Darrin Drader
Explorer
Is it me or are gamers really getting spoiled?
I don't mean this in a positive way, like hey, we're all spoiled because there are products from 20 different companies that publish D20 products down at my FLGS. What I'm complaining about is the amount of griping being done against companies that are just trying to put out cool stuff and turn a profit. Maybe the turning a profit part doesn't interest some people, but if there is no profit, the company can't continue to turn out cool stuff. Instead they have to make cutbacks in staff (reducing the level of creativity behind new products), investment in the product (reducing the overall quality of the product), and sometimes entire product lines (reducing the amount of variety in the market).
Some gripes that really irritate me right now include the tizzy people are throwing in the D20 publisher's forum right now about there not being a Dragon Magazine Annual. OK, so I concede that you are getting less for your money before, but most people don't realize how lucky it is that Paizo Publishing picked up the rights to publish the magazine. Would these people, who are cancelling their subscriptions be any happier if the magazines no longer existed? If Hasbro wanted to make magazines, there wouldn't be a Paizo Publishing. Instead there just wouldn't be a monthly mag.
I'm irritated by gripes about Dragon showcasing the material WotC will be releasing in their new product. In many cases this material works really well with the existing product, but in almost all cases, the material works just fine on its own. Take the article that I wrote called "Every Home a Castle." I invested a great deal of time writing this, agonizing over whether details I was including would be cool enough, or "rules correct," or if it would be useful on its own without having the Stronghold Builder's Guidebook. The answer to that is yes, if you remove all of the SBG material from the article, you still have 4 detailed locations that can be dropped into any game and used right out of the magazine. So the response to this and other articles like it is that people accuse WotC of using the magazine as a marketting tool only. So are these people saying that the content isn't useful? That they can't find any way to use the ideas in it?
I'm irritated about the whole Wound Point/Vitality Point argument. I understand that people really like this mechanic and want to use it. I certainly do. So lets say that you are running a D20 system game that uses hit points rather than VP/WP; does this stop you from using the system you like in your game? No way! A rudimentary understanding of the way the system works is enough to adapt it to any D20 based RPG.
I'm, tired of the gripes about adventures. How many times have people been discussing published adventures and then having someone chime in stating their distate for published adventures? For some bizarre reason everyone wants feats and prestige classes, spells, etc. Without story elements, the rules elements aren't all that useful. So many people talk about how much they dislike published adventures, but by the same token, if you ask people what their favorite gaming supplements of all time are, more often than not, published adventures make it pretty high into the list. Where would D&D be without the Tomb of Horros, the Temple of Elemental Evil, Against the Giants, and Vault of the Drow? These scenarios were so popular that they were part of the common experience of roleplaying. Now a new publisher can't even attract the attention to their adventure to make an honorable mention on that list.
I'm tired of people griping about the amount of errata in a book. Yes, mistakes are bad, but the ideas are usually pretty good. If the errata is published, where's the harm?
Why am I tired of the griping? Maybe its because I remember the days when gaming was a relatively new phenomenon. It was extremely fun, it was fresh, and it was something that I enjoyed doing while many of the other people I knew thought it was either too dorky or too scary to try. I remember sitting down with Dragonlance for the first time and really enjoying it. I remember the first time my character killed a goblin, subdued a dragon, and found a lost city. Those were the days when I was unjudging, and I couldn't get enough.
Just before WotC acquired TSR, I had abandoned it in favor of working hard, playing the new video games (like Duke Nuken - remember that one?), and generally enjoying being a newlywed. I remember walking into my local gaming store and hearing that TSR almost went out of business and that WotC was acquiring the company. The only thing I remember thinking was that I turned my back for a little while and I almost lost it for good. I wonder where the gaming industry would be today if not for WotC and their profit driven business plan. Would someone else have taken the reins and created a new juggernaut, or woud the whole industry have died out in the absence of a strong leader. I personally believe the latter rather than the former.
I remember when the open game license was announced and no one knew what to make of it. Initially I expected the license to be too restrictive to be useful. Man, was I wrong. I remember seeing Death in Freeport one the shelf for the first time. I really had no idea who Chris Pramas was at the time, or the signifficance of a little company called Green Ronin. I bought it and was pleasantly surprised. It was great stuff! I remember seeing the first Necromancer Games products and being thrilled with their attempt to capture the 1st edition feel. This was true diversity, and the diversity has just gotten better over time.
So what's the point to this random topic? I guess that its just that before people take the time to complain about something in a way that makes it sound like they're entitled to something they aren't getting, maybe they should find something that they are grateful for in the industry as well (Wow, this is turning into such a Thanksgiving day thread). I am grateful for Malhavoc Press, the Oathbound setting, the Book of Vile Darkness, Dragon Magazine, the D20 mini-games, and the Tome of Horros. Most of all, I'm grateful that D&D is still being produced and that generations of people have either found their way to it for the first time, or old generations have rediscovered the fun of it all. I'm also grateful for EN-World, a place that exists to share information... and to facilitate griping.
I don't mean this in a positive way, like hey, we're all spoiled because there are products from 20 different companies that publish D20 products down at my FLGS. What I'm complaining about is the amount of griping being done against companies that are just trying to put out cool stuff and turn a profit. Maybe the turning a profit part doesn't interest some people, but if there is no profit, the company can't continue to turn out cool stuff. Instead they have to make cutbacks in staff (reducing the level of creativity behind new products), investment in the product (reducing the overall quality of the product), and sometimes entire product lines (reducing the amount of variety in the market).
Some gripes that really irritate me right now include the tizzy people are throwing in the D20 publisher's forum right now about there not being a Dragon Magazine Annual. OK, so I concede that you are getting less for your money before, but most people don't realize how lucky it is that Paizo Publishing picked up the rights to publish the magazine. Would these people, who are cancelling their subscriptions be any happier if the magazines no longer existed? If Hasbro wanted to make magazines, there wouldn't be a Paizo Publishing. Instead there just wouldn't be a monthly mag.
I'm irritated by gripes about Dragon showcasing the material WotC will be releasing in their new product. In many cases this material works really well with the existing product, but in almost all cases, the material works just fine on its own. Take the article that I wrote called "Every Home a Castle." I invested a great deal of time writing this, agonizing over whether details I was including would be cool enough, or "rules correct," or if it would be useful on its own without having the Stronghold Builder's Guidebook. The answer to that is yes, if you remove all of the SBG material from the article, you still have 4 detailed locations that can be dropped into any game and used right out of the magazine. So the response to this and other articles like it is that people accuse WotC of using the magazine as a marketting tool only. So are these people saying that the content isn't useful? That they can't find any way to use the ideas in it?
I'm irritated about the whole Wound Point/Vitality Point argument. I understand that people really like this mechanic and want to use it. I certainly do. So lets say that you are running a D20 system game that uses hit points rather than VP/WP; does this stop you from using the system you like in your game? No way! A rudimentary understanding of the way the system works is enough to adapt it to any D20 based RPG.
I'm, tired of the gripes about adventures. How many times have people been discussing published adventures and then having someone chime in stating their distate for published adventures? For some bizarre reason everyone wants feats and prestige classes, spells, etc. Without story elements, the rules elements aren't all that useful. So many people talk about how much they dislike published adventures, but by the same token, if you ask people what their favorite gaming supplements of all time are, more often than not, published adventures make it pretty high into the list. Where would D&D be without the Tomb of Horros, the Temple of Elemental Evil, Against the Giants, and Vault of the Drow? These scenarios were so popular that they were part of the common experience of roleplaying. Now a new publisher can't even attract the attention to their adventure to make an honorable mention on that list.
I'm tired of people griping about the amount of errata in a book. Yes, mistakes are bad, but the ideas are usually pretty good. If the errata is published, where's the harm?
Why am I tired of the griping? Maybe its because I remember the days when gaming was a relatively new phenomenon. It was extremely fun, it was fresh, and it was something that I enjoyed doing while many of the other people I knew thought it was either too dorky or too scary to try. I remember sitting down with Dragonlance for the first time and really enjoying it. I remember the first time my character killed a goblin, subdued a dragon, and found a lost city. Those were the days when I was unjudging, and I couldn't get enough.
Just before WotC acquired TSR, I had abandoned it in favor of working hard, playing the new video games (like Duke Nuken - remember that one?), and generally enjoying being a newlywed. I remember walking into my local gaming store and hearing that TSR almost went out of business and that WotC was acquiring the company. The only thing I remember thinking was that I turned my back for a little while and I almost lost it for good. I wonder where the gaming industry would be today if not for WotC and their profit driven business plan. Would someone else have taken the reins and created a new juggernaut, or woud the whole industry have died out in the absence of a strong leader. I personally believe the latter rather than the former.
I remember when the open game license was announced and no one knew what to make of it. Initially I expected the license to be too restrictive to be useful. Man, was I wrong. I remember seeing Death in Freeport one the shelf for the first time. I really had no idea who Chris Pramas was at the time, or the signifficance of a little company called Green Ronin. I bought it and was pleasantly surprised. It was great stuff! I remember seeing the first Necromancer Games products and being thrilled with their attempt to capture the 1st edition feel. This was true diversity, and the diversity has just gotten better over time.
So what's the point to this random topic? I guess that its just that before people take the time to complain about something in a way that makes it sound like they're entitled to something they aren't getting, maybe they should find something that they are grateful for in the industry as well (Wow, this is turning into such a Thanksgiving day thread). I am grateful for Malhavoc Press, the Oathbound setting, the Book of Vile Darkness, Dragon Magazine, the D20 mini-games, and the Tome of Horros. Most of all, I'm grateful that D&D is still being produced and that generations of people have either found their way to it for the first time, or old generations have rediscovered the fun of it all. I'm also grateful for EN-World, a place that exists to share information... and to facilitate griping.
Others are very self-righteous and unwilling to look seriously at the other side's viewpoint. There's a few in every crowd.
