CrimsonHawk
First Post
I know this comes unfashionably late, considering what I'm apologizing for, but I think a public apology is in order now that my friends have forced me to see what I've done.
A couple of months ago, during the height of the first stage of WotC's New Campaign Setting submission process, Clark Peterson of Necromancer Games came onto the boards to offer his advice on how to properly prepare and format the one-page summaries. His advice covered such things as what font size to use for readability's sake.
Unfortunately, he offered said advice right after I'd sent in my submission (a second time already for other corrections). And after I read his treatise, my frustration with already having sent my submission in twice coupled with the fact that even my second submission violated most of the advice Peterson had given. In that frustration, I saw Peterson as having come off as crass and condenscending towards us lowly, idiotic upstarts. And I let him know as much. His response, which admittedly must have been given after I had put him on the defensive, really did little to alleviate my opinion of him.
Just this last week, I was speaking to a couple of friends of mine that I game with every week. One of them happens to be an extremely avid and active member of the Necromancer Games messageboards. His participation on said boards came up as a conversation topic and, somehow, I found myself relating my experiences with Peterson on the EN-World boards and my opinion of him because of that.
My friend looked at me a moment and commented, "Dude, you and I must be thinking of different Clark Petersons, because the one at Necromancer Games is really a cool dude."
After I clarified that I was indeed speaking of the executive at Necromancer Games, I told my friends the full story of what had happened. At that point, I had no less then three people (including the FLGS store manager) point out to me what I had done wrong in that situation.
I had reacted violently when Peterson was only trying to offer his advice to people wanting to start up in the industry. I had channeled the anger out of my own mistakes into an assumption that Peterson was punishing me for those mistakes. And I had (wrongly) lashed back against that (imagined) punishment.
I've spent the last few days thinking about what my friends told me and I realize now that I was indeed the one who was wrong.
Mr. Clark Peterson, I hope you'll accept this public apology as being sincere. And I hope you will forgive me. What I did was wrong and it speaks poorly of me, especially since I am a professional game writer myself (having been published with Hero Games). I can only hope I can repair the damage I've caused to my public image with actions.
On a lighter note, the friend I speak of who is active on the Necromancer Games messageboards speaks passionately and highly of the upcoming Tome of Horrors. As I am an avid fan of Scott Greene's works myself, I am more than certainly looking forward to what will surely be a much needed addition to the d20 System library. Thank you both, Mr. Peterson and Mr. Greene, for your hard work towards this end!
=====O
Dale W. Robbins
Project 51 - One Guy, One Girl, and Eight Gamers will save the world... eventually....
http://www.angelfire.com/comics/project51
A couple of months ago, during the height of the first stage of WotC's New Campaign Setting submission process, Clark Peterson of Necromancer Games came onto the boards to offer his advice on how to properly prepare and format the one-page summaries. His advice covered such things as what font size to use for readability's sake.
Unfortunately, he offered said advice right after I'd sent in my submission (a second time already for other corrections). And after I read his treatise, my frustration with already having sent my submission in twice coupled with the fact that even my second submission violated most of the advice Peterson had given. In that frustration, I saw Peterson as having come off as crass and condenscending towards us lowly, idiotic upstarts. And I let him know as much. His response, which admittedly must have been given after I had put him on the defensive, really did little to alleviate my opinion of him.
Just this last week, I was speaking to a couple of friends of mine that I game with every week. One of them happens to be an extremely avid and active member of the Necromancer Games messageboards. His participation on said boards came up as a conversation topic and, somehow, I found myself relating my experiences with Peterson on the EN-World boards and my opinion of him because of that.
My friend looked at me a moment and commented, "Dude, you and I must be thinking of different Clark Petersons, because the one at Necromancer Games is really a cool dude."
After I clarified that I was indeed speaking of the executive at Necromancer Games, I told my friends the full story of what had happened. At that point, I had no less then three people (including the FLGS store manager) point out to me what I had done wrong in that situation.
I had reacted violently when Peterson was only trying to offer his advice to people wanting to start up in the industry. I had channeled the anger out of my own mistakes into an assumption that Peterson was punishing me for those mistakes. And I had (wrongly) lashed back against that (imagined) punishment.
I've spent the last few days thinking about what my friends told me and I realize now that I was indeed the one who was wrong.
Mr. Clark Peterson, I hope you'll accept this public apology as being sincere. And I hope you will forgive me. What I did was wrong and it speaks poorly of me, especially since I am a professional game writer myself (having been published with Hero Games). I can only hope I can repair the damage I've caused to my public image with actions.
On a lighter note, the friend I speak of who is active on the Necromancer Games messageboards speaks passionately and highly of the upcoming Tome of Horrors. As I am an avid fan of Scott Greene's works myself, I am more than certainly looking forward to what will surely be a much needed addition to the d20 System library. Thank you both, Mr. Peterson and Mr. Greene, for your hard work towards this end!
=====O
Dale W. Robbins
Project 51 - One Guy, One Girl, and Eight Gamers will save the world... eventually....
http://www.angelfire.com/comics/project51
