News Digest: Controversy Abounds! New Vampire Edition Details, Green Ronin's Talent Search, 7th Sea

Hello everyone! Darryl here with this week’s gaming news! And this week is all about controversy. Vampire: The Masquerade 5^th Edition release information (with a controversial hiring), Green Ronin is looking for female writers for Lost Citadel, International Tabletop Day may not be able to meet demand for promotional items, and more! Even this week’s Kickstarters are loaded with controversy!

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Okay, this is a very simple story with a very complicated background. I’m going to tell the story first this time and, if you’re not sure what’s going on, I’ll explain more in the next paragraph. White Wolf Publishing announced details about the new edition of Vampire: The Masquerade. This new fifth edition of the game will come out in early 2018 and, according to ICv2, “continue the metagame that was shaped in 2004”. This would be the sourcebook Gehenna which presented several options for the “end of the world” of the World of Darkness and the tie-in novel Gehenna: The Final Night be Ari Marmell. If these events will be rolled into the new edition in an “After the End” manner, it’s not yet known. This project began in controversy after White Wolf announced hiring Zak Smith (aka Zak Sabbath or Zak S) back in February, a man who has been accused of harassing behavior, to work on a video game. WW's response can be found here.

So some of you may be wondering where Onyx Path is in all this. They’re still around, but they’re not involved with this new edition of the game. They are, however, still creating new material for World of Darkness. But not for the new edition. Onyx Path still holds the license for the Chronicles of Darkness (which is the official name of what was called the New World of Darkness titles: Vampire: The Requiem, Werewolf: The Forsaken, etc.) and they hold the license for the 20^th Anniversary editions of all the World of Darkness (the official name for Old World of Darkness titles: Vampire: The Masquerade, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, etc.). So Onyx Path is still publishing new material for both of these lines, but are NOT publishing material for the new 5^th Edition of Vampire: The Masquerade.

So White Wolf was purchased by CCP Games (makers of the Eve Online franchise) who only wanted the IP rights to make a World of Darkness MMO. After many years of development, the title was finally canceled in 2014 and White Wolf plus all its assets were sold to Paradox Interactive in 2015. Late last year, Paradox Interactive spun White Wolf Publishing into its own (but fully owned) company in anticipation of publishing a new edition. At this time, the licensing deals were restructured and, when the dust settled, the licenses for Chronicles of Darkness and the 20^th Anniversary versions of the original World of Darkness games were with Onyx Path and the live-action Mind’s Eye Theater remained with By Night Studios. So this is how White Wolf is coming out with a new edition at a time when Onyx Path is running a Kickstarter for a World of Darkness themed card game.

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Green Ronin launched a talent search for contributors to The Lost Citadel roleplaying game, based on the fiction anthology and world developed by Jaym Gates, C.A. Suleiman, and Ari Marmell about a fantasy world in the middle of a zombie apocalypse. There is a catch, as they’re specifically accepting proposals from women. From the announcement:

In the lead-up to June’s Kickstarter for the LCRPG, we are going to be running a talent search for women who are interested in coming to work on the project. If you identify as female and dark fantasy is your jam, we want to see what you can bring to the table! Not to worry, fellas, we have some other opportunities for you coming up later in the year, as well, but this talent search is just for the ladies.

A statement was issued to further clarify that the talent search was also open to those who identify as non-binary gender. The announcement from Green Ronin General Manager Nicole Lindroos comes following a post from Green Ronin President Chris Pramas [EDIT: This post was from Green Ronin General Manager Nicole Lindroos, not Chris Pramas as original posted] speaking about his [EDIT: her] experience on a panel at the DICE Summit in Las Vegas, noting the gender discrepancy of those in the industry and those looking to break in, noting both how far the industry has come and how far it still has to go.

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7^th Sea promised a platform for user-created content during their wildly successful Kickstarter last year, and now they’ve delivered as Explorer’s Society is live. The online store allows users to create and sell content for the 7^th Sea 2^nd Edition game, including adventures, NPCs, homebrew rules, or more. There is a content guideline that acts as a license for use of the Intellectual Property, laying out exactly what you can and cannot use from published materials and in what way you’re allowed to use them (this is similar to the license for the DM’s Guild). In the week since launch, there’s already two dozen products available for purchase ranging in cost from free to Pay-What-You-Want to a set price of $3.99 for some of the adventures.

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International Tabletop Day has run into a minor issue: The event is so big that they can’t keep up with demand! This is the first year that all promotional items have been released a la carte rather than as a single one-size-fits-all pack. Personally, I preferred the old way, but that’s because I live in a rural area so my local event always had more promotional items than attendees. However, retailers in more populated areas could customize their orders in order to make sure they could meet demand based on previous events. And this year, the demand was higher than ever – so much so that not everyone will be getting their products. Quoted in ICv2, Producer Ivan Van Norman said “We opened up the print sizes significantly as well with publishers, but didn’t know what to expect with the new system. After collecting all the pre-orders we can tell you that you meet and beat the expectations out of the park. Despite opening up numbers significantly, we are at 85-95% fill rate to pre-orders for almost all items for International Tabletop Day.” The only odd one out was the promotional card from Cryptozoic’s Master of Orion, which only had enough product to fill 16% of the orders and cannot be reprinted in time for the event. International Tabletop Day is on Saturday, April 29 and the official website has a locator to find the event closest to you.

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Even the Kickstarters this week haven’t managed to evade controversy this week! Alternity is now on Kickstarter bringing a world of science fiction adventure. Technically speaking, however, this is not a new edition of the original Alternity game. Instead, this game takes the abandoned trademarks from the original Alternity and creates an entire new rules system inspired by the original. Some on social media criticized Sasquatch games for using the abandoned trademarks rather than creating an original property. My response: Yeah, how dare this Richard Baker and Bill Slavicsek rip off the hard work of the original Alternity creators, Richard Baker and Bill Slavicsek! And can you believe they’re letting George RR Martin write the next Song of Ice and Fire novel? But more seriously, this new game captures everything from the original Alternity with the original creators involved as they update and streamline the game system bringing in the knowledge of twenty years of advancement in the industry since the original. You can get the core rulebook in PDF for $25, a print version for $40, or a bundle of all content including stretch goals in PDF for $45 or adding on a print copy of the core rulebook for $65. This project is about halfway to its funding goal, but has until Thursday, May 4 to reach its $35,000 goal.

Now for some controversial nepotism! EN Publishing, the game design and publishing arm of EN World, is creating a book of brand new classes for the 5^th Edition of “the world’s most popular roleplaying game”. Alchemist, Cardcaster, Diabolist, Feywalker, Morph, Noble, and Occultist are each detailed with multiple subclass builds (see the links for previews). In addition, the book includes new subclasses and build options for the core classes and much more. You can get the PDF version immediately at the end of the Kickstarter for a £10 (about US$13) pledge, or a print copy for £17 (about US$21) for a print copy as soon as it’s printed. This Kickstarter is fully funded and runs until Friday, May 5.

Underworld Races & Classes gives you even more options for your 5^th Edition or Pathfinder games from Adventure a Week Games. What’s the controversy with promoting this one? While I’m not directly involved with this project, I am currently working with AAW Games on another project they haven’t announced yet. That said, this book is a collection of new races, classes, spells, and items all themed around the things that dwell beneath the surface of the world, thriving in the darkness. The PDF is available for $25 for your choice of edition or $45 for both with hardcover versions available for $55 or $105 for both. This Kickstarter is fully funded and runs until Friday, April 28.

That’s all from me for this week! Find more gaming news at the EN World News Network website, and don’t forget to support our Patreon to bring you even more gaming news content. If you have any news to submit, email us at news@enworldnews.com. You can follow me on Twitter @Abstruse where I’ve been ranting about the Pepsi controversy (there’s no reason not to bring back Crystal Pepsi permanently!), or you can listen to the archives of the Gamer’s Tavern podcast. Until next time, may all your hits be crits! Note: Links to Amazon and/or DriveThru may contain affiliate links with the proceeds going to the author of this column.

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[Caliban]

I'm a little curious - if someone submits a story to a contest on the internet how does one automatically know the race, nationality, or gender of the author? Are they making writers fill out a form that asks these things? The name might give some idea as to gender but it doesn't necessarily help much on the rest.

People lie and misrepresent themselves in contests all the time. Nothing stops someone from saying whatever they want on the entry form. But presumably the top choices will be checked out a bit more thoroughly before the winner is chosen.

 

[Caliban]

I thought I had made it clear that I had no issue with the original "identifies as female" wording. My issue was the inclusion of "non-binary" turned the thing from "women" to "not men," from pro-female to anti-male. You might not agree with my assessment (clearly you don't) but please don't misrepresent this as "my takeaway of transgender issues."

At this point it sounds like you are just looking for something to be outraged about.

 

[epithet]

Clearly. So why are you attempting to speak on a subject you admit your own ignorance about?

Because I do not need to have a full and complete understanding of what "non-binary gender" means in the strictest global sense in order to grasp the clear meaning of the term used in this context. To qualify for this contest, one doesn't have to identify as "female" any more, the revised language implies gender identities beyond the binary "male" and "female" and expressly welcomes them, meaning that a person born male could participate as long as the male identity had been abandoned regardless of whether the destination identity was "female." Thus an event for women became an event for anyone but men.

I don't know why this is such a contentious issue. The clear unequivocal language of the post changes a contest open to those who identify as female into a contest open to everyone except those who identify as male. Are you unwilling to acknowledge that shift in tone? Are you going to suggest that there is no difference from "something special just for you" to "something special for anyone but you?"

 

[epithet]

At this point it sounds like you are just looking for something to be outraged about.

I was mildly irked over the "anyone but you" tone of Green Ronin's clarifying statement, but I am much more unsettled by the way my first comment in this thread has been misrepresented. I haven't gotten anywhere near outrage, however. I might have gotten all the way to indignation, but I won't know for sure until there's been more coffee this morning.

 

[Caliban]

Because I do not need to have a full and complete understanding of what "non-binary gender" means in the strictest global sense in order to grasp the clear meaning of the term used in this context. To qualify for this contest, one doesn't have to identify as "female" any more, the revised language implies gender identities beyond the binary "male" and "female" and expressly welcomes them, meaning that a person born male could participate as long as the male identity had been abandoned regardless of whether the destination identity was "female." Thus an event for women became an event for anyone but men.

Yes, that's kind of the point. How do you not understand this? They feel that the male point of view has dominated the gaming industry for decades, so they are specifically soliciting submissions from non-males to hopefully get a more diverse pool of viewpoints.

They are deliberately trying to go outside the norm. It may end up with a lot of crap submissions and turn out to be a waste of time and money, but they may also get something new and interesting that they would have otherwise missed without a talent search/contest like this. It's a risk they have chosen to take.

 

[Doctor Futurity]

Reading this thread has made me decide to buy the Green Ronin game when it is released.

That is all.

/M

Damn straight. Green Ronin gets all my money with their releases.

 

[Doctor Futurity]

Because I do not need to have a full and complete understanding of what "non-binary gender" means in the strictest global sense in order to grasp the clear meaning of the term used in this context. To qualify for this contest, one doesn't have to identify as "female" any more, the revised language implies gender identities beyond the binary "male" and "female" and expressly welcomes them, meaning that a person born male could participate as long as the male identity had been abandoned regardless of whether the destination identity was "female." Thus an event for women became an event for anyone but men.

I don't know why this is such a contentious issue. The clear unequivocal language of the post changes a contest open to those who identify as female into a contest open to everyone except those who identify as male. Are you unwilling to acknowledge that shift in tone? Are you going to suggest that there is no difference from "something special just for you" to "something special for anyone but you?"

Dude, we already have ALL the special. Green Ronin is a couple guys graciously sharing a bit of the special with people who have less. If you think holding a special contest for "people who are not male heterosexuals" is somehow damaging your standing in life then my suspicion is you must have a pretty crappy life relative to mine.

How would you feel if the contest had been for submissions from African-American authors, also underrepresented in gaming? Or Asian authors? At what point do you feel you've finally been tricked out of that "slick paying gig" at Green Ronin because you were a man, or white?

In the real world, I am very well aware of the fact that at least part of the reason for my success in life has had nothing to do with my ability, and at least partially due to my being a white male. I have yet to meet another white male who hasn't also benefited from being such, although I will note that the least successful ones somehow managed to be stupid enough to offset their birthright's inherent value.

 

[epithet]

Yes, that's kind of the point. How do you not understand this? ...

I do understand it. I fully comprehend their objectives. I'm just positing the notion that hammering a "no boys allowed" sign over the tree house door isn't perhaps the most positive way to go about reaching their goal. It is, in my opinion, unnecessarily antagonistic. Clearly my opinion is not widely shared, and that's ok, but I felt like my position was being misread and misrepresented as something hostile, which is wasn't. No one enjoys being arbitrarily singled out for exclusion, and in fact doing so in the name of inclusivity seems particularly contrary.

 

[Doctor Futurity]

I do understand it. I fully comprehend their objectives. I'm just positing the notion that hammering a "no boys allowed" sign over the tree house door isn't perhaps the most positive way to go about reaching their goal. It is, in my opinion, unnecessarily antagonistic. Clearly my opinion is not widely shared, and that's ok, but I felt like my position was being misread and misrepresented as something hostile, which is wasn't. No one enjoys being arbitrarily singled out for exclusion, and in fact doing so in the name of inclusivity seems particularly contrary.

I'll agree with this much: it probably isn't the best way, I agree. I think GR has a habit of excluding dialogue through overt "stance taking" in prior press releases, which shuts out the process of actually getting a message to the people who count.

Imagine if this had been a themed contest in which women and LGBT were strongly encouraged to submit material, but which did not actually exclude men. One way to do something like that would be to clarify that the contest seeks work which incorporates or addresses LGBT and women's issues. This would now mean you, as a man, could submit something, but need to provide content related to the issues to be addressed. Would you have accepted it? I think it would have been a way to make an inclusive, teaching-focused contest. That said: GR may not want to waste time with trying to incorporate an inclusive, thematic contest and then get deluged (anyway) with hundreds of alt-right men-first sentiment or flak online, which I feel would have happened regardless of how the contest was framed.

 

[redrick]

No matter how it's spun, to me it implies that Nicole and C.E. are saying that either women can't compete with male authors (which is ridiculous) or that they are not capable of choosing the best writer for the job without their biases overriding talent (which is sad). I don't see it as the better of two evils, I see it as a sad commentary of how far to the left equality can be derailed.

I know that my gaming tables are much more diverse now then the were in 1991, 1997, and 2007. And so is the industry. As someone who runs a small chain of comic and game stores I am proud that females make up about 30% of our customers. Perhaps there is room to grow for females in this industry not because we are inherently sexist, but because we are finding better ways to reach them. I am the father of 3 daughters, they are all fierce competitors and the idea that the creative playing field is not equal isn't palatable to any of them in this instance.

I imagine that the reason to make the contest/search specifically for women is as much about attracting as many women, transgender and non-binary people as possible as it is about limiting the pool for the GR staff to sift through. By saying, "hey, we have a contest for You!", maybe they will get more submissions from people who otherwise might not of submitted, either because of hesitation or simply because they weren't aware of the contest to begin with. Maybe some women will say, "screw that, I don't want to compete in a limited pool" and choose not to submit.