Re: Re: Think you are missing a few areas.
I think a person should be judged on professionalism. And Mr Kuntz has shown zero professionalism concerning this. If he had a "beef" with it, it should be handled in private between all concerned parties, not aired in public by posting private emails he had with anyone. I get the insinuations he is attempting to imply, and frankly think he is reaching at straws. Clark Peterson has already indicated the City of Brass will not contain anything Rob has done in the past or talked about with Clark. That should be the end of it.
I've not seen him indicate any accusations that stuff was stolen, but I thought he was more or less angry about the name stealing.
And Gene isn't a potential "whistleblower" as you put it. Search around for some of his other posts here or anywhere, he seems to be always near controversy, similar to Mr Kuntz.
Not talking about Gene here, but Kuntz himself.
Not hypocritical at all. Lorraine Williams ran TSR into the ground. Gary Gygax is not the only one to speak out on this. It is fairly well known. It doesn't make her a better person, but then again, all we know from Gygax is what he has told us.
How is it not hypocritical. If you want to be hypothetical, do you have proof she was the one who did it?
Devils advocate.
I am a little annoyed people are focused on behavior and game design prowess over objective judgement. You guys are free to buy what you wanna buy, but let's not pretend it's for a "moral high ground" here.
What has Rob produced lately? The Maze series seemed to be the poorest received Necromancer Games products to date. The reviews are average or worse (not just here but other review boards as well).
Doesn't make it right what Necromancer Games did or will do. Again, you guys are judging Rob's game design ability--which may or may not be better or worse than the Necromancer people. However, that doesn't change the fact that, I believe, that Rob probably does have a legit grievance.
You are right. City of Brass does harken back to the old days of D&D. Right along with "First Edition feel." And I am sure that that is why Necromancer Games wanted to do City of Brass to begin with, because it is first edition AD&D.
Well then, I see through that.
Why? It happens all the time with companies (not just game companies either). A person is brought on board to do a project, they drop the ball or leave, and the project continues. Look at bands for example. Musicians come and go. They are replaced. The band doesn't change the name. It works along the same lines. Look at software developers. They come and go as well. The project continues. A software company doesn't rename the product just because the designer or developer leaves or is fired.
Yeah, but sometimes this gives them the right to sue, or companies to rip off the idea.
I don't think that's the case, but I do think that the least they can do is change the name. And since he first provided the ideas, even if they don't use them, he may have the right to sue.
In all honesty, I don't believe there will be two Citys of Brass. I don't think Rob will ever produce his. Look how long it has taken him to get Maze 4 out. (I don't think we will ever see Rob's book from Troll Lords either. They advertised it at the beginning of this year, and it still isn't out yet.)
Again, that's not the point here. It doesn't matter if Rob isn't good or timely. That shouldn't be a judgement factor as to if Necromancer is not behaving "above board".
And I don't think they should change the name. What better to invoke that First Edition feel than the name City of Brass? The book is about the City of Brass, why not call it that. Now if they could only get Dave Trampier to do the cover.
Well, unfortunately, they won't be getting my purchase unless they change the name. And no, it's not a Necromancer boycott, just that product is now tainted.