In 5e I kinda like Forest Gnomes, both mechanically and because I can see some story possibilities with them (I do wish they were Fey in 5e though), but I think Rock Gnomes fall into a non-identity hole as others have mentioned.

Quote from: Motorskills;1062351Not saying I really like them as a playable class, or even as a race really, I find that they eat into the space that makes other races (Elves and Halflings) particularly special. I don't see their culture played out much either, probably because it isn't really understood very well.

My world doesn't have Halflings so that helps, but the main way I kept Gnomes distinct is that they are literally the runaway dreams of children who live in the woods like the Lost Boys of Peter Pan. They have no conception of sex (even kissing is gross) and are also truly immortal (if killed they just reappear out of the mists somewhere in the Realm of Dreams minus their memories/levels, but ready to start a new adventure). They are often horrified when they learn that other beings only have ONE life... which often causes the more heroic of them to take great risks to protect others from harm since all the gnome will lose is a few memories... not their one and only life.

I did not ever threaten RPG.net with legal action. Here's what I actually wrote:

QuoteOn 7/5/18 1:07 PM, Alexander Macris wrote:
Shannon:
One of your official Moderators has once again libeled me.
https://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?828681-Recommend-me-an-OSR-game/page6

This is false. I do not have "strong Neo-Nazi ties". I don't have any affiliation with Nazism at all. I do not believe what Nazis believe. I happily work with talented people regardless of religion or ethnicity. The idea that I am a Nazi can only perpetuated through malicious misconstrual of the facts.  My current writing partner is a black Hispanic veteran married to an Asian immigrant. My previous co-author was an Israeli designer recovering from post-traumatic stress disorder. Another Autarch writer is a gay Broadway actor.  

All of these facts are publicly available but I want to make sure you are personally aware of them because your staff is openly lying about me and ACKS to gamers with direct intent to cause me and my company harm. And it is not just causing me reputational harm, it is causing reputational harm to my co-writers, who do not appreciate being accuse of being associated with Nazis.

The last time I brought this up you told me to handle it through moderation. But because your staff banned me for "Rule Zero" despite being a member in good standing without even a single warning ever, I cannot. You need to handle it.

This is straightforward libel. I trust that you will remove the libel and inform your staff to halt its ongoing campaign of defamation against me and my company.

Alexander Macris

He then responded:

QuoteOn Thu, Jul 5, 2018 at 5:32 PM, Shannon Appelcline wrote:
Alex,

I have passed this on to other staff at RPGnet. My understanding is that for the moment at least, the message has been removed. As I've told you previously, I do not make this sort of decision. admin.rpgnet@gmail.com remains the best conduit for moderation issues, and it remains available due you despite the decision to ban you from the site.

More generally, if you have a problem with something posted by someone at RPGnet, you need to talk with them, not us, in whatever personal or legal manner is required. Our volunteers are not employees and not under the direct authority of the company. They are third-party users who have been given the ability to moderate postings. Their decision to undertake good-Samaritan moderation of the forums does not change the fact that we are an interactive computer service, not an information content provider.

Shannon

I responded:

QuoteShannon and Christopher:
Thank you for removing the post. I appreciate the courteous and swift response. I will certainly reach out to admin.rpgnet if further issues arise.
Have a good weekend.

Kind regards,
Alexander

After this email they banned discussion of me.

I believe that I was about as even-tempered as it is possible to be when someone is actively seeking to ruin you. If they felt threatened I would imagine it was because they knew they were, in fact, at risk of liability for defaming me.

Well banning ACKS for them was a taste, they've now banned any support of Trump or his administration: New Ban: Do Not Post In Support of Trump or his Administration

It's been amusing to watch this play on other forums. Also, don't dare criticize TBP on reddit rpg, the post will just be deleted: https://snew.github.io/r/rpg
[ATTACH=CONFIG]2993[/ATTACH]

Laughingly I've also noted ACKS gets "he's a white nationalist" brigade votes on reddit was well, with people asking for examples why and no answers(just downvotes).

I expect the bad mod behavior on TBP to just get worse and more abusive as time goes on. They're clearly operating outside of reality with no one around with differing opinions.

Quote from: Dracones;1062396Well banning ACKS for them was a taste, they've now banned any support of Trump or his administration: New Ban: Do Not Post In Support of Trump or his Administration

It's been amusing to watch this play on other forums. Also, don't dare criticize TBP on reddit rpg, the post will just be deleted: https://snew.github.io/r/rpg
[ATTACH=CONFIG]2993[/ATTACH]

Laughingly I've also noted ACKS gets "he's a white nationalist" brigade votes on reddit was well, with people asking for examples why and no answers(just downvotes).

I expect the bad mod behavior on TBP to just get worse and more abusive as time goes on. They're clearly operating outside of reality with no one around with differing opinions.

That's an incredible amount of authoritarianism for an RPG message board.

Quote from: Mistwell;1062403That's an incredible amount of authoritarianism for an RPG message board.

  I'm still waiting for them to demand the Rite of Initiation for all new and returning posters:

   Burn a picture or effigy of Trump
   Trample a crucifix
   Make a contribution to Planned Parenthood

Quote from: Mistwell;1062403That's an incredible amount of authoritarianism for an RPG message board.

I bet Dumbledore is super proud of them.

Quote from: Dracones;1062396Well banning ACKS for them was a taste, they've now banned any support of Trump or his administration: New Ban: Do Not Post In Support of Trump or his Administration

I looked at the thread. It starts off well enough, and if you weren't already familiar with the moderation there you might just think "ok, private property, kinda dumb but fair enough." But then you get into the list of citations . . . and I'm not going to go through all of them, but when I got to 5 - he mocks the disabled - I just knew what incident it was going to link to. It was that time he was mocking the intelligence of a reporter before he had any idea that the guy was disabled. I'm not going to say he did nothing wrong - the mockery was still crass - but he absolutely did not mock the guy's disability.

I'm no Trump supporter. There is plenty to criticize about him, but I don't feel the need to blatantly lie about him. That goes both ways - I got onto my own mom's case about some of the unsubstantiated crap she posted about Hillary during the election season even though I don't like Hillary either. Anyway, back to my point . . . if they're willing to post something like that, something that's been so thoroughly debunked that they should be embarrassed of themselves for even linking to it, then what else on that list are they lying about and/or taking out of context?

I just don't trust them at all. I don't trust them to be fair. I don't trust them to be rational. I don't trust them to be honest.

Quote from: GeekEclectic;1062421I looked at the thread. It starts off well enough, and if you weren't already familiar with the moderation there you might just think "ok, private property, kinda dumb but fair enough." But then you get into the list of citations . . . and I'm not going to go through all of them, but when I got to 5 - he mocks the disabled - I just knew what incident it was going to link to. It was that time he was mocking the intelligence of a reporter before he had any idea that the guy was disabled. I'm not going to say he did nothing wrong - the mockery was still crass - but he absolutely did not mock the guy's disability.

I'm no Trump supporter. There is plenty to criticize about him, but I don't feel the need to blatantly lie about him. That goes both ways - I got onto my own mom's case about some of the unsubstantiated crap she posted about Hillary during the election season even though I don't like Hillary either. Anyway, back to my point . . . if they're willing to post something like that, something that's been so thoroughly debunked that they should be embarrassed of themselves for even linking to it, then what else on that list are they lying about and/or taking out of context?

I just don't trust them at all. I don't trust them to be fair. I don't trust them to be rational. I don't trust them to be honest.

Just so.

Don't see this as any real change. Without this rule any Trump supporter at rpg.net would be inevitably be permabanned in short order now they just do that a bit more efficiently and are more honest about that.

TBP is a haven for a particular kind of cyberbullying. Don't go there.

It's not a place to discuss RPGs. It's a place to berate or be berated by others. You are either hating or being hated.

There is one minor benefit to this rules change. Now people who say things like, "I bet you're a Trump supporter" can also be banned for attempting to bait someone into breaking the rules. And that's not speculation - they mention that.

Quote from: Mistwell;1062450There is one minor benefit to this rules change. Now people who say things like, "I bet you're a Trump supporter" can also be banned for attempting to bait someone into breaking the rules. And that's not speculation - they mention that.

Having such rules has never stopped them from making an approved group-think exception before.

Their stupid (yet unsurprising) move made The Quartering!

Quote from: Mistwell;1062450There is one minor benefit to this rules change. Now people who say things like, "I bet you're a Trump supporter" can also be banned for attempting to bait someone into breaking the rules. And that's not speculation - they mention that.

And they will likely ignore the shit out of that fact whenever it's convenient.

They've done it numerous times before, and history always repeats.