[WFRP] Hogshead Closes Doors

[mythago]

It's rare that one gets to use "res ipsa loquitur" in ordinary conversation, so I'm going to jump at the chance here.

I'm assuming, of course, that the moderators did a bit of checking to weed out faux-Wallises.

 

[James Wallis]

Given the circumstances and a few malicious posters on RPG.net, I can understand him getting upset. I mean, Jesus, one guy posted over 600 posts flaming a game he had never even read. If you follow the threads, you'll see that there was no anti-d20 bashing going on. Wallis plays D&D... or at least he used to, from what I've heard.

Yeah, I used to play AD&D a bit. Back in 1986, I and some friends set the Guinness World Record for non-stop AD&D (yes, we got into the book), and raised a whole heap of money for charity doing it. I kept that under my hat while being Mr Indie Gamer at Hogshead but hey, what's a trumpet good for if you can't blow it once in a while?

 

[James Wallis]

It's really me. If you want to prove it, email me at the address given on the Hogshead website, going "Hey, man, is that you on the EN world boards calling Ebeneezer an arse?" I will reply in the affirmative within 24 hours.

 

[James Wallis]

Based on reading that exchange on RPG.net I'd have to say that Thorin is right, Mr Wallis acts like a holier than thou a**hole whose game is above d20 players and those who don't see the merit must be lowbrow morons who can't grasp such heady concepts. Reminds me of talking to Vampire: The Pretention fans at the FLGS.

As I work through this thread (sorry I'm late to the party; I spent last week closing down the company and working on Dragonmeet, which I chair), let me stamp on this right now. I don't dislike d20. I think it's a terrific game system. I think the OGL is a stroke of genius. Jon Tweet is one of my oldest friends in the games industry. I think D&D3e is a frigging marvel (and have said so several times, in public) and I have nothing against its players. As Mike Mearls has said, we wanted to publish d20 material for WFRP, but GW stopped us. Which is a shame because Mike's "Fear the Worst" is a brilliant adventure, and I would have loved for it to have been available to a bigger audience.

I do, however, have issues with a guy called "bloke" who used to post to RPG.net until getting himself banned a few days ago. Bloke is one of the more persistent and more annoying trolls to surface in the last year or so. Where in that RPG.net post that Wulf quoted, I talked about people using capital letters and apostrophes, I was talking to and about bloke (who doesn't). When I said "...d20 products or whatever floats your boat", that "your" isn't a generic reference to gamers and d20 fans everywhere, it's a specific reference to bloke, directed at bloke. Who likes d20, despite being an idiot.

And Thorin is not above being a little antagonistic himself, as I'm sure he'd be the first to deny vehemently. And I don't take crap from anyone.

Hey, if I hated d20 as much as you people seem to think I do, would I have let Chris Pramas and Nicole Lindroos of Green Ronin crash at my place last weekend? Eh? Eh?

 

[James Wallis]

BTW, isn't Once Upon A Time published by Atlas, not Hogshead?

Yeah. We developed OUaT in the early 1990s and sold it to Atlas in 1991. I didn't start Hogshead till 1994.

 

[Piratecat]

James, good to have you here, and I'll be interested to hear your opinion on some of the serious comments. Try not to call folks an arse, though.

I, for one, remain in your debt for publishing Anthony Ragan's Marienburg, the basis for large parts of my D&D campaign. Whatever you do next, I hope it's fun.

- Kevin Kulp

 

[James Wallis]

Thanks for that. But Mytholder quoted our motto more or less accurately, and I have always called a spade a spade -- and now I don't have to try to persuade people to buy our books any more, I don't have to pull my punches any more. Ebeneezer was an arse in the early 90s and, based on the evidence of this thread, I feel confident that he's still an arse now.

Marienburg -- oh yes. I am very proud of the way that book came out; huge, huge kudos are due to Anthony for it, and I'm glad he's been able to use it as a launchpad into the rest of the industry because his talent is measured in tons.

The coolest thing about publishing Marienburg, though, was at Gamesday this year, seeing the 3D version of it that'll be in Warhammer Online. Being able to move through a full textured 3D rendition of a city that you friggin' EDITED and PUBLISHED... For a moment, I remembered why I got into this business with my first fanzine, which I started when I was 14. Sense of wonder and sense of joy. You lose those, you've lost everything.

 

[mythago]

and now I don't have to try to persuade people to buy our books any more, I don't have to pull my punches any more

No, but on ENWorld you do have to worry about Eric's Grandma.

 

[Bagpuss]

Do you know if the Baron will be finding an alternate publisher for his game based around the telling of tales of Extraordinary Adventures? It would be a shame if it was lost to the gaming industry for another 200 years.

 

[Arcane Runes Press]

Thanks for that. But Mytholder quoted our motto more or less accurately, and I have always called a spade a spade -- and now I don't have to try to persuade people to buy our books any more, I don't have to pull my punches any more. Ebeneezer was an arse in the early 90s and, based on the evidence of this thread, I feel confident that he's still an arse now.

Marienburg -- oh yes. I am very proud of the way that book came out; huge, huge kudos are due to Anthony for it, and I'm glad he's been able to use it as a launchpad into the rest of the industry because his talent is measured in tons.

The coolest thing about publishing Marienburg, though, was at Gamesday this year, seeing the 3D version of it that'll be in Warhammer Online. Being able to move through a full textured 3D rendition of a city that you friggin' EDITED and PUBLISHED... For a moment, I remembered why I got into this business with my first fanzine, which I started when I was 14. Sense of wonder and sense of joy. You lose those, you've lost everything.

Mr. Wallis;

Glad to see you hear, posting on this thread.

I'm also glad to see you leaving the industry on your own terms.

Well, not glad, because I hate to see Hogshead gone, but happy that you quit while you were ahead of the game.

Too many folk linger past the expiration date of their enthusiasm, just going through the motions until their careers simply lurch/stagger into obscurity, their accomplishments buried beneath years of substandard work. Folk like Elvis and Mohammed Ali come to mind.

So, kudos to you for having the foresight to avoid that.

Patrick Y.