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Author Topic: So Grognardia is back I guess?  (Read 14172 times)

Libramarian

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So Grognardia is back I guess?
« Reply #90 on: August 23, 2020, 02:18:08 PM »
Quote from: RPGPundit;1146006
He was a faker from the start. He pretended he had a complete megadungeon that was the product of play. He did not.


Anyone who's made their own dungeons knows that the amount of detail you need in your notes for personal use is far less than what a published dungeon typically includes.

I think he made an honest mistake underestimating the amount of work needed to go from personal notes to publishable form.

Gygax of course made the same mistake with both ToEE and Castle Zagyg.

mAcular Chaotic

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So Grognardia is back I guess?
« Reply #91 on: August 23, 2020, 02:57:16 PM »
Not to mention a megadungeon book can't really capture the "life" it has, since it's only a snapshot.
Battle doesn't need a purpose; the battle is its own purpose. You don't ask why a plague spreads or a field burns. Don't ask why I fight.

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So Grognardia is back I guess?
« Reply #92 on: August 24, 2020, 02:16:15 PM »
Still no comments?
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Arkansan

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So Grognardia is back I guess?
« Reply #93 on: August 24, 2020, 02:45:58 PM »
Quote from: RPGPundit;1146261
Still no comments?

Nope, not so far.

Pat
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So Grognardia is back I guess?
« Reply #94 on: August 24, 2020, 02:58:03 PM »
The comments on all his older posts were directed to Google Plus, which isn't an option anymore.

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Re: So Grognardia is back I guess?
« Reply #95 on: September 02, 2020, 01:11:39 PM »
The comments on all his older posts were directed to Google Plus, which isn't an option anymore.




Yea. I'm sure that's the reason, and not that he wants to hide the fact that he stole money in a Kickstarter fraud.
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wmarshal

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Re: So Grognardia is back I guess?
« Reply #96 on: September 02, 2020, 01:20:03 PM »
The comments on all his older posts were directed to Google Plus, which isn't an option anymore.




Yea. I'm sure that's the reason, and not that he wants to hide the fact that he stole money in a Kickstarter fraud.
The Kickstarter was not a fraud. It was in great danger, and James was responsible for that. I am a big critic of how James comported himself during the Kickstarter and hope he’s never involved with crowd-funding again even tangentially, but labeling the kickstart itself a fraud goes too far. Dwimmermount was delivered eventually by Autarch.
« Last Edit: September 02, 2020, 01:56:30 PM by wmarshal »

Lynn

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Re: So Grognardia is back I guess?
« Reply #97 on: September 02, 2020, 01:37:39 PM »
The Kickstarter was not a fraud. It was in great danger, and James was responsible for that. I am a big critic of how James comported himself during the Kickstarter and hope he’s never involved with crowd-funding again even tangentially, but labeling the kickstart itself a fraud goes to far. Dwimmermount was delivered eventually by Autarch.
He burned his bridges and he needs to own it and walk away from the rpg industry.

The RPG industry is a very tiny one. While Kickstarter has carefully positioned itself as a non-reseller, it takes advantage of early adopter types. A big part of the 'character' of early adopter types is self investment, so when you make them feel betrayed then they will hold a grudge until the end of time.
I've been engaged with numerous companies over the years that crashed and burned, especially in tech. Sometimes those running them emerge and get back into the industry, primarily because the crash and burn was the result of market influences and those inside those industries completely understand that.  But you don't hear of them claiming mental distress.  That seems to be almost a standard for many in the RPG community that take the money and run.
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estar

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Re: So Grognardia is back I guess?
« Reply #98 on: September 02, 2020, 03:43:59 PM »
Since he didn't take the money and run that not the issue here.


The issue as I see it, that he has his voice, his style, and it rubs many the wrong way including members of this forum. That more than a few folks are using what happen during the kickstarter to justify their dislike. Cloaking their criticism in a veneer of respectability because he "fucked" up a kickstarter royally when it really about is that they don't like how he writes or the opinion he states about the industry and hobby.

I linked to Autarch account which doesn't support the characterization that James took the money and ran. What it does support that James should not be the lead for any major project. Luckily for him, the technology of our times allows him to do a lot with the time and resources he has, like putting out a zine. As long as he putting his own time and dime into his project, I am content to let the man work and publish in peace.

On the other hand if he asks for support for a project that not completely done, or requires a major investment of time and resources, then at that point I will want an explanation or I will say no. In that situation I fully expect others to do the same.

If he hasn't developed a track record regarding projects on his own time and dime likely the answer still will be no even with an explanation. That how badly the screw-up is on the Dwimmermount KS.

« Last Edit: September 02, 2020, 03:50:11 PM by estar »

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Re: So Grognardia is back I guess?
« Reply #99 on: September 02, 2020, 04:17:32 PM »
Since he didn't take the money and run that not the issue here.


The issue as I see it, that he has his voice, his style, and it rubs many the wrong way including members of this forum. That more than a few folks are using what happen during the kickstarter to justify their dislike.
I liked his blog, it was one of my regular RSS feeds, before Google killed Reader. He doesn't owe me anything, and I don't hold any particular animus toward him today. I just believe people should be warned. Crowd-funding works because it's based on trust. It's not a realm where legal sanctions are practical, so reputation is the enforcement mechanism that prevents the field from being overwhelmed by bad actors. That's why we as a community have a responsibility to identify them.

And he owed the backers a product, and then he just vanished off the internet because it got too difficult, forsaking his responsibilities. That's clearly taking the money and running. True, Autarch did get him to sign over the IP and some of the money, but everything I've seen, including your link, suggests he didn't initiate it. He ran from his backers, until his partner went looking for him, at which point he handed over the keys. He also handed over some of the money, but it's still completely unclear how much money. You made one statement that he basically returned everything, but that's at odds with the statement from Autarch you linked.

I can understand why he did it. As I've said before, managing a self-publishing project in the public eye from start to end is tough. A lot of people, even those with extensive credits for writing in the field, have no idea how much work there is when they're going it alone. Even those with a lot of self-publishing experience can find it difficult to scale up or deal with the additional complexities (Skarka's Far West comes to mind). And while the one to many nature of relationships when you're the center of attention may be great when it's going well, when it goes bad it can be hard to deal with the negativity, because it gets amplified by the impersonality and absence of non-verbal feedback, the way posts are always there and don't go away like spoken words, and the sheer number of that "many". When that happens, there's a tendency to withdraw. But it's a bad reflex, from both a practical and a moral standpoint, because going silent is the #1 unforgivable sin, not to mention the creator took money and made a commitment.

I don't think the Kickstarter was a fraud. He did mislead people a bit, but that's common, and all the evidence suggests he fully planned on completing the project. He just got over his head, couldn't deal, and ran away to cower in a corner instead of owning up to his responsibilities to the people who believed in him enough to throw money at his dream project. They're the real victims. That they were made whole by a third party in no way absolves Maliszewski.
« Last Edit: September 02, 2020, 04:23:56 PM by Pat »

Lynn

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Re: So Grognardia is back I guess?
« Reply #100 on: September 02, 2020, 05:12:01 PM »
Since he didn't take the money and run that not the issue here.
The issue as I see it, that he has his voice, his style, and it rubs many the wrong way including members of this forum. That more than a few folks are using what happen during the kickstarter to justify their dislike. Cloaking their criticism in a veneer of respectability because he "fucked" up a kickstarter royally when it really about is that they don't like how he writes or the opinion he states about the industry and hobby.

I linked to Autarch account which doesn't support the characterization that James took the money and ran...
The part that said:
"...they received more than a token amount, but far less than 85-90%"
So what happened to the rest?  Certainly, it was good that Autarch got what they could. He didn't however deliver, they did.
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Re: So Grognardia is back I guess?
« Reply #101 on: September 10, 2020, 07:06:29 PM »
The comments on all his older posts were directed to Google Plus, which isn't an option anymore.




Yea. I'm sure that's the reason, and not that he wants to hide the fact that he stole money in a Kickstarter fraud.
The Kickstarter was not a fraud. It was in great danger, and James was responsible for that. I am a big critic of how James comported himself during the Kickstarter and hope he%u2019s never involved with crowd-funding again even tangentially, but labeling the kickstart itself a fraud goes too far. Dwimmermount was delivered eventually by Autarch.


Autarch was amazing in that whole thing. But if someone else promises a product they claim they've been developing for years, it turns out they were lying about that, and then they take all the money without delivering anything, that's a fraud; whether or not someone else comes along to take responsibility and provide a product to the backers later.

I mean, if you prefer, I could say JMal is the fraud, and HIS Dwimmermount was a fraud.
LION & DRAGON: Medieval-Authentic OSR Roleplaying is available now! You only THINK you've played 'medieval fantasy' until you play L&D.


My Blog:  http://therpgpundit.blogspot.com/
The most famous uruguayan gaming blog on the planet!

NEW!
Check out my short OSR supplements series; The RPGPundit Presents!


Dark Albion: The Rose War! The OSR fantasy setting of the history that inspired Shakespeare and Martin alike.
Also available in Variant Cover form!
Also, now with the CULTS OF CHAOS cult-generation sourcebook

ARROWS OF INDRA
Arrows of Indra: The Old-School Epic Indian RPG!
NOW AVAILABLE: AoI in print form

LORDS OF OLYMPUS
The new Diceless RPG of multiversal power, adventure and intrigue, now available.

estar

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Re: So Grognardia is back I guess?
« Reply #102 on: September 10, 2020, 07:48:10 PM »
then they take all the money without delivering anything, that's a fraud;
A person doing that would be a fraud. But that not what happened. JMal did not take all the money. Thus the chain of reasoning breaks.




Omega

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Re: So Grognardia is back I guess?
« Reply #103 on: September 10, 2020, 08:39:18 PM »
Part of the problem is the way he handled it after that set people on edge. After a while it didnt matter how much of the funds he handed off to someone else to finish it. It mattered that he had to do this and someone had to bail him out and write it for him.

And as noted. This isnt the first time weve seen this happen with games.

estar

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Re: So Grognardia is back I guess?
« Reply #104 on: September 10, 2020, 08:44:39 PM »
Part of the problem is the way he handled it after that set people on edge. After a while it didnt matter how much of the funds he handed off to someone else to finish it. It mattered that he had to do this and someone had to bail him out and write it for him.

And as noted. This isnt the first time weve seen this happen with games.
I don't have any problem with criticism in that vein. What I do have a problem with people, like the Pundit, asserting he took the money and he ran. Trying to put him in the same boat as Far West and Judges Guild. Having been involved with helping both the Judges Guild KS and helping the Dwimmermount KS. Aside from both crashing and burning, the circumstances of both are very different.