I want to talk good about WotC for once

[Dykstrav]

I hear a lot of players criticizing everything Wizards of the Coast does, ranging from the choice of fonts for the core rulebooks to the tiniest minutiae of rules. How dare these greedy corporate money-grubbers try to get our money by making a product that we enjoy immensely! The shame!

I get tired of the complaints and constant negativity, so I figured that there were probably some other players out there who felt the same way. Let me share something wonderful that I like about Wizards of the Coast.

This hasn't been the greatest few weeks for me. My boss recently had surgery (an appendectomy, he's fine but still recovering), so I've had to pick up alot of the design and administration around our company. We're on a deadline to make a product in a few months and it's just getting to where the screws are tightening. I had a jaw infection myself, but since I can eat yogurt and antibiotics and still walk around, I'm pretty much working through the entire thing. I've had car trouble recently, my radiator and radiator hoses burst and it ended up costing $1100 to get that fixed. To top it all off, a member of my gaming group just had bypass surgery, so we're still trying to get our campaign back into the swing of things.

Good things have been few and far between recently.

Village of Hommlet and the Temple of Elemental Evil are among my most fondly recalled D&D products of all time. When Gary passed, I ran a special session of Village of Hommlet for all the new hands who never got the chance to play it before--such is my enjoyment of this adventure. I thought it not only a fitting tribute to the father of our hobby to share the adventure, but I got to see the looks on the player's faces when they ran into the giant frogs, the green slime, and Lareth the Beautiful. That moathouse one-shot is still one of the most fondly-discussed games we ever played. There was even some discussion about updating Temple of Elemental Evil to 3.5, but when 4E came out we ended up going in a different direction.

So imagine my delight when I hear that Village of Hommlet has been updated to 4E and is totally FREE, in exchange for a measly street address! O, exultation! Joy of joys!

So at first, I couldn't update my information because I didn't know my RPGA number--I haven't used it since 2004, when I first got into college, and that little plastic card has been in a box in storage for several years. Not exactly an easy proposition to go digging through a storage unit on the other side of town...

So I asked on another thread about how to get it online, then sent an email requesting my RPGA number. The quoted time was 5-7 business days. I got it within thirty minutes.

So a few mouse clicks and keystrokes later, I have a copy of Village of Hommlet 4E with my name on it on the way. This was exactly what I needed to turn my week around. Life's little problems suddenly don't seem as bad as trying to convince someone in my regular group to run the adventure for my birthday next month!

Thank you, Wizards of the Coast. Thank you, RPGA. And thanks to the wonderful person that thought of updating this classic adventure for 4E for me. I'll dedicate my first crit on that adventure to you!

 

[pawsplay]

I hear a lot of players criticizing everything Wizards of the Coast does, ranging from the choice of fonts for the core rulebooks to the tiniest minutiae of rules. How dare these greedy corporate money-grubbers try to get our money by making a product that we enjoy immensely! The shame!

I get tired of the complaints and constant negativity, so I figured that there were probably some other players out there who felt the same way.

It might not have been a bad idea to crop everything up to this sentence. Does it help?

 

[Lanefan]

So imagine my delight when I hear that Village of Hommlet has been updated to 4E and is totally FREE, in exchange for a measly street address! O, exultation! Joy of joys!

So I asked on another thread about how to get it online, then sent an email requesting my RPGA number. The quoted time was 5-7 business days. I got it within thirty minutes.

So a few mouse clicks and keystrokes later, I have a copy of Village of Hommlet 4E with my name on it on the way.

Where did you find this? I'd be very interested in seeing what changes they made to the adventure, monsters, etc. to facilitate the update, in order to help me in doing the reverse conversion with some 4e modules to run 'em in 1e.

Lanefan

 

[Aberzanzorax]

It might not have been a bad idea to crop everything up to this sentence. Does it help?

Yes.

I read the OP and the first thing I wanted to do was point out how many of those complaints are valid and not so petty as the things mentioned by the OP, along with a long list of them.

But I don't want to threadcrap.

I agree with pawsplay. Starting a thread that is supposed to be positive with a heap of negativity (that derides the negative, no less) isn't likely to yield a lot of positivity.


Glad you like Homlett, though, and that things are getting better!

 

[Aberzanzorax]

Where did you find this? I'd be very interested in seeing what changes they made to the adventure, monsters, etc. to facilitate the update, in order to help me in doing the reverse conversion with some 4e modules to run 'em in 1e.

Lanefan

Lanefan,

If you join the RPGA and update your current address, they mail it to you for free.

I also would be surprised (if the free option doesn't work for you for whatever reason) if there weren't copies up on the electronic auction sites soon (if not already).

 

[Dragonhelm]

I hear a lot of players criticizing everything Wizards of the Coast does, ranging from the choice of fonts for the core rulebooks to the tiniest minutiae of rules.

It seems kind of petty at times, doesn't it?

I get tired of the complaints and constant negativity, so I figured that there were probably some other players out there who felt the same way.

Yep, I feel the same.

Thank you, Wizards of the Coast. Thank you, RPGA. And thanks to the wonderful person that thought of updating this classic adventure for 4E for me. I'll dedicate my first crit on that adventure to you!

I hope things get going better for you. It's cool that this module in 4e format is bringing a smile to your face.

And is it too late for us regular joes to get a copy of said module?


I have a lot to be thankful to WotC for. Thank you for keeping Dungeons & Dragons alive. Without you, there would be no game to complain about.

Thank you for Dragonlance, my all-time favorite setting. Dragonlance has given me much over the years, and shown me that I have more talent than I ever realized. It has been a pleasure working on the setting.

Thank you for the bang-up job you've done on Star Wars Saga Edition. I love what you've done and I hope I get to play it soon.

Thank you for taking psionics, a system that wasn't looked on favorably in prior editions, and making it into something that is cool, true to the 2e psionics handbook, and allowing it to become something truly great. I can't wait to see how 4e psionics turns out.

Thank you for 4th edition. I know the decision on this one has had some criticism, but I truly have enjoyed the game thus far. Again, I need to play more!

Thank you for Character Builder. My handwriting is terrible. So to have a system that marks down all the goodies for my character in a neat fashion, and helps to put them together, is amazing. Plus, it's a great teaching tool.

So yeah, I know, WotC gets a lot of criticism for being the "big bad evil corporation." And no, I don't always agree with WotC. But by golly, I really do like what they've done. Keep up the good work, gang.

 

[Dykstrav]

Sorry I wasn't clear. I should have said, "negativity in D&D and among D&D players." We're almost a year into the new edition, and I still hear people complaining about how dragonborn have never been in D&D before and druids should've been in the first Player's Handbook and so on.

And as far as personal life stuff, I'm not trying to get someone to play the world's smallest violin for me (although everything seems to have turned around since the Village of Hommlet shipped). My point is to establish that I get plenty of drama in real life, without adding the typical discussion of what D&D has become that seems to presage most game sessions these days.

But on that topic, my boss is actually going back to work on Monday, and it turns out that I'm getting a pretty substantial bonus because of recent events. Since I can't directly pay for Village of Hommlet, I can certainly buy some D&D products.