Quote from: Wil;656400Did you know that The Future Belongs to Us is being considered for an Origins award?

http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/BettendorfIAGaming_Group/message/868

Oh wait...

http://gama.org/OriginsAwards/tabid/2720/Default.aspx

Considering this year's crop, why the hell not.

I can't be too hard on these guys. Clearly, its a system made by well-meaning, new designers who came up with their own idea of fun and delivered it as wartless as they could. The interior artwork is clearly what they could do on their own dime, likely by a good friend who has the most art talent on the team. Someone probably ponied up for a pro to do the best stuff.

I've seen a number of gaming groups that tried to turn publisher over the years. This isn't the worst.

Quote from: Lynn;656429I can't be too hard on these guys. Clearly, its a system made by well-meaning, new designers who came up with their own idea of fun and delivered it as wartless as they could. The interior artwork is clearly what they could do on their own dime, likely by a good friend who has the most art talent on the team. Someone probably ponied up for a pro to do the best stuff.

I've seen a number of gaming groups that tried to turn publisher over the years. This isn't the worst.

You are correct, and I took it easy on them because they are genuine. When my daughter tries to do the dishes, she is trying to be genuinely helpful. She also uses 3/4s of a bottle of dish soap and overflows the sink. A+ for intent, F- for execution. I reviewed the book on execution, because their intent has no bearing on the quality of the results.

Also, two things:

1) The cover art. Perhaps they blew their art budget on the cover, who knows?
2) The "innovative" and "next generation of gaming" marketing spiel. It is neither.
3) The guys who have better things to do than hang out on gaming forums showing up to defend the game anyway.
4) I can't count.

One thing I have noticed with these small gaming groups that decide to publish their homebrew for the outside world is they try to act like much larger dogs than they really are. They're a publishing company, they have a staff, they issue press releases, they have a product line planned. I think they're trying to skip a step or two, and that's why people come down hard on them.

Quote from: AteTheHeckUp;638472The nice lady's breasts are warning you that the future belongs to them.  So don't try claiming any of it for yourself.

I want to take hold of the future, and seize it with my own two hands.

Wil, you are developing a reputation for this knd of thing. Maybe you need an award for "Small-publishers Most Hated"?

Kind of a shame that GAMA calls MonsterHearts a RPG, when even the front cover calls it "A Story Game".

Quote from: BarefootGaijin;656504Wil, you are developing a reputation for this knd of thing. Maybe you need an award for "Small-publishers Most Hated"?

Dude, they came to me to do the review this time. I had an inkling the game was bad, and granted it wasn't as bad as I feared it could be, but I went into reading the book with an open mind.

I do have another game to review that is from a small publisher - it looks really good, so we'll see if I just hate the little guys or if I just hate bad games.

Quote from: CRKrueger;656508Kind of a shame that GAMA calls MonsterHearts a RPG, when even the front cover calls it "A Story Game".

Is there a difference? My impression is that the term "story game" was invented just to get people to shut up about whether or not they were rpgs not as an actual category that separated them from rpgs.

If true, that's cool, it means they've decided to stop falsely marketing their products.

Quote from: Wil;656440Also, two things:

1) The cover art. Perhaps they blew their art budget on the cover, who knows?
2) The "innovative" and "next generation of gaming" marketing spiel. It is neither.
3) The guys who have better things to do than hang out on gaming forums showing up to defend the game anyway.
4) I can't count.

One thing I have noticed with these small gaming groups that decide to publish their homebrew for the outside world is they try to act like much larger dogs than they really are. .

But seriously, I can't figure out the art thing either.  The cover art compared to the interior work?  A cover would typically be about $300-$700.  You could do the entire interior work for that.

That werewolf looks a lot like something Jason Rainville or Bruno Balixa would do, but I can't quite place it.

Quote from: Wil;656516Is there a difference? My impression is that the term "story game" was invented just to get people to shut up about whether or not they were rpgs not as an actual category that separated them from rpgs.

The term was originally coined for RPGs that focused on story in particular ways, but it has evolved since then to be broader.  

In any case, regarding how Monsterhearts is labelled...  Within the story games community, it was never used as a mutually exclusive category from RPG.  So if Joe calls his game a "story game", that does not mean that he thinks it is not an RPG.  You can argue that this game is not an RPG from other principles, but the author's label isn't evidence of this.  

With regards to the Origins Awards...  The awards don't have a category for "story game" separate from RPG.  Likewise, there is no separate category for story game events from RPG at the Origins convention, or at any other convention as far as I know.

Quote from: thedungeondelver;656493I want to take hold of the future, and seize it with my own two hands.

"Kneeding the Future" sounds like a good name for a supplement. As does "Tweaking the Future".


"Massaging the Future"

"Big Bouncy Future"

I want the supplement on motorboats.

Quote from: TristramEvans;656668"Kneeding the Future" sounds like a good name for a supplement. As does "Tweaking the Future".

Are you aware that "tweaking" is a euphamism for doing meth?

I'd like to "fondle the future"