The Chaosium situation has made me realise something: that game company that makes or made products you love, that you try to be patient with, but which seems ham-fisted, uncommunicative, or clueless. Maybe they just plain suck. Maybe they are run by people that you really wouldn't like if you knew them, who really don't care or actively sneer at their fan base.

I just realised that two of my "favorite" companies are basically like that. Great legacies. But the current management just plain sucks and are killing their own product lines.

That's all. Does that count as a rant?

Don't be coy. Who and why?

I prefer not to be specific, as it's hard to make specific allegations without evidence. I mean, how could you have made specific allegations that Charlie Krank had siphoned off money from the Chaosium Kickstarters? That's what seems to have happened. And regarding the companies I have in mind, I don't think they're profiting in such a way, but I feel stupid for thinking that their release schedule of one sub-standard book per year and total lack of communication means that they're beavering away on stuff behind the scenes. They're checked out, working a day job and watching TV, and in reality the future of the game lines belongs to the fans.

I've been bitchy about all things Mongoose for years now... some real crimes, some imagined... but I'm pretty sure I'm never buying anything from the ever again.

Oh... and Games Workshop of course... but that party boat is full up.

Eh, if they suck, they won't be in business anymore, that's how I look at it.  I may not like them personally, but that's just a me thing.

Margaret Weiss puts out some stuff that's really to my taste, but they can't negotiate a license properly for the life of them. Their licenses are set up in such a way that once the license ends, they aren't allowed to even sell digital copies of the products they already wrote and had approved anymore. This has affected Smallville and Marvel Heroic, and is likely to affect Leverage, Firefly, and more down the road.

Counterexample: Eden Studios. Their Buffy and Angel licenses ended years ago, but they are still allowed to sell digital copies of the products that made it through approvals. We'll probably never get Military Monster Squad or Tea & Crossbows, but we'll never have to worry that the core books or The Magic Box(really expensive sometimes if you find it in print) will ever be unavailable to interested fans.

FASA/Red Brick -- I don't even know what's going on with this company. They had a great thing going, and then due to the terms of their agreement with Mongoose/Flaming Cobra they put out a hurried "new edition" that really wasn't different enough to even qualify as such(3e). It was basically Classic w/ a free PDF supplement worked into the main Discipline rules and a cleaned up Talent list. Nice but . . . not a new edition by any means. Then the lackluster Cathay books(not bad or anything; just mediocre) that were their first real attempt at all-new content. Then the aborted 3e Revised, Pathdinder-compatible, and Savage Worlds-compatible editions. And now a 4th Edition w/ just a stupid logo. Again, as seems to be the case for them, it's not bad . . . just generic-looking and uninspired. I just don't know . . .

Then there's the hardcore SJW brigade. I'm not sure if this applies to the companies they work for as a whole, but Cam Banks, Topher Gerkey, and Fred Hicks all annoy the crap out of me sometimes. I've followed(and unfollowed) all of them on G+ at some point. I even agree with them on some things, but when I do disagree, I know better than to say anything because I've seen how they've reacted to other people who have done so before. They often jump right to ascribing the worst possible motives to people who disagree with them, which is just uncharitable. It's like it doesn't even cross their mind that someone can be well-versed in philosophy, metaphysics, metaethics, theology, or other applicable fields and simply come to a different conclusion than one of them. Or that people who are truly caring and well-intentioned could possibly still disagree with them. I won't refuse to buy product from them if it's something I like, and I doubt I'd have any problem playing in a game with any of them, but getting that stuff(especially the way they talk to dissenters) in my online feeds . . . no.

This subject comes up a few times.

Steve Jackson Games: This one goes way back to around 2000 when they started acting the internet bully. Over the years its been sporatic. But they keep showing their true face enough to leave the impression that something is really not right over there. The last gag being telling someone that they are not allowed to resize some Ogre counters for personal private use. Really? Couple of former artists for SJG didnt have anything nice to say about them either.

Stronghold: This one is pretty recent, but made me go back and look at their past actions in a new light. Not a RPG company. But they are a game company and they seem to like to "doctor" their re-releases ratings over on BGG by over-writing the game they are reprinting, even when the games are different. Setting up a false impression. Then the whole Dark Moon debacle. ugh. Minor compared to others but still annoying.

Palladium: The epic tales of how things go down working with Palladium is legendary. I have a huge manuscript for a cancelled game that I was the art director for that the writer just said "Fuck this!" quit gaming totally and handed me the whole damn thing.

Hasbro and White Wolf was the big surprise. Id have never thought that a big company like that would stoop so low as to rip off designers.

And a couple of others for things not mentionable in public for various reasons. NDAs help to hide some of the dirty deeds.

And dont get me started on designers and artists! Argh!

What designers did Hasbro rip off?

Quote from: RPGPundit;836357What designers did Hasbro rip off?

Two freelancers were the ones I met who mentioned that working with Hasbro ended with them getting ripped off. Which isnt surprising as for a time, possibly even now, Hasbro had a submission setup where you had to pay THEM just to look at your game, EACH TIME. They reject it and tell you to tweak this or that? Kiss another 200$ goodby. One stated that they took his design and didnt pay him. Neither went into detail for obvious reasons.

FFG is another with a not exactly stellar rep. The whole Wings of War to X-Wing mess. Aside from that and some sort of issue with Warhammer FRPG, I dont think there has been any bad behavior from FFG. They tend to be fairly laid back and used to post regularly to BGG about projects and answer questions.

Couple of publishers have ripped off artists. SJG, Atlas and GOO I know artists personally who stated that they never got payed or never got their full payment till they leaned on the publisher.

Then there is the ongoing train wreck of Game Salute who has run at least one RPG. The reboot of venerable Villains & Vigilantes. Its gone into same dead space holding pattern as most other Game Salute games do. Ready to print-working on it-ready to print-working on it-you get the idea. Only a year of this now. Oh. And The designer and GS both voted up their own game over on RPGG. Really? Yeah really.

Green Ronin used to have a rep for poor customer service at cons. But was otherwise fine by all accounts.

Privateer Press had notoriously horrible warehouse customer service. Of which I experienced personally. But if you could bypass that and actually get someone higher ups attention then they were really great about fixing problems. But their warehouse CS was anything but.

Outlaw Press: How do you categorize this one?

Quote from: Christopher Brady;836181Eh, if they suck, they won't be in business anymore, that's how I look at it.

Unfortunately, that's not how it works. A game company can be perpetually late with releases, over-promise, under-deliver, copy-and-paste huge chunks of old games and pretend it's "new", run a shitty kickstarter, and even suffer a Crisis of Treachery, yet remain in business for decades.

Quote from: Ddogwood;836393Unfortunately, that's not how it works. A game company can be perpetually late with releases, over-promise, under-deliver, copy-and-paste huge chunks of old games and pretend it's "new", run a shitty kickstarter, and even suffer a Crisis of Treachery, yet remain in business for decades.

Yeah, pretty much this. Much as I love Kevin Siembieda's creations and admire his chutzpah, his lack of professionalism is inexcusable.

The truth of the matter is: Palladium can't edit a book worth shit and recycles its own content like it's going out of style. Nothing ever gets playtested, the power creep is a joke and several books can't even offer a GM a decent map.

If it wasn't for the core of fanatics that gobble up everything he releases, and even bailed out the company (admittedly a cool thing to do). he might be holding himself to higher standards nowadays. Classic case of nerds ruining something for everyone.

How is anything "ruined" for you or me? Don't like it, don't buy it.  Don't imagine you have the right to tell someone else how to run his business simply because it's not to your taste. That's a big nerd pastime right there.

Quote from: Matt;836414How is anything "ruined" for you or me?

How is a child 'spoiled' by giving it everything it wants and never telling it it's wrong?
Similar to how George Lucas might have put out better product if anyone around him was willing to say, "No George, I think that's an awful idea... don't do it!"

Quote from: Matt;836414How is anything "ruined" for you or me? Don't like it, don't buy it.  Don't imagine you have the right to tell someone else how to run his business simply because it's not to your taste. That's a big nerd pastime right there.

1. Haven't bought a Palladium book in over 15 years.

2. Of course, Kevin is above all criticism. After all he runs a business. :rolleyes:

Hey Geek Eclectic. I had the same experience w/ Fred Hicks and Cam Banks. I said just one or two sentences of my own opinion on the Strange/American Indian controversy and they both wrote me multi-paragraph, super emotional SJW stuff. They do not like people to have different opinions from them.