Just logged into D&D Beyond, and they removed Zak S, RPG Pundit and other consultants

Omega · March 01, 2019, 04:48:31 PM

Quote from: Ratman_tf;1077118He can always peddle his RPG from the back of a van behind the 7-11! /s

Been there. Bought that. Still have a copy of Ground Assault Gamma Force and the minis which were little Gundam grabber machine snap models. :cool:

Omega · March 01, 2019, 04:51:37 PM

Back on topic.

Pundit.

Have you tried contacting WOTC to ask them about the consultant credits for yourself and the rest in future print runs?

RPGPundit · March 02, 2019, 06:11:52 AM

Quote from: Alexander Kalinowski;1076931As a German who has kinda lived on the frontlines to communism from a global perspective, I happen to recognize this thinking. What I am hearing here is the literal ideology of the now defunct East German GDR.
Gentle reminder: the Berlin wall was build in the name of fighting fascism ("antifaschistischer Schutzwall"). Keeping out Nazis. (Not entrapping citizens who want to emigrate to a functioning economy, no.) Countless crimes against humanity have been perpetrated in the name of fighting an imagined (or rather: asserted) fascism from 1949 onwards.

It's funny how Mankind only has learned lessons from the first half of the 20th century. But NO lesson from the 2nd half of the 20th century whatsoever.
And when I say it's funny, I mean it's disgusting.

A point well worth remembering.

RPGPundit · March 02, 2019, 06:13:30 AM

Quote from: Kyle Aaron;1076957Perhaps. But is his writing any good? I don't actually care about anything else, as I don't know anybody involved personally.

It's highly uneven, excessively pretentious and tending toward gimmicky, though not without a few redeeming features. But it's way over-hyped; there's lots of much more consistently good OSR writers out there.

Alexander Kalinowski · March 02, 2019, 06:21:29 AM

Quote from: RPGPundit;1077345It's highly uneven, excessively pretentious and tending toward gimmicky, though not without a few redeeming features. But it's way over-hyped;

Sounds like it's the posterchild for the 2010s in gaming then.

RPGPundit · March 02, 2019, 06:30:11 AM

Quote from: Omega;1077254Back on topic.

Pundit.

Have you tried contacting WOTC to ask them about the consultant credits for yourself and the rest in future print runs?

I don't think I'm required to.

crkrueger · March 02, 2019, 05:06:08 PM

Quote from: Snark Knight;1076920Better safe than sorry. We can't take risks when the potential for literal Nazis creeping into our communities is real. There may be casualties, but it's necessary.

You understand what the words "literal" and "Nazi" mean, right?

S'mon · March 02, 2019, 05:39:38 PM

Quote from: CRKrueger;1077418You understand what the words "literal" and "Nazi" mean, right?

I feel slightly sad I appeared to be the only one to whom it seemed obvious that SK was being sarcastic.

crkrueger · March 03, 2019, 02:56:49 AM

Quote from: S'mon;1077426I feel slightly sad I appeared to be the only one to whom it seemed obvious that SK was being sarcastic.

D'oh! Well, considering probably 50% of the authors in the DTRPG Top 20 would have said the exact same thing, I excuse myself for taking it straight.

S'mon · March 03, 2019, 03:19:43 AM

Quote from: CRKrueger;1077473D'oh! Well, considering probably 50% of the authors in the DTRPG Top 20 would have said the exact same thing, I excuse myself for taking it straight.

Yeah, the reason I felt sad was not a lament at the stupidity of my fellow rpgsiters, but rather that it seemed credible his post could have been un-ironic. O Tempora O Mores.

Christopher Brady · March 03, 2019, 02:29:23 PM

Quote from: Omega;1077247I dont know who Lasseter is or what he has been accused of? And I havent been to see a Disney movie since the late 90s and Not sure I've ever seen a Pixar movie? Was Cars a Pixar movie? Been a while.

But more to the point. Lasseter isnt the writer or designer of Disney or Pixar movies right? More like the Publisher would be for a RPG? If so then had I known he was up to no good while he was in office I'd have been leery of anything connected to him. Same as I am leery of anything connected to Steve Jackson anymore or FFG. I stopped buying White Wolf material after getting ripped off by them too. (I picked up d20 Gamma World and Racer Knights unaware at the time they were really WW products.)

For a long time I did not buy anything from WOTC due to how badly they treated FLGS back in the late 90s to early 00s.

John Lasseter was an art director and was accused of sexual impropriety (He apparently was very touchy, which made people uncomfortable, but nothing worse than unsolicited hugs supposedly) and recently phased out of Disney to work at SkyDance Animation. Who, SkyDance, has been losing employees because of an accusation that has some how morphed into a savage crime that is apparently unable to be litigated as no one has brought up charges on him.

The same thing seems to be occurring to this Zak S. fellow. Word of mouth is now a worse career and life destroyer than law ever was.

Omega · March 04, 2019, 12:59:45 AM

Quote from: RPGPundit;1077348I don't think I'm required to.

That in absolutely no way means you should not look into it. It may or may not involve you, and the other consultants who had nothing to do with Zak's problems.

Philotomy Jurament · March 04, 2019, 10:42:22 PM

Quote from: RPGPundit;1077345[his writing is]...excessively pretentious and tending toward gimmicky, though not without a few redeeming features. But it's way over-hyped...

That sums it up, IMO. You know, it makes me think of my opinion on China Mieville's writing. A lot of people like Mieville's writing, but I find it insufferably pretentious and self-aware of its "artistry." You constantly see the author at work, trying to produce art. I find that whenever I see the "writer at work" in the writing (and especially in fiction), it's distracting and detracting. Good writing doesn't do that to the reader, in my opinion.

Anyway, could just be me, but maybe if you're a Mieville fan, you'll also like Zak's stuff?

deadDMwalking · March 04, 2019, 11:11:42 PM

I think perhaps Gygax is equally guilty.

Quote from: Gary Gygax, the Samarkand Solution, first random page I turned toThere was a clash of metal; the assailant cursed in a guttural voice and flung a handful of granules out in a shower. The stuff flew outward, burst into incandescent meteors, then shrieked as if each were a tiny, tortured imp. The bright fury of their blaze lasted only a split second, the shrieking but a bit longer, and thereafter only a reeking smoke remained. Each particle had generated a dense little cloud of suffocating vapor, and the whole area was now filled with the stuff.

Technically, that carried over into the following page, but I certainly think it is indicative of what some have referred to as 'flowery prose'.

EOTB · March 04, 2019, 11:25:12 PM

Was someone praising Gygax as a novelist? Where? I can't remember ever seeing that before.

The groggiest of grogs freely admits reading EGG novels to glean game info but not for appreciation per se. That's like replying to a post saying "I think fire is hot". Nobody's pulling for the opposite opinion.