Social Contract Thing (again)

So. Yeah that DriveThruRPG/OneBookShelf / Tournament of Rapists thing happened.

I am not going to bore with the details, others have had more to say on it. But I do want to talk about the fallout.

Over the weekend and into this week I have seen some exceptionally bad and unprofessional behavior coming from all sides of this issue.  All sides.  And from people I expected better from, and sadly from people that played the part I totally expected them to play.

The result of this is now OneBookShelf will have a system of some sort for people to "report" on suspected witches communists offensive material.   So far it sounds like a button of some sort.  No idea if the person reporting the material actually has to read it first.

Personally I can't change any of that.  But here is what I will do.  Again this is a social contract thing, I expect to do X, Y and Z in return for certain expected behaviors A, B, and C.

1. Under no circumstances will I ever use this system of reporting material to DriveThruRPG. Never.  If I have a problem with your product I will email you.

2. I will not blast a product I have not read on social media or this blog.  If I talk about a product here it is usually because a. I like it or b. have read it or plan too.  If I hate something and I talk about it here then be assured I have read it and reread it to make sure my impressions of it are sound.  I then invite debate.  You are free to use your social media or my blog here to tell me why I am wrong.

3. I will not go to social media and rally support to blast/flag a product.  I have seen this from a number of industry professionals and frankly they should be ashamed.  Again, if I have an issue with your product enough to do something about it, expect an email.  

This is what I see as being the biggest issue with the new system.  It is far too easy for a publisher to leverage their social media weight to get fans to tag or report a product that either they personally don't like OR because it is competition.

These are my expectations.  Granted I am under no illusions that people will abide by them, but at least I am putting these up here for those that might.

1. If something of mine is offensive you will email me first.  simple right?  No anonymous slack-tivism, no clicking on a button.  If you don't like something I have done then please have the courage of your convictions to tell me.  Don't want to confront me for some reason?  Fine. Have a friend email me on your behalf.

Simple right?  I promise to do three things, you promise to do one.

There is no reason why we can not act like professionals and adults here.

Dark Albion meets Mythic Éire

The talk around the ole' Other Side water cooler is still Dark Albion.  No surprises really.

I love the idea of playing in England/Albion. Especially with some dark magic thrown in for good measure.  If I can tie it in with my War of the Witch Queens idea so much the better.

So I was looking over all my Castles & Crusades stuff over the weekend.  Lamenting that I don't get to play it as often as I would like.  I dearly love Astonishing Swordsmen & Sorcerers of Hyperborea, it has such a cool vibe to it. But I also enjoy Castles & Crusades.   Rumor has it that C&C began as a campaign on Earth. Aihrde is phonetically the same as Erde which is German for Earth.  That being said I also have a couple of adventures I consider to be "must haves" for my next games, Night of the Spirits and A Druid's Lament.
Another strong selling point for C&C is the Codex Celtarum.
I reviewed it a while back and it is still one of my favorite gaming books ever.  There is so much I could use here. Plus the ties with the Faerie world is a must-have in my mind.

Which brings me in a round about way to what are these Witch Queens warring about anyway?  At first I thought maybe it was for control.  But could it be more?  I am hesitant to detail it too much.  I still have a current D&D5 game I need to finish.  Plus I want to keep it a little loose for now. Maybe even a bit "story gamey".  Yes I am that much of jerk to take one of Pundits products and make it into a story game centerpiece.   Well...not really. It's still OSR.

Éire is a idea I have been playing around with since forever I feel. A mythic Ireland, a land of adventure.  The Celtic themed games I usually enjoy tend to skew a bit to the older and colder themes found in AS&SH.

Regardless of which way it goes I do know that there will be an Éire to go with Albion and I am going to have a great time doing it.

Second Edition DMG in PDF

The Second Edition DMG is now up on DriveThruRPG.

Never quite as good as the 1st Ed DMG, this one did have a lot going for it.

RPG a Day, James’ Appendix

+James Mishler also added some questions.

1. Best non-RPG property to licensed RPG you’ve ever played
Easy. Ghosts of Albion.

2. Best RPG you’ve ever read but never played
Keltia from Cubicle 7.  It looks amazing.

3. RPG core rulebook you would take with you on a desert island
Only one?  The D&D Rules Cyclopedia. One book, endless possibilities.
That or the WitchCraftRPG.

4. Favorite RPG vaporware.
I hate to throw another designer under the bus, so I won't mention the one I am thinking of.
So I will go historic.  I would have to say the B/X Companion from TSR.  There was a BECMI Companion and a couple of other B/X Companions, but the TSR one is the one I wanted back in the day.

5. Best houserule that ended up with the worst results
Using a d30 for anything.  I know they are fun looking, but damn a flat 1 to 30 range is nearly useless for most games.

6. Worst kerfluffle that ever ended an otherwise good, ongoing campaign
The biggest campaign killers for me have been time to meet.

RPG a Day 2015, Day 31

Day 31: Favorite non-RPG thing to come out of RPGing

That's a pretty easy one.

The friendships I have made over the years.  Going all the way back to Jr. High to today I have had the pleasure to meet so many really cool people.  Not just "famous" people, but people I consider friends.

One of the the things I love most about Gen Con, or any large Con, is walking around and seeing so many people enjoying the same hobby as me. Maybe not always the same game, but the same sorts of things.   These people are kindred. They are my tribe.

Despite anything else that happens in gaming I still value to people I have met along the way.

RPG a Day 2015, Day 30

Day 30: Favorite RPG Playing Celebrity

I will be honest I have never given it much of a thought.

I did think it was cool that Vin Disel plays, and not only plays but knows things about the Silmarillion that only a true fan would know.

But I will be honest and say that I have recently become a fan of Felicia Day.  She seems to have been the model for the word "adorkable".  Plus I loved her on Supernatural.  No, I have not seen Season 10 yet.

I also have not seen "The Guild" yet either. But I do at least know about it.

Zatannurday: Spider-Gwen and Batgirl

I have mentioned earlier this summer about my love for Spider-Gwen and more times than I care to think about about my love for Batgirl.

Well here they are together.  Personally I would like to think that super-smart Barbara and super-smart Gwen Stacy would be BFFs, if in a sort of rival-ly way.   So here they are together.