Search results

Did WotC announce this? Did they explain the specific reason they wanted the switch to how names were translated?

It's possible the change in translation strategy was related to trademark concerns. This topic can get quite complicated when dealing with translations.

Welcome to the area! Barrister (different stores have different space available) and Game Universe are good places to start. Oddwillow's is a newer store focused on building community; they are a ways out from downtown, but you might want to check with them as well. If you're looking for a...

Unless the original publisher is working with a language expert on staff or a localization expert, and those are not common in TTRPG circles, in-house review of translated projects often consists of checking for required legal language and proper trademark use, then reviewing a PDF for obvious...

At a company the size of Wizards, the translations are arranged through the international licensing team. The brand team might have some input over the licenses, but translations are always complicated by the ability of the people involved to understand the translated text. If the staff you ask...

Individual creators are far more likely to find their possibilities for continuing employment with publishers, as freelancers or staff, narrowed with even a relatively few complaints about bad actions--or even speaking out about a publisher's bad actions and being branded a "troublemaker." Those...

Legal threats from publishers against former staff or freelancers who criticize their former employers, along with various other non-legal punitive actions (like the publisher or employees still working for the outfit disclosing what amounts to confidential info about the targeted ex-employee)...

Don't count on it. The tabletop industry and hobby market audiences are quite forgiving of what should be fatal PR moves and unrepentant bad business behavior from publishers. The power imbalance between publishers and most staff or freelancers in these situations, and in the market overall, is...

No, there are plenty of problems. This entire thread is about that topic. You will find many other such discussions in tabletop circles.

No, fair and ethical treatment in publishing on a practical, functional level is not all that hard to pin down, and nods to radical subjectivity are mostly flak for dubious or overtly predatory behavior. The best overall guide on matters like this is to take people at their word, to watch their...

Again, even with ethics, there are areas where actions can be debated, but lots more in business where, no, it's pretty clear the people in power were not being ethical. You are also way off about the expectations of the people working in "the artistic trades." While they may be motivated to...

Every publisher has critics. The larger the publisher, the more critics. Not all publishers have critics with valid or serious complaints, and not all complaints are of the same weight. An author bashing a house because they got fired from a project because said author missed all their...

Publishing involves a lot more than paying on time. And if you as a business partner ignore the red flags in non-financial areas, you're asking for trouble even on payment. Companies that fail to honor other aspects of the working relationship will frequently fail to honor their financial...

If a publisher or even an editor you are working with as a creator or staffer lies or screws over a fellow creator, you should understand you could be next and likely will be in for the same treatment sooner or later.

Indeed. But it only takes a small number of people to poison the market, especially in a segment of publishing where so much of that market is controlled by so few major or mid-tier houses. The majority of the serious issues in tabletop publishing arise when people who own a publisher or...

Great points. If cash flow becomes a problem for a publisher, as it seems to be here given reported late or missing payments to staff and creators, required payments to licensors and getting products released in the time required by the license can also become issues. Licensors tend not to be...

Some fairly large licenses are available at reasonable rates, but as you hint here, part of the issue is knowing who to ask and how to ask. The costs tend to scale up significantly with the size of the place holding the IP, too. If you are dealing with Hasbro or a film studio, they have inhouse...

The initial PR around the company hyped the participation of a number of game industry veterans. Those people vanished from the company last year, along with at least some of the PR material on the company website hyping them. That was a red flag before November.

This is increasingly common in TTRPG publishing circles, as fans who made their money in other business areas and people/companies who think there's money to be made in IP farming start or acquire game publishing companies. They don't know how to be publishers, let alone publishers in a hobby...

It has become increasingly common in TTRPG publishing circles in the past ten to fifteen years, following the lead of big companies such as Microsoft, to hire what formerly would have been essential staff position under contract. I was the executive editor for Chaosium, but still a contract...