Colin McComb issues apology for the Complete Book of Elves

[Celebrim]

In all fairness, most of 'The Complete' series - with the exception of 'The Complete Thieves' Handbook' - was junk. All he had to come out and do was say, "I was 22, I had a deadline, and I was working with some fairly tight constraints on the expected and allowable content most of which I had inherited from past creators and which I wasn't allowed to just throw out. Kits and NWP's aren't exactly easy knobs to tune. Nonetheless, it probably wasn't the high point of my career as a writer or designer."

Done. But, really, I know as a creator you love your work but:

a) Ughhh, I don't know which was worse sustaining the Elven Mary-Sueism with the Elves Get the Best of Both Worlds, or perpetuating the whole 'All Elves are to be Play as Snooty Racist Jerks' sterotype.
b) The only kind of nuance in the writing is self-contridiction.
c) It's ultimately really thin and vague in most of its content. What crunch there is simply unbalances elves further.

 

[Ainamacar]

For those put off about the insincere nature of the apology, it may help to know it is listed as "Colin's Apology (Part 1)" in the actual Kickstarter update. I suspect you may get something a bit less snarky before too long.

In fact, we have this post from McComb at RPG Codex (you know, the delightfully angry site) which predates the launch of the Kickstarter by a few weeks.

At 3.5M, I will record a video abjectly apologizing. At $4M, I will do it in sackcloth and ashes.

The tone and context is playful, but it wouldn't surprise me if it actually occurs more-or-less like that.

 

[frankthedm]

Well, that just put anything he'll be working on in my Do Not Buy list.

 

[Dice4Hire]

I dug it.

Just think. Someday, after a lot more water passes under the bridge, we'll be able to pay our hard-earned cash for similar apologies for third and fourth edition mistakes.

When will you issue an apology for this post?

 

[dd.stevenson]

When will you issue an apology for this post?

Good point. I'll have to add that as a stretch goal in my upcoming kickstarter.

 

[pemerton]

Thanks for the link - that was great!

 

[jhunton]

WOW THAT WAS GRAET

 

[El Mahdi]

deleted

 

[Ebony Dragon]

I really liked the complete book of elves! Then again, I was twelve when it came out and didn't have a good grasp of game balance at the time.

 

[the Jester]

I found his apology to be insincere and his manner to be condescending, neither of which make me more inclined to buy his work in the future.

The CBoE WAS crap. The whole crap "balance your mechanical advantages with rp disadvantages har har" approach got left behind after 2e for a damn good reason- it's terrible. The fact that McComb defends it also casts doubt on his judgment as a designer IMHO.