ourmaninboston
Explorer
I must admit to a huge amount of shock at the response to my post.
First, let me apologize.
I'm hearing you all say you're angry and feel I was trying to shame you; so that was a really poor choice of words on my part.
I own that, and it's a hard lesson learned.
I was trying (obviously ineptly) to express my worry. This Kickstarter has been a huge investment of time and money, and I was hoping that members would empathize and be willing to help. I had hoped people would see the value in what we were offering and be willing to help if I was frank about how much we've been struggling.
Expressing frustration at the response we've gotten was a poor way to handle things.
1.) I came here asking for help. The way I did offended you - I hear you.
2.) Criticisms of my approach, layout and content are all valid and sincerely appreciated. Thank you for the constructive criticism. It feels as though a lot of the posts here have also descended to a personal level and seem to be coming from a pretty hostile place.
3.) We have spoken directly with Chaosium, and they have directly wished us well on this venture. We have also been in contact with WOTC and definitely performed due diligence. We are not using WOTC trademarks. Please look at them. We have been making supplemental products for WOTC's game, but have been very careful not to claim they are official products. To the poster who said "someone should reach out to WOTC", we already have, and you are certainly free to do that.
4.) I have not appropriated anything from MandyMod, Dragna Carta, Lunchbox Heroes or anyone else. I have directly given them credit and the free mini-adventure is original material which expanded upon their ideas, as they themselves have done multiple times over the years.
5.) The Lilith sculpt is erotic, but it also celebrates beauty. For centuries, mankind has created art that celebrates the male and female form. That is something I celebrate and do not want to see censored. Had the narrative called for a near-naked man, that would have also been fine. I believe that artistic expression should not be censored or stifled. I believe neither men nor women should be ashamed of the naked body.
6.) My posts about frustration that drow are being watered down are a valid stance. As a DM, I and my players should be at liberty to choose for ourselves the way social conflicts are addressed in the game. Rewriting years of canon - just as with rewriting classical literature - to make it less impactful is a step backward in my opinion. For me at least, being able to address social conflicts is a fundamental part of the process - and one which shouldn't be retroactively controlled.
Do I think an entire group of people should automatically be evil? No. Not at all. I think culture is what makes a group evil. Like the Assyrians, a culture of cruelty made their society evil. There were certainly outliers - poets, doctors, musicians - but the society as a whole was evil.
If someone came to me and said "you're no longer allowed to portray the Assyrians as evil", it would bother me just as much.
7.) It's pretty much a safe bet that our Kickstarter is not going to make it. To the posters who suggested we pick up and try again, thank you. I went into this venture with the belief that we had some really fantastic artwork and that people would love it. We did get a lot of enthusiastic commentary but little financial support - even at the dollar level, and that has been incredibly frustrating to see.
8.) I'm a working-class guy who has been struggling to make a success of my home-based business, not some devious, deceptive arch-villain that people need to expose and punish. I welcome your advice, but hammering me when things already suck is not helpful.
First, let me apologize.
I'm hearing you all say you're angry and feel I was trying to shame you; so that was a really poor choice of words on my part.
I own that, and it's a hard lesson learned.
I was trying (obviously ineptly) to express my worry. This Kickstarter has been a huge investment of time and money, and I was hoping that members would empathize and be willing to help. I had hoped people would see the value in what we were offering and be willing to help if I was frank about how much we've been struggling.
Expressing frustration at the response we've gotten was a poor way to handle things.
1.) I came here asking for help. The way I did offended you - I hear you.
2.) Criticisms of my approach, layout and content are all valid and sincerely appreciated. Thank you for the constructive criticism. It feels as though a lot of the posts here have also descended to a personal level and seem to be coming from a pretty hostile place.
3.) We have spoken directly with Chaosium, and they have directly wished us well on this venture. We have also been in contact with WOTC and definitely performed due diligence. We are not using WOTC trademarks. Please look at them. We have been making supplemental products for WOTC's game, but have been very careful not to claim they are official products. To the poster who said "someone should reach out to WOTC", we already have, and you are certainly free to do that.
4.) I have not appropriated anything from MandyMod, Dragna Carta, Lunchbox Heroes or anyone else. I have directly given them credit and the free mini-adventure is original material which expanded upon their ideas, as they themselves have done multiple times over the years.
5.) The Lilith sculpt is erotic, but it also celebrates beauty. For centuries, mankind has created art that celebrates the male and female form. That is something I celebrate and do not want to see censored. Had the narrative called for a near-naked man, that would have also been fine. I believe that artistic expression should not be censored or stifled. I believe neither men nor women should be ashamed of the naked body.
6.) My posts about frustration that drow are being watered down are a valid stance. As a DM, I and my players should be at liberty to choose for ourselves the way social conflicts are addressed in the game. Rewriting years of canon - just as with rewriting classical literature - to make it less impactful is a step backward in my opinion. For me at least, being able to address social conflicts is a fundamental part of the process - and one which shouldn't be retroactively controlled.
Do I think an entire group of people should automatically be evil? No. Not at all. I think culture is what makes a group evil. Like the Assyrians, a culture of cruelty made their society evil. There were certainly outliers - poets, doctors, musicians - but the society as a whole was evil.
If someone came to me and said "you're no longer allowed to portray the Assyrians as evil", it would bother me just as much.
7.) It's pretty much a safe bet that our Kickstarter is not going to make it. To the posters who suggested we pick up and try again, thank you. I went into this venture with the belief that we had some really fantastic artwork and that people would love it. We did get a lot of enthusiastic commentary but little financial support - even at the dollar level, and that has been incredibly frustrating to see.
8.) I'm a working-class guy who has been struggling to make a success of my home-based business, not some devious, deceptive arch-villain that people need to expose and punish. I welcome your advice, but hammering me when things already suck is not helpful.
Attachments
-
mockup-of-a-magazine-on-a-concrete-table-31660.png -
mockup-of-a-man-holding-an-open-magazine-3383-el1.png -
working.png -
1 (2).jpg -
1.jpg -
4.png -
6.jpeg -
221931522_972433380247552_565243517560920178_n.jpg -
shoggoth.png -
shub.png -
thumbnail_monster.366.png -
video-1626848217.mp4
-
world exclusive r'lyeh animated battlemaps1.png -
zdagon.mp4
-
zLilith animation full.mp4
Last edited:
