I'll say this much more and that's it...I've got personal friends who have worked with the man and have warned me against doing the same. I've received some pretty mean-spirited PMs from the man - not as batshit insane as the one EOTB received - more than sufficient for me to realize what kind of man I was dealing with. I applaud EOTB for getting the situation out in the open. I applaud him for coming here to speak honestly about his feelings about the matter. I don't applaud Frank, because all he's done is try to shift the blame, gaslight, and act like a victim with no responsibility for what happened.
Our experiences, it would seem, ...are very different. I have worked with Frank, ...directly, ...several times over the last couple of decades. Not with game design, however with the auctions and marketing, and fundraising stuff, ... at Origins, at GenCon, and at GaryCon. Never saw one mean-spirited PM. I have never even seen him raise his voice at anyone he has worked with, or who has worked for him with either publicly, or privately, so I have to strongly disagree there is any significant problem there, based on my personal experiences in working with him.
As I have observed recently firsthand, he has worked with young publishers who are working on their own new games, he is extremely encouraging and helpful to them, and in their behalf. He genuinely wants everyone around him to enjoy RPGs and gaming, and not just his games. He wants folks to enjoy attending the conventions and gaming shows where he works as well, and spends lots of extra time ensuring the experience is good for the attendees and guests of the show, especially other game designers and manufacturers. I understand very well about getting testy when people are trying to slyly infer something negative, or whom minimize the contribution of individuals who have long contributed to the benefit of the gaming community, and would have to write off any malice or deception generated by that as just old fashioned envy.
I'm extremely surprised, and displeased, that all of this
"situation" of yours is coming out right now, just as Frank is beginning to get some real momentum going for his business for the first time this decade. It seems to me, this whole charade is a character assassination job, targeting him specifically, and nothing more.
So EOTB gets Frank banned from Dragonsfoot, and now he is over here at the RPGSite forums lobbying why he was right to diss on anther game designer. Now no one is right to diss on any game designer, everyone who understands what that really means anyway. The people over on Dragoosfoot aren't dissing each other, simply because they are disagreeing with each other like we are right now. But unlike me and you who are busy, at the moment disagreeing, ...EOTB couldn't be bothered to give us the time of day, until of course, he could no longer torture his favorite victim.
Now like the bully that he is, he is traveling off to other forums and boards, ...like here, and trying to find new victims, ...and stirring up some more shit. ...and you are helping him. Congratulations.
I'm a guy who has been picked on my whole life for being different, for not being a part of the "in" group. Here I got away from them douches. Now though, him, and you ...are here, disturbing my peace. You have no right to do that.
Maybe I'm happy to just buy Franks' new game supplement, his Empyrea campaign setting, and I'm happy for the people working on it, who are happy to be working on it. But you are not. You are here, right now, trying to tank his efforts. Standing up for some guy, that is openly attacked another game designer, a game designer that has spent decades of his life making good games. You may have the right to do that here on this forum where we actually promote free speech, but you'll get no respect from me, ...for doing that.