Quote from: Spinachcat;924558I've never been in a house with a basement in California.
I wonder if basements are still a thing with new houses anywhere in the country.

Here in Texas it is a matter of the ground not being suited for basements. You can have a basement, if you double the cost of the house.
https://dengarden.com/basements/Why-Dont-Homes-in-Texas-Have-Basements

Quote from: CRKrueger;924576Yeah in a lot of places I was looking, they still had basements, even in new homes, and on a lot of community boards, a lot of the country thinks CA is still very weird for not having them.

Kind of ironic that we don't, a properly constructed basement is probably the single-best thing you can do to make your house earthquake resistant (probably also the most expensive).

Here is Mass I think basements are the norm with new homes. Don't see too may new houses though.

I backed the kickstarter because I don't have a previous copy of S&W and thought it was a good opportunity to get one. The cover art doesn't bother me at all; I like weirdo abstract artwork and the previous covers (as shown earlier in this thread) are painfully boring to me. I do like the color scheme of the Erol Otus cover, although I don't worship his artwork like everyone else seems to. I also don't have any nostalgic feelings about D&D or the artwork thereof.

I do think that a company producing adventures and supplemental content from non-old white guy perspectives would be far more interesting than simply re-working the art work of a rule book. Settings, adventures, tool kits... that's where the writer and artist perspectives and ideas really shine through. A rule book contains the rules. Unless it's written by someone like Kevin Siembieda, it isn't going to have much flavor in it. Look at the differences in writing between the LotFP rule book and Raggi's published adventures; the rule book is dry and doesn't really show any of the "weird" that the various published adventures involve. A series of adventures or settings for written by women with art by women, would provide a different perspective that a rule book does not.

I also don't see how this will open up the game to more women, as there is virtually no promotion outside Google +, which is the most limited social networking channel. Marketing such a niche product as an RPG game, especially one that is automatically hated by the self-proclaimed gatekeepers of the hobby (RPG.net, SomethingAwful, Grognards, YDIS, etc) because it is an OGL game (which the aforementioned groups consider plagiarism) is hard enough, I suppose. Shoot, it isn't even getting a break here.

As for basements, most houses in the midwest have basements. I lived in an apartment/townhouse that had a basement. My current home, unfortunately, does not. I have never lived in a basement myself; I don't understand why anyone would really want to. I had one friend in high school who lived in his mom's basement, but he wasn't a gamer; he was a drug dealer.

Quote from: BedrockBrendan;924572If they think it will attract more women, I say they should go for it (but who knows how successful that will be). I'd much rather a company like this take a chance appealing to women in a way it thinks will work, without them worrying about the evolving landscape of offense and outrage on social media.

This whole thing is the marketing equivalent of a fantasy heartbreaker.

Let's assume for a moment that FGG is actually sincere about reaching a new audience of women and not just cynically marketing to virtue-signalling SJWs.  It requires a breathtaking lack of knowledge of the rest of the industry to be unaware of the forty years of handwringing over How To Get More Women Into The Hobby, the various gimmicks that have been tried (and failed) and the industry trends that have brought large numbers of women into the hobby[1].

This is not the first time somebody has tried this kind of ham-fisted pandering.  It's never worked before and it's highly unlikely to work now, and it's reasonable to point out that either FGG is stunningly naive about their own industry or not being entirely honest about their motivations.



[1] Vampire: The Masquerade and LARPing

Quote from: daniel_ream;924627This whole thing is the marketing equivalent of a fantasy heartbreaker.

Let's assume for a moment that FGG is actually sincere about reaching a new audience of women and not just cynically marketing to virtue-signalling SJWs.  It requires a breathtaking lack of knowledge of the rest of the industry to be unaware of the forty years of handwringing over How To Get More Women Into The Hobby, the various gimmicks that have been tried (and failed) and the industry trends that have brought large numbers of women into the hobby[1].

This is not the first time somebody has tried this kind of ham-fisted pandering.  It's never worked before and it's highly unlikely to work now, and it's reasonable to point out that either FGG is stunningly naive about their own industry or not being entirely honest about their motivations.



[1] Vampire: The Masquerade and LARPing

I still find it highly amusing that the one thing that brought the female gamers out in droves are the thinly disguised rape monsters.  Carry on, humanity, carry on.

Quote from: Christopher Brady;924630I still find it highly amusing that the one thing that brought the female gamers out in droves are the thinly disguised rape monsters.  Carry on, humanity, carry on.

How many millions of books have been sold across THREE separate book series by different authors where the female protagonist's main choice is to fuck the vampire bad boy or the werewolf kinda bad boy?  This isn't even counting the full-blown supernatural erotica.

Quote from: Christopher Brady;924630I still find it highly amusing that the one thing that brought the female gamers out in droves are the thinly disguised rape monsters.

It ain't men buying those Fifty Shades of Grey novels.

("Remember, kids, hitting women is only okay if you have abs and a helicopter." ~ Stephen Molyneux)

Quote from: CRKrueger;924694How many millions of books have been sold across THREE separate book series by different authors where the female protagonist's main choice is to fuck the vampire bad boy or the werewolf kinda bad boy?  This isn't even counting the full-blown supernatural erotica.

Quote from: daniel_ream;924697It ain't men buying those Fifty Shades of Grey novels.

("Remember, kids, hitting women is only okay if you have abs and a helicopter." ~ Stephen Molyneux)

Yes, but 'Geek girls', like us Geek boys, have a tendency of claiming to not be like every other mainstream member of our preferred gender.  And yet, underneath it all, we really aren't.

And yeah, I find that funny.

What I'm taking away from this entire thread:

1- Most people don't have basements.

2- It would have been kickass to live in a basement when I was in high school.

3- If my parents ever get a basement, I'm moving into it and staying there until I can put them in a home.

Quote from: Crüesader;924760What I'm taking away from this entire thread:

1- Most people don't have basements.

2- It would have been kickass to live in a basement when I was in high school.

3- If my parents ever get a basement, I'm moving into it and staying there until I can put them in a home.

Have you watched Stranger Things? D&D, a floating Millenium Falcon and a psychic buddy, all in a basement. That's the basement I want to hang out in!

Quote from: Spinachcat;924558I've never been in a house with a basement in California.

I wonder if basements are still a thing with new houses anywhere in the country.

Here in Wisconsin Most houses have a basement new build or old, the few that don't have a crawl space, and have there sale values cut significantly as your heating costs go thru the roof. The reason is the ground is cold and draws A lot of the heat out of your house in winter, and your floors are always cold to boot.

Discussing basements is pretty much the weirdest thread derailment I've ever seen. Get back to the topic guys; or don't.

Quote from: CRKrueger;924694How many millions of books have been sold across THREE separate book series by different authors where the female protagonist's main choice is to fuck the vampire bad boy or the werewolf kinda bad boy?  This isn't even counting the full-blown supernatural erotica.

[Sagan] Billions and billions [/Sagan]

Quote from: Nexus;925375[Sagan] Billions and billions [/Sagan]

Twishite comes to mind.

I don't care who does the art, but at least do it well. My sister could do a lot better than that. Many is the time during a game my players and I have laughed at the cliches. But then, someone always needs to be the gatekeeper.