Quote from: Melan;416460Frankly, when it comes to the Sage Advice column, that's the only proper way to do it aside from answering "Grow some balls and make your own goddamn decisions already." to every inane request they send you. So one point goes to Tim Kask. On the other hand, read his screeds at the links KenHR provided. Ugh.

Yes.  But there's actions and there's public statements.  If someone wants to not only run a business but get investors, professionalism is expected.  Admitting to illegal drug use and insulting the core of your target audience is not professional behavior.

Quote from: danbuter;416494I have to say bringing up posts from 3 years ago doesn't really count. Lord knows I said some stupid stuff in the past that don't really apply anymore.

Granted, but the posts in question concern a grudge the man has nursed for over thirty years.  I highly doubt he's changed his tune.

Quote from: Melan;416460Frankly, when it comes to the Sage Advice column, that's the only proper way to do it aside from answering "Grow some balls and make your own goddamn decisions already." to every inane request they send you. So one point goes to Tim Kask. On the other hand, read his screeds at the links KenHR provided. Ugh.

Well, you could opt not to publish a "sage advice column," answer only questions you didn't consider "inane," or answer them in good faith and good humor while introducing the column with "Remember, kids, all answers presented in this column are merely the measured opinion of the Sage - for the real answers, ask yer DM!" All of these seem to me a better choice than to opt to officially field questions, yet do so with reluctance and contempt. Or, like Stan Lee, they could offer no-prizes

Quote from: Spinachcat;416523Bingo.   Its too bad the Dragon coddled the OCD bitches and rules lawyers.

I feel you there, I must say.

I NEVER understood why people were so keen on getting answers from "The Sage." I would read those columns and think, yes, just that: "grow some balls already!" Since then, it's only gotten worse though. Now the guys who tell you to grow some balls and make your own decisions already, like us, seem to be getting fewer and farther apart. The Official word of the publisher, the Errata, all that bullshit... that's depressing to watch so many people fall for that, honestly.

Quote from: Benoist;416574I NEVER understood why people were so keen on getting answers from "The Sage." I would read those columns and think, yes, just that: "grow some balls already!" Since then, it's only gotten worse though. Now the guys who tell you to grow some balls and make your own decisions already, like us, seem to be getting fewer and farther apart. The Official word of the publisher, the Errata, all that bullshit... that's depressing to watch so many people fall for that, honestly.

It's the cult of the designer is right.

Nothing and i mean nothing survives contact with the play group.

Agreed.

We didn't have Official Errata and Q&A and all that bullshit back in France twenty years ago. Were our games hopelessly "broken" and "unplayable"? Hell, NO! Did I have some fun at that time? Bet your ass I did!

Conclusion: all that stuff is bullshit. I don't need no Sage. No Errata. No Official Whatever.
If I like your game, I'll play it. If I don't, I'll play something else. Basta.

Quote from: Benoist;416574I NEVER understood why people were so keen on getting answers from "The Sage." I would read those columns and think, yes, just that: "grow some balls already!" Since then, it's only gotten worse though. Now the guys who tell you to grow some balls and make your own decisions already, like us, seem to be getting fewer and farther apart. The Official word of the publisher, the Errata, all that bullshit... that's depressing to watch so many people fall for that, honestly.

This is where the hobby and the industry are at odds. In order to get Joe gamer to buy into constant updates, and feel like extra material needs to be "official" the designers need the idea that they,as professionals, know better what makes for a fun game than the ones playing to take hold.

Quote from: Levi Kornelsen;416266*Looks on wikipedia*

Left TSR more-or-less with Gygax, has a new start-up.   Doesn't seem have any RPG credits after 1987 on my usual reference, though.  Mainly an editor and the like, which sounds promising in a start-up to me.

Huh.  Okay.

Hrrrmmm??? yah. He's been like at every GenCon, ever. So if you ran a game at GenCon at anytime in like the last 30 years or so, he probably sat at your table and sampled your GMing style... at least once.

You can also usually find him (50% prob) at the GenCon auction, especially when the old RPGs and boardgames come up for auction.

If you walk into The Tower of Gygax Room you automatically have like a 25% chance of having an encounter with Frank Mentzer as he usually GMs a 0D&D hack-n-slash fest at least once a day as well.

Just look for that group of old guys with jeans and hair down to their shoulders surrounded by coz-play girl groupies. You'll have an automatic 66% chance of having a Mentzer encounter.

If you happen into the strip club down Washington street, there's an %05 chance of encounter Mentzer in lair there....

and you have an automatic 22.5% chance of meeting and speaking with him at the Media gathering.

Chances are, you probably already have met him and spoke to him, at least once... If you ever went to GenCon.

LOL Love your post GD. Reads like an Ecology section of the MM.

Quote from: Spinachcat;416523Bingo.   Its too bad the Dragon coddled the OCD bitches and rules lawyers.

People who are autistic, asperger, borderline, etc ... ?

The only person I've met over the years who was an extreme hardcore rules lawyer type, was someone who was also a high functioning autistic.  Apparently this person liked reading the 1E AD&D DMG all the time as if it was pleasure reading, and had almost a photographic memory for recalling stuff from the DMG.

Though when it came to anything which didn't have any precise rules (ie. real life), frequently this person was lost for words.  This person was fired from just about every job they had, due to them being "useless" for just about everything.

Quote from: ggroy;416641People who are autistic, asperger, borderline, etc ... ?

Sometimes. Obsessive-compulsive, nitpicky to the last degree, etc. There is an  amount of systematic, compulsory hair-splitting going on amongst gamers that is nothing short of astounding, you have to admit.

Quote from: Benoist;416646Sometimes. Obsessive-compulsive, nitpicky to the last degree, etc. There is an  amount of systematic, compulsory hair-splitting going on amongst gamers that is nothing short of astounding, you have to admit.

Not just rpg gamers.

Academic types tend to exhibit similar traits.  (ie.  Professors, researchers, etc ...).

Quote from: ggroy;416641People who are autistic, asperger, borderline, etc ... ?

The rules-lawyers of my experience aren't really like this - they're just regular assholes trying to wheedle out an advantage. It's not bothering them that the rules aren't applied perfectly, it's bothering them that the rules aren't being applied to their immediate benefit