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Author Topic: What is everyone's thoughts on Chaoisum's OGL they released?  (Read 17048 times)

Groom of the Stool

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What is everyone's thoughts on Chaoisum's OGL they released?
« Reply #105 on: April 12, 2020, 01:45:08 AM »
Quote from: Spinachcat;1126373
Groom of the Stool, what's your deal with Aussies? There's gotta be a story there. Their need to hurl crustaceans at plastic dolls is a tad strange, but what culture doesn't have it's oddities?


Nah, there really isn't a story. I really mean the aussie Chaosium entourage. The thing is that I thought Chaosium was an American company, but all I see on their Youtube channel and Twitter account are rainbow people from the UK and Australia. But if I must confess I hate Lynne Hardy the most. Check out the playtest of Dead of Winter on Youtube. All she does is laugh, laugh and laugh her way through the adventure. And her laugh always sound the same, the same cadence all the time. Well, she has laugh number two as well - when she makes the same laughing face but omitt no sound at all. She might be remotely controlled by aliens.

yojimbouk

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What is everyone's thoughts on Chaoisum's OGL they released?
« Reply #106 on: April 12, 2020, 10:32:37 AM »
Quote from: BrokenCounsel;1126484
Plus he's a high up in Chaosium, and it's just damned unprofessional to go ragging on other company's games in a public forum - and especially the market leader. That shows contempt for the industry they're a part of. Yet they brag about all their fucking Ennies and Indiana Jones awards, yadda yadda yadda - so clearly they adore the industry when it suits them. It wouldn't be so bad if he gave examples of why he's 'unimpressed' in a constructive way; but he's too fucking cool for that. 'Cept it's just a dick move from an arrogant prick.



I didn't get the new RQ rules because Glorantha just ain't my bag, but looking at the posts about rules issues on that BRP site, I get the impression that Jeff's also the lead designer, but doesn't have a fucking clue about how to design a game. He took an old game, the RQ classic, threw in a bunch of rules from another couple of versions he happened to like, slapped a shit load of pretty art on it, and decided it was done. Yet he's got the balls to rag on 5e and criticize 'modern ideas/approaches'? Fuck. Even Felix.J's got a better sense of how to design a roleplaying game. So if this Jeff's also the genius behind their OGL and SRD, yeah, it's gonna suck.

Contempt for the industry seeps out of them. For one of the big old companies, that's just bad.


Rick Meints is an RQ grognard who made his name in the 90s publishing remastered reprints of old RQ2 classics, such as Pavis and Big Rubble, and lists of RQ/Gloranthan publications. I'm sure Rick Meints pressed for compatibility with RQ2 for the new rule set.

I believe Jeff Richard came out of the Seattle Farmer's Collective group. This group experimented with new rule sets, such as Pendragon Pass, and made the focus of their campaign a village community rather than a band of adventurers. Their campaign was heavily informed by King of Sartar.

It's not hard to see how RQG ended up as it was then. Rick Meints wanted a system that was nostalgic. Jeff Richard wanted a system that was modern and reflected what he viewed as important about Glorantha. I'm not sure these two viewpoints could be satisfactorily reconciled.

Gagarth

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What is everyone's thoughts on Chaoisum's OGL they released?
« Reply #107 on: April 12, 2020, 10:36:56 AM »
Quote from: yojimbouk;1126601
Rick Meints is an RQ grognard who made his name in the 90s publishing remastered reprints of old RQ2 classics, such as Pavis and Big Rubble, and lists of RQ/Gloranthan publications. I'm sure Rick Meints pressed for compatibility with RQ2 for the new rule set.

I believe Jeff Richard came out of the Seattle Farmer's Collective group. This group experimented with new rule sets, such as Pendragon Pass, and made the focus of their campaign a village community rather than a band of adventurers. Their campaign was heavily informed by King of Sartar.

It's not hard to see how RQG ended up as it was then. Rick Meints wanted a system that was nostalgic. Jeff Richard wanted a system that was modern and reflected what he viewed as important about Glorantha. I'm not sure these two viewpoints could be satisfactorily reconciled.


Jeff Richard hated RQ 3 he is responsible for RuneQuest Glorantha actually being RuneQuest 2.5. Meints couldn't give two fucks about the game system he only sees $$$$$$$$$.
« Last Edit: April 12, 2020, 10:43:08 AM by Gagarth »
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BoxCrayonTales

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What is everyone's thoughts on Chaoisum's OGL they released?
« Reply #108 on: April 12, 2020, 11:39:28 AM »
Quote from: Philotomy Jurament;1126461
TL;DR: If Chaosium puts out some cool products that appeal to me, I'll buy from them. Right now they're not offering me much that I want, outside of older material (most of which I already own).

I'd really like if they could release a 2nd edition of Nephilim. I liked it a whole lot better than World of Darkness, that's for sure.

Vile Traveller

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What is everyone's thoughts on Chaoisum's OGL they released?
« Reply #109 on: April 12, 2020, 10:15:36 PM »
Well, conversation has pretty much died down everywhere except for a few posters on BRP Central talking about using the NOGL to re-invent wheels already built into games under other companies' later versions of the rules. Time will tell whether anyone actually produces any meaningful content as a result of this debacle, or whether it satisfies nuChaosium's actual intent of offending 3rd party publishers enough to put forever them off the idea of writing their own D100 games.

Simlasa

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What is everyone's thoughts on Chaoisum's OGL they released?
« Reply #110 on: April 13, 2020, 01:20:18 AM »
Quote from: BoxCrayonTales;1126613
I'd really like if they could release a 2nd edition of Nephilim. I liked it a whole lot better than World of Darkness, that's for sure.
I think my temptation there would be to do something Nephilim-ish with After The Vampire Wars... since I'm more inetrested in ATVW more as a framework for modern weird adventures than its own setting as-written (too True Bllod for my taste, ATM).

Vile Traveller

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What is everyone's thoughts on Chaoisum's OGL they released?
« Reply #111 on: April 13, 2020, 02:48:33 AM »
Waitaminnit ... did MOB jump the gun and post the BRP NOGL a few days early? Is this whole thing just an elaborate April Fool's joke? :eek:

BoxCrayonTales

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What is everyone's thoughts on Chaoisum's OGL they released?
« Reply #112 on: April 13, 2020, 05:24:16 PM »
There is a Polish top-down post-apocalypse horror video game called Darkwood. It's awesome. I think it deserves a tabletop game adaptation. D100 seems serviceable enough.

Mjollnir
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What is everyone's thoughts on Chaoisum's OGL they released?
« Reply #113 on: April 14, 2020, 09:08:11 PM »
BRP is my favorite system (specifically Mythras and Call of Cthulu), that being said Chaosium seems to be being run by paranoid cretins. As others have already pointed out, really good OGLs already exist for the system - Legend, GORE, OpenQuest.

It seems like they're worried about being Pathfndered. A knockoff Call of Cthulhu is never going to dethrone the real thing as long as CoC is still available in a recognizable form. That's why Zweihander died the day WFRP 4 was announced, and Fox has been lashing out in desperation ever since. Keep making Call of Cthulhu (no one can take Glorantha from you) and you'll be fine.

Vile Traveller

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What is everyone's thoughts on Chaoisum's OGL they released?
« Reply #114 on: April 14, 2020, 09:55:15 PM »
Quote from: Mjollnir;1126864
Keep making Call of Cthulhu (no one can take Glorantha from you) and you'll be fine.
This is the key underlying assumption when you release a real OGL - that you are confident a 3rd party isn't going to steal your thunder. CoC has such a vast volume of material that they could keep going forever just by updating and re-issuing old books. Glorantha is their thing, especially now that Greg is gone and Jeff can go crazy with the pseudo-anthropolgy stuff, but honestly it's never going to be attractive enough for anyone to even attempt to clone - it's just become way to impenetrable for much of the market. Pendragon seems to be the go-to game for Arthurian fantasy, which is much better protection than disallowing anything even vaguely related under their NOGL.

That said, there are contenders - Delta Green is a very good take on the Mythos, and Osprey is about to release their own Bronze Age game powered by OpenQuest (which I'm sure will be much more accessible than Glorantha). So nuChaosium have some cause not to get complacent, as their main cash-cow lines are mostly public domain, while Glorantha is at its core a historical bronze age setting that could easily be re-skinned with little effort.

In the meantime, Jeff gets it. Not:

Quote
And this really displays why I am tempted to give up answering questions on this forum. Do you really plan to publish something using BRP based on Dunsany's "Idle Days on the Yann"? Really? Or is this just an exercise trying to dance around boundaries you don't really have any interest in actually doing anything with at all?

How hard is it for him to grok that an OGL is supposed to be clear on general cases so potential publishers don't have to ask about every little specific detail?

Mjollnir
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What is everyone's thoughts on Chaoisum's OGL they released?
« Reply #115 on: April 14, 2020, 10:23:52 PM »
Call of Cthulhu's name recognition and inertia enough to keep Chaosium near the top of the RPG mountain indefinitely as long as they don't make a blunder on the scale of D&D 4e. And Delta Green didn't need Chaosium's useless OGL.

Glorantha is so specific and niche that anyone who want it will buy the real thing, it's not just a generic bronze age setting.

Are they afraid someone is going to remake Pendragon and complete head-to-head with one of the most highly regarded RPGs ever?  That seems like an endeavor doomed to irrelevance and obscurity to me, but if I were going to try it I'd just use a different, better OGL.

BrokenCounsel

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What is everyone's thoughts on Chaoisum's OGL they released?
« Reply #116 on: April 15, 2020, 07:12:26 AM »
Quote from: Vile;1126873
This is the key underlying assumption when you release a real OGL - that you are confident a 3rd party isn't going to steal your thunder. CoC has such a vast volume of material that they could keep going forever just by updating and re-issuing old books. Glorantha is their thing, especially now that Greg is gone and Jeff can go crazy with the pseudo-anthropolgy stuff, but honestly it's never going to be attractive enough for anyone to even attempt to clone - it's just become way to impenetrable for much of the market. Pendragon seems to be the go-to game for Arthurian fantasy, which is much better protection than disallowing anything even vaguely related under their NOGL.

That said, there are contenders - Delta Green is a very good take on the Mythos, and Osprey is about to release their own Bronze Age game powered by OpenQuest (which I'm sure will be much more accessible than Glorantha). So nuChaosium have some cause not to get complacent, as their main cash-cow lines are mostly public domain, while Glorantha is at its core a historical bronze age setting that could easily be re-skinned with little effort.

In the meantime, Jeff gets it. Not:



How hard is it for him to grok that an OGL is supposed to be clear on general cases so potential publishers don't have to ask about every little specific detail?

Seems every time Jeff opens his smart-ass mouth, a little more contempt dribbles out.

JeffB

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What is everyone's thoughts on Chaoisum's OGL they released?
« Reply #117 on: April 15, 2020, 08:37:17 AM »
Quote from: Vile;1126873

That said, there are contenders Osprey is about to release their own Bronze Age game powered by OpenQuest (which I'm sure will be much more accessible than Glorantha).


Thanks for the tip! I was not aware of this game in the works. Due right around my B-day too- Time to put it on "Dad's B-day wish list" :)

Abraxus

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What is everyone's thoughts on Chaoisum's OGL they released?
« Reply #118 on: April 15, 2020, 10:10:15 AM »
Quote from: BrokenCounsel;1126909
Seems every time Jeff opens his smart-ass mouth, a little more contempt dribbles out.

Pretty much and making other question his lawyer credentials.

What did he and by extension Chaosium expect an improperly worded, unclear non-opengl style listen and no one would ask them questions. What is it with old rpg companies not being able to handle any pushback. New rpg companies are not good at it either yet the older ones have been around longer and should know better.

JeffB

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What is everyone's thoughts on Chaoisum's OGL they released?
« Reply #119 on: April 15, 2020, 10:17:15 AM »
Quote from: sureshot;1126923
Pretty much and making other question his lawyer credentials.

What did he and by extension Chaosium expect an improperly worded, unclear non-opengl style listen and no one would ask them questions. What is it with old rpg companies not being able to handle any pushback. New rpg companies are not good at it either yet the older ones have been around longer and should know better.

Old company, yes, but New management. I'm guessing that being the "saviors" of Chaosium went to their heads, and now that the initial dust has settled where they fixed some old chaosium issues,  they are moving forward with their core business plans and  probably are a little taken aback by the criticisms.
« Last Edit: April 15, 2020, 10:19:53 AM by JeffB »