Mad Brew Labs

I would be remiss if didn’t take some time to thank the minds behind and the members of RPG Bloggers.  As of yesterday, I have been doing this blog for two weeks, with a total of 17 posts, 25 comments, and almost 800 views.  Of course those statistics have more value when you put them into context.

Before I was accepted as a member of RPG Bloggers, I had 14 posts, 1 comment (non-constructive), and about 180 views.  Since being accepted last Thursday to the RPG Bloggers community, I’ve only posted 3 more articles but recieved over 600 views in four days.  I also would like say that I have no idea how many hits constitutes “successful,” (which is a very subjective word)  but I am happy.

So, I want to thank everyone for sharing your readers with me and giving me some exposure.  Now I just need to retain those new viewers as repeat readers, which is wholly dependent on the quality of my writing.  Good news is that it looks like my posts have scored very well with people (by looking at the number and average score of the votes about my posts on RPG Bloggers); I just need to maintain, or exceed, that level.

I invite everyone to come and critique my blog: design & layout, content, & writing style.  And thanks again to RPG Bloggers.  Now I need to go work on my next post!

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It also struck at Microsoft’s Xbox division when the Project Manager for Digital Products at Wizards of the Coast, Joseph Batten murdered his estranged wife, Melissa Batten, a Software Development Engineer in Test (and Harvard Law School graduate) and then killed himself.  I got this on my Destructoid feed.

Apparantly it all began after the former Microsoft employee Joseph discovered that his wife had an affair, obtained a gun, and threatend to kill himself. This part of the story was discovered after further research on the Seattle Times.

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Whether you are a greybeard or a greenhorn, a dedicated or sporadic player of D&D, you probably have a passionate opinion about the new edition.  I certainly do.  However, I think my opinion has become more tempered since I began scrolling through the heated discussions on various blogs like these two posts (here & here) on Chatty DM, Critical Hits, and another two posts (here & here) on Geek Related.  Hell, just Google or Cuil (a new hip search engine!) “4e sucks” and I am sure you’ll find many, many more.

Here is my synopsis of the situation: Wizards of the Coast changed a the way classes work at a fundamental level.  There were some other changes, but I see them as more of the natural evolution of the game.  The new classes are not as natural… It is more of a transplant.  I think the closest analogy I can think of is if I went to the barber, got a hair cut and a shave but gave me a heart transplant as well.

Eh, maybe not so dramatic.  On second thought, a better line of thought be to make a comparison to my project car.  Right now it is a 1948 Chevrolet Coupe, with a 403 cubic inch small block and manual transmission (never yoiu mind it isn’t currently road worthy!).  Let’s say I can’t afford to drive the damn thing anymore because the premium fuel it requires is too flippin’ expensive.  So I swap the the V8 for a turbo charged inline 4 banger with an automatic transmission.  Does this make the ’48 a pile of crap?

In short, no.  But the hot rod purists would have an aneurysm.  But I have fun driving it, it takes less work (shifting) and I get better fuel economy,  Plus, it still looks bad ass.  But hey, that’s not everyone’s flavor of hot rod.  It doesn’t have to be, and it really doesn’t fucking matter because its my damn car and you don’t have to cruise in it if you don’t want.

Lucky for those old hot rodding fossils, I just happen to prefer my classic iron with a big ass V8 in it.  I’d never do that to my ’48, but I can see the logic behind doing it and wouldn’t bash (too much) on someone who did.  Besides, that’s what my Eclipse GST is for.

Anyways, you might not be interested in cars, turbos, or how many cylinders my cars have.  The point of the long, exhaustive analogy above was to illustrate that it doesn’t really matter if you think WotC f’ed up your favorite game and you abosutely abhor 4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons.  On the flipside, all the people that fell in love with 4e need not worry about those who are not fans of it.

I’m not a huge fan of 4e, and I certainly do no plan on purchasing what I think are over priced books, but I’m not going to tell you not to play it or enjoy.  4e just might be your cup of tea, and if its ease of use brings more gamers into the fold, AWESOME.  I think everyone should try it and find out for themselves, make up your own damned mind and don’t try to shove your freshly formed opinion down fellow gamers’ throats.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love discussing the finer nuances of game mechanics and discovering why you like this or dislike that.  Rational discussion promotes new ideas which lead to better games.  Just have some reason behind your opinion.

Bottomline: Don’t get your panties in a twist about a fraggin’ game.

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Well the Con of Cons (for tabel top RPG gamers that is) is only two friggin’ weeks away! I’m pretty stoked, even if the guys, BH2 and MM, and me are only going to be playing 4e. I got my badge and event tickets about a month ago and placed them in a safe place. Somewhere the two-year old larva wouldn’t find them and turn it them into confetti. In a place I will most likely forget by the day GenCon arrives; finding myself ransacking the house in search of them.

Even though I have been gaming in some form or fashion for over two decades, I never went to GenCon until it chose the Indiana Convention Center as its venue. This might be because my mom was never really thrilled about D&D (or the heavy metal…), lack of finances, being an invert, and my honorable service with the Corps. But when it finally came to my home state of Indiana, and being less than an hour away, I couldn’t resist the urge.

GenCon was my first gaming Con experience, and it is still rich with memories. I’ll remember it as the death of the original World of Darkness and the birth of 3.5 edition D&D. The death of the WoD was quite an event as they handed out 500 shirts to gamers that attended their Time of Judgment press conference. If you were 21 or older and had one of those shirts, you scored free entry into their party in the ArtsGarden suspended over the streets of downtown Indy. Did I mention that the party had an open bar?  Oh yeah, Will knows what I am talking about!

I missed the next one because of college related stuff, but I have attended every one since. I was there for the 4th Edition D&D announcement and discussions with the designers. And the last Living Greyhawk adventures to be run by the RPGA at GenCon.

What sucks is that now only two other members of my group are going this year. The rest (of the 7 base member group) have decided that GenCon sucks… What!?! Blasphemy I say! I think they are disappointed because the several years they attended we never pre-registered for events, and thus spent a lot of time trolling the vendor booths. Which seems to have less and less booth babes every year! Who dropped the ball there? My goal for next year is to get at least two more to go with us.

Well, this year we did it right. We coordinated our schedules, picked our events and back up events in case they sold out, and pre-registered as soon as the RPGA events cut loose. Which, by the way, was delayed long enough to have me secretly hoping I would be able to get the other two guys to sign up for other games like Mutants & Masterminds, Warmachine, or World of Darkness.

Our con schedule is friggin packed with gaming. If the games were to last the entire scheduled times (which they won’t) we would only have two breaks between 0800 and 2400 (thats 8 a.m. and midnight for you non 24 hour clock readers). They would be a one hour and a two hour break. And the special module is scheduled to 3 in the morning!

So in preperation, I have done the following:

• mapped the fastest routes, and back up routes, to and from the Convention Center to my house
• bought a 40 c.i. roller cooler (here’s to me, Mr. roller cooler roller)
• made a grocery list for next week to put in said cooler
• made a packing list for game supplies
• scoped out the best (and hopefully overlooked by out of staters) parking

Here is to hoping GenCon and Living Realms changes my opinion of 4e!

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I discovered this gem of information thanks to mxyzplk on Geek Related, so be sure to pay him a visit if you are reading this post!

Monday, July 28th, Randy Buehler, VP of Digital Gaming at Wizards of the Coast announced in a Gleemax post that WotC has officially pulled the plug on the half-assed social network for gamers called Gleemax. Gleemax will close sometime in September (no solid date yet).

The reason behind scrapping Gleemax? Well besides it’s lukewarm reception and mediocre offerings, it is most likely because Dungeons & Dragons Insider (DDI) has fallen way behind the power curve. Nothing tangible beyond some fancy demos has arrived for this web service and e-zines Dragon and Dungeon (R.I.P. printed magazines) with a monthly subscription on par with MMOs, $14.95 a month.

Thats not all, according to this post Wizards will be refocusing their publishing arm as well. While the rest of the 2008 release schedule will continue, anything not dealing with Magic : the Gathering or Dungeons & Dragons will get the axe. This is related to novels, so the Discovery line is out in 2009 and as well as other series in the Mirrorstone imprint.

So, what exactly does Hasbro directing Wizards to focus on their cash cows imply? Hasbro is doing well financially according to this from EnWorld, an earning conference call. They only casually reference Wizards of the Coast in their meeting… making me think that perhaps D&D isn’t the shining example they’d hoped. Either that, or maybe D&D has never made enough money to mention. Only time will tell on how this development plays out.

It also begs the question on if gamers should create their own one-stop gaming site, with gaming tools…

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I am currently contributing to the Grand OGL Wiki (name subject to change) by stripping Open Game Content from books provided by Mongoose Publishing and placing it in the searchable online format.  This endeavor should be pretty useful once we have more content up on the live site.

Give it a spin, see if you like it, and maybe even lend a hand.  I am currently working on the Quintessential Cleric II book and hope to see it ready to go live in a couple of weeks.  It would be cool to see Echelon on there, if it is deemed worthy of inclusion once I am finished writing it.

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