Quote from: The_Shadow;1104224How the hell did Zweihander go from an uninspired clone game to a best-seller on the strength of persistent round-the-clock self-promotion? If there's a lesson in marketing there, it's a disheartening one.

By purchasing one's own product to get platinum status, and then gaming the ennies rules (and possibly bribing judges).

It's all a con, dudes. And sooner or later it's going to fall apart. Mark my words here and note I told you so. May or may not end up including some really horrible endgame.

Quote from: RPGPundit;1105356By purchasing one's own product to get platinum status, and then gaming the ennies rules (and possibly bribing judges).

It's all a con, dudes. And sooner or later it's going to fall apart. Mark my words here and note I told you so. May or may not end up including some really horrible endgame.

Con or not,  it got Zweihander onto the shelves of Barnes & Noble and Books-a-Million. That's something I've only seen a handful of small publisher games do.

Quote from: RPGPundit;1105356By purchasing one's own product to get platinum status, and then gaming the ennies rules (and possibly bribing judges).

It's all a con, dudes. And sooner or later it's going to fall apart. Mark my words here and note I told you so. May or may not end up including some really horrible endgame.

As a matter of fact, and I do mean fact, stuff that can be proven objectively to be true. All the awards of all the geek hobbies have been co-opted a long time ago, they started with the Hugos and Nebulas, then the Ennies and the Eisners.

Right now they all function as a clubhouse for those pure enough, granting awards based on what you are, your politics and who you know and not on the quality, sales or even relevance of your product. It's just another participation trophy but just for the woke.

Quote from: GeekyBugle;1105363As a matter of fact, and I do mean fact, stuff that can be proven objectively to be true. All the awards of all the geek hobbies have been co-opted a long time ago, they started with the Hugos and Nebulas, then the Ennies and the Eisners.

Right now they all function as a clubhouse for those pure enough, granting awards based on what you are, your politics and who you know and not on the quality, sales or even relevance of your product. It's just another participation trophy but just for the woke.

So Pundit stands true once again today when he said the only thing that matters is how much money you get out of your book.  The awards and all that other stuff are just useless garbage.  Maybe we should put this in song?

[video=youtube;Wpsj3zP5p48]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wpsj3zP5p48[/youtube]

Quote from: remial;1104040From what I remember, once upon a time, there was born a mutant hermaphrodite, he was the first Wu. (I use he because in the books he self identifies more as male) He grew up knowing there was something different about him. Initially he just thought he was gay, and when he was a young man he went looking for love, and being taller, and prettier than your average male, he had a lot of luck.  Unfortunately for him, he discovered that his bodily secretions were highly toxic, and about 1 in 10 of his partners would dissolve into goo.  (personally I'd freak out and either swallow a shotgun or turn myself into the cops, but hey whatever) The lucky person who didn't turn to goo would then enter a chrysalis, and after an undetermined time, would emerge as a Wu.
These Wu, and the ones that followed, were the ones who decided that humanity as it currently existed, had to die. By raping all the men to further reproduction.  Occasionally one would try this with a woman, but the women all would just turn to goo.
The first 3 novels in the series tell the story of a young bi-curious man, initially he has a girlfriend, but he sees this Wu in a bar, and goes home with him, and undergoes the transformation. It was written more like a rape than a consensual encounter, with a great deal of fear on the main character's part.
When he woke up he discovered that a lot of time had passed, his family thought he had died, and they wanted nothing to do with their, now mutant, child.  The MC goes off, has adventures, becomes king of the Wu, re-encounters his rapist, falls in love and knocks the rapist up, and they live happily ever after.

WHAT THE FUCK!?!  That made my porn parody rpg ideas look family friendly.  At least no one suffers murder sex/rape in those.  Just attractive people having sex with full consent.  Everyone gets out of it alive and satisfied yet I am the villain?

Quote from: HappyDaze;1105358Con or not,  it got Zweihander onto the shelves of Barnes & Noble and Books-a-Million. That's something I've only seen a handful of small publisher games do.

Yes, as we've noted in this thread, an 'honor' it shares with Wraeththu. How popular is that game?

Quote from: RPGPundit;1105356By purchasing one's own product to get platinum status, and then gaming the ennies rules (and possibly bribing judges).

It's all a con, dudes. And sooner or later it's going to fall apart. Mark my words here and note I told you so. May or may not end up including some really horrible endgame.

Horrible endgames are the best!

However...explain why you think his sales are a con.

The ENNies are a joke, I have no doubt the combo of Virtue Signalling + Relentless Marketing + Not-Warhammer = Awards. However, I gotta say its a better game than most of the stuff I see getting honored by the RPG glitterati. It's far too crunchy for me, but there's some bits worth stealing for my WFRP games.

Zweihander is a WFRP 2e clone being sold first when there wasn't any WFRP to buy, and now when the new edition isn't exciting much of the Warhammer fanbase. I assume he's in a similar spot as Paizo was by selling 3.75e to 3.5 fans who didn't want to go move to the new edition, but also wanted to buy something new.

So, the other day I was on a chat program, talking about bad RPGs with a fellow user, and this game came up as a topic.  I expressed how I was curious as to just how bad it was, when the another user sent me a PM (private message if you don't know).  "Hey," he sent, "gimme a buck."
"Huh," I replied.
"Here is my paypal info, send me a $1 for postage."
"What for?"
"Postage.  You send me a dollar and I'll give you my copy."
Curious and thinking, 'well, what is the worst that can happen, I lose a dollar?' I do so.
So, yesterday a copy, in near perfect condition, a copy of the Tingleverse RPG arrived in the mail.  the only wear on the book comes from what looks like someone photocopying the character sheet in the back.
I'm thinking that the person who sent it is either messing with me or didn't care if the book got lost in the mail, because the book was sent by one Ted Cobbler of Billings Montana, who according to the write up in the RPG is basically teenage Satan.
I haven't looked at it too much because I also received an RPG that I actually wanted and had backed on Kickstarter, so I am reading that one first, but from what I've seen by skimming it...
The book is roughly 8 inches by 10, single column 12 point Times New Roman, with a few tables.
System is based largely off of d20, but classes (or Trots as they are called in the book) each have their own XP table.
Each class has their own melee attack score, ranged attack score, defense rating, and saves that change as the character levels up.
Each class has their own spell list.
There are feats, you start with 1 at first level, and gain one at every level divisible by 3.
Races are Human, Bigfoot, Unicorn, Velociraptor (the only dinosaur honorable enough to be a PC) and sentient object.
The bog standard 9 entry alignment  listing is used, but PCs have to be good.  Velociraptors are the only smart dinos that are good, all others are neutral or evil.
There are a few pieces of art, what there is looks to be hand drawn, and is a step or 3 above stick figures.  (still better quality than I am able to produce)
Book looks to be well made, and from a PoD company, but no idea which one. There is a PoD barcode, but no identifying label.

I may do a Where I Read thread if anyone is interested, but this doesn't look like anything I'll ever use for anything other than having it sit on my shelf as a warning to my group to behave themselves or I'll run this.

Quote from: RPGPundit;1106020Yes, as we've noted in this thread, an 'honor' it shares with Wraeththu. How popular is that game?

Until this thread, I had never heard of Wraeththu. much less seen it on a shelf in a big chain bookstore. In contrast, I have seen multiple copies of Zweihander sitting there next to D&D, Pathfinder, and a few other assorted titles (Mutant Year Zero, Expanse RPG, TORG Eternity, Dark Eye, and Vampire 5e last I looked).

Quote from: HappyDaze;1106255Until this thread, I had never heard of Wraeththu. much less seen it on a shelf in a big chain bookstore. In contrast, I have seen multiple copies of Zweihander sitting there next to D&D, Pathfinder, and a few other assorted titles (Mutant Year Zero, Expanse RPG, TORG Eternity, Dark Eye, and Vampire 5e last I looked).

   Yes, and as the one reporting this, it should be noted that I only saw Wraeththu in Barnes & Noble once and in a store very near one of the major FLGSes of the Upper Midwest, so it could have migrated from there.

Quote from: HappyDaze;1106255Until this thread, I had never heard of Wraeththu. much less seen it on a shelf in a big chain bookstore.

I haven't seen a big chain bookstore in years.

Quote from: DocJones;1106286I haven't seen a big chain bookstore in years.

They're not what they were 20 years ago,  but they still appear in the Core Worlds (big cities of the USA), but much less so in the backwoods of the Rim.