Perfect Outcome?

 

As you might have already heard, Luke Crane has been forced to resign over the stupidest weak-sauce bullshit you could imagine.

Similar to what's been happening to Governor Cuomo in NY, Cuomo should be getting his ass handed to him over killing all those elderly people in nursing homes and then trying to cover it up.  But instead, the left wants to beat him over the head for sexually crude comments and trying to kiss a secretary or two.

What can I say, the progressive, radical-left are fucking insane... and they're ruining this hobby.

Luke Crane got in trouble for having Adam Koebel as a contributor to his KS project when the real reason he should (or should not, depending on your view) be scrutinized is that Luke Crane was head of the RPG division of Kickstarter, creating conflict of interest red flags.

I, and many others, have discussed the Adam Koebel nothing burger until we're blue in the face.  From now on, EVERY SINGLE SESSION I RUN FOR THE REST OF THIS YEAR will include the pushing of a button to simulate at least one (probably multiple) non-consensual robot orgasm.  Jesus tentacled Christ, who the fuck cares?!?

Getting back on track, the social justice warriors seem to think this hobby is theirs, that "the community" is so important, so evolved, so much better than the OSR and regular gamers who don't want politics in their RPGs.  

Yes, the collective can be as seductive as an angry mob to certain people.  If you join, you get perks!  But don't be fooled.  It robs you of your identity (ironic when you think of identity politics), controls you, and eventually leads to the death of freedom.  Hello, cancelation! 

And to all the people who've said that either cancel culture doesn't exist or "it's just fine," let me remind you - ignoring the problem won't make it go away.  You guys are just as guilty of poisoning elf-games as those vilifying individuals just trying to live and make a living irrespective of the woke authoritarian regime.

Makes you wonder what would happen if Koebel, Crane, and the rest of the SJW gamers just refused to apologize, refused to recede into the shadows.  Can you be canceled if you don't let it happen?

Well, it worked for Gina Carano but didn't work for Zak (though, he's still blogging and putting content out there).  Both are talented, but the former seems like a sweetheart (confirmed by Bill Burr) while the latter... well, yeah.  He'll probably always be a hyper-argumentative asshole demanding his version of objective truth and unequivocal apologies.  

Anyway, goodbye to Luke Crane, a continued farewell to Adam Koebel, and adios to every other SJW who crosses the ever-encroaching and self-imposed line of what's "socially acceptable".  You guys are spineless, easily offended, back-stabbing, cry-bully collectivists.  Fuck all y'all!

VS

p.s. Want the best in eldritch, gonzo, science-fantasy, post-apocalyptic gaming?  Luxurious, signed, limited edition Cha'alt and Cha'alt: Fuchsia Malaise hardcovers... ordering details here.

Zak S. Statement Commentary

I just read Zak S' official response.  Here's the link.

Not sure why it wasn't on his blog, but I'm sure his lawyer is giving him all the appropriate advice.

It's actually pretty good and puts Mandy and company in a slightly awkward light.  Of course, he produces very few actual receipts, but maybe that's to be expected.  Now, it's mostly down to he said, she said, she said, she said, and she said (with at least one of those coming to Zak's defense).

Yeah, he's still in a lot of trouble, but that gives him a chance to make some sort of partial recovery.  However, waiting three days to respond to those allegations seems nuts.  I mean, one more week and the next news cycle would have hit, either another #metoo casualty or we find out that some big shot in the RPG community is acting shady behind the scenes.

My wife has her share of health problems (nothing like Mandy, though).  So, I know the added layers of stress, strain, frustration, and emotional trauma that goes into relationships when a partner isn't well.

It's valentine's day today... and maybe it's part hormones, part health concerns, and part v-day expectations, but my wife was really antagonistic towards me today. I couldn't take a picture right and it was the end of the world.  By the time she finally left this morning, she was (all her own words) furious, sad, broken, falling apart, having an emotional breakdown, sorry for the way she had treated me, and said that I was her rock and that she loved me just before leaving the house.  All that in about one hour.

Makes me think of that line from The Godfather, "There are things that have been going on between men and women for thousands of years..." (I'm paraphrasing because I couldn't find the exact quote on google).

Or that other one... "In Sicily, women are more dangerous than shotguns."

In the end, we'll never really know exactly what happened, what the truth of Zak S. and all his many sexual relationships with women were about.  Dude, are you trying to set the record straight or just bragging?

But the one thing I keep coming back to is that Zak S. has been a fucking asshole to a lot of people over the years. That, in my opinion, is the original sin of this tragedy.  If he hadn't been a tremendous dick to literally hundreds of his colleagues, peers, partners, and would-be fans, the vast majority would have given him the benefit of the doubt - at least until he'd released some kind of statement.

As it is, there's six degrees of separation between any random gamer and someone he's seriously wronged in the past.

So, the next big question is - will anyone (I'm especially interested in OneBookShelf) walk-back their pronouncements?  Does Zak S. have a shot at continuing to make money in the RPG industry?  Is this what James Raggi IV of Lamentations of the Flame Princess fame was waiting for... where's his statement?

I don't know if this soap opera is going to keep going or not, but if there are major developments, I'll talk about them here.

VS

MotBM an OSR Dead-End?

Ok, this deserves a blog post all its own...

So, I and many others read this review of Maze of the Blue Medusa right over here.  There's been a lot of feedback, as well as, quite a bit of push-back from the OSR.

Now, if the reviewer was railing against commonly accepted OSR staples, I would wholeheartedly agree with their rebuttal.  However, I got the sense that the reviewer is himself an OSR gamer and was judging MotBM on its own self-proclaimed old school merits... and found it lacking.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I don't see the reviewer advocating for adventure paths.  He simply wants a megadungeon to have some logical cohesion along with something going on that relates to the PCs.  You know, an adventure!  That's not some newfangled modern 4th edition story-game nonsense.  On the contrary, it's the foundational bread and butter of RPG scenarios: there's something going on that draws the PCs in and makes some kind of sense as they involve themselves.

I don't know if this is quite right, not having read MotBM (though this is probably the 13th review I've read over the last year), but from the reviewer's perspective, it seems like a deconstructed megadungeon.  All the parts are there, but it tricks you into thinking it's fully assembled.

Just because an adventure (any adventure) says, "You can do what you want with it - make it your own!" that doesn't mean it's useful, what the customer wants, or is worth paying for.  Now, I think MotBM is worth buying and I intend on purchasing the 2nd edition yonder.  But my acquisition is not why the ordinary gamer wants it.  

I'm looking for inspiration, what worked, what didn't work, why it captured the 2017 imagination as hard as it did.  Why?  So I can surpass it, of course.  Hoping to publish my own megadungeon in 2019!

Anyways, when it comes down to it a gaming product should be gameable - especially when it's expensive, talked up to the nth degree, and was a work-in-progress by two accomplished gaming authors for 4 friggin' years (trying to verify that, but not finding a source - will keep trying)!

If the reviewer, and he's not alone - I've seen lots of feedback over the last 12 months - thinks it stops short of providing satisfactory gameable content, that's a flaw.  Thankfully, I don't believe MotBM's flaw is shared by the OSR.  If anything, MotBM strayed too far away from old school principles - and that's what bit it in the ass.  

But I'd love to read your thoughts, will gladly engage in discussion and hope to have my beliefs either verified or reduced to ash after I've read the damn thing (probably end of August).

VS

p.s.  Ever since I realized my interview with Patrick Stuart pictured not Patrick Stuart, I've felt a little bit bad about it (but not so bad that I actually did anything).  So, here he is pictured!  Also, here's a link to that post-MotBM interview.  For completion's sake, here's my post-MotBM interview with Zak S.