Greg Costikyan on Origins

[Crothian]

How many categories do we have in the ENnies now?

A lot (23 I think)

Wish I'd have know you were coming it it would have been good to meet you.

 

[d20Dwarf]

Thanks for the expanded point of view, Nicole. Sounds like there was a lot more attribution to the individuals instead of the companies than was mentioned in the blog.

Huh? What gave you that impression? I'm pretty sure it went down just like Greg mentioned, publishers were mentioned, but not designers.

 

[Shard O'Glase]

The only gamer who would not draw a distinction would be one eager to bust WW in the chops.

I speak from experience; I used to say the same sort of thing about Trinity. I was wrong then. You are wrong now.

Haven't played it read it etc. But doesn't the back of the book say something like this is the prequil to WoD. Earthdawn is to shadowrun like exalted is to.. So hey maybe the system is as different I don't know but the back of the book said there was a connection so I can see people failing to draw a distinciton wihtout wanting to bust WW in the chops. And if it uses a similar system one not as detached form the WoD as earthdawn was to shadowrun then there's even less reaosn to think it odd even that people may say there the same game.

 

[Teflon Billy]

...

 

[Teflon Billy]

...Russ, Peter A, Mike M, etc. did a great job, AND had fun with it, but PROMISE ME YOU GUYS that we'll never have a rapping Hobbit onstage.

NOR a man playing a saw.

NOR a hobbit playing a saw...

um....

nothing

 

[Shard O'Glase]

Is this Greg Costikyan the author of Another day another dungeon perhaps the greatest fantasy novel of all time? If so, I don't care about Orgins cause I'm not a convention type of guy I just wish he'd write more books and I don't know continue the another day another dungeon series. Pitty, I guess they didn't sell well enough. I guess they needed a better cover or something,because the book was great and I don't know a person who read it who didn't love it.

 

[Sir Whiskers]

Is this Greg Costikyan the author of Another day another dungeon perhaps the greatest fantasy novel of all time? If so, I don't care about Orgins cause I'm not a convention type of guy I just wish he'd write more books and I don't know continue the another day another dungeon series.

Yep, same guy. IMO, Another Day, Another Dungeon was his best book by far (the dwarf searching for treasure was priceless). The sequel was only fair and his latest book, First Contract, was so boring I donated it to a local book sale.

 

[Clint]

Oof. That's not very fair, Nicole. How do you get from:

After this, they have some folks say a few words about Don Turnbull (Hall of Famer, recently deceased), who used to run TSR/UK (and I remember as an old-school postal Diplomacy player).

...to this:

While Greg himself may not have cared about the loss of Don Turnbull, many other attendees knew and loved him and were deeply saddened by his loss, and being able to turn their attention to Luke Ski's short performance before moving on to further awards presentations was appreciated by some (though they didn't run home and post screeds to their blogs about their experiences).

From what I could see, Costikyan thought the performance was lousy. He had virtually nothing to say about Turnbull (my quote was everything that Costikyan said about him). You're really reaching when you imply that his dislike of the performance was some kind of disrespect to Turnbull.

Are you angry at Costikyan or something?

-Clint

 

[Fast Learner]

This is priceless (referring to the awards ceremony):

Mike Stackpole is MC, and he moves things swiftly along. It's not a bad ceremony--

Except for the fact that at no time is the name of a game designer, miniatures sculptor, graphic artist, illustrator--or, god help me, author--ever mentioned. Everything is ascribed to the publisher.

I'm sure this is extremely just. Gone With the Wind , product of MGM, right? (Selznick who?) Viking Publising, Grapes of Wrath, what a great novel. (Steinbeck? Who dat?) Dungeons & Dragons by--Hasbro, yes, that's the ticket.

This drives me absolutely nuts, and the same exact lack of attribution occurs on the awards website -- http://www.originsawards.com/ -- where they have all the space in the world to provide actual creator credit. It's bull, and is entirely the wrong way to grow a hobby.

The German/Designer game world is on the forefront, here: people actually buy games because they were designed by Moon or Knizia or Kramer, just like you'd buy a novel based on the author and not the publisher. The Origins Awards should be ashamed.

 

[woodelf]

The only gamer who would not draw a distinction would be one eager to bust WW in the chops.

I speak from experience; I used to say the same sort of thing about Trinity. I was wrong then. You are wrong now.

Well, i've been a fan of W:tO, and M:tA from the beginning, W:tA since almost-the-beginning, and C:tD to a certain degree (i'm in the "i wanted 'The Maxx', and i got the SCA" camp). Also followed their other WoD-related lines, but just wasn't interested due to subject matter. I love Trinity and Adventure!, but have no interest in Abberant. I'm just now reading Exalted.

Trinity & Adventure! are not just "the WoD in a different era" or anything of the sort. I have no opinion on whether Abberant fits with them and likewise is quite distinct from WoD, but it wouldn't surprise me. And i think of Exalted as "high fantasy WoD"--it really *does* feel like much the same sort of game, but in a different setting. Though i'm not sure why--i can't put my finger on why Exalted feels like just flavored supers, just as most of the WoD games do, while Trinity doesn't.

And, in fairness to Costikyan: if he's really been out of touch with RPGs for the last decade or so, the Trinity trilogy has pretty much come and gone (well, ok, it's just now returning in D20 System form), so he'd have completely missed it, and only see Exalted, WoD, and WoD-but-in-name (the Dark Ages line, Demon, Orpheus, etc.).