It's helping me to understand the play that goes with the Greyhawk setting. I'm very appreciative of that content, at the least. Didn't know about any of the recent events.

I do miss his blog.

i might have a look at it i read it a little while researching the palace of the silver princess (wizards really half arsed there archives) but still i did not really look around

ah so thats what dwimmermount was i could never understand how some people can grieve for that long by that point you probably have depression not just grief

still i cant have much sympathy for the backers i find the whole concept of kickstarter completely flawed

still onto the blog it is pretty interesting i cant say i like the new post and older post labels i have always preferred back and forward or previous and next or even some combination of the 2. the content is interesting to which is of course the most important thing and the guy seems to be likeable

well thats impressive the man got me to admire paizo for something

his statement that eh wants d&d to be an amateur activity is a bit concerning though my first thought was that it seems dangerously close to swine talk but thinking about it i dont think thats right but it is definitely at least a little hipstery

Quote from: tuypo1;806863his statement that eh wants d&d to be an amateur activity is a bit concerning though...

I'm certainly preferring the 'amateur' offerings these days... compared to the 'professional' ones.

I can empathize with the desire for the hobby to remain "amateur", meaning that every hobby is corrupted by the introduction of business.

One need look no further than the history of Warhammer to see the difference between a hobby led by amateurs to a hobby led by corporate interest.

3rd edition D&D's great legacy was the OGL. This was an almost subversive act. It ensured that the future of D&D would always be in the hands of the "amateurs", the hobbyists. If at any point Hasbro decides D&D is not profitable, and decides to cancel it, it will still remain due to the OGL. When the corporate face of the hobby makes a mis-step that threatens to drive people away from the hobby (4th edition), the OGL provides the means to counter-balance (the OSR). And having amateur competition means the corporate side of D&D is faced with the necessity to adapt itself to what the hobby wants (5th edition).

Warhammer Fantasy is dying, has been for a long time. There's been rumours of cancellation for a while now: its not profitable anymore. 40k is far more popular among the teens, and the older players who arent considered a viable target audience by the corporation, have abandoned the latest editions. Sure, End Times has provided it a brief new gasp of life, but that's from the collector's and its not sustainable. Yet the Oldhammer community is thriving. The parallels are uncanny. But without an equivalent OGL, the corporate GW doesn't have the competition to really understand and be forced to adapt to what the hobbyists want vs the effective selling strategy. Oldhammer alone only sustains older editions, it doesn't create new growth in the hobby, just as the OSR would not have been successful if it only involved the scouring of ebay and used bookstores for old copies of the Gygax-era D&D.

So while I personally cannot stand 3rd edition as a game, the legacy it left is the single most important event in the history of RPGs since the publication of B/X.

The amateurs are the life and soul of any hobby. The "industry" can exist in symbiosis with that, but left unchecked it becomes parasitical in nature.

i can agree with you there and if that is what he meant then i do agree with him but it initialy came across to me as hipsterism, especially considering he was talking about the art he admitted 3es art was the best but said he liked the old art because it was not as good

although to be fair while i can admire the results i cant respect the osr for taking advantage of the stupidity of it being impossible to claim legal right to rules.

i did not know fantasy was dying but now that i think about it it does make sense you see a lot more 40k on /tg/ then fantasy (although to be fair the board was founded by 40k) and /tg/ is even convinced that 40k is screwed as well unless games workshop makes some massive changes hopefully when fantasy finally dies of to little to late they will realise they need to work harder to save 40k

Quote from: tuypo1;806886i can agree with you there and if that is what he meant then i do agree with him but it initialy came across to me as hipsterism, especially considering he was talking about the art he admitted 3es art was the best but said he liked the old art because it was not as good

I feel the same about the art. The art in newer editions is technically better... but in many ways it fails to inspire me the way some of the clunkier art in earlier versions did... it has less 'soul'. It's done in a way that expunges a lot of the vagaries that cruder images leave open to the viewer's imagination.
The same goes for Games Workshop's miniatures. Their modern, computer generated minis are really nice... 'better' in many ways than the earlier stuff. But the early stuff had character that the newer stuff cannot match.
In the end it's art and largely a matter of taste. Thomas Kinkade and Larry Elmore have made very competent images I have no interest in looking at.

Thanks to you guys I've started marathoning every post of this blog, it's great.

I agree about older art sometimes being better; the same dynamic is at work with Magic the Gathering. The older cards were painted by hand and had a different feeling to them, one that I liked more, than the polished cartoony CG ones that are used today.

Quote from: mAcular Chaotic;806903I agree about older art sometimes being better; the same dynamic is at work with Magic the Gathering. The older cards were painted by hand and had a different feeling to them, one that I liked more, than the polished cartoony CG ones that are used today.

Yeah, I miss when Magic cards were ALLOWED to look like this:
http://www.magic-ville.com/fr/carte_art?ref=leg183

or this:
http://www.gatheringmagic.com/jamesarnold-050814-art-heroes-amy-weber/

Now there's a standard "look" that gets enforced, and while the new pieces often take my breath away, I still wish I could see more wildly personal mould-breaking stuff again.

Of course I suppose the new standards have also spared us stuff like this, so that's good too:
http://static.starcitygames.com/www/images/article/12282012snyderpic12.jpg

Quote from: Simlasa;806888The same goes for Games Workshop's miniatures. Their modern, computer generated minis are really nice... 'better' in many ways than the earlier stuff. But the early stuff had character that the newer stuff cannot match.

Just one random example in defense of GW and newer sculpts:

http://www.beastsofwar.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Nagash-Mini.jpg

versus

http://www.beastsofwar.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Nagash2.jpg

I really have a hard time defending the character of the original no matter how nostalgic I get.

Quote from: Shipyard Locked;806908Just one random example in defense of GW and newer sculpts:

http://www.beastsofwar.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Nagash-Mini.jpg

versus

http://www.beastsofwar.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Nagash2.jpg

I really have a hard time defending the character of the original no matter how nostalgic I get.

Well, god damn. And they both probably cost(ed) your soul any way.

Quote from: TristramEvans;806917Ha! Yeah old Nagash had a reputation as being one of the worste minis GW ever released. I think he looked like one of those Mexican Dia de Muertos figures.

Yes, come to think of it, he looks like Grimdark Fandango.

Quote from: Shipyard Locked;806908Just one random example in defense of GW and newer sculpts:

http://www.beastsofwar.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Nagash-Mini.jpg

versus

http://www.beastsofwar.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Nagash2.jpg

I really have a hard time defending the character of the original no matter how nostalgic I get.

Ha! Yeah old Nagash had a reputation as being one of the worste minis GW ever released. I think he looked like one of those Mexican Dia de Muertos figures.

To be fair though, Oldhammer really focuses on pre-4th edition figures of 81 to 92, so that fellow wouldn't qualify.