So James at the Underdark Gazette is closing shop and moving the OSR news to a new blog. Why? 'Cause the dude is afraid for the ways IP is being protected in this country. Do I blame him? No. Is this blog entry about him? No.
Fuck you WoTC. You already wrecked the best fantasy game of all time, but you didn't want to stop at that. You're sending out C&Ds like holiday cards. You take away PDFs of the old non-supported editions - by the way, the OSR community says fuck you for having to pick up the slack. You talk shit about the games we like. You save the a few select parts of the game for yourself. And then you turn around and sing this "why can't we all just get along" tune and say to us, "Hey guys, we're doing some articles and polls. What do you think?"
I think fuck you. Fuck you and every bean counter that works there. Fuck everybody there from the lowest intern to the highest CEO. I don't even want your concessions anymore, I just want you to get the hell out of my part of the net and go fuck up your shit somewhere else. You want to C&D someone? C&D being assholes for the sake of the people who still like you.
Leave the OSR alone and go fuck yourselves.
WOTC = Wasting Our Trademarks and Copyright
ReplyDeleteMan, I don't know you. But I like you.
ReplyDelete:D
From my post on Sword&Shield:
ReplyDeleteI will state that until D&D changes hands I will never purchase the product again nor any other item from WotC and I actively encourage others to do the same.
http://swordandshieldrpg.blogspot.com/2011/12/what-if-dungeons-dragons-for-sale.html
I would call for a complete boycott of their product and inform local FLGS that as long as they stock WotC produced D&D product that you would no longer shop there.
I understand IP. I also understand being an ass to your customers.
No. We can't all just get along. Not anymore.
If anyone truly wants to organize on this level I'm in.
If we do get a boycott going I think it's important we have some kind of a goal behind it. I think it should be to get them to physically republish AD&D and BD&D in some form. Either as new and separate game lines or simple reprints of the old books. Preferably both.
ReplyDeleteIt's important WotC understands we don't hate them just for the sake of it and aren't trying to put them out of business. We hate them for taking D&D off the market and just want our game back.
The back catalog presents its own challenge and that's why I will not deal with WotC ever again. They already put out pdf versions and pulled them. They are now only a dept. of a large money machine called Hasbro.
ReplyDeleteThink about it: Look at how big M:TG is and then look at the size of the D&D base currently. Now put in everything else Wizards does. Boardgames, t-shirts, whatever.
Hasbro has publicly acknowledged that WotC is LESS than 2% of their total sales = they don't care. Read the WotC CEO talking about DRIVING traffic into brick and mortars because that is all they really have left and those are disappearing rapidly.
I don't need to be DRIVEN anywhere except maybe home from the hospital after surgery and if you just let me show you how well I drive on heavy medication I will give you a ride YOU will never forget! :)
I understand there is a lot of details that would have to be straightened out for any plan to work and that is why I want to see the franchise back in the hands of people who for them the D&D business is 100% of their business. People who have both game experience and marketing experience and who would stop treating the fan base like cattle.
At least sell off the p&p side and keep the MMO type material. Focus on that.
I've read recently that gamers shouldn't try to be in the business of making games-horse shit (pardon my language).
If it weren't for GAMERS making the damn thing we wouldn't even be having this conversation. Remember, Gary shopped the idea to every game manufacturer and they all shot him down. I don't see the man as a saint, but his perseverance proved to be the pivotal moment in the establishment of a completely new kind of gaming.
Games made by gamers for gamers. That's what it was to start with and that is what the OSR is now.
Anon - Why should I give a good rat's ass if WoTC goes under? Fuck'm.
ReplyDeleteWhen it takes an entire company to poot out an overpriced overproduced RenFest D&D (aka 4e) book that has one-one-hundredth the creative content Rients, Telecanter, Zak or Bat (from Ancient Vaults) put out daily for nothing, I know who I'm backing, and it's not the assclowns from Renton.
They have not gotten a cent from me since they pulled the OD&D PDFs, and I wouldn't go back if they offered a free blowjob with every purchase. They've dug their hole, now they're welcome to Requiescat In Pace.
It's better if they prosper for being awesome than fail for being dicks. (TSR failed for being dicks and look where that got us.)
ReplyDeleteIn theory they could turn it around. Maybe a good start would be hiring some creative people like Rients & friends.
At the risk of sounding like devil's advocate, did James state at any point that he actually received a C&D letter from Wizbro? Reading his announcement ( http://underdarkgazette.blogspot.com/2011/12/underdark-gazette-is-moving.html ) gave me the idea that he's afraid they might, since he's using a word they claim as intellectual property in his title, and his project got big enough that they might notice. Better safe than sorry is how I read it.
ReplyDeleteI'm no fan of WotC's latest offerings, but they seem to be ignoring us, I say we just ignore them, lest they get really pissed off and have their lawyers start combing through every OSR site and product looking for minor OGL infractions.
I may have implied that James suffered a C&D through poor writing, but that wasn't my intent. It seems that there has been at least three C&Ds lately, one for the OSRIC player's guide (though to be fair, that was fairly stupid), one for an illustration, and one that seems murky in my mind.
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't take me to get riled up and spewing bile, which for the uninitiated, one should consider these blog offerings in the future. But stay for the funny metaphors and wanton cursing :)
He's changing the name of his website to avoid risking getting a C&D that would force him to ...change the name of his website. He's over reacting IMO.
ReplyDelete@chatdemon
WotC can't touch us. The clones are legal and legal attacks would be a PR nightmare for them.