The Chicken Little Syndrome

So many things to blog about, so little time...

I read Tabletopapocalypse and well, I felt the need to respond to it.  Mr. Skarka writes about the "demise of the table top gaming industry".  Yeah right.  How may times have I heard that before?  Plenty of times.  Table top gaming seems to be doing fine to me.  Of course Mr. Skarka seems to believe he has evidence to the contrary, because he is in the business, and has been involved with different aspects of it for a while now.  Well, I've worked in the retail side and the distributor side myself.  Does that make me an expert no?  No.  Does it make him or his associates experts?  No.

It's my opinion that as long as there are table top gamers there will be a corresponding industry, in some form or capacity.

Mr. Skarka has the "Chicken Little Syndrome", and according to him the sky is falling!  His sky may be falling, but I guarantee some people in the business are doing fine.  Maybe not everybody, but then this is probably the case for any industry.  Has he considered the economy of the last few years?  Once the economy rebounds the table top gaming industry could very well see  vast improvement.  Will he still be around to see it?  I don't know, sounds like he wants to stick his tail between his legs and run.  "The sky is falling!"

Such negativity does not help the industry.  At no point in his blog post do I see any suggestions about how to improve things. None.  Doom and gloom, and everyone that disagrees with him are wrong.  He has his evidence after all!

Maybe his sky is falling?  Perhaps his income has taken a huge hit?  I don't know, but maybe deep down he feels if he can't make money in the industry that nobody should be able to?  Perhaps that's a stretch, but some people are like that.

I could go on, but I'm going to take a hard line point of view.  If anyone in the table top gaming industry thinks that there's trouble, that there's no hope, and eventually it will be gone, perhaps you need to rethink this.  Get your head out of your ass, put on a helmet, and plow forward.  Try some new directions, be innovative, I don't know, try something!  If you can't do that, then walk out the door, and don't look back. If you do look back in a few years you will see that the hobby and the industry is still around.  In some form or another it will STILL BE AROUND.  It would be better for all of us that enjoy the hobby if you feel this way then you should leave.  Negativity doesn't help ANYONE.

Of course I may be wrong.  I doubt it, but you never know what's going to happen.  According to Mr. Skarka it's not a matter of if but when.  What we really need are optimists not pessimists.  Help the industry, don't hinder it.

Well, this appears to be my second rant this week.  Two in a row.  Oh well.

Art Theft & Copyright Infringement

Well, I'm going to try and not get all medieval about this subject, but it's going to be difficult.  Very difficult.

As an artist, cartoonist, and writer, copyright infringement and art theft is something that gets my blood boiling.  Why am I up in arms?  I found this post over at The Omnipotent Eye , which led to another blog ~ Esoteric Murmurs .  It discusses James L. Shipman II and his company Outlaw Press, and his theft of art work, and the numerous cases of copyright infringement he is involved in.  Apparantly he's been doing this for years, but because of the cost of lawsuits no one has taken him to court. Well, at least I haven't read anywhere that he's been taken to court over this; maybe he has?  I haven't read everything there is on the forums and blogs about this, but I have read enough to see this guy is as guilty as heck.  There are far too many people who say he ripped off their work for this to be any sort of mistake.  The guy is a crook.

Ken St.. Andre, creater of Tunnels and Trolls, says he can't be stopped in a comment he left on Esoteric Murmurs.  I disagree.  This person ( I use the term loosely ) can be stopped.  RPGNow, and other sites have stopped carrying his products.  If people STOP BUYING HIS PRODUCT ( I should say stolen product ) he will go out of business.  So spread the word.  Do not do business with him, or his "company".  Do not submit ANYTHING for publication to him, he will just rip you off.

He primarily sells T&T related products, and a magazine called The Hobbit Hole.   If you see anything on eBay with this type of product, be wary and do a little research.  He's been changing eBay "identities" since I guess some get compromised.

You don't have to believe me, just use some of the links on Esoteric Murmurs, and do some research, and come to your own conclusions.

Well, I'm proud of myself!  I didn't call James L. Shipman II a douche bag... erm... oh well.  I could have called him many, many things.  I showed great restraint.

SPREAD THE WORD!

Anyway, I hope to have the next post about the Robe of Useful Items up tomorrow.  I hope everyone ( except James L. Shipman II ) has a great Halloween!

Blog of Useful Items Part One

Since my blog has been devoid of "gaming" stuff of late, I decided to rectify that.  In my spare time, I've been flipping through the AD&D Dungeon Masters Guide. I was reading parts of Appendix P: Creating A Party On The Spur of the Moment the other day, and I come upon the Robe of Useful Items.  It was one of the options when giving the party items.  Now, this one is different than the one found in the magic treasure descriptions.  Well, it's a little different...

The Robe of Useful Items listed in the Miscellaneous Magic Section, has a table you roll on to determine what the patches are, aside from the standard patches.  The one in Appendix P doesn't, you just select what you want on the robe.  Also, instead of a pair of war dogs, it's only one war dog.  The Appendix P robe also has a giant owl!  Now really, how useful will a giant owl be? Especially if you are on a dungeon crawl?  Furthermore, will the owl obey the wearer of the robe?  Hah!  That would be fun...

DM: "Okay you pull off the giant owl patch, and it grows and forms into the giant owl. The orcs turn and run..."

Player: "YES! I tell the owl to chase them."

DM: "Oh do you speak giant owl?"

Player:  "Ermmm..."

DM: "The giant owl turns and faces you.  What do you do now?"

Heh, yeah, that would be fun.  Yes, I'm sure every DM handles the live animal's pulled off the robe in their own way, and if it ever comes up in a game I'm running, I guess I would have to decide.  I've got some ideas I'm working on, but the ideas aren't ready for "prime time" just yet.

As far as magic items go, I like the ones that hopefully will give the players the opportunity to be creative.  That's what I like most about the Robe of Useful Items!  Sure a wand of fireballs is nice, but it does have limited uses.  You point it and fire at the enemy! You use it to set fire to buildings!  The ROUI ( depending on what kind of patches it has ) can inspire all kinds of zany, creative actions by the players. A wand of fireballs, not nearly as many.

One of the other items on the Appendix P ROUI is a 30' tall oak tree!  At first I was going, huh?. but then I realised it could have many uses!  Of course I also wondered if you pulled it off and placed it on the ground would it take root?  Again, I guess it's up to the DM.  Then I began to think and asked my self some questions. ( I like the Socratic Method, even when I'm teaching myself!  ) Of course I'll go into this more in Part Two.

While thinking about writing about the ROUI, I did a google search, and found this .  I had actually had come up with the same darn thing in my brainstorming session for this blog entry, and I'm sure many other people have come up with the idea of a Robe of Useless Items as well.

When you really think about it the ROUI is a powerful piece of magic. I'm probably going to have a few floating around in my fantasy sandbox. Plus, I'm going to make sure I have a giant owl, or two, on one of them.

Computer Update

After a trip to the public library, and some research on the Internet, I discovered that my hard drive may not be dead.  I also got some computer books to check out, but due to a supposedly damaged DVD case, and a fee of five dollars; I was blocked from checking out the books.  Now I could have paid the five dollars, but I know the DVD case wasn't damaged when it was returned.  It's a matter of principal.  The librarian also said it had been out too long??? Then he said he wasn't sure what was going on, and the person who made the note on my account wasn't there.  I was a little frustrated, but I kept my cool.  I left without the books, but I had my notes to hopefully fix the hard drive.  UGH.

Today, I tried everything that might fix the hard drive, but all my attempts ended in failure.  I even opened the case, and reseated cables.  About the only good thing is that I now know that it will be easy to replace the hard drive.  However, I haven't given up yet, and will do more research.

Anyway, I still have the Frankenstein Machine, but after deciding to install another hard drive on it, ( I should have left it alone...) It dies. Another UGH.

Fortunately, there was a HP Pavalion hiding in the closet.  It's only about five years old, and appears to be working okay.  In fact, it appears to be a little more functional than the beast.  It's still a little quirky, but I'm working through those issues.  All I will use this machine for is accessing the Internet.

At one point today I was ready to throw in the towel, and give up for a while.  Well, at least until I get the good computer going again.  I have decided to postpone any Internet related gaming.  This thing is too quirky right now to be dependable, and it could die at any time.  I don't want to start something I can't keep going.  Same with designing the fantasy sandbox.  I could use analog methods, but after using the computer it hurts just thinking about it.  Who knows I may change my mind.

My blog posts will probably be sporadic for a while.  If this machine dies, my blogging will be very sporadic, and probably non-existant.  I think I will close with another... UGH.

Oh the horror...

The hard drive on my computer died on Monday.  The computer had been acting wonky for a couple of days before, and I knew I needed to investigate, and even realising I need to back EVERYTHING up.  However, I had a wedding to attend on Sunday, and didn't have time to work on it.

After the long drive to and from the wedding I had completely forgotten about the problem.  While I was trying to check my email on Monday, it decides to die on me, or more to the point, run check disk, and then not work.  I was unaware at the time that the hard drive was indeed dead, so I tried a system restore, when that didn't work I gave up for the day, stressed out, and headed to a bar to watch the Texas Rangers play, intending to work on the problem when I get home.

After I get home, I try customer support, but it's late, so I have to wait until the morning to call.  When I do reach "customer support", I tell him whats going on.  He tells me that it's not a software issue but a hardware issue, and that my computer is no longer under warranty.  Hhhhmmm... I'm beginning to wonder if the extended warranty would have been a good thing?  Oh well... I ask him if it's the hard drive and he said yes. He wants to transfer me to sales, but I say no thank you.

At this point I realise that all my files are toast.  I knew they would be after I attempted a system restore, but the sheer amount of stuff I lost didn't hit me until after I got off the phone.

Well, after that I look at the pile of computers and decide to piece together a machine so I can at least check my email, etc.  Well, eventually I get one to work, and I have some computer capability.  Not what I had before, and this "Frankenstein Machine" is slooooooow, but it works, and is better than nothing.  Do what you can, with what you have, until you get something better.  Otherwise you get nothing done.  This is one of my personal credos.

Yes, I should have been more diligent in backing stuff up, and I should have dealt with the problem as soon as possible, but my hard drive was probably doomed anyway.  I've never had a hard drive die before.  It's really annoying, and I'm trying to not let it get me down.  This is going to eat into my game book buying fund, which isn't that big to begin with.  UGH.

Some Quick Thoughts

I've spent the last couple of days doing a lot of blog reading, and trying to play catch up from my extended absence.  This prompted a lot of head scratching, me going "HUH?" and "WHAT?", and a "OMG, that's a horrible blog..."  Sheeesh... this is supposed to be a fun hobby.  Why so much controversy and conflict?

I made the decision to use AD&D 1E when I start my sandbox campaign.  I was contemplating house rules and decided that I wouldn't use ANY house rules for the first few sessions.  I want to see how it plays out.  It's been a while, but members of my potential gaming group have all played AD&D 1E.

Anyway, I'm headed to a wedding, and won't be able to post for a couple of days.  Have a good weekend!

Fifty

This is the fiftieth post.  Not much to write about today, so I thought I would present another illustration from my ancient sketchbook.

©2010 Frank Anderson, Jr.



He's an odd alien.  I think I was on a bit of a science fiction kick for a while...