#ArcaneApril writing prompts. Just for fun. Follow along if you wish. Create a magic item, spell, monster, or artwork for the generic fantasy setting (d20) of your choosing.
Writing prompts are a great way to stay on track and out of trouble with my blog.
Please create a (preferably balanced) magic item, spell, monster, or artwork based on the writing prompts below for the fantasy rules of your choice. I will be posting these under #ArcaneApril on social media. It’s just for fun. I might eventually compile these as a supplement of sorts.
My article titled, “Influencer? Content Creator? Shill?” had some opinions that should have been directed at WOTC and not the fine folks attending the summit, I would like to apologize for taking my frustrations on WOTC out on people who didn’t deserve my anger. I’ll be more careful going forward.
I’m sorry.
I know one person was deeply hurt by my words, I would like to extend a dialogue and personal apology to you if you’d like it, and understand I cannot take back what I said, I just want you to know that I feel a deep remorse in hurting you, because I do in fact admire you greatly.
Additionally, and by mistake I misgendered a reporter, this has been rectified in the original article, and i will do my best to avoid mistakes of this caliber in the future, again I apologize for this.
I’m sure a speak for a large crowd of gamers who didn’t need an all-expenses-paid trip to my living room to figure it out. We don’t need WotC or their take on D&D any more. I’ve pretty much given up on Wizards of the Coast. They can go rot with whatever official titles come next. There are very few things they will ever do or say to win my trust back.
Please allow me to better clarify my position on this.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with WotC calling a Creator Summit. There’s no grudge or beef with the attendees of said event. Actually, I’m wicked jealous, to be honest. But, good for them. I’ve made it a point since starting this site to praise the success of others as long as no harm was done.
I admire a lot of folx in the YouTube arena. I could list probably twenty people who I respect and admire greatly. I’m not going to single anyone out, however.
I admire a lot of people, but I don’t always agree with them.
Someone pointed out on Twitter that a lot of the “Content Creators” being invited to the summit don’t actually write much of anything, with a few exceptions. I see a lot of endorsements and sponsors on the channels of various Content Creators. Again, all good.
They all work very hard at what they do. I’m not sure how “Influencer” became sort of a negative term, but it describes what they do so much better. YouTube videos, social media posts, liaising with various other writers, creators and corporate types are just part of their daily agenda. Anyone who has ever edited a YouTube video can probably tell you it’s not as easy as it sounds.
So, yes. Great for the people going to get wined and dined by Wizards of the Coast. Is it the best approach by WotC? That remains to be seen. Make no mistake, this is a (smart) Public Relations move. WotC isn’t paying for good previews/reviews. However, I kinda suspect that’s what the corporate overlords are expecting out of all this.
Here comes one of my theories.
What if, maybe, just possibly, this has been planned all along? It’s almost Machiavellian in its conception. IF/F the OGL debacle was manufactured, then some of the subsequent PR maneuvering would be intended to build more support for the new video game, err…Virtual TableTop using the Unreal Engine. (Just like Fortnite, *cough.*) Even if the OGL disaster hadn’t occurred, my educated guess is this was already in the works.
Wizards’ various teams have been plotting and scheming. Sometimes Team A has no idea (supposedly) what Team B is doing. The Hasbro overlords’ teams sometimes do things the WotC teams have no idea are happening. It’s all about the franchise, the lifestyle brand, these days.
Content? Not in the gaming sense of the word. Mark my words- what goes into the books is tertiary or even irrelevant to selling the brand. Advertising, promotion, and selling merchandise are super important to WotC. Books? Pfft! “Do we sell those?” they ask. They need “Content Creators” to promote the brand. They don’t need actual game content.
Remember, One D&D was already pretty much in the bag before they even announced it. WotC’s focus has nothing to do with the game itself at this point. They’re entire effort is going into marketing, merchandising, and virtual space. Screw the game. They just want money because they own the name and they have a dim view of the fans.
Someone highly respected by the community mentioned “gatekeeping.”
In my heart of hearts, I almost wish Linda Codega was wrong about gatekeeping, but I know they’re right. That snarky comment Kyle Brink made about “old white guys (like him) can’t flee the hobby fast enough” might be the new standard in gatekeeping for D&D. The new “cool kids” are turning away the section of the fanbase that launched the entire TTRPG industry.
As others have commented, WotC “left us” the SRD 5.1 and the OGL. WotC doesn’t see editions. They see dollar signs. All of us old codgers and Grognards can play the older editions of the game or pretty much do anything we want in the old sandbox. The new faces of D&D are coming, and chances are there won’t be one old white guy with a bald head and a long beard anywhere among them.
Hasbro/WotC want tons of sales of merchandise, action figures, D&D lamps and gimmicky transformable d20s. They’re banking on the Honor Among Thieves sales and views to propel D&D into the future much the same way Star Wars took off back in the 1970s. Getting a bunch of YouTubers onboard with the new VTT and kicking all of the old white guys to the curb are just another phase of the marketing plan.
The way I see it…
We’re headed into a new era. This new era will be pretty much free of official WotC publications. There plenty of companies out there in the #TTRPGIndustry who will take our money. If WotC wants to blow a pile of money on bringing a bunch of YouTubers in to try to coax more people back over to One D&D, and the video game masquerading as a VTT, good for them.
The brain trust at Hasbro/WotC has forgotten the hundreds of YouTubers they didn’t invite. The old guys like Erik Tenkar and The Dungeon Delver probably never make the list. Why? WotC doesn’t want honest opinions. They want public relations.
WotC wants YouTubers to go on the air and sing the praises of One D&D and the shiny new VTT. They want the microtransactions that work so well for video game companies. They weren’t lying when they said they want to monetize the players. Remember, we’re dealing with WotC execs that think D&D is a video game and nothing more.
Again, there’s really nothing terribly wrong about what WotC is doing. Yeah, they want to make money. I think other TTRPG fans and I would rather they went about things differently, but we’re not their crowd any more.
I can name dozens of other fantasy TTRPGs that can easily be mistaken for D&D. These other titles are eventually going to completely replace D&D. Let WotC do whatever the heck they want to do. Good luck with One D&D.
I’m sure a speak for a large crowd of gamers who didn’t need an all-expenses-paid trip to my living room to figure it out. We don’t need WotC or their take on D&D any more. I’ve pretty much given up on Wizards of the Coast. They can go rot with whatever official titles come next. There are very few things they will ever do or say to win my trust back.
Update: As of March 10, I have not received any word from Wizards of the Coast on the best way to contact them. Obviously they want the fans’ opinions so badly that there’s no way to contact them. I call bullsh🦆t on their whole operation at this point. I really get the impression no one in those offices wants to be my friend.
Thanks for reading this far. You rock. I appreciate you. I like having online friends. Keep on gaming your way.
The OGL Scandal of 2023 continues as Bob World Builder gets an email invitation to the first ever Content Creator Summit; a gathering of elite, cherry-picked YouTubers who talk about D&D. They get to hang out at WotC HQ, meet with the team, and eat on the company’s dime. Woot! Who wouldn’t want to go?
On March 8th, Bob World Builder received an invitation to the first ever “Content Creator Summit.”
I gotta say, I’m pretty jealous. I mean, who doesn’t love to be wined and dined by a large corporation? Who wouldn’t want to go and hobnob with the D&D creative staff and/or the “Creator Relations Team” as they’re now calling it? Bob is right. The chance is too awesome to pass up.
I’m sure Bob won’t be the only one. Ginny Di is no stranger to WotC HQ. I wouldn’t be surprised if the other Kyle Brink interviewers get to go. I suspect Guy from How to Be a Great GM will be there given he’s basically on WotC’s payroll already. There will probably be a few other guests we don’t know about yet. Good for them, eh?
If WotC truly wants to get to know the whole community, they’re still not trying hard enough.
Obviously I’m just a guy with a blog. I have a small, but loveable number of readers. (*I love you all.) I’m pretty sure if Wizards decided they wanted to fly me out to Washington where I’ve always wanted to visit, put me up in a nice hotel, fed me, and let me hang out? I wouldn’t have to think twice. My suitcase is already packed. I’d even start a YouTube channel just for them.
We all know it’s not likely to happen. It’s kind of a shame they’re only limiting themselves to YouTubers so far. Does WotC know their fanbase extends beyond YouTube and Twitter? Obviously they never read my blog. (Prove me wrong. I DARE you!) In fact, my guess is they ignore the blogosphere and the hundreds of articles written about them the same way they pretty much ignore conventions.
If they were doing everything right, the Creator Summit would be completely superfluous and unnecessary.
I’ll echo the sentiment of a few others. If WotC was still sending a team to conventions and mingling with us peasants, they wouldn’t have to wonder what the TTRPG community thinks of them and some of their nonsense. People are dreadfully honest at conventions sometimes. WotC might actually *gasp* hear something “negative” about what they’re doing. (I think I just heard half of Kyle Brink’s team pee their pants in fright just now.)
Honestly, I don’t handle criticism well, either. I get it. For a dude with kind of a big ego, I really am pretty fragile and sensitive when it comes to criticism. Gonna have that chat with my therapist later again today. So I get it that WotC doesn’t want to hear the critiques of thousands of fans.
On the other hand, WotC is a large, faceless, unfeeling corporate entity under the thumb of an even larger, scummier corporation. We don’t really see much of a human face on anything they do despite the dozens of names in the credits. They’re only as good as the McPropaganda Kyle Brink is told to spew by the PR people. (Yeah, someone has to pick on Kyle a little. Mercer can tell you I’m a big softie, though. LOL!)
WotC can handle a bad review. They aren’t going to go belly up if a sourcebook or adventure flops. (All three core books selling like it was 4E all over again might be bad?) It’s like WotC has no concept of what it was like when they were starting out. This new team of leaders seems pretty daft when it comes to the history of their own products, much less the history of the hobby. Tis truly sad.
I’d run D&D in a castle if WotC asked.
I’d contribute to their books. Heck, if they want to send me a check, I’ll never speak about them again if that’s what they wanted. And mind you, I’m the guy that completely holds contempt and loathing for large corporations. I guess I can dream. I’ve said many times how cool it would be to actually work on official D&D content. Or any game, really.
Seriously. I want to be a game designer when I grow up. Please, pay me to write cool stuff for your game. Any roleplaying game, really. No joking. I’d love to have paid projects, convention visits, give interviews, write magazine articles, and so on. They’d probably have to tranquilize me and drag me out of the office at night. Security would have to boot me out of the hotel at the end of conventions.
Isn’t that sort of the definition of “dedicated fan?” Isn’t that sorta what being a content creator for D&D is all about? Honestly I haven’t published anything on DMsGuild or DriveThruRPG yet. In fact I’m not printed anywhere yet. I’m too fussy about my own work and there are attachment issues. (Talking to therapist about OCD and attachment disorder. 😅) It’s going to happen someday, though.
Am I any less dedicated? No. Am I any less of a content creator? No. Trust me, my filing cabinets, folders, and Word files attest to my content creation efforts.
WotC doesn’t get it. There are thousands, maybe over a million fans out there that actually do appreciate them and want to see them do well. We wouldn’t be critical of their efforts if we didn’t care and just wanted them to fail. WotC execs and designers would know that if they’d come down out of their corporate tower and mingled with non-corporate people for a change. But D&D Executive Producer Kyle Brink says he actually plays the game, so they must have some sort of clue what they’re doing. Right?
I’m going to send WotC an email.
Will it get anywhere or be seen by anyone before it gets deleted? Not holding my breath, but I’ll keep you posted. I want Wizards of the Coast to understand that they need to speak with more than just a cherry-picked cadre of YouTubers who are going to probably going to tell them what they want to hear. It’s readily apparent there are plenty of people in the corporate office who believe the WotC narrative. How about inviting some truly objective non-YouTube fans?
Where’s the rest of the “community,” WotC? Legit question. I want to know. Who else has Kyle Brink spoken to outside of YouTube? Anybody?
I promise I’ll be nice. I have gone this whole article without saying one four/five letter word or calling anyone specific by my nicknames for them. It’s been a challenge, but I made it.
Wish me luck. Thanks for stopping by. More on this situation as it develops.
Hey, Cynthia Williams- Give me a paid gig running D&D in a castle somewhere, and I’ll shut up about your company and delete all the mad smack I’ve ever talked about you. (*LOL!) I mean, I’m at a stage in my life where money is good, too. Just don’t try to pay me in WotC product because, um, I uh hate to tell ya it’s not terribly popular. Seriously, have ya boy Kyle Brink get in touch. Let’s see what we can work out.
I wish Dungeons & Dragons had a bright future ahead of it.
Alas, I think it will get worse before it gets better. I mean, we’ve survived other edition changes. What makes this one different?
It’s simple really. Other than 4th Ed, no one has tried to officially integrate a Virtual TableTop environment into the game. To me, One D&D looks like an attempt to turn D&D into a video game. Straight up. It’s as if Wizards of the Coast no longer cares about the tabletop market. This latest incarnation of the Druid recently released looks like it came almost straight from World of Warcraft. But they kinda left out Feral for some reason. But, if you played Moonkin or Restoration? It’ll look pretty familiar for the most part. Shoot spells or heal. Those are basically the options presented in the latest Unearthed Arcana “playtest” document.
I think we’ll still get our “nostalgic” content in the form of a physical Player’s Handbook, Monster Manual, and Dungeon Master’s guide. Then comes the hideous Internet abomination that will be the One D&D virtual site, whatever they end up calling it. Oh, but it uses the Unreal Engine, just like Fortnite.
But Fortnite is a video game. That’s not the same as a TTRPG. Right?
From Fortnite.
I’m going to predict, and this isn’t a conspiracy theory, that the new D&D VTT is going to be indistinguishable from any MMORPG except maybe for the speed at which it moves. Maybe they’ll give us virtual dice to roll, maybe they won’t.
Okay, now I’m putting the tinfoil hat on for a minute.
I’m predicting (again) that WotC will control most or all of their own PDF and ePub sales. I’m predicting their physical copies will slow down dramatically in 2024 and trickle out 1-3 books per year at most afterward. Meanwhile all of their electronic sales will blow up huge on the VTT or at least that’s what they want to have happen.
It’s going to reach a point where there won’t be updates, expansions, or sourcebooks for any physical material. But there will be tons and tons of microtransactions available online. Imagine paying $1.99 for a handful of new monsters complete with their “miniatures” on the VTT? Maybe they’ll throw in a PDF for another $.99 for all the dinosaurs like me that would still be reading stuff. If VP Chris Cao has his way, that’s where it will begin and end.
I think WotC will eventually be incredibly successful with the new VTT (video game) or the thing is going to bomb hideously, costing them millions. I think if the VTT goes to pieces, Hasbro is going to cut their losses. D&D will be reduced to a boxed set, like a board game. If they’re feeling generous, we’ll keep the PHB, MM, and DMG but very little else by way of official content. They may hit a financial hurdle so high the only way to cross it will be to turn everything but the core rules over to the fans and rely on us to create all of our own content.
Truthfully, I think that’s where we’re headed for those of us who want nothing to do with the VTT. There will be the TTRPG crowd. We’ll play in person, at conventions, maybe in Friendly Local Game Stores (if they survive.) Our online games will be on VTT platforms WotC hasn’t run out of town or bought out. We will probably be supporting everything but One D&D. Old School, Pathfinder, and indie games galore will be the order of the day. It’ll look like D&D, but…
Just wait, it gets better.
My best educated guess as to why WotC caved on the Open Game License debacle and surrendered the SRD to CC-BY-4.0 is because they know they have a deal in place to monetize it. My guess? They’ve either bought OneBookShelf entirely or they’re going to move DMsGuild over to their own web platform. Again, my opinion, but it just seems such a logical move for them.
We already know WotC cut a profit sharing deal with Kickstarter during the OGL 1.1 scandal. I seriously doubt anyone has renegotiated the deal since. OGL 1.1 was a signed, done deal for some creators. Not everyone turned it down as far as we know. Because of all the NDAs involved, especially for anyone who signed the bloody contract, we’ll never know for sure what was said.
My other hypothesis is WotC is looking for a way to convert Patreon users to their own platform OR they’re going to cut some kind of royalty deal with the company. When Cynthia Williams said they were going to monetize players? My guess is they are working to monetize anything and everything they can get their grubby little hands on. Hasbro/WotC aren’t stupid, but I’d definitely say greedy. Time will tell if I’m right.
It’s already in the can.
I stand by my statement. WotC already has One D&D ready to go on paper. All this playtest survey stuff? It’s all smoke and mirrors. If anything, they’re taking the feedback to adjust the print version of the game at most. WotC has always been transparent about the fact that the VTT is their main impetus. It’s taking a while to feed all the data into the Unreal Engine and line up as many platforms, apps and even consoles as they can. That’s not fast or easy.
The VTT will likely be ready to roll in 2024. Oh, sure. We’ll get a big, shiny rollout. Much like the announcement of One D&D, we’ll get renowned community figures and “designers” telling us how great this thing is. Those same people are going to keep telling us how great One D&D is right up until they can’t ignore their own dumpster fire.
Hey, Cynthia Williams- Give me a paid gig running D&D in a castle somewhere, and I’ll shut up about your company and delete all the mad smack I’ve ever talked about you. (*LOL!) I mean, I’m at a stage in my life where money is good, too. Just don’t try to pay me in WotC product because, um, I uh hate to tell ya it’s not terribly popular. Seriously, have ya boy Kyle Brink get in touch. Let’s see what we can work out.
I’ll just leave that here.
We all know some of my WotC rants. The end is nigh or something. Truthfully, I dunno where it’s all going to end up for sure. I’m speculating based on what has happened with prior editions. They’re going to do what they’re going to do regardless of what fans say. To an extent, they’ve already done it.
Thanks for stopping by. It’s great having us here as a community. I appreciate it. Remember, we’re all in this together. Maybe back to some TTRPG stuff tomorrow.
This person’s group recently ended their D&D 5E game citing a good number of “woke liberal factors” drove them out of the game. One of the specific “rules” they took issue with was the “5E need for Safety Tools.” I was pretty stunned when I heard that
I recently heard an Old School Renaissance YouTuber speaking ill of 5E safety tools and how players can abuse the X Cards for Metagaming advantages.
I’m continuing my policy of not naming and shaming, but this comment blew my mind on multiple levels. First, Safety Tools and Session Zero are NOT unique to D&D 5E. That notion is preposterous. Second, I seriously doubt anyone would metagame an X Card strictly to squash a specific monster encounter. Last, if you as a DM or your group are so dead set against the “wokie liberal gamer politics being inflicted on you?” Uh. Maybe you should stick to Moldvay B/X in your basement with the same old group you’ve had for 40+ years and not broadcast it on YouTube…ever?
Part of me hates being on this rant, and part of me feels the need to tap the sign again for the umpteenth time. Have we learned anything from the Wizards of the Coast Open Game License 1.1 debacle? Is there cause to think that just maybe our TTRPG community and specifically the D&D space might be under particular scrutiny in regards to things like ethics and morals right now? Maybe? Let’s also reiterate that the alleged DM shortage for 5E does not exist (because of issues revolving around Safety Tools.)
Safety Tools are NOT unique to D&D.
This person’s group recently ended their D&D 5E game citing a good number of “woke liberal factors” drove them out of the game. One of the specific “rules” they took issue with was the “5E need for Safety Tools.” I was pretty stunned when I heard that. There’s three things wrong with that statement.
First, Session Zero and Safety Tools are NOT unique to D&D 5E. I’m pretty sure making players comfortable at the table has always been around even before we called it “Safety Tools.” It used to be a common understanding with the group. Most DMs were smart enough to know if a player was claustrophobic not to trap their character in a dark coffin 20′ underground with no way to escape. (*Real example, btw.) It was just a matter of showing compassion and empathy for your fellow human instead of making a complete ass of oneself while hiding behind the DM screen and the rules.
Second, please let me reiterate there are no TTRPG thought police who are going to come to your game table and confiscate your DMG for playing the game all “wrong” in a private space. Actual Play podcasts and games in a public space are also not really subject to scrutiny unless someone is making an absolute ass of themselves. You do whatever you want with your group. Pretty sure that’s been an unofficial D&D rule from Day 1 of Gygax’s first game.
Third, if your private group hasn’t had a Session Zero or Safety Tools prior to playing 5E? Hey, if you and your group are comfortable that way? Great. Personally, if someone told me that walking into their game for the first time, I might turn around and walk right back out, but that’s okay.
The second preposterous notion is hiding behind an X Card to gain a metagame advantage over the DM.
I’m still trying to digest this concept. Session Zero is not perfect. Sometimes things slip through the cracks. We miss something on a questionnaire or a player forgets to bring it up. We’re human. Stuff is going to happen. That’s why we have Safety Tools.
Here’s how it should go:
The DM throws down an encounter with a giant venomous Anaconda. A player with a serious, deadly fear of snakes and trauma from a snake bite as a young child puts up her X Card immediately. We forgot to cover it during Session Zero. “Oh crap. I’m so sorry,” says the DM as he quickly gets the miniature for the snake out of sight..
Play is halted. We might even take a 10 minute break to help the traumatized player calm down and come back to the table. The DM needs a minute to pop out a new encounter without a snake. Maybe some nice Kobolds or something? As the DM quickly looks over the Session Zero notes for anything else he might have forgotten or even missed. An apology after the game might be nice, too. Definitely no more talk about snakes. That’s how it should go.
Then there’s the example from the video:
DM throws down an encounter with a spider. Player claims arachnophobia and throws up an X Card. Encounter is immediately cancelled. Free Experience Points for everyone, and the DM’s plan for the encounter is screwed. Players get a free pass any time they see something they don’t like. It’s like getting experience for free without having to do anything.
Apparently we just treated people like crap back in the Old School Era. Oh, wait. That’s right. I’m so Old School I fart chalk dust. And, no. We don’t treat people like dirt. I’m also old enough to know better.
If someone is found to be abusing their X Card? That’s not okay. It undermines the entire reason we have Safety Tools. They’re in place so people aren’t afraid to speak up if something is really traumatic. In short- DM’s, don’t be a d🦆ck. On the other hand, if you have a player willing to abuse an X Card to gain metagame advantage? You probably either need to have a long chat about Safety Tools, or decide your group doesn’t need them.
No one is going to cry if said YouTuber and his group abandon 5E.
No lie, I’m still irritated with the Kyle Brink comment about how “old white guys can’t leave soon enough.” People keep trying to say the quote is taken out of context. Then some old, white, (presumably cishet) guys come along and run their mouths about how the OSR is so much better than the new “woke” 5E way of doing things with our Safety Tools and X Cards. I won’t even get into all the talk about how 5E is supposedly too easy on the players and how combat encounters are broken. The game is allegedly lopsided in favor of the players with all the power creep, etc. Probably stuff that should have been covered in their Session Zero… oops?
If you ever wonder why there’s a DM shortage for 5E, look no further than the OSR community on YouTube and Twitter. It’s almost as if these crotchety old farts in the OSR want people to abandon 5E and move over to older editions of the game. Ironic, given they also act as gatekeepers to the hobby. Sounds indecisive as well as incredibly divisive to me.
But hey, if an OSR YouTuber wants to abandon 5E and his whole group goes with him back to Castles & Crusades or some other retroclone- Great! Go right ahead. Please be a good example. Don’t buy any more 5E and do the D&D community a solid and STFU about it!
Something a lot of the more vocal proponents of the OSR don’t seem to understand is that we don’t need them in the hobby if they don’t want to be there. If they were never going to spend money on 5E official or 3rd party, then they can just as easily do their own thing and shut up about 5E and everything that comes after.
Hey, old dudes- you have your OGL and CC-BY-4.0 SRD. Buh-bye. Go back in your basement and play Moldvay B/X until the end of time and let the rest of us enjoy the hobby. Thank you.
This is where I stop for now.
The WotC OGL debacle left a bad taste in my mouth. People want to complain about morality clauses in future game licenses. If people are so worried about morality clauses, maybe the problem isn’t with the game license or its holder. Maybe the problem is the ethics of the person complaining about the clause.
For cryin out loud, people. We’re talking about tabletop roleplaying games here. If you’re not here to have fun and get along with everyone at the table, please- Nintendo wants your money. If you want to be toxic, there are plenty of other hobbies out there. Meanwhile, can we please just get back to gaming with Safety Tools, including Session Zero unless the group decides together that they don’t want to go that route? It’s not rocket science.
If you made it this far, thank you. I appreciate it. Please be kind to one another.
A bunch of us tuned into the 3 Black Halflings interview in the wake of the OGL crisis to see what WotC’s pet manure spreader was going to say. It was interesting to hear what Kyle would say when PR wasn’t whispering in his ear or telling him what to type. Wow, it’s obvious WotC execs really are a bunch of clueless twonks who probably should be about as unemployed as yours truly right now. Sh🦆t floats to the top at WotC. For real.
D&D Exec Kyle Brink sticks his foot in his mouth. Repeatedly…
Polygon also did a very good job with this issue: Polygon.
For those who don’t know yet, Wizards of the Coast Executive Producer of Dungeons & Dragons Kyle Brink was the face of the Open Game License debacle. He came on the scene after Wizards’ first failed attempt to address the fans. Kyle was slightly more personable with the fans and has allegedly actually played the game. He’s definitely been coached thoroughly by whatever PR experts WotC/Hasbro hired to contain the damage of thousands of fans cancelling their D&D Beyond subscriptions.
WotC was literally hemorrhaging money in the wake of the OGL debacle. Hasbro stocks are down to where they’re laying off as much as 15% of their workforce. Kyle Brink should have been part of the team that brought fans back to D&D.
That would have been cool until he went on 3 Black Halflings and gave some pretty uncoached comments that are very likely going to cheese off a bunch of fans. Just what WotC needed, right? I can’t figure out what this guy was thinking, but if you listen to the whole interview, he sounds about as ignorant about the TTRPG fandom as CEO Cynthia Williams or VP of Digital Development Chris Cao. WotC is sorely in need of an executive purge.
(*Hey, I know this guy– me- who’d be happy to work there once all the stooges have been cleaned out. I promise I’m the most laid back boss ever. LOL!)
I’ve been talking about this on and off for two years and then THIS GUY comes along.
Transcript from 3 Black Halflings Interview. Kyle Brink’s exact comments.
If you have read this blog for a while, you know I’m not a big fan of naming and shaming specific individuals. Believe me, there have been a few I would have loved to have called out on their bullsh🦆t in the past, even recently. I don’t have a problem calling Kyle Brink out. If this clown thinks I’m leaving the hobby that I’ve been involved with for 40 years? They’re going to be burying me with my dice some day.
I hate to tell Kyle Brink and WotC this, but they’re barking up the wrong tree again! For crying out loud, he’s their spokesman! WTAF made him think that comment was going to fly?!? “…guys like me can’t leave soon enough.” WHAT?
Kyle Brink’s LinkedIn photo
Honestly, I’ve talked about this so much. Kyle can leave the TTRPG hobby or WotC. That’s on him. His context is a little blurry from his quote, but I’m pretty sure he meant TTRPGs and he did say it was his opinion. Good for him. I wish him the best of luck wherever he ends up or whatever he ends up doing.
That having been said? If you’re not passionate about D&D and/or tabletop gaming in general, Kyle- GET OUT OF D&D NOW! For God’s sake, do us all a favor and get the sam-sh🦆ttin-Hell out of the hobby before you do any more damage. It’s bad enough WotC has two other clueless clowns running around posing as management. Kyle, do the whole industry a favor and walk away! No one will think less of you after that bullsh🦆t comment.
Hey dude, I resemble that remark. I ain’t happy.
Your humble narrator.
News flash: I’m NOT going anywhere. I’m in the TTRPG hobby to say. I’m really, truly, in the depths of my heart getting sick of WotC and their paid goons like Kyle “Jar-Jar” Brink trying to get rid of anyone and anything older than they are. WotC took over before the 3rd Ed years. For some reason, they seem to have an attitude malfunction toward anything and everything older than that. That tends to piss off a LOT of us older white guys. Yeah, Kyle- ya done stepped in something.
I’ve tangled with the #OSR. I’ve also sided with the OSR. Like it or not, I’m a part of the Old School Renaissance crowd. FYI, it’s about to become the Old School RESISTANCE or Old School REBELLION, Kyle. That’s right, brother. I’m still gonna be doin this when I’m a hundred and two years old and there ain’t nothin you’re gonna do to stop me, WotC. Oh Yeah.
We can step into the squared circle, Kyle Brink. Oh yeah. I’m callin you out, brother. I’ll show ya what an old man with a bad back and chronic pain can still do to your clown 🤡ss. I will hurt your feelings. You better bring your A game, brother. Oh yeah. I still got mad skillz. Falls count anywhere. Somebody ring the bell. (* I was a fan of the Hulkster and the Macho Man Randy Savage. Oh Yeah.)
Pro wrestling analogy aside, I’ve already been here.
Seriously. All joking aside. Let’s talk about inclusivity.
First off, at no point in time am I dissing on 3 Black Halflings. Their efforts made this interview possible. Big THANK YOU to them!
Next, I’m really a fan of both diversity and inclusivity. We all have a seat at the gaming table. Brink is right about one thing. It’s not just a bunch of old white guys sitting around their parents’ basement any more. It hasn’t been since around the 1990s. You’d know that if you were really into D&D, Kyle.
WotC is propagandizing their struggle with the likes of NuTSR, aka Justin LaNasa and Dave Johnson. They tried to make a very racist revised edition of an old original T$R property owned by WotC. It was going to be called “Star Frontiers New Genesis.” Unfortunately Cynthia, Chris Cao, WotC’s lawyers, and apparently our friend Kyle all heard about it. The judge basically laughed LaNasa and NuTSR right out of his courtroom. Suddenly WotC got bit by the inclusion bug.
#Hadozee comes up a lot in this discussion, too. The old 2nd Ed Spelljammer included some pretty messed up racist sh🦆t. Then WotC came along with their schlocky version of it, without editing whatsoever, and reprinted it line by line. Don’t they feel smart now.
Last, a bunch of us tuned into the 3 Black Halflings interview in the wake of the OGL crisis to see what WotC’s pet manure spreader was going to say. It was interesting to hear what Kyle would say when PR wasn’t whispering in his ear or telling him what to type. Wow, it’s obvious WotC execs really are a bunch of clueless twonks who probably should be about as unemployed as yours truly right now. Sh🦆t floats to the top at WotC. For real.
In conclusion.
Again, Kyle- now’s a good time to get out of D&D if that’s how you feel. WotC employees are ready to flee like rats off a sinking ship last we heard. That’s cool because I also imagine Paizo and other real game companies are going to need that extra help soon. I bet there’s even a place for Kyle Brink scrubbing toilets and mopping floors at one of them.
Thanks for stopping by, #ttrpgfamily. I love you all so much. We wouldn’t get this upset about a hobby if we didn’t care. That passion showed all during the month of January battling for #OpenDnD. We’ll weather this storm, too. Back tomorrow with more #FrighteningFebruary.
If Wizards of the Coast is truly bent on taking over the industry, they need to eliminate or acquire OneBookShelf. Would the Reptilian Overlords at Hasbro allow such an acquisition with the whole community up in arms over the OGL? Remember, DnD Beyond subscriptions are being cancelled all over the place. Money to throw at this RPG thing might be getting kinda tight at Hasbro. On the other hand, the powers that be wast D&D to be their billion dollar lifestyle brand. Poor DnD is “under monetized” these days.
Hang onto your tinfoil hats. This one is pretty far out.
This particular hypothesis is going to be more controversial than others I have posed. So far I’ve been pretty hit-or-miss with the Wizards of the Coast Dungeons & Dragons Open Game License controversy. Let’s go even farther out onto the limb.
Everything from here on out is mostly speculation. I don’t know anyone inside WotC or OneBookShelf (DriveThruRPG.com, DMsGuild.com, etc.) These are my observations along with some of the leaked information about WotC from various sources during the OGL 1.1 scandal. Believe me or don’t. It’s fine.
We’ve all been tiptoeing around the question.
What’s going to happen with Roll 20 and OneBookShelf before the One D&D launch in 2024? Certainly, all that’s going on with the OGL either 1.1 or 1.2 must be affecting them. Right? I know I’m not the only one who wonders.
Of course, everything is happening behind closed doors, so all we can do is ask questions. Admittedly, I’m asking them into the void that is the Internet, but at least I’m asking. Oh, to be a fly on the wall for some of these conversations that are going on in the TTRPG industry behind closed doors.
Tinfoil Hat time.
Pretend you’re one of the head honchos at Wizards of the Coast. You’ve purchased D&D Beyond because it’s the nearest digital platform that bears the D&D name. You’re looking to dominate the electronic (pdf, e-pub, etc) market as well as the Virtual TableTop market. Call WotC a lot of names, stupid isn’t necessarily one of them.
Roll 20 partnered up with OneBookShelf last year. Most of us would agree that Roll 20 is probably the next biggest VTT platform. DriveThruRPG.com is probably the biggest seller of pdfs. It’s also noteworthy that WotC does a LOT of business through DTRPG/OneBookShelf. DMsGuild.com is a OneBookShelf subsidiary.
If Wizards of the Coast is truly bent on taking over the industry, they need to eliminate or acquire OneBookShelf. Would the Reptilian Overlords at Hasbro allow such an acquisition with the whole community up in arms over the OGL? Remember, D&D Beyond subscriptions are being cancelled all over the place. Money to throw at this RPG thing might be getting kinda tight.
WotC is already half way into buying OBS/Roll 20.
DMsGuild already shares 20% of the profits with WotC. We know from Kickstarter that WotC was cutting sweetheart deals to certain companies during the failed OGL 1.1 implementation. What if, just what if WotC cut a deal with OneBookShelf?
When things go live in 2024 with One D&D’s Digital platform, OBS/Roll 20 is either going to be rolled into WotC or their biggest competitor in the market. I could easily see WotC assuming absolute control over The DMs Guild and pulling the rest of their product from OBS minimum. More likely all OBS/Roll 20 profits are rolled into WotC. Roll 20 will probably vanish from the face of the Earth if I am guessing correctly.
We already know WotC doesn’t care about the fans.
It wouldn’t be out of their character for them to absorb the largest pdf distributor in the TTRPG industry. WotC has already turned the entire industry on its ear with the OGL 1.1 scandal. Would it really be unthinkable to screw literally everyone on OneBookShelf communities by absorbing the whole platform? I personally wouldn’t put it past WotC at this point.
It’s really no different than Elon, Lord of the Bots, taking over Twitter. We’ve seen that big business pretty much always gets what it sets its sights on here in the United States. Hasbro/WotC is certainly big business when the next closest competitor to D&D makes about a tenth as much money annually.
Thinking about this, why wouldn’t Hasbro want the biggest competitor in the digital market and by far the largest distributor or e-pub, pdf, etc. Why not make probably 75% or better of the companies in the TTRPG industry come to them to sell pdfs? All TTRPGs are indistinguishable from D&D, right?
Not to mention WotC said they “don’t see editions” when it comes to D&D in their video intro to One D&D last year. It’s going to be a lot easier to not see any other officially published material from older editions if WotC takes over the DMsGuild. One way or another, WotC seems extra determined to clamp down on third party D&D creators and get those juicy royalties.
I want to be wrong on this one.
As far as I know, no one from OneBookShelf has commented on the OGL debacle or any deals with Hasbro/Wizards of the Coast. NDAs all around, I imagine. I doubt we’ll hear much until closer to 2024 on this one.
I see WotC as wanting to dominate the entire TTRPG industry. Who will win the TTRPG Wars? Will all TTRPGs become D&D?
If this does go down and Hasbro sucks up OBS/Roll 20 however they do it, what does the rest of the industry have to do? Other platforms such as Itch.io and Patreon will soon get a lot more popular. But there is only one DriveThruRPG. What could possibly replace it if it goes away forever?
Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate you. Next time let’s talk about printed products.
WotC’s image is hurting right now. Their Public Relations people know it. Hasbro’s stock drop showed it. #StoptheSub , #DnDBeGone have proven devastatingly effective. WotC needs a big, shiny, smiling win if they want One D&D and it’s overpriced Unreal Engine microtransactions to survive in 2024. It’s just my theory, but what better way than with the crew that brought so many people into the game? Then again, WotC does seem pretty oblivious to the fans these days…
The other Matt Mercer Effect.
Anyone who knows anything about Dungeons & Dragons Fifth Edition knows the awesome power of Critical Role and Dungeon Master, Matt Mercer. This Actual Play broadcast has brought thousands, maybe closer to a million new players into the D&D game for the first time. Kudos to Matt and his merry cast of voice actors. Love it.
Now, I am guilty of talking trash about Matt Mercer and the effect he is commonly associated with. I have nothing personal against Matt. (We share a birthday oddly enough.) The original Matt Mercer Effect is the notion that new DMs struggle to run a game that compares to Critical Role. New DMs don’t necessarily have a huge repertoire of accents, voices, NPCs, game knowledge, etc the same way Matt Mercer does.
Make no mistake- Matt Mercer is awesome at what he does both in-game and in real life. Aside from being a top notch DM, creating a lush campaign world, developing his own D&D content, starting his own company, and running a world renowned Actual Play, Matt Mercer is a major onboarding engine for the D&D 5E game. That is the other Matt Mercer Effect. He is a magnet for new D&D players.
I admire Matt Mercer and Critical Role.
As I discussed yesterday, many of us in the TTRPG hobby would love to work for a game company and make real money doing what we love. Matt Mercer is definitely living the dream. I admire that. He gets to write, create, and enjoy D&D on a regular basis. We should all be so lucky.
Arguably, Matt and Critical Role would not be where they are today without the Open Game License 1.0a and accompanying System Reference Document from Wizards of the Coast. There are more than one D&D 5E sourcebooks based on Critical Role. Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount is a Wizards of the Coast D&D Sourcebook. Likewise, Call of the Netherdeep is a WotC sourcebook.
Here’s where the river of profits parts ways, maybe?
Tal’dorei Reborn, set in Mercer’s Exandria, is an OGL sourcebook, meaning it will be affected in all of the OGL drama that is currently gripping the community. WotC was even a sponsor of Critical Role up until Q3 of 2022. I have not found anything indicating a continued relationship between WotC and Critical Role at this time. I minimum presume Non Disclosure and Non Disparagement Agreements are still in place for Critical Role cast and crew. Such agreements are usually binding for many years. (I’m NOT a lawyer, but it’s my personal experience.)
Critical Role put out a statement in regards to the OGL debacle and the massive fan outrage at WotC. #DnDBeGone and former spokesperson Ginny Di led to a mass cancellation of D&D Beyond subscriptions. D&D Beyond was once the sponsor of Critical Role before everything started changing hands. Wizards of the Coast was the sponsor of Critical Role Season 3.
This is Critical Role’s stance on the OGL debacle. c/0 Twitter.
And now the Tinfoil Hat Society convenes.
Bear in mind I don’t know anyone inside WotC or Critical Role. Everything I say from here on out is speculation and/or conjecture. Please use your own discernment while I attempt to connect the dots.
Critical Role’s statement about the OGL was very neutral as one would expect from people behind NDAs. The language around supporting creators leans toward the fans. The language about diversity, etc leans toward OGL 1.2 a bit more. It’s hard to read, as it should be. Critical Role is trying to make nice with everybody right now. Yay money, right?
Everyone keeps asking if Critical Role is going to abandon D&D either as a result of the OGL turmoil or the (pending) release of One D&D. I think Critical Role is going to back WotC and the new digital platform to the hilt. Wizards of the Coast absolutely needs Matt Mercer and crew almost as much as Critical Role needs a huge corporate sponsor.
Wizards needs a miracle right now if they want to save D&D.
While it is true that Critical Role started out as a Pathfinder Actual Play, the show really caught on as D&D 5E. IF/F WotC wants to pull themselves out of the muck, they’re going to need something like Matt Mercer and/or Critical Role. The show is pretty much a massive endorsement for whatever game they’re playing. There’s no real denying it.
WotC’s image is hurting right now. Their Public Relations people know it. Hasbro’s stock drop showed it. #StoptheSub , #DnDBeGone have proven devastatingly effective. WotC needs a big, shiny, smiling win if they want One D&D and it’s overpriced Unreal Engine microtransactions to survive in 2024. What better way than with the crew that brought so many people into the game? Then again, WotC does seem pretty oblivious to the fans these days…
A LOT of things happened behind NDAs with the OGL 1.1 scandal.
I don’t want to paint Matt Mercer and Co in a bad light. I low key hope I’m wrong about all of this. I’m by no means trying to side with WotC on anything. But I’m looking at this whole situation and thinking, “What would I do if I were WotC?”
We know WotC approached several key content creators and told them what was going on, presumably with OGL 1.1, and asked them to sign NDAs in return for the information. Some went along with it. Others did not. Some of the creators that agreed are obviously still keeping quiet or even still quietly cheerleading for WotC. (Hey, I wouldn’t want to lose my gig being a DM in a castle, either. “Look at Dragonlance. Ain’t it cool?”)
We also know from Kickstarter coming forward after the NDA expired that WotC offered some sweetheart deals or negotiated better terms with some than others. Kinda scummy on WotC’s part, but not unexpected given the circumstances.
What if- Just WHAT IF WotC offered Critical Role one of those sweetheart deals? WotC is a big corporate sponsor offering a better percentage on royalties than they’re willing to give the little guys. All CR had to do was sign the deal with the proverbial devil.
Critical Role was already on board from 5E. Again, not saying anything bad about the CR crew or Matt Mercer. They’re running a business. What would be best for business? Signing on the dotted line or chancing it with some other game knowing full well everything OGL- including Tal’Dorei Reborn- was going to be under fire with the next license agreement? Think about it. What’s safest and most profitable for everyone?
The “new” news.
Obviously the Critical Role cast and crew can’t really come out in favor of another game unless they didn’t sign a deal with WotC or all deals were voided when WotC backed off OGL 1.1 in favor of the OGL 1.2 draft. We won’t know anything until either CR breaks their silence or One D&D goes live sometime in 2024. My guess is CR stayed with Wizards of the Coast.
However, Linda Codega has hinted at a big news drop sometime on 1/24 probably involving the OGL debacle. An interview with Matt Mercer or someone from Critical Role. Could this be the case?
Could CR have signed with WotC and kept it non-exclusive? I’d want to keep my options open in case being WotC’s poster child and veritable pariah in the #TTRPGCommunity didn’t work out. Maybe explore other game systems and back other companies until the company and the cast could get out from under the Reptilian Overlords at Hasbro. We’ve recently learned of Hasbro Initiative 2.0 or some such nonsense where the smelly megacorp is dumping some of their lower producing branches.
I hate to say it, but I guess we’ll see what happens. I wish Matt Mercer and Critical Role all the success in the world. It’s good to see one of us ttrpg nerds hit the big time.
Hey, I could be wrong about everything. It’s just a hypothesis, subject to testing. I’m just a small time blogger with a nose for TTRPGs and kooky conspiracies. Thanks for stopping by. More on this as things develop.
The last month or so has been tumultuous because of happenings in the TableTop RolePlaying Game industry. It’s a mess that I am drawn to because I’m very passionate about my hobby. But life goes on outside of the TTRPG world. I’d love to talk about other issues, but the #TTRPGIndustry has been in my purview for 4 decades.
Normally this is when I celebrate Freedom Day.
The last month or so has been tumultuous because of happenings in the TableTop RolePlaying Game industry. It’s a mess that I am drawn to because I’m very passionate about my hobby. But life goes on outside of the TTRPG world. I’ll touch briefly on a few things in this life update.
One of the very disturbing things with this whole Wizards of the Coast Open Game License crisis is the number of their employees that have apparently been terminated at their Dungeons & Dragons branch for giving an honest opinion when asked for one. That’s pretty despicable. Turns out I know a guy who was once canned from a McCorporate job for doing something similar. It royally sucks.
Fast life updates.
My kids are currently home from school. Since Winter Break they have been out of school more than they have been in it. Professional Development days for teachers have taken up several of these days off. There was also an incident where all of the school’s servers had to be shut down due to an incident with a hacker. Followed by MLK day and more Professional Development.
You may have noticed some menu items have vanished from my site recently. New and different content is on the way. The rate at which people and businesses come in and fall out of my life varies from day to day.
My SSDI hearing date is finally set. I’m more than a little anxious about it. That money would really help my family right now. My wife is doing the best she can, but turns out a teacher’s salary in Iowa doesn’t really keep a family of 6 afloat indefinitely. If SSDI doesn’t work out, things are gonna get real bleak around here.
You may have noticed the cute little ducky emoji in some of my recent articles. I decided to start dropping the cute little ducky into the middle of certain words in an effort to keep things more PG-13-ish. I know some will say I should just keep using harsh language as I have in the past. I prefer to think of this as editing out the word with a quack. I borrowed this idea from YouTube animator/gamer/content creator Dingo Doodles and others who use the quack to cover various four or five letter words.
This is interesting times for my favorite industry.
[Update: The OGL story is moving faster than I can keep up with it. Please be patient. Full breakdown of WotC and OGL 1.2 coming soon.]
I’ll talk more about this tomorrow, and probably the rest of the week. I’m someone who would like to work as a freelancer in the TTRPG industry or possibly start my own company. This is a horrible time to freelance in that industry because Wizards of the Coast and parent company Hasbro decided to tamper with a 20+ year old OGL that has been sustaining the industry.
The TTRPG hobby/industry is not all about D&D contrary to what some might have you believe. A lot of companies and freelancers bank on that OGL protecting them from lawsuits so they can make 5E content or derivative content without fear of being sued out of existence by WotC and their crack team of ninja hit lawyers. “Lawyers of the Coast/Wizards of the Court” chased down a lot of Intellectual Property infringement cases back in the 4th Edition days and even before that.
The OGL flap centers around the deauthorization or abolishment of what used to be an “Open” Game License meaning game mechanics and terms were okay to use as outlined in the official System Reference Document. This means one can create their own game or derivative based on it as long as one doesn’t use certain copyrighted terms owned by Wizards of the Coast. Everything else is fair game as long as a copy of the OGL is attached and those pesky WotC-owned terms are avoided completely.
This ranges from copying and pasting the entire SRD into a document as a base for an entire game to just using one or two terms in a specific manner such as “ability scores” or “Armor Class.” Back many years ago the Supreme Court of the United States made it illegal to copyright game terms. One can’t simply go and copyright chess or checkers, for example. But with the OGL and subsequent SRD in place since 2000, game designers and writers have come up with all sorts of games, sourcebooks and articles based on it.
It doesn’t have to be a fantasy game, either. I have plenty of OGL Wild West, Steampunk, Cyberpunk, Sci-fi and Horror supplements. D20 Modern from WotC operates under the OGL as well. Entire companies has sprouted up around the OGL. Goodman Games, makers of Dungeon Crawl Classics and Paizo Inc, who created Pathfinder are just two examples of such companies. For those who follow this site, I was making DCC content for free with Goodman’s blessing. I was getting ready to use Pathfinder for #Dungeon23. Not any more, unfortunately.
That’s what happened to literally every company that runs off of the OGL last week. Projects were scrapped or put on hold. Freelance writers and artists were put on hold or not contacted. Layoffs and/or firings from smaller game companies are expected. I suspect a lot of writers are going to move onto greener pastures as a result. Maybe that’s what WotC intended all along?
GRR! Why can’t we have nice things, WotC?
Hope springs eternal, but doesn’t pay the rent.
“Hope” is one of those words Law of Attraction experts say never to use. Basically, it’s already there in an LoA Universe. We don’t have to “hope” because we know it’s coming. Don’t hope, intend for things to happen. But I’m using “hope” here because I’m making some points about what the TTRPG industry is facing.
We hope Hasbro/WotC don’t put up an OGL that deauthorizes the old OGL 1.0A. No OGL that is truly “Open” includes paying royalties, declaring profits, and signing contracts. We hope we can scramble around and get another TTRPG built and get it on Kickstarter, Patreon, or DriveThruRPG soon. We hope Paizo’s #ORCLicense gets put in place fast enough to save some of our work.
We hope WotC does the merciful thing and leaves OGL 1.0A exactly the way it was. There’s still a minute chance? No?
We intend to have an industry that thrives, but alas WotC and their Hasbro Reptilian overlords are hindering it. The horrible fact is that indie companies, artists, and writers are panicking big time. “Hope we can pay the rent next month” is more of what they’re thinking. YouTubers, artists, and writers alike have quit their regular day jobs to make D&D content under the OGL. A lot of us might be updating resumes and dusting off that interview clothing to go back to a “regular” job (which royally sucks.)
As a side note, why is a company that made a BILLION dollars last year worried about the next largest competing company that maybe pulled in four or five million? Hasbro, are you really that desperate to crush businesses that should not even appear on your radar? What kind of sick weirdo gets their jollies off seeing small companies and individuals suffer as a result of ill-conceived notions? I mean, who does that?
What does it mean for me?
I’m a little thtuck here.
I’m a prospective freelance writer. I’d be good at it assuming I could get over my social anxiety and depression long enough to accomplish something. But if companies were nervous about hiring before, they’re downright skittish now. My only other hope is to grind out my own game on my own system, come up with art, and pray that it sells.
This is a good time to be a blogger, however. We’re not going to stop pounding out determined article after another denouncing the heads of WotC and Hasbro for what they did and what they’re doing. Every leak, every time one of their flaws is exposed, we will cover it.
I’m part of a movement that will save jobs, the game of D&D perhaps, and the industry as a whole. It’s rumored that Hasbro and even WotC execs think the fans are an obstacle between them and more money. Those execs have no idea the kind of obstacles we can put up if their attitudes don’t visibly improve.
That’s where we are now.
That’s all I’ve got for today. It breaks my heart to see others suffer. I hate the fact that people I care about, a game that I once enjoyed, and an entire industry that I loved is falling apart at the seams because one corporation had to try to monopolize it. One nasty, awful, stinking, lousy corporation literally holds all the cards.
Thanks for stopping by. We’ll persevere. We always do. Keep believing in a benevolent Universe and a brighter future. Game on.
Jeff's Game Box 