Freelancers are Interchangeable Widgets or Cogs, or So I've Heard

You aren't something until you are something.

Freelancers are hired for a specific reason - to provide content at a price that is profitable for the publisher and that, hopefully, requires the smallest amount of editing and/or rewriting.

You may think what you've written is the closest thing to perfection that you've ever done in your life, but the reality is many writers feel that way about their work. What you actually are, as a freelancer, is a content provider. You aren't writing lore. You aren't presenting something magical. Well, maybe you are, but that likely isn't what your publisher is paying you for, and likely such material will fall to the might of the red pen.

Your submission will, hopefully, make enough money for the publisher to make a profit after editing, layout, art, advertising, and anything else that crops up. If it doesn't, the publisher won't be publishing for very long.

Your feelings are irrelevant. 

You are work for hire. You are not staff. You are working for spec.

There are many freelancers. Very few rise to the level that they are sought after by publishers and are followed by fans. The vast majority are interchangeable widgets or cogs in the wheel. They have a job to do and many others waiting in the wings to do it instead if they fail. 

It can be a nasty business.

Does that suck? Sure. But that IS the reality, and many gamers would give their left hand just to be published once by a major publisher, let alone WotC.

Self-publishing has its own hurdles and its own rewards, but you won't be an interchangeable widget with IP that you own, that you control. Something to think about when considering the place of a widget...

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Candlekeep Mysteries Fallout, Freelancing Drama

So, I've covered the Candlekeep Mysteries Freelancing Drama on The Tavern's YouTube channel, but I was asked to provide a summary on the blog side of things. Long story short (you can read the long story at BoLS):

WotC decided to do an adventure collection to be written by authors from marginalized segments of society. This is the same collection that had the wheelchair-accessible dungeon.

Graeme Barber, perhaps better known as PoC Gamer, was signed to write one of the adventures in question. As Graeme stated on his blog:

Its form and content had made it through the pitch and drafting process, and I had no reason at the time of submission to suspect that it would be subject to the edits and modifications that went into it. Especially because we (the writers in general) had been hired specifically because we were “fresh voices” and “new perspectives”.

So, what did Graeme submit?

He submitted an adventure with potentially world-changing fluff:

I determined that I wanted to link back to the Days of Thunder and bring the Grippli back, all by building on what had come before and that was current.

This delved deep into Yuan-ti lore specific to the Forgotten Realms, building on the schism implied in the Tomb of Annihilation about Yuan-ti that weren’t evil (or at least weren’t hostile) and just wanted to exist. The idea was that good Yuan-ti were working to hasten the awakening of the World Serpent, the mother goddess of the serpentfolk, by recovering an ancient tome from the crypt in the old temple (from the story in the book). The evil Yuan-ti want to stop them. The Grippli are caught in the crossfire.

The adventure started with finding the book, and there was a list of things the players might be looking for in Candlekeep. They would find the book, and the first part of the mystery was figuring out how to read both stories that were on the three cylinders therein. The stories were legends from the Batrachi Empire, involving the various frogfolk of the Forgotten Realms. This would reveal the temple, and then lead to the characters learning about the Grippli village. Further investigation revealed lore about both the Grippli and the Yuan-ti. The mystery then shifted to investigating what was happening.

The emphasis here was on the ancient nature and unknown materials that things were made of from the Yuan-ti side of things. The sword was a literal fang from the World Serpent, the scale mail made from a giant snake unknown in the modern era. Metal fittings were made of a mysterious copper alloy. The Yuan-ti had more nuance, and the adventure added a mythology and history to them that could open more doors if desired by the DM and players.

The Grippli were presented as having had patron deity return and bring them back up to speed with the gift of literacy in their ancient language; they had art, nothing was primitive; I used the terms simple and utilitarian, and the domed mud brick village was filled with colours and decorations. Their village was a mix of new made buildings and impossibly ancient buildings and edifices that had withstood the test of time. 

What was published? The adventure without the fluff:

 All references to the Batrachi, World Serpent, Days of Thunder, the tome, or any other motivations were removed. The Yuan-ti were reduced down to just being evil for evil’s sake for the most part (without the cut lore, it makes less sense), the Grippli had their culture stripped out and so on. Colonialist language and imagery around the Grippli was inserted as well, moving them from being simple and utilitarian with obvious culture and technology to being “primitives” who “primitively decorate” their thatched huts with crab bits.

Essentially, where you could see the welds and joins before, you could now see the chop marks and bolts. The story was reduced to a simple rescue mission against unmotivated baddies with confusing parts where bits of the original plot flashed up as absent. This was especially notable in that there was no plotline or reason for anything the Yuan-ti were doing; the conflict between the good and evil Yuan-ti was left completely unexplained until a tidbit at the end of the adventure that, without the cut content, made little sense. 

So, Graeme went on Twitter to complain that WotC butchered his work and he wanted his name removed from further printings of Candlekeep Mysteries. 

Here's the thing. WotC wanted a short adventure, not world-changing setting material. What Graeme wanted to write is fine for one's home campaign, but a bit too specific for a generic published adventure. His hissy fit in Twitter and his blog simply burned bridges, not just with WotC but likely with other potential publishers.

As a freelancer, you need to stick to the script. If you want to change the world, you need to write your own IP.

The Tavern is supported by readers like you. The easiest way to support The Tavern is to shop via our affiliate links. DTRPG, Amazon, and Humble Bundle are affiliate programs that support The Tavern.  You can catch the daily Tavern Chat podcast on Anchor, YouTube,  or wherever you listen to your podcast collection.  

So You Want to Attend Your First Convention?

So you've decided to attend your first game convention?

First off, congrats, you should have fun....

Second, I really hope you didn't pick GenCon or Origins for your 1st ever game convention, but if you did I hope it's Origins. Actually both cons are great, don't get me wrong, but they are the big boys and can be overwhelming for a convention newb, with GenCon clearly coming in top for being "too much" as far as cons go.

I'd recommend a smaller, hopefully local game convention. You can support local dealers, maybe find players for future gaming, and definitely find out about other smaller local conventions. A local gaming convention is more likely to be in driving distance and just generally cheaper to attend. You'll have more room to pack stuff and more money to spend should you want to......

....but I'm going to go out on a limb and assume you have to fly to the convention. Why? Well mostly because that's my main experience, but also because flying to a convention is more restrictive and if you go to the bigger conventions odds are you'll be flying unless you like doing a looooong roadtrip.

Right off the bat, once you decide to attend a convention, break out your calendar. Get your registration as soon as you can and note when you can sign up for games and rooms. Neither is as important for smaller cons, but it will be for the larger ones and you might as well get in the habit as rooms for GenCon & Origins and games can fill up in the 1st hour of registration. No, really.......get your calendar, figure out the necessary dates and register for what your want, when you want it. If the convention has an advance schedule, figure out your priority for gaming. Your 1st choices for a game might be full, so having backup plans are good.

When should you arrive to a convention? I recommend you show up the day before and leave the day after if you're flying. If the con is a Thursday to Sunday affair, odds are it'll start up Thursday afternoon and wrap up Sunday by noon. If you can get good flight in Thursday morning and out Sunday afternoon, good on you, BUT....don't forget others will be trying to work that same schedule, you'll have no flexibility if flights have issues (seriously I recommend morning flights before & after con days so you have all day to get there and/or back if there if flights get delayed), and do you really want to try to get in a game right after a spot of travelling and the fun involved with that? Some cons will have an early check-in available and maybe even some early pick-up games.

Once you have your dates figured out, your travel plans in place, and know where you're staying.....oh you don't know that yet? Well I generally recommend staying at the convention hotel for a smaller con and anywhere but as the con gets bigger. The big conventions usually have multiple hotels, but there may be one or more directly connected to the convention space and others a short walk away. It might seem convenient to stay at a convention hotel, but as the convention grows that convenience dwindles. Anyone who has had to wait 20-plus minutes for an elevator at the con hotel realizes that a 5' or 10' walk to their hotel might be preferable....because you might have to wait that long to get back down to the convention as well. Other hotels within walking distance might be cheaper or have better amenities as well.....

OK, so NOW you should have the big-picture travel stuff figured out and you might want to drill-down for the finer details. Does the convention center and/or your hotel have a restaurant......will it be convenient for you to eat there (convenient and affordable) FYI they generally aren't as they are catering to business travelers with company accounts and/or per diem. One con I went to their restaurant was a higher-end Steakhouse. You'll want to figure out your eating options before you arrive on-scene. I generally plan on one a nicer meal out every other day and something else for the rest and avoid room service  at all costs (pun intended......room service is usually expensive and decent quality, but meager. $15 for a muffin and orange juice...no thank you). Thankfully these days delivery, including food service delivery, is an easy option. These services will widen your choices considerably.

You might also want to look up your options for grocers/general merchandise near the hotel. It might be well worth your while to walk or take a taxi/uber to the grocery store and stock up on sodas/snacks. Even when flying I tend to pack some easy snacks, maybe a breakfast or two (tops) worth of instant oatmeal, some dried fruit, and a bag of beef jerky. It's good to keep with you in case your travelling goes longer than expected anyway and it can buy you some time when you first get to the con and are trying to get your feet under you. Knowing where you can go to get some OTC medicine or another notebook or some such is comforting at the least.....

You really don't need too much when flying to a con when it comes to clothes and gear. Whatever you'd normally take to a regular game (dice, pencils, notebook, PC sheets, minis, and rules) is just fine. Since I never go anywhere without a computer I keep extra copies of everything where I can access it.....and these days a tablet can go all day, so PDF stuff is a viable option. You shouldn't be working up a huge sweat at a con and since you'll be showering every day at a minimum (you ARE showering every day, right?.......seriously, don't be THAT GUY!) you can probably get more use out of your clothes than you'd think. Fresh underwear for everyday and if you need another shirt, just buy a convention shirt when you get there.....you'll want a souvenir anyway.

Speaking of which, at your 1st con you are going to want to buy stuff. Most vendors, the convention, whatever can take credit cards, so you'll only need cash for little stuff, like food vendors, tipping, vending machines, etc. Odds are you'll be buying stuff at the convention and lugging it home. Two useful things to know, well maybe three. I recommend packing an extra bag in your luggage.....something that can be checked if needed. As long as your extra swag is under 50 pounds and you're willing to pay the extra $25-$50 for an additional checked bag.....just drag that stuff home with you. Stopping by a post office or UPS/FEDEX on the way to the airport is an option, but the hotel probably has a business center where you can go online and arrange for a pickup. Hotels have stuff picked up and dropped off all the time and some of the larger ones are regular FEDEX stops.

One thing I do like to bring with me to a con if I'm flying is a simple art tube. I have one I made from a PVC tube that barely fit into my one bag (which I don't use anymore.....might need to make a new one). I use this specifically to transport any art/posters I pick up from any artists at the con. It really sucks trying to find a tube to protect my expensive art purchase at the con. The hotel won't have any lying around and good luck with that on a Sunday as you're packing up.......you might get one as a shipping tube from that local FEDEX/UPS assuming you planned ahead......

Really the only other things I'd toss out there that if you have a favorite something you need to have, like a certain pencil or notebook....pack an extra one. Go ahead and bring a reusable insulated mug while you're at it. Every con I've been to has ice water easily available and if you need something flavored, those little squeeze bottles of flavoring are just a couple ounces (you can fly with them!). Stay hydrated!

When you get back from your con, do yourself a favor and note what you didn't use/need, what you wish you had brought, and make your own travel list for the next convention.

Guest Post: Is North Texas RPG Convention Still Happening

Ok, right off the bat big disclaimer: I'm not Erik. He's busy doing things none of us would want to be occupied doing and I volunteered to post on his behalf until he can resume.

I apologize in advance.

Yeah..right. I've finally got a captive audience of more than 12 13 readers and you'll just have to suck it up.

So here we are, mid-May, with a scant three weeks before North Texas RPG Con and the big question is really if the con is going to happen or not this year. It's obviously a complicated question and the answer is a definitive Yes and No, which I personally find a bit infuriating.

Nothing on the con at all, but really the hotel. Now I used to travel a lot for work, allegedly still do, and I'm very much a Marriott guy. I used to be Hilton all the way, but one horrific stay and I turned my back on them. I'm fast on my way to Lifetime Titanium with Marriott and if I never stay in another Hilton again in my life, I'm good.

Yeah, I know...you don't care. You probably shouldn't. I mention this because as a frequent business traveler Marriott is bending over backwards to cater to it's individual guests. I haven't spent a night on the road this year (unfortunately), but Marriott is carrying over my status, my earned rewards, and I can cancel any of my upcoming reservations as little as 24 hours prior to a visit.

Business (Corporate) events have their own set of rules events are under contract with deposits, along with fees and fines. Marriott is NOT catering to these guests, which makes little to no sense to me. As a business client, NTRPG cannot simply cancel or move back the con because of the contract, which makes sense.....in a normal year. As of now nobody knows if Texas is even going to allow events like NTPRG to occur.

I get that, BUT........Marriott is already catering to some guests and let's be blunt, they largely cater to travelers and allegedly have a clue about travel. I mean, this location is an airport hotel for a reason, right?

For those of you who do not travel frequently, or travel by air frequently. There are normally specific gates (as in timelines) when it comes to purchasing airline tickets. You'll generally see a price spike a two months to six weeks before the date of travel, again a month out, two weeks out, three days out....you get the point. Realistically we've already approached the appropriate gate for deciding to get tickets to NTRPG Con. If people were going to come, they need to have made the decision already. You cannot count on last-minute plane tickets.

Now I'm still online to come, but I'm within driving distance. I'll be cancelling one of my reserved rooms, because the guy I reserved it for isn't coming. Marriott is taking care of me because they want my future business......

See where I'm going with this? Marriott has to know that realistically NTRPG Con isn't going to happen, but instead of taking care of this customer, and their future business, they seem to be more concerned with this single transaction. This is the kind of thing that can make or break a convention.....and any decent Business Manager (basically the Hotel's Business-to-Business liaison) is going to know this.

Now Bad Mike and NTRPG really hasn't been complaining (I've seen none), but they have been clear what is going on. From today on Facebook (about an hour ago): "The state of Texas is unclear at this time whether gatherings of over 10 people who are not relatives are allowed, so we are proceeding with both virtual and face to face cons. If the face to face con is cancelled, we will have games virtual. If not, we will still have games virtual, with some at a tabletop. Flexibility."

Clearly they con is going on in some capacity, but the staff is having to jump through a bunch of hoops needlessly. If there is no call now, when really the majority of travelers have already had to make the decision to go/not go, Marriott should really step up and take care of their business partner. You want to now what is harder than organizing a convention? Organizing two conventions, one physical that may or may not happen, and a virtual convention.

Now all this is clearly my opinion, but I'm guessing a few people would share my sentiment. It's really a shame that Marriott would do this to a business customer and through them, to all of the other customer who would otherwise be spending time & money on their properties. Sure you'll take care of my room this year, but you're ok with making it so I don't need a room next year or the years after that because you ran the con into the ground?

I'm thinking someone needs to re-read The Spirit to Serve.

Spitballing a Weekly Video OSR Review Show - Looking for Feedback

As I've mentioned on the podcast side of things, I'm looking to start a weekly video review show. Most of the feedback I've gotten is steering me towards recent OSR releases, but I want some additional feedback, thus this post.

Here's where I'm at in my mind right now:

- 15 to 20 minutes per episode

- 1 to 2 releases per episode - DCC Lankmar would be solo, but might cover 2 adventures per video

- once a week - release on Wednesdays perhaps

- occasional deep tracks reviews, perhaps digging a game out of storage

- probably Youtube, but I'm open to other options

- would love to have a second host drop-in, but I don't see Hangouts as an option anymore.

If you have thoughts/critiques I'm all ears :)

Alright, today was a rough one sciatica-wise. Time to watch football from bed and drug up...

When an RPG Kickstarter Gets Suspended for IP Violation by WotC, Has the Sleeping Bear Been Awakened?

I've been very happy with the various projects Fail Squad Games has produced via Kickstarter. Lloyd is an amazing artist and a strong adventure writer. I was surprised to find his latest project, The Ruins of Mistmere - a 5e adventure, was canceled for IP violation. At least, I was surprised until I followed the conversation on Facebook.

Before we get to that, here's the notice on Kickstarter:

Obviously, the paralegal got the source of the IP partially wrong, especially considering the Ruins of Mistmere isn't even an adventure in the 1983 Red Box but rather more of a hypothetical adventure referred to in the text. Still, it was, and still is, WotC IP.

If you read the admittedly rather long conversation that resulted from Lloyd's Facebook posting, you see the project was created and submitted with the "potential of poking the bear."

Some highlights: 

https://www.facebook.com/Sprattoo March 19, 2019

Lloyd Metcalf I think I did in saying that it was inspired by the "Your first adventure" in the video and ads. I also accidentally had the phrase Dungeons & Dragons in the text of one of my ads... or something. (how one does this "accidentally" is beyond plausibility)I was in a rush to pack for Gary Con and already tired at launch. lol.

Lloyd Metcalf To be fair - WOTC and TSR never released any product called "Ruins of Mistamere" - it was a paragraph title in the red box DMG titled - "Your First Group Adventure"

James Lowder This Kickstarter is very clearly using that as the springboard. It's not the rules that got you in trouble, but using their copyrighted content--characters, plot, etc. "This adventure is inspired by, and is a revisit of, the first 'Group Adventure' in a certain Red Box set of the world’s favorite basic roleplaying game." and "Borgle is well known in many original adventures and legends; many report that his name was spelled with an “a” in place of the “o”." The last is screaming "we just changed an A to an O but it is the copyrighted content."

Lloyd Metcalf Yeah - i know.... Again, I knew I was stepping up to the line in trying to bring the flavor of this adventure to 5E. I COMPLETELY knew I was rolling some dice on the idea.

James Lowder ... the mention of D&D probably got the project onto an automatic notification list. "Other people got away with similar" as a defense will just mean WotC (rightly) expands its notifications list, so that, say, RPG + "red box" are alerts. This project is clearly intended as a copyright violation. It announces itself as such. It is not a shock it got stopped. That's a much bigger issue than mentioning D&D.

James Lowder voices my fear. Now that the bear has been awakened, it may decide to defend its territory. WotC has mostly played nice with the OSR and publishers of material for the current edition of D&D, even those projects and publications that may have entered and perhaps gone beyond any kind of grey area in the use of WotC IP and trademarks. This may have more of a longterm effect than Lloyd or anyone else may have initially expected.

Time will tell.

Can You Map the OSR by "The Politics of Personalities?"

Here we are, a week after my return from Gary Con and I find I'm still playing catch up, this time with blog reading.

It's funny that I didn't cut my hair for nearly 11 months in the hopes of growing a ponytail - hint: it never got long enough so I cut it short right before the con. I almost went hipster ;)

Anyhow, I find it interesting that instead of focusing on actual blog content or community building, Patrick Stewart instead focused on things like politics and geography.

Really, when it comes down to it, what does politics have to do with gaming or the OSR? Does it matter who at what publisher voted for who (because yes, even publishers have questions about their political leanings)

As for geography, the internet and VTTs blur the line of distance and location, so it seems pointless to even attempt to do so. It is literally making assumptions based on little, if any, facts.

As for the OSR being driven by personalities, no more so than any other hobby. I'm fairly sure the majority of old school gamers have no idea who I am, not do they care to do so. (case in point, NTRPG 2015, where my wife Rach was astounded that someone as the Con had no clue who I was ;)

You can read more at the False Machine Blog

Are Charity Bundles getting Out of Control?

Charity bundles are part of the landscape at RPGNow. Medical bills for a creator in the hobby. Death in the family. Apartment gutted by fire. We've all seen those. Heck, I back those without hesitation. Doesn't matter the content - it's going to a good cause and generally they need money fast.

Then you have incidents like Black Rock. Time and money is of the essence and getting a chance to donate to a cause you support while getting gaming content back is a win win. Again, you know it is time limited. You know the incident won't be lasting forever.

Now we have the Southern Poverty Law Center bundle. The SPLC was formed in 1971. Its not going anywhere. This isn't something where raising money has a time issue. What's next? Planned Parenthood? Right to Life National Committee? ACLU? Judicial Watch? PACs? Political Candidates? Where does one draw the line?

When I can see the person or family where the money is going, I'm all in. If its an incident going on NOW I can see how a bundle to raise cash has an imminent need. When its for organizations that have been around for decades it just seems to me to belittle what a charity bundle is for (from my perspective) - a call to arms, either for a member of out community or for a current incident.

Constant charity bundles might just leave those in need with less charity coming their way.

How Much Actual "RPG News" is There to Report?

Lets be honest - there is very little actual "RPG News" to report on and any website that claims there is, is either fooling themselves, their readers or both.

Why do I say that when there is an extremely well trafficked website that bills itself as "The source of RPG News and Reviews?" Because they confuse announcements and sponsored fluff as news or news facsimiles. Some random new gaming Kickstarter from your friend in the industry is now news.

No, it is not. It may be interesting information to your readers, but it's not news.

"News" is WotC announcing an OGL for 5e or The Gygax Trust licensing it's IP. It is not announcing some obscure Swedish RPG Kickstarter or the latest virtual issue of Dragon going live (which it does every month, like clockwork) Those are "announcements." It's information. It's something which you might expect in a trade magazine.

However, this is what they are listed under:

GURPS turning 30? It's a "sponsored" article (and kudos to ENWorld for finally making that fact more prominent after the pushback on the "it's a fine fuzzy line between news, promotion and outright advertising" stupid statement) but it falls under RPG News Updates. So, sponsored articles? "News", of course.

That "red highlight" as well as the "This is a sponsored post" are new.
Yep, you can thank this "abusive personality" 

Press releases? File them under "News" at ENWorld:

Why "pay(s) a bunch of folks to post press releases?" Because the truth is there is little actual news and being the source of RPG Informational Updates, Press Releases and Sponsored Content sounds so... not very sexy.

As for investigative reporting? Never bite the hand that feeds you.

Am I being too dogmatic about what constitutes actual "RPG News?" Perhaps. Maybe my definition is too narrow. I certainly think ENWorld's definition is far too wide and dilutes the value of any true news to be found, lost in the mire of sponsored content and press releases filed under "News".

Once you, the reader and consumer of ENWorld content, realizes what that actual content is, you'll best be able to make your own informed decision as to it's value.

Addendum:

After I wrote this post a Taverner forwarded me the following:

If one is an "abusive personality" for pointing out shortcomings in how a "News Site" flags "sponsored content" and how it pimps the reinvention of the history of someone like Gareth Sharka, I'll gladly take the mantel upon myself. Because if they had done nothing wrong, they never would have changed the way they flagged "sponsored content". The criticism would not have been "legitimate criticism." I stand by my postings.

I would, however, like a link or links to the posts from these "mean spirited personalities." That infers there is more than one. Who else then? Oh, right. Morrus doesn't read them.

Morrus won't read your comments. Your feedback is irrelevant. Critique and criticism have no place in a community that covers it's ears and hums so it can't hear you. Until it does. But it won't acknowledge your criticisms even as it takes actions to correct them.

Why I Sometimes Omit My Own Opinion on Posts Soliciting Yours

Yesterday's post about the cover for the upcoming printing of Swords & Wizardry Complete has garnered over 50 60 comments already (not including threads on G+ and Facebook). It's already one of this year's most commented on posts.

In it, I asked The Tavern's readers which cover they preferred, old or new, and to include why they feels as they do.

Lots of great answers. Lots of good arguments for and against both covers. I really appreciate the feedback. Keep them coming. I read each one as they are posted.

I have been asked directly what my choice would be, and there is a reason I did not include my pick in the original post and will not include it now - quite simply, I don't want to influence the feedback. If I picked one over the other, I'd get a bunch of "I agree with Tenkar" and that kinda skews the discussion in one direction or another.

It's been damn civil with no name calling or objecting to the opinions of others, and I'm grateful for that. I know there is a temptation to tell others how they are wrong but showing us how you are right is always the better choice.

There is no right answer and there is no wrong answer. It's simply your opinion. I MAY give mine when this topic has run its course, but for now, we don't want my opinion, we want yours :)

What is Fair Use and What is Parody and Why it Matters

Last night's post kicked up some dust, so let's define some of the issues in question.

While "Fair Use" is a right (as per a US Federal Court ruing) what exactly IS Fair Use?

Stanford University Library defines Fair Use as follows:

In its most general sense, a fair use is any copying of copyrighted material done for a limited and “transformative” purpose, such as to comment upon, criticize, or parody a copyrighted work. Such uses can be done without permission from the copyright owner. In other words, fair use is a defense against a claim of copyright infringement. If your use qualifies as a fair use, then it would not be considered an illegal infringement. - See more at: http://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/fair-use/what-is-fair-use/#sthash.UPv2xScF.dpuf

So, what about Parody?

A parody is a work that ridicules another, usually well-known work, by imitating it in a comic way. Judges understand that, by its nature, parody demands some taking from the original work being parodied. Unlike other forms of fair use, a fairly extensive use of the original work is permitted in a parody in order to “conjure up” the original. - See more at: http://fairuse.stanford.edu/overview/fair-use/what-is-fair-use/#sthash.UPv2xScF.dpuf

I suppose we now need to look at the actual books in question from last night's post.

I fail to see the parody intended. It also does not appear to be "transformative", unless you count a total cover swap as transformative, but certainly not in the manner defined above.

Let's step beyond for a bit. Here's an ad for The Front:

Looks awesome, right? I'd buy that.

Here's the source of the art:

I wonder if Vadim Makarenko knows his artwork is being used?

But that's fair use, right? Er... no.

So, what about this image from The Front itself? (page 18 for those following at home)

I found it here:

I also found it elsewhere on the net. It's a bit of a meme. That doesn't mean it's in the public domain.

Believe it or not, I get it. Small publishers doing it for the joy of the hobby and pennies of profits. It's not like folks are making notable amount of profit off of this. It's just a lark. Shit, it's simply a trade between friends. What's the harm? It's all in fun. No one takes this shit seriously, right? I mean, so long as it's a "hobby" it's got different rules.

Sadly, such attitudes will doom this hobby of ours. Artists, writers, publishers - they are all underpaid in this hobby and the world at large. Using the work of others without permission not only cuts into the monies the underpaid barely make, but it gives the hobby as a whole a black eye.

Certain smaller publishers seem to do it right by their artists all the time. +Venger Satanis sources amazing art for his work. Venger is not making a fortune doing what he loves but he's doing it right (even if we don't always agree)

The Tavern's banners are either donated or commissioned. While I'm not going to state what I paid for any of the individual banners, I've paid upwards of $1,300 in total for banner art to date. I've spent over $750 for stock art. I'm simply a blogger trying to do right by the artists and creators in this community of ours.

Doing things right is not only a good thing to do, but it's the only way for our hobby to succeed.

Uncle - This is Where You Played Dungeons & Dragons When You Were a Kid!

Yesterday afternoon I got some surprise news - my niece was going to stay the night. Shannon is five, and Fridays are "Uncle & Pinky Day" now that I'm retired, as she has swimming lessons (and even before she started swimming lessons, we still made a date for breakfast). So staying on a Thursday night wasn't much of a stretch.

So, last night, as I was doing some wash, Pinky followed me into the basement. After trying to scare me (and me playing along) she stated quite simply "Uncle - This is where you played Dungeons & Dragons when you were a kid." Which was true, I had. Same two family home, now shared by my wife, my son and I with my parents as they and their kids shared it with my grandmother when I was growing up.

I was caught off guard by the comment though, as I had never told her that in junior high, high school and even the early college years, we played in the basement which my senile cat, who at the time treated it like a giant litter box. Not that I blamed Misty. Back when we had oil for heat there was sand all by the oil tank. Where was the gaming table? By the oil tank.

"When I get older, uncle, can you teach me to play Dungeons & Dragons?" Simply music to a gamer's ears. Little does she know that the session of No Thank You Evil! that we played the other week was her introduction to roleplaying. She wanted to be a "ninja with a sword!" so she could stab things, which led to a surprise for me when she decided to sneak each time combat was possible. But I digress.

Retirement is a wonderful thing, even if I'm not seeing all of the free time I had expected. Responsibilities creep up and surprise you out of no where but some of the responsibilities are just full of awesome.

Still, when I put Pinkie to bed last night, with the Amazon Echo to keep her company and answer her questions in the middle of the night, she spoke some simple words of wisdom.

"Uncle, I'm glad you're for real retired now."

I laughed, gently, and asked her why that was.

She sat up in bed, outlined slightly by the glow from the night light and said:

"You!" and pointed a finger at me.

"Me!" and now pointed a finger at herself.

Oh, and she smiled a smile of pure joy before laying back down for sleep.

Wherein I Offend & Apologize

Part of the responsibility of having a bully pulpit such as The Tavern is to acknowledge mistakes through actions not completely thought out. It has come to my attention that my previous post has caused distress for some. It wasn't my intention. I was objectively commenting on a product pulled from OBS' virtual shelves (temporarily at the moment) for being flagged as offensive. My suggested solution, half in jest, was to point out the poor choice of wording in the first place.

I had no intention to be insensitive to the horrors of rape, and having personal knowledge of rape survivors (my son's mother was one, God rest her soul) I have seen the pain that never fully heals first hand.

Sometimes being an objective voice lends one to fail to hear the more personal experiences others have had to suffer through.

Where I might not find offense, others may and will and my voice is certainly not more valid than any other in this or any discussion.

As always, The Tavern is open to any who desire to post their thoughtful opinions.

Real Life Intrudes on the Muse

This is one of those rare days I'm literally at a loss for what to post. Sometimes, the muse does not awake when I do in the morning (er, afternoon for at least 2 more days)

At least, I'm at a loss as to what to post gaming related, but as for life and death, real life, I do have something to say.

My last shift I can damn close to losing someone I know. Not through the actions of another, not through carelessness nor the vagaries of fate, but through his own actions. Intentional actions.

I know very well that threats of suicide are most often calls for help but I've seen too often the impulse succeed before the calls are heard, let alone answered.

Thankfully this morning ended well or as well as can be under the circumstances.

There are places to call, people that listen. Nothing is worth losing a life over. Especially not your own.

These last few days are proving rougher than expected...

(As for the local PD whose actions saved this life, my heartfelt thanks)

Sometimes the Brain Box Rattles

Something has been on my mind for the last few days. Nothing major. Nothing urgent.

Just a definition of a simple word. One I've seen thrown around in politics, on Kickstarters and even other crowdfunding endeavors.

Transparency.

Does it mean what we think it means? Does it mean the same to you as it does to that Kickstarter creator? At what point does transparency become opaque?

Here ares some definitions of Transparency:

The first doesn't apply to much of what we come across in gaming, unless it's at the gaming table. The fourth doesn't really apply at all.

The second and third seem really important when trying to vet any project that is seeking crowdsourced funding.

How important is transparency to you and the crowdfunding you back?

So, I'm Working on an Article About Crowdfunding...

I've been working on a crowdfunding article (not blog post) off and on since the beginning of September. It's died on the vine more times than Far West has had release dates.

That's a joke, son ;)

Anyhow, my main issue is that I find it often goes off on tangents of Kickstarter failures. Which is fine for later articles, but I seriously find that Kickstarter is more boon than bane, and I want to reflect that.

I want to showcase the +Kevin Crawford s, the +Joseph Bloch s, the Frog God Games' and the like that know how to run a Kickstarter and deliver on what they promise.

I also want to give some examples of Kickstarter "Do's" (and some "don'ts, especially when paired with the "do's")

Give me some positive vibes and thoughts please. I'll take the negative ones, but they may be held back for a later article.

Yes, I'm crowdsourcing an article on crowdfunding ;)

ENWorld Article - Is the OSR Dead? (It Ain't Quite Dead Yet!)

An article went up on ENWorld earlier today titled "Is the OSR Dead?"

It's fairly long and the sources quoted aren't necessarily "authoritative" in my opinion (the Four Year Cycle attributed to Ken Hite for example is one I'd never heard of before and doesn't represent the experiences of myself or most of the gamers I know) but it does raise some interesting points. Read it in full at the link above.

The most interesting quote from the article in my opinion is below:

OSR-style games currently capture over 9 percent of the RPG market according to ENWorld's Hot Role-playing Games. If you consider the Fifth Edition of Dungeons & Dragons to be part of that movement, it's nearly 70 percent of the entire RPG market.  

The OSR has gone mainstream. If the OSR stands for Old School Renaissance, it seems the Renaissance is over: D&D, in all of its previous editions, is now how most of us play our role-playing.

As was pointed out in the comments section of the article, the numbers quoted are based on discussions at ENWorld, not actual sales. ENWorld has a higher % of D&D players than the hobby over all, as it is by it's history and nature primarily a D&D site. I think Paizo may disagree a bit with the market share assumed above. I also take issue with lumping 5e in with the OSR but maybe thats just me.

Now, if we look at Roll20's 1st Quarter usage numbers, we get the following:

See how 5e has more games but less players than Pathfinder? I suspect that's due to "New Game Excitement" effect.

AD&D / OD&D / OSR adds up to 16.49 % of players (obviously folks can vote for more than one game / category) - AD&D on it's own is over 11.5%. As for the share of games run, the numbers only add up to 3.19%.

Only in the RPG hobby would one consider success as death. Or dismiss something because another game borrowed from it. The OSR is less about the rules and more about the products you use those rules with. Until 5e goes OGL or some such, the OSR is where the real innovations will lie.

How Not to Handle an Upset Customer Base via Twitter (and other observations)

Apparently I wasn't the only one offended by the Tournament of Rapists release over the weekend. The author knew what he was doing with both his release time and description of the product - released on a Friday to ensure reactions would be over the weekend when the OBS staff are off and a description that was meant to troll as evidenced by his "just download the free preview to see what it's really about" line.

Now, if OBS couldn't address the issue right away (they first removed the Pathfinder tag and put it behind the Mature virtual wall at OBS) they probably should have avoided social media. Remember, every social media post or comment has been saved by someone, somewhere.

Jessica Price (a project manager at Paizo - her post on this matter is linked and is worthwhile reading) reached out to OBS via, of all things, Twitter. OBS's owner should never have stepped into the conversation which was, up to now, the usual customer service non answer.

Steve, you don't mock your customers. It leave a very bad taste in their mouth. (there's more to this conversation here)

The whole situation was poorly handled by OBS, although the product in question is no longer hosted at OBS.

BTW, none of this is a free speech issue. It's a business / consumer issue. OBS can host / sell whatever they want with whatever publishers they desire. Publishers can deal with them or not (although they are the PDF / POD gorilla, and avoiding OBS is likely avoiding sales.) Consumers can shop there or not.

See, it's a free MARKET. In the end, dollars talk. I suspect it's in the best interest of OBS to get a handle on issues like this to prevent the walking away of dollars, as they gained nothing from this fiasco.

As an aside, I'm not saying Tournament of Rapists should be banned. Self publish and self distribute all you want. I personally don't feel it belongs on the OBS site.

The thing is, instances like this are bad for OBS's reputation. And the social media response? Someone should cancel Steve's Twitter account.

Kickstarter ISN'T as Bad as Some Make it Look - Balancing the Perception

As I sit at my desk brainstorming for the article I owe Old School Quarterly on the subject of RPG Kickstarters, it occurs to me that the perception of Kickstarters in our corner of the gaming universe is defined like much of the public's perception of law enforcement is defined - by a handful of bad apples in a very large bushel.

Failures, fuckovers, pyramid schemes and the like are relatively rare in the world of Kickstarter. The vast majority of successfully funded projects ship quality products. The +Kevin Crawford s (where you get the beta PDF the moment you back), +Joseph Bloch s, Melia Valors (PDF less than 3 weeks after completion), the Reapers, the Frog God Games, the Goodman Games, the Monte Cooks, +Pete Spahn s, +Peter Regan s, the Dwarven Forges, +Lloyd Metcalf s, The Steve Jackson Games, +Newt Newport s, +Lesser Gnome s, +michael mindes, the Troll Lord Games (edit more better damn you!) and many others wouldn't be producing the quality products they are if it weren't for Kickstarter.

The Gareths, Nysuls, Whitmans, Brave Halflings and a few other bad apples each define their failures uniquely. There is no singular path to failed success.

Here at The Tavern, I certainly do hold the bad projects and project creators feet in the fire if you will, as I don't want anyone getting burned by these folks in the future. The thing is, much of the future of our hobby is linked to Kickstarter whether we wish it to be or not. There are good, skilled, honest creators and companies that wouldn't be able to produce what the do - or produce it to the higher standards that they would like - without Kickstarter. Kickstarter shifts some of the risk of a project on the consumer and away from the producer (there's an article right there come to think of it.)

In any case, the articles for OSQ will need to find a balance of exposing the bad while highlighting the good. In retrospect, I think I need to find a bit more of the balance here at The Tavern.

Time to Retrain the Brain - Adjusting the Blog to the New Work Schedule

My most productive hours are from 7PM to 10PM. Regretfully, I'm at work 5 days out of 7 these days as summer work commitments wreck havoc with my free time.

So, I need to retrain my brain.

I'm fairly good from 6AM to 7AM, as the old drive to work usually allowed me to brainstorm.

I need to change those hours to 830AM to 11AM or so.

Yeah, complete rewiring of my brain's most productive hours.

Sadly, there will be no beer in the morning hours ;)