GenCon 2016 "Industry Insider" Program

Well, this is going to be a bit of a slog, like the Betrayal post was.  So GenCon has announced their industry insider program: "based around all things gaming related. The program consists of seminars and panels suggested and hosted by this years Industry Insiders. Topics vary and are as diverse as the Featured Presenters themselves but always remain industry focused."  Now, Vox Day on his alpha game blog stated it signals the end of GenCon, and Jeffro went over some of the lack of name recognition. In the interest of honesty about the industry of gaming, let's examine these "insiders".  I will be consulting boardgamegeek and rpggeek for these results.

Emily Care Boss: Well, she's gotten some credits according to RPGgeek, but she also seems to be one of those "indie" designers who advocates the masterless RPG, and "story-driven" RPG, which usually end up with sub par stories. Also, who plays Romance RPGs?

Brian Cortijo: Hey look, an RPG designer. You might even have played something he wrote. He's worked on Dungeons and Dragons 3rd, 3.5, 4th, and 5th. Also some Pathfinder and d20 OGL stuff.

Katherine Cross: According to GenCon, she's a feminist journalist for Gamasutra who's written for Kotaku, Polygon, Offworld, and other geek hating houses of "journalism".  She's a Ph.D student in sociology looking at "antisocial behavior online and identity formation in virtual worlds".  Game on, GamerGate.

Crystal Frasier: She has a fair number of RPG credits with Pathfinder, and some artist credits as well.

Amanda Hamon Kunz: She's done some work on Pathfinder and 13th Age products, including ENie winning Deep Magic.

Kenneth Hite:  Has far more credibility than anyone so far on the list. His RPGgeek designer credits go through 17 pages, covering  GURPS, Gumshoe, Savage Worlds, FATE Core, Pathfinder, and more.

Kathryn Hymes: Well neither 'geek has anything. Oh, that's because she doesn't make games. She makes play experiences dealing with language. Like Sign, which is 2 hours long in silence as the "players" recreate a bit of the creation of Nicaraguan sign language. Or Dialect, a story game about a community in isolation losing it's identity through language decline.   Interesting ideas, actually, but they AREN'T GAMES, not in the proper sense. "She seeks to actively avoid RPG tropes in order to make the hobby more approachable to new enthusiastic faces." Hmm. Like having actual conflict and rules mechanisms?

Renee Knipe: If I have the right one(there's two on RPGgeek), she's got a total of five RPG design credits. Yes, that's more than I have, but that's hardly insider status when nobody plays your stuff. Kagematsu and Charnel Gods may have gotten awards a decade ago, but who knows them now? The stuff of legend, I tell you.

Anna Kreider:  She's a self described "cranky feminist" with the blog Go Make Me a Sandwich and the standout SexyTime Adventures: the RPG. She's also done a little with Fiasco, and some Vampire. Let's face it, she hates men, Christians, is obsessed with "gender parity", and has no real clue about the men that built the industry.

Christopher Lawrence: I'm torn on his credibility. He worked for Avalon Hill on RuneQuest: Slayers, and supposedly helped develop scenarios for the Starship Troopers movie based boardgame. Trouble is, there was no such game. There was a minis game, based on the movie, and Avalon Hill published a game based on the novel. GenCon's at least run by idiots that don't do research, or letting guests write their own without fact checking.

Ryan Miller: Another actual insider. He's done work on multiple CCGs, Epic PvP from AEG, and Bolt Action. Perhaps less influential, but he still has cred.

Joshua Morris: Not listed on BoardGameGeek, but he supposedly worked for Score on several licensed property games. It's hard to say what his credibility is, he works as a cable content manager now.

Harrison Pink: GenCon bio says he's a video game guy who's got some credits, but nothing tabletop.

Brian Poel: Largely a video game dev, but he is one of the men behind Golem Arcana. Not much credibility, but some.

Marie Poole: CEO of Lone Shark Games. Of course, there's no credits in either 'Geek for her, so how much game stuff she's actually done, who knows?

Jessica Price: She has a whopping three Pathfinder credits. Most of the ones I've seen have closer to a dozen, at least six if they're busy with other work. She's also the one who called Mike Mearls and Lewis Pulsipher fake geek boys. Pulsipher might not be that credentialed a designer, but FFG reprinted one of his, and Mike Mearls has worked on D&D since 3rd edition(yes, even the trainwreck 4th.). Historically illiterate Paizo employee.

Donna Prior: ONE RPG producer credit. For Fantasy Age. She speaks about community management, diversity, and other special snowflake topics to people that think they matter.

Alex Roberts: She has no discernible credits. Supposedly a freelance writer, who likes to talk about sex a lot at convention panels. Why can't she talk about games?

Wes Schneider: EIC at Paizo, and co-creator of Pathfinder. Passionate about "GLBTQ"  topics in gaming, and author for Tor. Like I needed more reason to not play Pathfinder.

Hakan Seyalioglu: The other half of Thorny Games, with Hymes. He's apparently written some tools for Google Play games.

Zachary Strebeck: Game lawyer. Represents Stonemaier Games, and a couple of others. Odd interpretation of insider, but runs Game Lawyer blog, and contributes to the Dice Tower Podcast, so whatever.

Elisa Teague: Designed Geek Out!, a party game. Works for Lone Shark, worked for Playroom Entertainment. Likes to focus on women's issues and body image in the gaming community.


Mark Truman: He has a fair number of small RPG credits, with Cortex and FATE being the main systems involved.

Monica Valentinelli: Another somewhat busy small timer, with lots of Firefly credits, with some Vampire and others in the mix as well.

Eddy Webb: Another real insider. Lots of World of Darkness credits, but even Chill, Firefly, and Champions are in his work.

The GoH is Michael Pondsmith: Worked on Cyberpunk, Usagi Yojimbo RPG, Castle Falkenstien, and some others.


It's a bit sad when a grunt designer from WoTC has twice the design credits of your GoH, even if he's legit.

Bruno Faidutti, designer of Waka Tanka

I recently asked Mr. Bruno Faidutti for an interview, and sent him some questions concerning Waka Tanka, the "controversy" over the box art, and cultural differences between USA and France/EU. While he did not like the manner of questions I asked, he still graciously provided a statement. Commentary will begin after the statement.

From Bruno Faidutti:

As I have said in my article about this issue, I think the problem with the graphics in Waka Tanka comes from a difference in the codes of racism in the US and in Europe, and the reverse can also happen, with things which would be problematic here and not in the US. That’s why I finally approved the change in the Waka Tanka cover (while I still disapprove of the fakir / slave change in Five Tribes, which is literary revisionism). That’s why also the angry reactions to these graphics came only from the US. Neither the designer, me, nor the illustrator, nor the French and Italo-Brazilian publisher saw any problem with the graphics, and actually I don’t think anyone who is not very well acquainted with US culture and politics could see the problem here. On the other hand, once it had been explained to us, we understood it well and agreed to change the graphics. 

I’ve nothing against social justice warriors, and as a marxist I can be one sometimes. I simply regret that they seem, more and more often, to pick the wrong ennemies. Specifically, I think that race and racism are now mostly a capitalist trick to simultaneously divide and essentialize the working class, which is why it is very important for me not to take race issues too seriously - which I tried to do in my points about the graphics in Waka Tanka.

I am extremely weary of political correctness, especially when it deals with language and representation, but not because it  oppresses opposite views, which are usually not very commendable. I am opposed to it because I think it’s a strategic mistake (which can probably be traced back to Orwell’s theories of language which are now prevalent in most of the western left). It’s putting the cart before the horse - it’s the social reality which must be changed, not the way we describe it. In the end, PC euphemization of descriptions and languages probably prevents actual social change.

Unfortunately, and this is probably the only point on which we will agree, this trend is becoming stronger and stronger, and Europe seems now to be following the US in it.

Injustice Gamer commentary:

 Once again, I'd like to thank Bruno Faidutti for his cooperation and words.

 Bruno is a designer of many games of good reputation, as evidenced on his boardgamegeek page. Some of these games I rather enjoy, others not.  My only personal criticism from my brief interaction with him is the fact that it is intellectually inconsistent for a Marxist to make boardgames, for a company to profit. Onto other commentary, that of content, I found the man to be a gentleman and fair.

Personally, I preferred the original box art:

Here is the replacement art:

My opinion is that while the two are cartoonish, the first is more light hearted, and the second feels darker and not quite right for a 20-30 minute game.  Both have most of the same stereotypes in fact: the red Indian being the only real difference. 

Bruno mentions the Five Tribes change, which I covered here. He states that he is unhappy with the literary revisionism, good and well. Marxists of all stripes have engaged in historical revisionism frequently. The Communist Party in Russia not only disappeared people, but removed them from photographs. ESPN has recently removed Curt Schilling from their Red Sox documentary, after firing him for making statements far less harsh than some they continue to employ; he was simply stating illiberal opinions.

If race and racism are a capitalist trick, I must ask why it is that it's liberals that fixate on it. The fact is that genetic biodiversity states that intelligence is linked to genetics heavily, and scientists have been denied funding to continue the research. Even the SAT shows a gap that is growing.

SJWs are indeed picking the wrong enemies. Perhaps this is because they have picked the wrong causes to begin with. Dividing people and promoting victimhood exposes itself for lazy greed eventually. 

On PC culture, we agree, but not for the same reason. It is a movement to restrict free speech, association, and eventually thought. This restriction does not benefit man, as we grow best through rivalry and competition.

Update: Mr. Faidutti has informed me that being a Marxist does not necessitate being a leninist or communist. He believes that the class struggle is "motor of history". Of course, I think he might struggle withe the differences between an American far right conservative, a libertarian, and a minarchist. He also mentions Mr. Sanders as not playing the race card in politics. On this we disagree; I believe he's doing it more subtly by promising college, and high wages for unskilled work.

When you play Social Justice, the world loses.

Injustice Book Review: God, Robot

It is time for another book review. Cower not, fierce reader! For our tome this time is the recent anthology God, Robot from Castalia House. Now, being an anthology, the cause of Injustice would normally be more difficult to endarken, but this is a shared history anthology, each story building on previous ones, complete with a framing story.

To begin our list of infamous acts, the book is not just science fiction, but advocates throughout for Christianity. Theobots are created to assist in churches, the first problem encountered is the problem of logic versus evidence, and the flaws of building a philosophical Christianity without evidence in the way of testimony. It is then found that the "three laws" of Asimovian robotics are incompatible with the Two Laws of theobots. The Two Laws of theobots are as such: 1.You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your soul, heart, mind, and strength; and 2.Love your neighbor as yourself. We also see atheists unable to comprehend the implications of theological ideas until they unfold, and ignorant of the culture created by different disciplines of Christianity.

Vox Day himself penned one of these tales, and it displays the hazards when one designed and disciplined for God becomes the law, and gains the power over life and death.  John C. Wright adds to his crimes against Social Justice by presenting  a tale that starts out hopeful, but ultimately inverts itself after a sacrifice, perverting the whole of it to Injustice. And his wife, L. Jagi Lamplighter, grants us a vision of revenge being enacted, and then abandoned for the cause of redemption. Mr. Joshua Young grants us a tale of spiritual crisis among the Merge, a race where the two laws were grafted into human DNA.

While this anthology only commits the act of treating Christianity not only as serious, but correct, it does so consistently, and with tales  to terrify the heart of the Socially Just. In fact, the writing is so scandalous as to cause me to overlook it's lack of other crimes against Social Justice, though some if it's authors are crime enough.

Nine of ten fell deeds.

When you play Social Justice, the world loses.

Interview with RPGPundit

When the expansion to Betrayal at House on the Hill was announced, I ended up having a short exchange on twitter with the RPGPundit, @KasimirUrbanski. He suggested I might interview him, and I've taken him up on the offer.

First, thank you for agreeing to this interview.

Thanks!

Give us a brief glimpse into your history with gaming.

Well, I've been an RPG gamer since the 1980s. I started out with the “red box” of D&D, as well as a few other popular games of the time. It was only a hobby until 2005, when I started writing a blog as the RPGPundit. The blog proved quite popular, and eventually I was handed the ownership of a defunct RPG-forum named “nutkinland”, on a bet (the bet being that I couldn't make it work where the previous owners had failed). My interest in the project wasn't just a matter of pride, it was also because the largest RPG forum was (and still is) a high-moderation area that was discriminating against both traditional RPG gamers and people with a different political slant than the main clique running the joint.

Within 6 months, my forum, now called theRPGsite, had become (and still is) one of the major and most active general-RPG forums on the internet. Our area of interest there tends toward old-school RPGs (D&D and its derivatives) but we have threads about all kinds of RPGs, and a free-speech moderation policy.

After that, I started writing some RPGs of my own. The most popular of these have been the diceless RPG “Lords of Olympus”, the old-school Indian-themed RPG “Arrows of Indra”, and especially my latest old-school RPG world “Dark Albion” which takes D&D-style gaming and puts it into a magical version of the 15^th century War of the Roses (the real-life history that inspired Game of Thrones), with a big emphasis on 'medieval authenticity'. It's been blessed with both rave reviews and great sales.

My involvement in old-school gaming, my blogging and my skill as an RPG reviewer led to my being hired as a consultant to help in the design in the newest (5^th) edition of Dungeons & Dragons itself.

I know from the rant over at Problematic Tabletop that you had a hand in Dungeons and Dragons 5e. As a “consultant” to the edition, how much input did you have into the game's development?

Well, obviously the lead designers were the lead developers of the game, and a lot of 5e D&D is based on the best of earlier editions of D&D (including the old-school editions which I'm a huge fan of, and helped with integrating into the new edition). But I'd say I had quite a lot of input as a consultant. I worked directly with the project head Mike Mearls, and over the course of several months we exchanged about 400 emails, where we went into a lot of detail about the early stages of the rules. I helped keep the game modular and simplified enough that it would be appealing to old-school gamers, and helped influence several different areas that ended up in the final rules.

The blogger at Fail Forward stated that you, and others involved in the Old School Rules community are paranoid and nasty people. What's your response to this?

I'd say they're the paranoid and nasty people. They're control freaks out to force other people to do what they want. I'm not the one who wants to blacklist authors and censor books. That's them.

I'll also note that the people behind that blog, and the people who supported it, were behind a vicious attack against me when D&D 5e came out. This attack included making up outright lies about me, including the standard litany that I was sexist, racist and homophobic/transphobic. They claimed that I had been opposed to the use of inclusive language in the new D&D rules, when in fact I was 100% in favor of it and had publicly stated as much. They claimed I'm a transphobe even though Arrows of Indra (a game I had published BEFORE 5e came out) was the first RPG rulebook to feature a transgender character on the cover. They continued repeating these lies in spite of any evidence or statement to the contrary, because obviously the truth is not of interest to their real agenda.

For those of us not in the know, talk to us about the OSR movement, why it exists, and what its objectives are?

The OSR stands for “Old School Renaissance” and what it amounts to is a design movement that has become one of the most innovative and influential schools of RPG-design in the modern hobby. It came into existence thanks to the Open Gaming License from Wizards of The Coast, which essentially provided a legal safeguard to using the D&D rules in third party products. This led to a lot of old-school gamers, gamers who were still playing original D&D from the 1970s and 1980s, making 'clones' of those old rules (because when the OSR started, there was no legal way to buy non-used copies of the old rules), and to write new adventures for old-school D&D.

Eventually, everything that could get 'cloned' did, and later WotC made available reprints of the AD&D and original D&D rules, and PDFs of other early products. But these developments actually led to a new phase for the OSR, of real innovation. In the last few years there's been an explosion of new rulebooks, adventures, supplements and other products that aren't a direct copy of anything from the old-school era but whose design-principles are based directly on the old-school style of system-design.

The OSR today is like a kind of framework of design, where you make the rules 'inside the box' of what fits with the old-school style, but thinking of totally new ways to modify them and totally new and unusual settings that are different from what came before. My own Dark Albion and Arrows of Indra are examples of this, but there's dozens (maybe hundreds?) more, many of which have received awards and commercial success.

Apart from one or two older gaming companies (like Goodman Games), most of the publishers of OSR products are new, small-press or self-publishing enterprises. In spite of its traditionalist bent, the OSR has proven to be a far more successful school of design concept than most previous (more artsy-fartsy avant-garde) attempts to reinvent the rpg-wheel. And the influence of the OSR was proven by the way WoTC reached out to OSR designers while designing 5e D&D.

Given, your previous involvement with WotC in DnD, what’s your response to the list of creators on the Betrayal at House on the Hill expansion?

I don't play that game, so I don't have a personal stake on it. But frankly, I'm not going to judge the creators chosen. Like I said, I'm not a fan of blacklisting or censorship. I suspect that some of those choices of creators were done for reasons totally other than real design skill, but the real proof to me should always be in the product made. As far as I'm concerned, it's the Regressives who care more about who is being picked for a job than how good they are at it; and while if I was going to bet on some of those chosen I'd probably bet against their work being any good, I think that it's the final work itself that should be judged.

The thing is, a lot of the Outrage Brigade crowd are fundamentally incompetents, which is why they want to judge on anything other than ability. In that case, the quality of their work will ultimately prove whether we should give a damn about them or not. Sooner or later, the market will decide.

What games are you currently playing? What other games do you think highly of? What games should be avoided at all costs, and why?

Currently, I'm still running the Dark Albion campaign that I used to playtest my book with, it's been running every two weeks for the last six years or so. I'm also running a second Dark Albion campaign that I host at a local gaming club. Plus, an historical 'wild west' campaign using Aces & Eights; and an extremely gonzo crazy game of Dungeon Crawl Classics (one of those very creative OSR games). That last one will probably end up being a future setting book of mine one day.

To me, aside from my own books of course, I think that old-school D&D and the OSR products are the best gaming material around. There's a ton of great OSR rulesets, each of which is creative in its own way; games like Dungeon Crawl Classics, Lamentations of the Flame Princess, Fantastic Heroes & Witchery, and many more. The great thing about them is that these games, and any of their adventures/supplements, are all basically compatible with each other, and they're also all compatible with the old D&D books, settings, and adventures. There's also some OSR games that aren't fantasy-based, like the sci-fi games White Star and Stars Without Number.

There's a ton of other games, non-OSR games, that are really great and worth checking out (past and present), but it would take way too long to list them all.

The games to avoid are mostly the highly pretentious “Storygames” that try to turn RPGs away from being about emulating a character in a virtual world and into some kind of process of “addressing a narrative”. These usually have gimmicky rules and tend to crappy at long-term play (or, I would say, short-term play for that matter). Most of these are really evident if you give them a quick look, but since the rise of the OSR some of these avant-garde designers have been trying to latch on the coat-tails of Old School. I'd warn people who are looking into Old-School gaming to watch out for games like “dungeon world” or “torchbearer”, whose fans often try to claim are 'old school' but are in fact nothing of the sort.
There are worse games than those too, including a couple that aren't really games at all but exercises in what we call 'misery tourism' (where you play some poor victim of some horrible tragedy, often with political overtones), but these are so unpopular you're not likely to find them without really going out of your way to look, and they'll be obvious crap to anyone with half a brain.

Thanks again to RPGPundit. He makes a very good point about judging the final work with regard to the Betrayal expansion, though the track record of certain elements is cause for some skepticism.

When you play Social Justice, the world loses.

Dragon Awards, Revisited

I wouldn't come back to this so soon, except for the fact that, on the fourteenth of April, Dragoncon revised the eligibility window for the Dragon Awards. Sharply. No longer are they at calendar year plus one ore two months, depending on category. Now, they are going to 7/1/2015 to 6/30/2016. That's a neat trick, as nominating ends before that.

I do want them to succeed, and I wrote them to make them aware of the overlap of windows being backwards, and the shadiness of moving the window after opening nominations.

 My current advice: wait until June to nominate, so they can't change the windows again.

Current recommendations:
Best Science Fiction: Somewhither by John C. Wright
Best Fantasy: Son of the Black Sword by Larry Correia
Best YA/Middle Grade: Calamity by Brandon Sanderson
Best Mil SF/F: Counterstrike by Joshua Dalzelle
Best Alternate History: none, A Long Time Until Now is currently ineligible.
Best Apocalyptic: Ctrl Alt Revolt! by Nick Cole
Best Horror: Honor at Stake by Declan Finn
Best Comic Book: The Black Hood, by Duane Swierczynski and Francesco Francavilla
Best Graphic Novel: Invisible Republic vol. 1 by Gabriel Hardman and Corinna Sarah Bechko
Best SF/F TV series: The Flash
Best SF/F movie: I'll leave this open for now.
Best SF/F computer/console game: open for now
Best SF/F mobile game: open for now
Best SF/F Board Game: Talon, GMT games
Best SF/F other tabletop game: open for now


When you play Social Justice, the world loses.

Betrayal at House on the Hill: SJW expansion

For those that haven't heard, yesterday Hasbro/Wizards/Avalon Hill announced an expansion for Betrayal at House on the Hill. Now, you might be thinking, "They should have done this years ago.", and that would be true. They probably saw all the expansions Fantasy Flight Games has put out, and realized there's money in it. I wouldn't comment on this, but the expansion has 50 new haunts written by a gamut of individuals, including Anita Sarkeesian and Zoe Quinn. Because we need their drama and lies over here, apparently. There are a LOT of contributors on this, so I'm going to go through the list.

Peter Adkison: Former CEO and founder of Wizards of the Coast. He's got some game cred, and they know him. OK, sure.

Christopher Badell: Of Greater Than Games and designer of Sentinels of the Multiverse and a few others. I'm pretty sure I don't care for his politics, but he doesn't shove it in people's faces. For now.

Keith Baker: No real issues here. The guy's done a lot of work with WotC with DnD 3.5 and 4.

John Borba: Apparently wants to be like Wil Wheaton. Has a couple of You Tube shows with 4 and 5 episodes. No writing or game credits I can find.

Chad Brown: Likely the developer of the Pathfinder Adventure Card Game. Jealous they didn't think of it first?

Bart Carroll: Works for WotC. No special effort here.

Quelle Chris: Hip Hop artist? If that's the one, why? Fame does not make for a good game designer.

Andy Collins: Has some credits with DnD 3.5. Some decent books he put out.

Rob Daviau: One of the original designers, also the designer of Risk Legacy.

Mike Dunlap: I think this might be the designer of Bump in the Night. Or it's the basketball coach.

Chris Dupuis: Another WotC employee.

Don Eubanks: Actor, Borderlands and Duke Nukem Forever video games. Again, Why?

Justin Gary: Magic Pro Tour player. It makes more sense than the hip hop guy and actor.

Jonathan Gilmour: Game designer of Pocket Dungeon and Dead of Winter.

Bruce Glassco: One of the original Betrayal designers.

Eli Halpern: Cards Against Humanity. Hasbro against Game Design.

Will Hindmarch: Has a lot of RPG credits. Of course, where's Project: Dark? Surprised they got him to write anything with being 2 years late on his own game.

Jerry Holkins: Penny Arcade. This hurts my head. Perhaps the list is the 50 new haunts to drive us insane.

Mons Johnson: Magic Pro Tour player, former WotC employee.

Gwendolyn Kestrel: She wrote for some of the late DnD 3.5 books. Not convinced, but ok.

Richard Malena: Math instructor, Pathfinder developer.

Mikey Neumann: Borderlands developer. Meh.

Paul Peterson: One of the Lone Shark development team. Guillotine, among others.

Ben Petrisor: Temple of Elemental Evil boardgame.

Marie Poole: CEO of Lone Shark, apparently.

Zoe Quinn: I shouldn't need to tell you. Depression Quest, and lying to the UN.

Keith Richmond: Has some Pathfinder Adventure Card Game Credits.

Mike Robles: "Community Manager" at Lone Shark. Nice to see so much convergence.

Tifa Robles: Yes, Mike's wife. Very concerned with gender equity in gaming.

Anita Sarkeesian: Another liar to the UN. Likes to pretend she knows video games. Now pretending she knows boardgames. Likely watches Wheaton's Tabletop.

F. Wesley Schneider: Editor in Chief at Paizo, "co-creator" of Pathfinder RPG.

Mike Selinker: Big shark at Lone Shark, with plenty of boardgame credits, including Betrayal.

Liz Spain: She has some PACG credits. Incredible Expeditions: the Quest for Atlantis. From BGG: NOTE: The game has been selling on Amazon for a year, while half the backers are still waiting for their copies. Liz updates sporadically, does not respond to messages, and ignores questions posed on Kickstarter, BGG, her Facebook page, and her website.  Wonderful reputation, there.

Max Temkin: The other Cards Against Humanity "designer"

Elisa Teague: Geek Out! designer. No other game credits.

Rodney Thompson: Lords of Waterdeep, and longtime WotC designer.

Jeff Tidball: Horus Heresy, Mercante, Spammers, as well as many RPG credits.

Brian Tinsman: Dreamblade, Maple Story CCG, and a couple other credits

Pendleton Ward: Adventure Time. Maybe he can do well.

Angela M. Webber: from the Doubleclicks? Why do filk performers rate?

Gaby Weidling: PACG developer, Lone Shark Games



Why would I do this to myself? So we know who's doing our games, and might understand what they're doing TO them.

Looking at the list, I'd guess Lone Shark Games is fully converged, and Mike pulled in some friends, and WotC had some demands. Why would WotC farm out the development? Hasbro doesn't like making games, only selling them. They have the in house talent. If they wanted outside people writing the haunts, they should have consulted with Scott Almes and Ryan Laukat, who showed what they can do with Above and Below. My guess with WotC? They might be looking to buy a development house for boardgames. Nevermind the back catalog they're sitting on, or the ones they've licensed out.

Will it be any good? No idea. I advocate to try before you buy in this case. Or read before you buy.

When you play Social Justice, the world loses.

Injustice Book Review: Nobility Among Us

Time for another departure. I recently read the first novel by Ben Zwycky, Nobility Among Us. As Mr. Zwycky is a relatively new author, associated with Sci Phi Journal, the gentleman and his associated works will remain hidden by the world  of justice. THIS WILL NOT STAND. The darkness of injustice must expose this work in it's contrast to the world.

Let us begin with the world structure. The world is a fuedally structured one. Make no mistake, though, this is not a medieval world, it's past modern. Not by much, but a little. Of course, there's ample opportunity for noble titles to be abused.

The abuse of such is shown throughout by the main character, who constantly upends the social structure in the various guises of rule of law, mercy for his people, standing for the faith of a forbidden book, and long term economic growth. Such policies clearly are short sighted. The only way to continue properly in power is to crush those below you, accept graft(as is done by the true hero of the story), take mistresses as a matter of course, and punish your enemies covertly.

The Forbidden Book is clearly the Bible, given the Christian themes posited throughout. A divine being that speaks directly to those He favors, angels that intervene during a military attack, an explicit mention of resurrection and heaven, and forgiveness of those that have harmed one the most? This clearly is against the justice we see pervading today.

Is this book a perfect act of Injustice? No, but it does certainly contain a great multitude of sins, purporting equality before the law, mercy, forgiveness, redemption, and actual Christian faith. His writing is of good quality, but clearly still growing at this point. Given Mr. Zwycky's propensity for critical, independent thought, and his clear advocacy for such vile acts, I judge it at 8 of 10 fell deeds.

When you play Social Justice, the world loses.