high end one which might earn HUGE revenues in the right environment with the right clientele. Yet, even then, it doesn't mean the owner of the bar is FILTHY RICH, as most of those revenues go into the cost of running the bar...not just inventory, but staff salaries, cleaning costs, upkeep, lease, taxes, licenses, new equipment, repairs, insurance, etc. Of course, the owners have to pay themselves, too, right?

JB, JB...what the hell is all this? I don't care about this accounting BS! I just want to hunt trolls and fight owl bears, and explore the the halls of giants and the (treasure) vaults of the Drow! Why are you just going on and on and on! If I wanted to start a small business, I wouldn't be playing D&D!!

All right, man, I get it. You're looking at the game a certain way: as a chance to escape the "drudgery" of the real world and play the hero or the dastardly villain just like some movie you saw or book you read. Right? All this thinking of "adventuring" as an enterprise...as a venture business...is detracting from the fun of the thing. Too fiddly.

Here's the thing: as I talked about in my last post, the ONLY thing that will satisfy me (with regard to D&D gaming) is to have full investment...which, to me, is a combo of engagement and commitment...from the folks at the table (myself included). And what once led to that investment has CHANGED for me over the years. Because I have changed.

I am not a kid anymore. I'm not as ignorant as I once was (that is a post all to itself). And while I don't (yet) mind the people in my world playing from an ignorant point of view, I'm not going to coddle them any more and...chances are...if they play ignorant, they will probably suffer. 

And if they suffer enough...well, they probably won't want to play in my world any more. And that's, you know, okay. I am going to try to make it as "fun" and "interesting" as possible. The work, the brow sweat being put into this is almost entirely my own, anyway. They (the players) just have to show up and play well. You know...like real people. Real adventurers.

Because I want a game that is immersive. I want a game that drags them in. I want a game that consumes them...as it once consumed me, long ago.

When I was a kid, I was less demanding. Now I am more demanding. I have to be. Because I have too much shit on my plate to run a D&D game as a "lark." Dude, I'd rather play Camel Up. Or Axis & Allies. Lot less brain power, and still quite a bit of excitement/laughs. 

All right, I'm digressing from the original point. Time to cut out. Hopefully world building will be next.

YEAR OF THE RAT: Results and Updates

A few housekeeping notes: folks may have noticed the pricing for my books (in the sidebars) has changed. That's because I finally got around to updating the prices with the current shipping rates. My apologies for needing to jack up the rates...I would have waited till the New Year to implement the changes, but I was running out of money to even do a new print run of my B/X Companion, let alone put together the scratch for another book (which I'm hoping to do in the near future). Canada and international costs are the real killers here.

If you're one of the dozen or so people who already purchased the new book, rest assured you got a deal (at the old rate): your books have already shipped as of yesterday morning. PDF costs (on DriveThru) will, of course, remain the same. 

A great, heartfelt THANK YOU, by the way, to ALL my customers (print and electronic). It is immensely gratifying to know people actually support the work...I only hope that the books, in turn, have provided a commensurate measure of enjoyment to their purchasers.

NOW: Year of the Rat.

I noted back in my original announcement of this contest that it was (largely) inspired by Prince's "No Artpunk Contest" (the first volume of which has now become available at DTRPG). Prince spent the month of September reviewing each individual submission for his contest, praising and critiquing and entertaining his readers.

I'm not going to do that (just don't have the time).

However, I will SUMMARIZE how things went down. Seven people (including myself) submitted a total of eight rat-themed adventures for the contest, almost every one of which being received by the November 30th deadline (the single exception being my own). The entries were:

Into the Sewer by Andrew Newport

Vats of Rats by Vance Atkins

Court of the Rat King by Chance Dudinack

Kobold Caves of the Golden God by Jeff S.

Clearing the Warrens by Vance Atkins

Silos of the Mad Rat by Ben Gibson

The First Rat Bank by Nicolas Posner

All the submissions were scored for Originality (have I seen this idea before), Creativity (innovative use of system and design), and Usability (how easy could the adventure be run at the table). Scores were then totaled to determine rankings. Yeah, yeah...it's all subjective, but since it's my contest, I get to be the judge.

As per the contest rules, prizes were to be awarded to the Top Two adventures...and based on points alone, I had a tie for second place! Since the scoring was subjective anyway, I turned to a secondary "tie-breaker" to determine who would join the #1 entry in receiving a shiny new book: treasure placement. I hope to write an entire post on "treasure" (hopefully this week) but suffice is to say that proper treasure allocation is a pretty darn important consideration in modular adventure design...and one that (for many reasons) seems to get overlooked too often by (present day) designers.

This IS D&D, after all.

SO...one of the tied entries had placement of roughly 89.7% of (what I'd call) "expected" treasure, based on encounters, PC level, and PC number. The other had 8.5%...far, far too low. 

Just...mm. No.

Thus it is, I'm proud to announce the Top Winners for my Out of the Sewer adventure design contest are: Nicolas Posner and Vance Atkins (the latter for Clearing the Warrens). Yay! Kudos to both!

Honorable Mentions go to the places 3, 4, and 5: Ben Gibson, Jeff S. and Chance. Their adventures...along with the winners...will all be going into the compilation book, Year of the Rat. I will let folks know when it is available...as stated, all proceeds from sales will be going to charity.

Gauche as it may be, I might throw my own adventure in the book, just to have an AD&D entry in the mix (all the others were written for OSE, B/X or S&W). We'll see. If not, I'll just make it available on the blog. 

[hmm...might do that anyway]

All right...that's it for now. Once again I'm out of time...super busy this week, not even counting things like decorations, tree-trimming, and Christmas shopping (none of which I've yet done or scheduled to date...and I've got a couple of kids who are expecting holiday cheer!). More later, people.

Pix of the New Book

Kelvin Green asked me if I could send his some photos of the new book to post on his blog (though I'm not particularly sure this is his plan...at the moment he seems very into pie). Anyway, since he DID do all the art for Comes Chaos, I figured the least I could do is mail him a print copy; however, international postage being a bit wonky at the moment, it might take a while to get to him.

SO, I sent him some photos, and I figured I might as well post them here as well...just in case folks are considering the book as a stocking stuffer this holiday season. Here you go:

Softcover, 64 pages

Some really good art pieces from K.G.

It's a B/X setting supplement, so
includes rules for designing/running the setting.

A few adjustments to the standard B/X
rules to incorporate the vagaries of the Chaos gods.

For folks like me, who grew up wishing they could find a way to make GW's Realms of Chaos books in their D&D campaign...well, this adapts many of those books various ideas (as well as stuff from other games/works of fiction). Works well for a Moorcock style "Chaos takeover" or medieval-style Mutant Chronicles. It is NOT designed for Advanced D&D (most of it was written while living in Paraguay, back when I was still "all B/X, all the time") but most of it is pretty adaptable. And it should work perfectly well with OSE...although the chapters are written in the same layout format as B/X.

People might be wondering why and how they might ever find a use for a book like this. "I'm not planning on blowing up my campaign world, a la Moorcock's Elric saga...and I definitely don't want my PCs running around as mutant champions of evil!" There are still many ways to use the book. It has new monsters, magic items, and spells that you can throw into your campaign world. It has alternate B/X rules (and an alternate B/X class or two) that you might find useful. It can be used to create small pocket areas of "bad juju" for PCs to heroically explore and combat. It has ideas for how to unify various "kitchen sink" themes found in D&D (like all the weird, Chaotic humanoids and the "funhouse" dungeons in which they live).

Anyway, it's a neat little book. And I just happen to have a big ol' pile of them on hand.

; )

By the way: just while I'm on the subject of hocking my wares, my B/X Companion is once again sold out. A new print run HAS been ordered, so I'll be able to send out copies in the next week or so, but if you don't want to wait there ARE retailers (like Wayne's Books) that have it in stock. You should NOT need to buy copies from eBay for hundreds of dollars (those keep popping up for some reason; not sure why). If your money is burning that big a hole in your pocket, email me directly...I'll take your $300 and send you my kid's copy (he'd happily split the money with me and wait for a copy from the new print run). 

[okay, no, don't send me hundreds of dollars for a book that costs less than $30. My POINT is, please don't be a sucker]

Finally, one last thing I want to note before I sign off and start prepping for Football Sunday (I'm going to the Seahawks game today, which will be really depressing given the way they're playing this season...): while Comes Chaos is the work of myself and Kelvin Green (illustrator), the impetus for creating it AS A PROJECT is largely due to James V. West who, back in the days of G+, issued a challenge to folks to design a 64 page "setting book" for B/X. When I took up his gauntlet...many years ago...I do not think I envisioned actually publishing a printed book. I'm not sure who else might have participated or completed their projects (if any of my readers do, I'd be interested in being informed) but...well, I did. Finally. 

Now, onto the next project. Cheers!

Happy Christmas To Me!

Ha! The print run of the new book, COMES CHAOS, came through early...today, in fact. 

[well, not actually "early;" just earlier than anticipated (getting the right paper stock from suppliers has been, like everything during the pandemic, a bit complicated)]

Still: there it is. Spent a couple hours driving to and from Tacoma, picking up five crates of books. And they turned out really nice...far better than I expected or hoped. The whole time I was driving there I had this vision of me having to tell the folks, 'nope, that's not going to work for me,' and having to deal with all that fallout, but all my fears were groundless. Turned out quite nifty, despite being softcover.

SO...folks will notice there's a new button on the blog for ordering a print copy. Same price as the other books (it has a couple more pages than TCBXA, but I don't anticipate the weight being being more than negligible for shipping). Come and get it, people.

; )

In other news: I've had the chance to go over all the submissions received for my YEAR OF THE RAT contest. Despite the suggestion that it was too short a turnaround time, six folks got seven adventures to me BEFORE the deadline of midnight, 11/30. My own offering wasn't finished before 12:10am on 12/1 (as I noted in my last post) so, well, boo me. In my defense, I will note that I'm the only one to do an AD&D adventure, and I had to calculate the XP value of the three new monsters I included in the appendix (that's what I was doing at 11:57pm) which is, you know, ridiculous but I'm a bit of a stickler. I also cooked a six-dish meal for the family dinner (not counting the dessert) so...well, whatever. 

*AHEM* As I was saying, I've gone over all the submissions, and I have the two winners (not yet notified) as well as the short-list of entries that will be going in the compilation book. I'll blog about all that tomorrow.

Okay, that's it. Dinner tonight was a fantastic beef stew with a vegetable medley side and a really nice "Swiss peasant" loaf (now with 60% more peasant!). My glass of cab is sitting downstairs waiting for me, and I'm feeling pretty "holly-jolly." Later, gators.

Changing Seasons

The family Blood Bowl season ended over the weekend, with my boy's wood elves triumphing over the ork team (me) 4-3.  He beat me fair and square despite having (in my opinion) a pretty crushing advantage in terms of team. But I had a costly mistake to end the first half, and I got greedy with my fouling (leading to two ejections) leaving me no room for error in the second half. Thus when the double skull roll came up for my star black ork...and the elves were able to take a two TD lead...the game was effectively put away. "Catch up" is just not a game the orks can play, and my third TD was what NFL fans would simply call a "garbage time" score.

On the bright side, that means we'll be getting our dining room table back (finally!), which increases the possibility of OTHER types of gaming.

So, too, does the end of the school soccer season. This coming Saturday will be our final game, and while year round soccer will continue for both my children, my coaching responsibilities will be coming to an end, as will the Tuesday-Thursday practices. The kids are already planning playdates and a Halloween "D&D party" (via zoom) that they expect me to DM.

Should probably prep some sort of adventure for that.

Diego re-started his D&D club at school this week and, surprise-surprise, he has decided to go back to the B/X system, albeit with some modification (specifically: bumping up hit dice to AD&D levels and adding negative HPs to increase player survivability). He is capping his group at six, though he already has kids on a "wait list" to join the game. He is also using my book The Complete B/X Adventurer, which he spent the last couple days reading. "You're a pretty good writer, Pops," he told me. "Reading your book makes me want to play D&D!" That kind of thing is always nice to hear.

Regarding the print copies of the new book: my printer can't do hardcover and couldn't recommend any other local printers. I found a couple via the internet and requested quotes on print costs: no response. It's like people don't want to take my money or something; I really don't get it. Right now, I am strongly considering just doing a Print On Demand thing with DriveThru though I'd prefer not to...it's less money in MY pocket, and I can't exercise any quality control...plus, I get no hard copies on hand to sell to local retailers, etc. On the other hand, it's a lot less hassle to just use their services (assuming I can make the thing work). *sigh* I don't know. At least the PDF has been selling well...gross sales have surpassed my costs, and the thing appears to have driven a resurgence in my other books' sales as well.

SO...gaming stuff. The seasons are changing. We are deep into Autumn. Holidays just around the corner. Conventions are out (for me), but D&D is definitely IN. 

I think I want to talk about campaigns. Let me scribble some notes and I'll come back with a proper post. Dentist appointments today.

Friday Updates

First a couple updates about the new book (COMES CHAOS): people are buying it (thanks to all my customers) so hopefully there will be a review or two in the near future. Some folks have had issues opening the original file, but this only seems to be the case when using the latest Adobe Acrobat...no idea why. However, I've updated the product at DriveThru so that the purchase includes a cover-less PDF, and that has (so far) opened fine in ALL formats.

***EDIT: It appears the cover issues have been fixed.***

New Book...Fun!

I've been asked a couple times now about a print version of the book. That's in the works, but I don't have a release date yet. I wanted to get the book out and available so that folks would have it in time for any Halloween gaming escapades (it does have some "horror" elements)...but mainly it's been sitting on the hard drive so long, I just wanted to get the thing out and into the world. 

More biz updates (hopefully) in the next couple/few days.

[some folks might be curious why I'm bothering to publish/promote a B/X-based supplement when...for the last many moons...I've been writing fairly exclusively about AD&D and how it's the "truest" form of Dungeons & Dragons. There are multiple reasons, not the least of which are: the book was already written, B/X is still the system I'm most comfortable designing for, B/X is still an edition that is "worthy" of being played...AND I understand that for plenty of folks B/X is their preferred system (because it's streamlined, because it's quicker/easier, because it's a sensible, mostly complete game, etc.). Still, the main reason is: it was a nice piece of writing, and I want to be known as a dude who writes for this game, not just some balthering idiot with a blog. It makes my ego feel better to have published something]

Regarding our Blood Bowl World Cup: it is still on-going, but one team has its spot in the finals (Bubblegum Dynamite), and the other semi-final game is halfway done (we plan on finishing the 2nd half today). It's tough finding time to play full games with our busy schedule, but we're close, and will probably have a champion crowned by Sunday. The orcs punched their ticket to Cup game by demolishing the Amazons 1-0 (not a high scoring affair, but only five of the 'Ladies were left on the pitch by the end of the game). Unfortunately, their thrower was killed two games back and they will be forced to go with their "ground game" against a high scoring team, regardless of the outcome (the halftime score of our other semifinal? 3-2. And we're expecting more TDs in the second half of this classic shootout). Rough.

Of course, there are parallels to be drawn with the Seahawks losing their quarterback in last night's fiasco. Not that this concerns me over-much. I mean Gino Smith isn't Russell Wilson, no, but this season the quarterback isn't the problem. The defense is the problem. And the problem with the defense is f'ing Jamal Adams. You cannot build a proper orky defense around a goblin, and that is what Adams is. Well, in Blood Bowl terms. Watching him get erased by Cooper Kupp (a wide receiver with...as one analyst described...the size and physique of a dentist) to spring a 29 yard run is at least as egregious as watching him give up 68 yard receptions and get beat like a drum in the endzone by a middle-of-the road tight end. In NFL terms, he's garbage...currently ranked the #70 safety in the league, per Pro Football Focus.

[for non-football fans: there are 32 NFL teams, and each has two starting safeties. Being outside the top 64 would mean sitting on the bench...and yet the Seahawks made him the highest paid safety in the game. Crap. Tastic.]

I blogged earlier that I'd softened my stance on Adams. Okay, yeah, no. No more. The book is out on him around the League: he is the pigeon of the defense. The skaven...er, Rams...simplified their offense immensely in the 2nd half of last night's game: just go after Adams. In the run game. In the passing game. Doesn't matter. Where's #33? There he is. Call the play that attacks his position. For a guy who wanted to be paid more than B-Wags? An All Pro who will be in the Hall of Fame one day? No. Current BB stats:

#33 Goblin : MA 7 ST 2 AG 3 AV 8 Skills: Dauntless, Dodge, Right Stuff, Stunty, Thick Skull

He's still a better-than-average goblin (his line has four advances in the stat line), but he can't cover, he can't block, he can't tackle, he gets stood up by gutter runners...just sad. Damn, Seahawks. Losing at home...again. To the Rams...again.

Ah, well. MY orc team is built around solid defense. Yes, they have a goblin...he never saw the field in the semi-final. He is a last ditch, act-of-desperation player. Not the centerpiece to a defense. Good thing...the Seahawks are giving up 450 yards per game on defense this year. We'll see if they can fix it. In my opinion, they can't until they cut bait with Adams.

All right, that's enough bitchin-moaning. It's Friday for goodness sakes! And I've got a new book out (probably why I'm not as bitter, resentful as I might be...YES, I am actually in a good mood at the moment!). And lots of soccer to watch! Halleluja!

Have a great weekend, folks. Seriously. I fully intend to. At least I know my Sunday won't be wrecked by a dumpster-fire Seahawks game.

; )

Burn that uniform, gobbo.