Final impressions of the review mess at DTRPG

After posting my last post about the featured reviews at DTRPG I have gotten lot of really good feedback. I thought I wanted to wrap some of it up, even though the conversation probably need to continue about the relationship between producer, reviewer and potential buyer.

So, it seems like even though reviews giving less than top marks has been discouraged at DRTPG, it no longer seem to be the case. Maybe it was even thought of as a way to impress upon some reviewers the need to actually provide a review. Whatever the case, that was a terrible idea. I think it poisoned the well, and sadly made a lot of honest reviewers suspect. I will have a hard time not being reminded of that if I ever visit DTRPG.

Should you shop there? Well, I've heard more complaints about them, and am no fan of pdf game books, so I will probably be even more wary of them from now on. I dislike the idea of the mobbing a re-seller, but I am also a firm believer in informed decisions when you shop.

But, what is a poor game designer to do when wanting to sell their stuff? I don't know, really. There are some other sellers of electronic game books, but I have no idea what their policy is about reviews and how big a cut they take.

Then I'd like to say that I think that if you signed up to get free stuff in exchange for a review, you should write a review. That's just polite.

What is a review worth? DrivethruRPG in particular

I was reading a blogpost yesterday on The Douchey DM, and it was about the interaction between publishers and podcasters in our hobby. What Stu posted made me really angry. This is the deal.

So, DrivethruRPG did put pressure on their "featured reviewer" to write positive reviews, implying that since they got stuff for free, they had to give it good grades. That, boys and girls, is corruption. It's basically a by the book definition of bribery!

While this was a few years ago, and their policy might have changed, this still is the same company, and that used to be their mode of behaviour. I cry foul.

If any of you out there review things for DrivethruRPG, and give that product you've gotten for free good reviews because you "should", I call on you to stop at once and shamefully crawl under a rock!

For the rest of us, those reviews on DrivethruRPG now means nothing. They are bought, and suspect since none of us know if this policy is still in effect.

I could sit here smoulder in my righteous anger and declare that I will never buy from them again, but I don't by my game books in pdf to begin with. But, I sure wont buy them from Drivethru if I can avoid it! I urge you to do the same.

Download a pirated scan and send a $10 bill to the writer instead, I'd say.

Bad News - Delving Deeper in limbo

So, have anyone gotten any physical copies of their Delving Deeper boxed set orders yet?

I got an email asking for shipping details, and thought that meant shipping was imminent. I waited.

Then I sent a question asking if it had shipped, and got the answer that apparently the person collating shipping information had messed up. I waited.

Then I send a question, asking it it had shipped. The reply said Monday, and promised tracking info. I waited.

Two Mondays later I asked again and got this answer

"Yes, your order did ship this week.  I will have your tracking number for
you later today."

That was the 12th of February.  Guess what? I still have not gotten neither the game nor any tracking info. I have asked what's up and have not gotten a reply.

Can someone please confirm that this is not turning into a total scam? With this post I might look like the fool, but I can live with that if I get some indication of what's going on.

On hiatus

As if it is not bleeding obvious, I'm not gaming much at all right now. I hate it, and am quite drain for ideas to write about when I am not getting regular feedback from actual games.

It will continue to be quiet around here some more.

Hang around and The Eye will, hopefully, open up and peer at the world again.

The hangover

I got a bunch of emails today that made me sad. Today I got refunds from IndieGoGo for "Of Unknown Provenance", "Machinations of the Space Princess", "The Unbegotten Citadel" and "The Land that Exuded Evil".

Damn.

I really wanted to see those adventures...

D&D Next epic fail

I still have not been able to download the next version av D&D, have not gotten any new link as a replacement for faulty links (which I found out abouf of their existence from a podcast) and still a HTTP error when I try to access the tab to contact WotC to tell them it does not work.

The guys who work with computers at WotC: epic fail, guys!

Should the documents happen to find their way to me some how, I would love to take a peek. The likelihood of WotC getting even a cent from me is now pretty slim, though...

Followers widget gone?

I just noticed that the Followers widget seems to be broken. Anyone else noted it and have a solution? Blogger is, as usual, really wonky sometimes.

I am not not involved in "following" blogs myself (I have zillions of them on my Bloglines reading list, though. I'm rebuilding the blog roll, but it takes time), since it seems to be mostly a tool usable when reading blog in the google reader, which I don't use.

But, I appreciate all my regular readers and followers, and it sucks to have a widget that wont work, right?

A lack of commenting ability

It seems like whatever I do, I can't comment on blogs that use blogger, and have a comment box beneath the comments. Like mine. It seems like I can't use my google account, only OpenID. Very annoying. If anyone have any hints, feel free to suggest them! I am using Firefox v10 and it was the same with v9. I would have stayed with 3.6 sites had not started bug me about upgrading. Not your business, bud! Anyway, I can tried clearing a cookies and restarting to no effect. *sigh*

Meh! yet another game dies on the vine

I'm seriously miffed. Due to scheduling problems, my latest rpg game have been shelved until next year sometime.

Meh!

I really need a new local weekly game group!

*sigh*

A few words from Ken

In case you had missed it, or thought he had come clean. Here's the latest words from Ken St Andre about James Shipman:

[ some parts removed ]


I've been in contact with Ken again, and the situation have changed a bit, so for now I have elected to take that notice down. The advice to do no business with James Shipman is still valid, but that's me talking, not Ken.

Watch out for James Shipman - again

I found this link today about what that bastard are up to. Beware, and spread the word.

Blood have been shed!

I have managed to cut my index finger, and it sure ain't great for blogging productivity.

At the same time some people themselves look like total morons on the Internet, guess everything is just as it usually is. If you don't care much about Finland, just ignore it. Ok?

A summary of the Outlaw Press scandal

This is so sad.

Today I read this very good summary of the amoral behaviour of James Shipman. Please don't buy anything from him, or contribute anything. If he sells something that is yours, initiate legal action, it seems nothing else will stop him.

This is just so sad.

The latest bad news

For those who have missed it, it seems like the Tunnels & Trolls world have been experiencing a landslide the last few day. The dirt just keep piling up.

It started as some dubious use of art on RPGNow, and now it seems like the main fan publisher for T&T stand accused of having used stolen art in products sold for profit. As if that wasn't enough, there are also indications a scenario for D&D have been "converted" to T&T and sold without permission, and also that the free retro game Mazes & Minotaurs once was for sale from Outlaw Press until the writer complained. It's a maze indeed.

How much of all this is true and how far does it go into the abyss?

From what I've gathered from my contacts it's now totally out of the reach of anyone pontificating on the web, and the lawyers have been set in motion. It's a sad day for us all.

Extra sad is the fact that even if it's get all sorted out, James Shipman at Outlaw Press have been seen one time to often in extremely dubious circumstances for me to want to have anything to do with him. Running a business can't be done by playing loose and fast, that's just not the way to do it. Even if you manage to keep your balancing act on the right side of the thin line there are some things you just don't do, like revise somebody's text without telling them, and then going to print.

In the D&D end of the OSR we have seen a bunch of people starting publishing themself, based on the OGL and their imagination. My reaction to all this is that I feel sombody should step up, and bring more fan publishing to T&T. Do you have anything lying around, like new monsters? Spells? Adventures? I'm looking into options and want to get the wheels turning. Feel free to contact me if you want to join in!

If we are lucky, this mess might still have some positive effect in the end. Let's hope so.

Some very sad news

I sometimes check in on a couple of web forums, but usually don't stay long since the flames are frequent and often quite intense. Today I found something which wasn't exactly a flamewar, but it sure is intense.

Some of you might have heard of Outlaw Press, a small hobby publisher of T&T books. Today I found them in the midst of a fairly serious controversy over at rpg.net concerning the use of art. Apparently some of the art used for cover in OP publications are suspected to be used without permission. Some of the artists involved have been contacted and claim no permission to use their art have been given. Sad and very, very bad.

I really hope that there is a misunderstanding somewhere, like OP bought the rights from some kind of artist repository or agency which the artists aren't fully aware of. But, I'm afraid it don't look pretty.

So, what should anyone care about this, unless you are one of the artists in question? Well, Flying Buffalo who owns the trademark of T&T haven't (for different reasons) been publishing much for the game for a long time, and now Outlaw Press is the main source of Tunnels & Trolls publication. Adding to that the fact that plenty of their products are very nice, and it becomes more and more troubling.

If they are found guilty of theft, and the law is brought into this, it could mean the main source of T&T goodies drying up. Naturally, if someone breaks the law he only have himself to blame when justice knocks on the door. What makes it more troubling for me is that I would love to buy some of that goodies, but right now I don't know if I feel like I could, with a clean conscience, even if nothing comes of it.