Arthaus reverts rights to Ravenloft and Gamma World back to Wotc

[Viktyr Gehrig]

Actually, what the original poster did was refer to the work as "abominable". Under no definition is that criticism. It is just lashing out.

Go read the original post again. it was an attack on the whole game line and everyone that worked on it. It doesn't qualify as criticism, constructive or otherwise. It is vitriol based upon the ever present fannitude "I would/could have done it better/different!"

On reflection, I think you are right-- and I owe you an apology. I overreacted to a situation I had no real personal stake in and spoke far too viciously about your character and your intentions.

It was already a bad situation when I stumbled into it, and I did nothing to make it better.

I am sorry, and I will try to be more restrained in the future.

See, this is criticism. It isn't particularly nice criticism, but it isn't an attack. See the difference?

Had I not already been offended, I wouldn't not have voiced this criticism here-- and, like in other discussions where I've commented on Gamma World, I would have voiced it in far gentler fashion.

I can apologize for the tone of my comments; it was unwarranted.

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

It is fine to say that you had specific expectations for Gamma World, and you found what you considered a core part of the setting to be missing. While the rules support may be lacking for what you wanted ...

I am glad that you feel that way, but unfortunately your pardon does not cover the extent of my complaints; I have no problem with the Gamma World setting as presented in the product line-- my complaints are directed at the issue that the rules presented within the line do not support the setting well.

So Gamma World D20 wasn't well made for what you wanted. It didn't suit your tastes. Honestly, if you said that about my work, I would accept that. I don't feel that this justifies the term "abominable."

I have already addressed the fact that my replies in this thread have been far too vitriolic, and I have apologized to the person they were originally directed at.

However, your prioritization of story material over mechanics does not make the poorly-designed mechanics more palatable. Since any game book is as much rules as it is story, this is a serious flaw that can damage the quality of a game line whose story material is far superior.

If you would care to defend the systems of mechanics contained within Gamma World in another thread, I will engage you-- but I will not accept that "differing tastes" deprives me, or any other person, of any ground for argument that a given product is of poor quality. There is a profound difference between a product being unsuitable for my tastes and a product failing to meet its own (stated) design goals-- and I am generally capable of making that distinction.

I will also discuss this topic no further within this thread-- it is off-topic here and this thread is already too poisoned (partially by my own hand, unfortunately) for any meaningful discussion.

 

[scourger]

Scourger, please contact me at roninartspresident@yahoo.com to claim your prize. You've been selected by the Online Prize Patrol.

Sweet! Email sent.

 

[broghammerj]

All of those books are still available though. Maybe Ravenloft won't be updated as new editions of d20 come out, but there's still a goldmine of material to last DMs for a long, long time already out there.

I agree with you somewhat on this point. For me personally, I always find that if a line is dead so goes the flame I once had burning for it. I owned a lot of 2E Ravenloft material and loved the setting. When it went under I turned to the Kargatane for support. Their online material was awesome but the 3rd incarnation never jazzed me up again even though they were the writers.

Look at the Alternity setting. Star Drive makes a great campaign for D20 future. It's supported in D20 future iitself and there is moderately good online support at alternity.net but IMHO has been slowly fading since the line's demise.

The same I think is true of Dark Matter, Planescape, Dark Sun, etc. It's out there but you really have to work for it.

 

[broghammerj]

On another note.....I would like to know why the IP converted.

1. To exspensive to keep the license, ie we can't pay WOTC?

2. The license was not lucrative enough to keep, ie not enough sales to warrant keeping it?

3. WOTC is wants their IP rights back?

Food for thought. Now talk amongst yourselves. Conspiracy theorists wanted.

 

[Buttercup]

I think it's likely that the license wasn't lucrative enough for White Wolf. Then too, they seem to be unloading all of their D20 lines except the partnership ones such as Malhavoc and Necromancer.

I'm afraid there are no black helicopters involved, nor illuminati. This was just a business decision.

 

[Reynard]

On reflection, I think you are right-- and I owe you an apology. I overreacted to a situation I had no real personal stake in and spoke far too viciously about your character and your intentions.

It was already a bad situation when I stumbled into it, and I did nothing to make it better.

I am sorry, and I will try to be more restrained in the future.



Had I not already been offended, I wouldn't not have voiced this criticism here-- and, like in other discussions where I've commented on Gamma World, I would have voiced it in far gentler fashion.

I can apologize for the tone of my comments; it was unwarranted.

By the same token, i probably shouldn't have gotten my feathers so ruffled. i sort of had a flashback to whenthe book was released. i was really proud of the work I did on that book and when all the just plain mean reviews (I am looking at you, "pig crap") came out, i was both crushed and offended. You'd think i'd be over it by now.

So I, too, apologize.

GROUP HUG!

 

[Sketchpad]

Personally, I don't find this a bad thing ... I have a few of the d20 Ravenloft books, as well as the GW Player's book and, while I kinda dug the Ravenloft stuff, I didn't care for GW. Personally, I hope that WotC takes GW and runs with it as a campaign world for d20 Modern/Apocalypse and do it properly ... while Ravenloft I think could be a cool way to run d20 Modern Horror ...

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

The real reason is probably the simplest: WW milked the cow for what it was worth and is now discarding the license (see the Law of Diminishing Returns).

The highest sales always come early on when people are buying the core rules. As supplements come out, sales drop (since a lot, if not most, people simply make their own campaigns using the base rules).

Once the profits aren't that much more than the costs, why bother? Time to move on to the next big thing.

Sad, but that's business.

 

[Aeolius]

(really, we've officially got too many aquatic undead at this point that are trying to fill the exact same niche)

one can never have too many aquatic undead...