"Last Words..."

"As two relative neophytes to the gaming industry, we aren't exactly sure what reception our baby...will get out there. Putting our time, energy, and scanty resources into this project has been an adventure for us, and it's now coming to an end, or rather to a climax. For now is the time of truth, the moment when we discover if others out their share our tastes, and if our thoughts were actually headed in the right direction all along. We must admit that we are tense with anxiety as we finally let this game slip from our sticky fingers and let it be at last completed. It is difficult indeed to stop working on a well-loved project that has taken more than two years of our lives to complete (in all four hemispheres of the earth!), and may take many more to be successful. If even at all.

"While we were designing, we had one main concept lodged tightly in our minds -- that was to make a role-playing game that helped us role-play, that let players immerse themselves in other people's lives, and for a time at least, vicariously live out those lives completely. Realism, playability, excitement, and personality were only included insofar as they move this game toward that goal.

"Now it only remains to be seen how many role-players there are out there, and how well this game suits their needs."


Jonathan Tweet and Mark Rein-Hagen
Ars Magica, first edition
1987

The wizard writes...

I think it's important for folks to remember that everyone starts somewhere; that we all have hopes and fears and doubts. And that we shouldn't let that stop us from putting out our labors of love even in the face of gigantic opposition or competition. 

Hopefully that inspires some folks. I know it inspires me.

; )

News & Sundries

Hooked up with the Emerald City Gamefest crew tonight down at the Wayward Coffee House. It was a fun, if light, session of role-playing. A couple posts back someone asked me why I hate on Steve Jackson's Toon RPG. There are multiple reasons, including the fact that I stopped enjoying "loony-toons" around the age of 6. But a LOT of the reason has to do with me not being a huge fan of light role-playing (not that I want "ultra-crunchy;" just something in between).

Actually, I think it may have to do with the whole 'toon thing. That really makes me irritable.

Anyway, I'm almost always down to learn a new game, light or not, and tonight it was Risus. Our setting was that we were all in a teenage "goth" band and out Ford LTD broke down near a "haunted mansion" where hilarity and mysteries would be solved. Kind of a Josie and the Pussycats meets Scooby-Doo. Except we had a dancing ferret (don't ask).

The worst part about gaming at a coffee shop at night is that it's a COFFEE SHOP. When the sun goes down, I generally want beer, not more caffeine. Ah, well...as I said, it was fun, and next week I'll have my beer BEFORE the game.

Regarding the book, printing, etc.: Got a call from the printer today. Their machine is still F'd. Rather than wait for it to be fixed, they decided to just send the printed paper to another "bindry company." The thing should be ready for pick-up by tomorrow morning.

All right...I REALLY need to hit the hay. Blog at y'all later!

: )

Over The Edge

O folks...so I read the whole Jonathan Tweet thread that touched off so much commentary, and I don't think there is nearly the cause for drama it has inspired. Perhaps a poorly worded thread, but not the slander that has some OSR folks so upset.  And I say this as a person who expects to never purchase another D&D book from WotC/Hasbro in my life.

Tweet is a game designer...an f'ing brilliant one at that. I have a little copy of OTE in a place of honor on my gaming shelf, despite only having run it 2-3 times. I have the Atlas 4th edition of Ars Magica, a game that came in part from Tweet's creative genius.  And yes, I have a copy of the 3E PHB, designed by Jonathan Tweet.

I took that last one off the shelf tonight. Although I doubt I'll ever again run something so complex (it just doesn't perform as I'd like at either the low level or the high level ends of the spectrum), I cannot deny the book is a beautiful piece of craftsmanship. A LOT of time, energy, cash, and love went into making that particular product.  I don't know that we will ever again see the like of 3rd Edition D&D.

Tweet is a designer, and any critique one reads into his thread appears to me to be his personal take from a design standpoint...not a stab at S&W or even a hawking of Paizo.  Just an honest, if off-the-cuff and superficial, appraisal.

So I give JT a pass on everything.  For the record, I prefer DESCENDING armor class in MY D&D (it's just so badass to say, 'well MINE is -8, pal!').

Now this Mearls guy, on the other hand (never heard of him till I read James's post over at LotFP), seems like an asshole.  And I use that not in the American way of "purposefully malicious," but in my wife's way, like when she's watching her favorite soccer team play poorly and says, "they're playing like assholes."  A dumb fuck...pardon my French.  I appreciate James V's explanation (sorry JV...didn't want to link to your food blog), but Mearls seems to have really missed the point of Keep on the Borderlands, which I feel is pretty elementary to either a D&D player OR a game designer.  I mean, what an asshole, right?