Is Chainmail dead?

[bolen]

I certainly hope they don't kill their mini line. I enjoy them alot

 

[Mark]

Lots of interesting thoughts in this thread, and more than I am quoting, but here's a few thoughts about some things and a question that I hope add to the conversation.

I lost interest in it when I learned it was not a mass-combat system. But the miniatures are very nice, and I do buy those.

I lost the interest also and haven't found that the value of the minis compared to the price was quite as easy to reconcile. They charge a bit more because of the addition of the game rules stuff they throw in and it curtailed my interest considerably.

...you have to paint them...

This deters D&D players from buying them if they don't like painting at the outset but aside from MK, don't the other minis games require painting? I'm not a minis game player, though I do collect minis for D&D, so I'm not that knowledgeable in that area.

...since I occasionally want to run a mass combat with the PC's having rules for that might be nice. Lord knows I've tried to do it myself often enough.

There are a few companies coming out with rules along these lines. I'm wondering if the Epic level book will have any thoughts on a "quick and dirty" way to settle such combat. That would be very useful...moreso, IMHO, than a full, new set of rules for such events.

The biggest problem with Chainmail is the cost of the minis. If they had produced it, and the cost of the minis was competitive with the cost of other minis the rules for the skimish battle simply would have been a bonus. It would have made me very likely to buy some, even though I don't know anybody who plays. Logically, many others would have done the same and suddenly we are playing Chainmail. Instead, I look at the price and say, "I'm not going to shell out nearly double the price for a mini so I can get some rules for a game nobody plays". Everybody else says the same, and nobody plays.

This sums up my feeling about this fairly completely except for the playing part. I just don't have the time I wish to devote to another game. I'd have been happy with affordable minis that they also built a game around for those who wanted to play, but didn't raise the cost of the minis.

Spot the grognard.

I'll bet that term is lost on more than a few of the younger ENBers, so in the interest in bridging the gamer generation gap...

http://members.aol.com/aemrich111/aemrich11/grognard.htm

And I know that gamers young and old all like a bit of gamer trivia!

 

[Bhadrak]

As soon as I saw on the WOTC website that they released the rulebook as a free PDF I started to assume that the game will be cancelled.

You don't give away the rules for free if you're committed to the line....

Incorrect. They put the rules up because they were constantly being pestered by their fans to put them up. This was in the works long before rumors of Chainmail being cancelled were brought up.

 

[ShadowJester]

As soon as I saw on the WOTC website that they released the rulebook as a free PDF I started to assume that the game will be cancelled.

You don't give away the rules for free if you're committed to the line....

Cheers
NPP

read this it should scare the e outta you
http://www.opengamingfoundation.org/srd.html
noooooooo dnd's dead the sky is falling


btw I love chainmail and would be really angry if it was cancled

 

[Glyfair]

I heard this from a local retailer who was at GAMA. According to him, this is from the distributors and a couple of former Hasbro employees. He's as good as his word as to what he heard, but whether it's true or not depends on how good the distributors opinions are. Take this as you will:

He says that Chainmail will be yanked by the end of the year.

He also says that the word is that within a couple of years WOTC will be absorbed into Hasbro. Everything not meeting Hasbro's profit expectations will be sold off or cancelled. Apparently this is everything except MtG. This is not to say that D&D is not making a profit. However, the profit is so small that Hasbro considers it not worth the time and money.

Of course, he also says that no matter what they are saying, it is Hasbro who is behind the latest cuts. Also, they fired Atkinson or forced him to resign because they didn't like his image (apparently he was at GAMA with multicolor hair running D&D games for his friends).

-------------------------

Again, I'm not saying these are true. Personally I think they are a lot of smoke. Of course, I have a very low opinion of D&D distributors in general just based on my indirect experience with them (being friends with the owners of two RPG stores).

However, this should give an impression of the current mindset of those in the industry. Basically the distributors adn retailers are crying "The sky is falling" and "Hasbro is out to get us." This can't be good. If WotC is in good condition, I think it would behoove them to do something about this feeling.

I suppose we'll have more of a clue by the end of the year. If Chainmail is dead, it'll seem like maybe WotC is going in that direction.

Glyfair of Glamis

 

[Corinth]

I think that your contact's intel is false.

 

[Green Knight]

I lost interest in it when I learned it was not a mass-combat system.

I'm hearing this complaint a lot in this thread so I thought I'd point something out:

The game, like regular D&D, was supposed to scale upwards. Chris Pramas stated repeatedly that it's gonna start small, and eventually build up to mass combat warfare. Kind of like how in D&D they didn't give you rules for epic level characters right off the bat. The idea behind it was that it'd be easier to hook people into the game if they only needed to buy a handful of miniatures to start playing. A lot harder to hook people when they can't play til they've spent a couple hundred dollars.

So there would've eventually been mass combat rules. That's assuming, of course, Chainmail doesn't get cancelled. I hope it doesn't, but things aren't looking good.

 

[Mistwell]

Anyone who ever tells you a larger company has firm plans for ANYTHING that is a years off is lying, or naive. You have to make projections for your next quarter, and your next year. You do NOT make grand plans for years down the line...things always change, and you have to be flexible enough to adapt, so you never make more plans than you must make (which is a year in advance). On rare occasion you might make a five year plan, but everyone who has any business sense in the company knows that the plan won't be recognizable after a year anyway. So if your source heard that Hasbro has grand plans for what to do with its subsidiary that is a couple of years down the road...forget it. That information is just not good.


On the other hand, if they do want to absorb WOTC into the main Hasbro infrastructure, they would likely sell the D+D line, not kill it. You don't generally just let well-known intellectual property die, particularly when you paid good money for it.

 

[Bard Lucian]

Well, whatever happens, I once again proclaim my gratitude for the OGL. No matter how badly Hasbro screws up D&D, as longs as D20 remains alive, there will be resources for it. Sure, maybe not to the extent or in the settings everyone wants, but enough to sustain all of us RPG junkies for years to come.

On another issue, the line about Adkinsen in multi-colored hair reminded me of the article they did in, I think, Salon.com on the early days of Wizards. Somebody posted it here about a year ago. Anyone remember it?

Lucian the Bard

 

[DungeonKeeperUK]

Well, I guess they've learned all they need to know from Games Workshop, when it comes to miniatures games. I wonder if Chainmail will be completely redesigned and rereleased in 3 more years, amidst much hype

ohhhh you cynic you..