Frank Mentzer, Tim Kask, Jim Ward and Chistopher Clarke form Eldritch Enterprises

[JoeGKushner]

I must spread some xp around... Sorry Merric.

I wasn't going to mention the whole Fast Forward thing. They did do a few products that had some innovation to them like the spiral bound book that was very easy to use and Orc Fest which was one of the best introduction adventurers I've seen. Dungeon World had some interesting concepts.

But I agree with Merric. Lots of useless content and lack of understanding of the core OGL/d20 SRD rules and overall one of the reasons why the d20 fad got as bad as it did even before the 3.5 bust.

 

[mattcolville]

Wait, Christopher Clark, the dude behind Necromancer Games? I don't care how old school that dude is, he did well. It's ok if Jim Ward didn't know the market and the OGL, because Clark certainly did.

For me, two things are self-evident about this;

1: These guys have the chops to produce a lot of cool content.

2: They're going to fail spectacularly if they depend on any traditional publishing model for monetizing that content.

If they make the mistake of thinking their product is books or PDFs, rather than the actual content they create, then they're already doomed. There's no market anymore. That era of the RPG publisher as a going concern is done. It's no 2002 any more, or 1996.

 

[MerricB]

Wait, Christopher Clark, the dude behind Necromancer Games? I don't care how old school that dude is, he did well. It's ok if Jim Ward didn't know the market and the OGL, because Clark certainly did.

Are you thinking of Clark Peterson, Matt?

Christopher Clark - there are two designers by that name. I suspect the one we're talking about is this one, who co-founded Hekaforge Productions with Gary Gygax and helped publish Lejendary Adventure.

EDIT: Hey, my 10,000th post! Cool!

Cheers!

 

[Keefe the Thief]

I love it that Grognardia is quickly becoming the No Mutants are Allowed of the gaming world. Love as in shake my head about it.

Anyway, i have to agree with Merric: the founders (and i wish their company much success) are definitely from an old-school era, but i find many of their prior publications somewhat meh.

 

[JamesM]

I wonder who at Grognardia thinks they are more old school industry professionals than these guys are?

No one said anything even close to this, so I'm not sure why it's being asserted, let alone now, more than a year after I made the original comments. I've actually had nothing to say on this subject since August 2009, but I guess people enjoy trying to manufacture controversy where there is none.

Seriously, do people even bother to read what anyone writes anymore or do they simply rely on third hand reports? My criticisms of this endeavor were that I did not think, based on the information we had then, that it demonstrated those involved had a very good understanding either of the current RPG market generally or the old school niche in particular. I stand by that opinion, though, as I said back in 2009, I'll be happy to be proven wrong.

 

[JamesM]

Grognardia is only one guy. And people need to remember that James Maliszewski is writing what amounts to an opinion column, there's a lot of personal bias there, and I would not call him a true historian because of that. I think a lot of readers forget that because he writes a lot and his blog is so popular.

I'm not sure what bearing being a "true historian" has in this particular case, since I've never claimed to be such and anyone who actually reads my blog with any attention knows I am anything but unbiased.

 

[JamesM]

I think it would probably be wrong to think that JM or anybody else isn't ultimately supportive. Just my opinion based on what I've read in forums and blogs, of course.

And your opinion would be correct. Unfortunately, there are many people for whom the expression of any skepticism, let alone criticism, of another's plans is tantamount to "negativity." I said in August 2009 and I say again now: I will be happy to be proven wrong in my opinion about the likely success of this venture. What's more, if I am mistaken, you can be sure I'll write about that fact on my blog, whereas I don't expect to get many apologies from the people lambasting me for daring to raise some legitimate questions.

 

[JamesM]

I love it that Grognardia is quickly becoming the No Mutants are Allowed of the gaming world.

Hey, I love Gamma World and Metamophosis Alpha and say so regularly on my blog; I can't imagine why anyone would think I dislike mutants.

 

[JeffB]

As much as I love OSR and old school products, I cannot say I'm very excited about this either based on the track records or the past products of the people involved.

Jim Ward of course needs no intro to the D20 fans fam with FFE and his tirades on these boards and others whenever he is slightly critisized. Jim is also responsible for alot of absolute garbage product in the 2E days, and now seemingly has the C&C guys mesmerised by his "old school cred". Barring the flashes in the pan of MA/GW & G,DG,H/D&DG he has done little work to remember in a positive light.

Mentzer's claim to fame is editing out the BECMI as Merric stated, but again has no memorable writing of adventures or other OSR type products. Frankly, (no pun intended) I thought TOEE was awful. I really wish Gary had been able to complete/write that entire product.

Tim? Well Tim is an editor- and he's been GREAT for quotes in my sig lines over the years I always loved his introductions in the LBBs and the AD&D books, and he did a great job with The Dragon, but again- what adventure/gaming material has he done of note?

I believe Chris Clark is the guy who was originally doing Lejendary Adventures, and used to post alot over at lejendary.com I do believe I read some of his LA work about 10 years ago (an adventure or something) and enjoyed it. So I'll give him the benefit of the doubt.

I don't always agree with James Maliszewski, but I enjoy his column more often than not, and in this case, (and not misunderstood/taken out of context like it seems to have been) he's right- PF & SW, fine games they may on their own merit, are def not part of the OSR market. If the EE folks feel otherwise, then I would say they are definitely out of touch.

 

[Dragonhelm]

Props on the new endeavor. Creatively, they'll do great. I just hope they have a good business plan to go with it. Looking forward to seeing what they produce.

Seriously, do people even bother to read what anyone writes anymore or do they simply rely on third hand reports?

I read your article on Tracy Hickman. You are entitled to your opinion, of course, and I'm entitled to disagree with that opinion. The article and the hateful comments various other people posted was enough to tell me that Grognardia is a place that I do not wish to visit.