Monday, April 20, 2020

Lamentations of the Flame Princess Is Going To Go Under

The Letter

A few weeks ago, everyone that LotFP owed money got an email from publisher James Raggi IV that started like this:

This is the worst thing I've ever had to write...

I don't have money to pay out royalties this quarter (nor payments for
bank loans I'd taken out last year). LotFP is in big trouble...


As someone to whom LotFP pays many thousands of dollars, this caught my attention.

The letter went on to explain the following: 

Orders had remained constant even after the harassment campaign started last February and LotFP had their best GenCon ever, but then, toward the end of the year, orders began to drop precipitously.

This is completely consistent with what you'd expect as a result of an online harassment campaign targeting (first) LotFP's best-selling author and (a week later) the company itself for not completely disowning that author: Most people who liked LotFP stuff and didn't care about online drama kept buying things, but gatekeeper's denying LotFP access to outlets where the game could be advertised or spread to new audiences. 

Did LotFP deserve this? I didn't like that James--someone who much of my work relied on--apparently read and enjoyed a Jordan Peterson self-help book; I'm with Jeff. But call me crazy I think lying about rape--which nearly every other indie RPG publisher inside and outside the OSR did and/or encouraged people to do last year--is way worse.

And it was a lie. The online RPG community relied on its instincts and you know what their instincts got them? Adam Koebel. The best you could say is: they're idiots.


The Weird Thing About Gamers Online

Here's a weird thing that's always been true:

People love to buy LotFP stuff, people are even happy to vote for LotFP stuff (thus stuff that should not have been fan award bait like Frostbitten & Mutilated getting 4 Ennies) but when it comes to talking on the internet people like to hate on LotFP much more than they like to argue for LotFP. 

And here's the problem: all indie RPGs exist in an economic world where you either argue for stuff or it goes away. In online RPGs, there is no plausible amount of just quietly buying stuff that makes up for people loudly hating on it.

Loudly hating on stuff works. There are people out there who have no idea that every single successful OSR thing out there copies LotFP's business model, design choices, and willingness to do weird stuff, there are people who literally think its all dickmonsters because you're allowed to say that and will get shouted down on forums if you disagree.


The Hot Springs Island Theory Of RPG Economics

In the discussions that followed this announcement, I pointed this out. Jacob Hurst, author of Hot Springs Island, disagreed: he said that while, yes, LotFP's problems could be said to be based on "personality-based bullshit" the idea that LotFP fans should therefore counter smear campaigns online was a bad idea. His opinion is:

-It doesn't matter that the biggest online PDF company restricts what LotFP can put up

-It doesn't matter that the major conventions, where James makes a large amount of his money, limits LotFP's ability to participate

-It doesn't matter that LotFP's ability to win fan awards--which always boost sales--has been seriously impacted

-It doesn't matter that Allen Varney's Bundle of Holding banned LotFP

-It doesn't matter that on RPGnet and Reddit, where the largest RPG discussions happen and where a large number of new people hear about games for the first time, the moderators pretty much suspend the rules when it comes to attacking James or LotFP

-It doesn't matter that Ben Milton's Questing Beast--who has tens of thousands of followers on YouTube making it the biggest OSR review site by far, got rid of more than one LotFP review

-It doesn't matter that the same goes for the major OSR Discord, where Into the Odd's Chris McDowall, the owner, literally got rid of the rule against lying on the Discord in order to facilitate more harassment

...if you just make quality product, everything will be fine. That's Jacob's theory.

I don't think that literally anything that has ever happened in the history of entertainment economics or selling indie RPGs after 2005 backs this up, but if you do: Ok, buy something.  Much of what LotFP had to cancel is coming out right here. Prove me wrong.


This Was A Hit Job

Hundreds or thousands of people are going to take the news that LotFP is going under and be like "Yay! Fuck LotFP"

This is far less than the number of people who buy LotFP stuff, but it is enough to scare those folks away from public places online where they might kick back. In several major forums, mods who know they don't know what happened have made official policies against even discussing LotFP products because they "start fights". i.e. By rampantly attacking anything about the company, harassers have managed to make mods realize the path of least resistance is to bow to an intimidation campaign.

This was on purpose and the people who did it knew what they were doing, Stacy Dellorfano, who used to be LotFP's PR person, knew ahead of time that the smear campaign was coming, decided to join in. Stacy said there going to leave the company at the end of the year and that James should prepare for an attack on me from my ex after that.

Lots of other people joined in. It was all premeditated:
Emmy Allen/ Cavegirl has never been able to explain why she thought I "hurt" anyone (I guess saying "don't lie on the internet it's bad" is hurting by her metric? I don't know. She has never explained because she can't. Here she is in a less philosophic mood:


...but I guess "making sure you don't hurt innocent people" is not a major concern if you're a sociopathic 4chan hatemonger.) but the screencap is clear: this was all an intentional manipulation.

Emmy's blogpost about how I was clearly a monster for (-gasp-) telling her I liked some of her writing back when we were friendly and asking her to warn me if she saw people harassing me on 4chan was dutifully passed around gamer circles and even stickyposted on the OSR reddit as if somehow proved I'd done something wrong.

People fell for it, just like they fell for all the other blogposts put up that week.

The shitty people online, who want bad things to happen, are way more motivated, organized, and careful than the good people who believe in truth and facts and fairness, who somehow seem to just trust that it'll all come out in a wash that nobody is ever doing. There's no wash, the washing machine never worked, detergent was banned years ago, and the mods turned the water off anyway.

That is why the thing that you like is going away. 


So...Is LotFP Over?

Whether you agree with Emmy Allen that the hatemob she helped stir up was "violence" it certainly had an effect on James. Again from his letter:

I'll admit I mentally and physically collapsed during last spring,
between 1: now being in incredible debt with all the assumptions
supporting that debt now destroyed. 2: Coming under fire from the public
after doing exactly what I thought that same public demanded I do after
the Zak situation (cancel all upcoming projects) to the point where
valid criticism and argument and just plain shit-talking abuse became an
indistinguishable, numbing blur, and as the months went on, there was 3:
Sales of Zak's existing books still holding up, leading me to realize
that on a pure numbers basis, canceling Zak's upcoming projects (and
canceling the RPL reprint; people up and down the distribution chain
have been asking about it) was a bad business move. The dissonance
caused by 2 + 3 happening simultaneously... fuck. It still makes no
sense to me.

The dude is a mess. I've talked to him and he is a mess. He pissed off the smear campaign for not disowning me, and he's disappointed everyone else by not publishing me. He can't catch a break.

LotFP has been cut to a minimal crew, and James is gambling what's left on three new projects, all very nicely illustrated and produced. They're supposed to come out this summer.

I don't know if they will. I do know that when they do there are lots of people who will see it as a moral duty and their only source of entertainment to crap on any public discussion of them as "more edgelord bullshit from a nazi" and I know that James does not have the energy or reach he once did to push back or inspire people to do it or ask them to.

I spent ten years telling the RPG community online that they were gullible and stupid and they did not like it one bit. What I never understood was how much more powerful the gullibility and stupidity was than the better impulses to creativity, thoughtfulness and generosity. The internet sold the games, but in the end the internet won.

As I've said many times: I'm not going anywhere. Even if I never wrote another line of RPG text I have to stick around to hold the people who did this responsible, because they are totally evil and I read all the same books as you did so I know what you do when there's total evil.

But you reading this have a lot of choices about what you're going to do. Broken record time: I'd like to remind you that in this little pond your choices have consequences. You can post a thing, you can say a thing, you can tell the truth, you can ask people to care, you can try to make sure the good thing does not go away.
-
-
-

82 comments:

Aaron The Pedantic said...

Jim seems like a good guy and doesn't seem to deserve to go under. I think the LotFP fanbase could drive enough impetus to support the upcoming releases. Perhaps that will have enough of an effect to help the business stay afloat. I'll probably even buy direct from the website if shipping isn't too much of a self injury.

If he reconsidered, would you work with him again? I'm a fan of LotFP, Vornheim, and F&M, so I'm just curious.

Zak Sabbath said...

@Aaron the Pedantic

Like I said, if the fans are just going to buy things but still don't have the energy to kick back against the smears in the forums, it won't matter--LotFP is officially or unofficially locked out of too many spaces.

As for me working with LotFP again: only if fans are more vocal than they have been. Otherwise working with James is just signing up to be harassed more for the benefit of fans who just shrug and wait for their next Christmas present.

Zak Sabbath said...

@Jim From Nebraska

Erased. No drive-by comments.

You can't make new comments unless you prove you're smart enough to talk to by engaging the responses to your previous comments.

Greg said...

I'm not sure how (to quote) "I was pushed by circumstances into doing something I find repellent. I still feel horrible about my participation." makes Cave look sociopathic as you describe it.

Particularly if you take into account other comments she made at the time, such as "I mean hell, don't go after zak. [snip] if you're going to go right after him in order to cause suffering, maybe don't. You're only adding more suffering to the world, maybe catching innocent victims in the splash radius."

She seems to have been pretty unhappy to have gotten involved at all. Unless there's additional context that I'm not seeing?

Zak Sabbath said...

@Greg

Simple: she is lying about me having done harm (and therefore being "pushed"). Thus: sociopathic.

At -best- you could maybe say she _assumed without investigating at all_ that I had done harm, which is also sociopathic.

------

This is how this works: I -suspect_ you are concern trolling because nobody could be that stupid. But I am not going to:

-Say I know you are

or

-Mete out consequences to you

...based on mere suspicion. Because to do would be sociopathic.

To quote Sarah Schlman, someone with much more Feely Nerd cred than I will ever have,:

"
Sarah: The first thing I do, if somebody says to me, “that person is terrible and you should hurt them,” is to call that person and ask them, “Why do you think this is happening?” This is the crucial question. As soon as you are being told that your group is shunning someone or that you should shun someone or something like this, the very first thing you should do is call that person and ask them, “Why do you think this is happening?” because it is entirely unethical, divisive, and destructive to hurt somebody without ever talking to them first.
"

https://www.autostraddle.com/in-conversation-with-sarah-schulman-theyre-being-taught-that-control-is-freedom-376920/2/

Greg said...

It looks from the logs she posted, like she did go to you about her concerns, and was very upset about the whole thing. It seems like she did at least some research and concluded that you were hurting people. So she tried to prevent this.

It doesn't really seem like she's acting in bad faith here. Again, unless there's evidence that she actually just hates you and this isn't a case of her feeling morally obliged (rightly or wrongly) to do something she finds upsetting? If there's evidence that she's acting maliciously, I think would change my perception, but I haven't been able to find any on my own.

Zak Sabbath said...

@greg

You are wholly incorrect and did not read those logs carefully:

http://cavegirlgames.blogspot.com/2019/02/thoughts-on-zaklash-personal-stuff.html

That's -where she leaves- .

At no point does she ask for evidence and, in fact when I point out it wasn't true, she asks me _to apologize anyway_

That isn't an investigation.

In an investigation you _ask the person for the details of the crime and evidence_

Total bad faith, beyond bad faith:assuming guilt.

She showed up: tried to tell me I should apologize for some shit I didn't do, then fled the conversation, then attacked me on the internet for a year.

Zak Sabbath said...

@Greg

She is also objectively lying: she claims that if she were accused of anything she'd apologize. I am accusing her. She is not apologizing.

Greg said...

Again, you still haven't shown any actual evidence that she's being malicious here. It seems like she thinks she's doing the right thing, and still feels bad about it. Is it possible that, having done research, she could have weighed it all up and concluded that the evidence wasn't in your favour?

Zak Sabbath said...

@greg

You are not telling the truth. I showed conclusive evidence:

1-she didn't ask me any questions to establish alleged crime

2-she did not interview the witnesses even though they explicitly made their contact info available to the public for this purpose

...that completely disproves what you said.

You need to address these facts in your next comment.

Zak Sabbath said...

@Erased

As a proven abuser, you don't get to comment until you publicly apologize for the abuse you've done and devote at least as much effort to undoing the harm you caused as you did to doing it in the first place.

Greg said...

I am speculating here, but it seems likely that she considered your responses in the log she posted, and subsequent statements, to be enough to draw her own conclusions from.

It is likely that what she considers to be sufficient proof to draw a conclusion from differs from your own position. So she may well be acting in good faith, even if her method of research doesn't conform to the standards you would hold yourself to.

Much of her position comes from the belief that you have hurt a lot of people, rather than from specific incidents. Do you think it is unreasonable of her to believe that you have hurt people?


It is also interesting that you call her sociopathic, when her statements indicate an unusual amount of empathy, even for you. Note, for example, that she claims to experience significant guilt over the actions she took. Note also that in her initial post, she explicitely ask people not to try to punish you, as she believes hurting you pointlessly would be morally wrong. Do you have evidence that she has acted sadistically, or that she actually lacks a conscience? Because if not, the accusation that she's sociopathic seems unfounded.

Zak Sabbath said...

@Greg

Only someone with no empathy for their victim would assume a felony occurred and act aggressively to inflict consequences she admitted were serious -while knowing that there was important evidence they could have easily collected but chose not to.-

"Fingerprints? We didn't check them"

Address that.

Zak Sabbath said...

@erased anon

1. No anonymous comments

2. You're not allowed to lie in the comments.

Zak Sabbath said...

@richie

Of course I don't you moron.

If I was worried about -looking- good rather than -being- good I'd be hard at work on a tabletop version of Animal Crossing while vaguetweeting about trauma and retweeting anything in all caps about wearing a mask more often.

Unfortunately I'm a person who feels like they have to do the right thing and tell the truth, not just throw a bunch of softness signifiers at the wall and so convince the stupider people online that I'm like them.

Greg said...

As I said previously, I suspect she is operating by a different set of standards of proof to you. Many people will, upon looking at a situation where the evidence seems cut-and-dried to them, not bother looking for counter-evidence if they believe they aren't going to find it.

By way of an, admittedly hyperbolic, example; most people accept that the earth is round, because all the evidence they have encountered points that way, and it seems very obvious to them. Most people feel no compulsion to investigate the evidence offered by flat-earthers, because the don't believe it worth the effort.

It seems likely, to me at least, that this is the case. A broad overview of the facts so far presented was sufficient to convince her, and it did not seem - to her, at least - at all likely that further evidence would come to light that would undo that. This is purely speculation on my part, of course, but it seems likely that this pattern of thinking is what occurred, as it is very common.

I also have doubts that it is reasonable to conclude that somebody lacks empathy merely because they are attacking you without meeting your standard of proof. A very large number of people did so. I would go so far as to say that most of the OSR's prominent figures followed this pattern of behaviour. It would seem to me statistically unlikely that everybody doing so is sociopathic, since sociopathy is a behavior exibited by less than one per-cent of the general population, and I cannot think of any particular reason why OSR games would attract such a disproportionate number of sociopaths.
I suspect there may be some other explanation behind this pattern. Perhaps - and I am merely speculating - people have assumed that other people have done appropriate research and then go along with that.

However, circling back to our initial point, you have mostly made this discussion one about standards of proof, and that is not what I am asking for here. As I said, I am deeply concerned that Cavegirl - somebody who I had previously assumed to be fairly ethical in her behaviour - has been acting with spite or malice. If you were able to demonstrate that she has done so (That is to say, that she did so with the intent of causing pain), perhaps with screenshots or chatlogs, then that would be a sad thing (as it is always sad when you learn somebody is not the person you thought) but useful information, as I would know to discount anything further she says. Unfortunately, though, I don't find arguments based on 'sufficient evidence' to be convincing here: I think it very possible she could be acting in good faith and merely, by way of an example, misled.

Zak Sabbath said...

@Greg

No Greg, you made a tremendous and obvious mistake: " most people accept that the earth is round, because all the evidence they have encountered points that way, and it seems very obvious to them"

But they don't then go out on an active campaign to attack people and help ruin their lives on this score.

Standards of proof should be high before participating in destroying someone's life: anyone who doesn't do that due dilligence is acting in bad faith.

Zak Sabbath said...

@ Richie

Demon CIty's coming out when Cheng finishes the graphic design. I don't know whether lockdown has speeded that process up or slowed it down (his kids are out of school early, which would militate toward: slow it down).

You have to leave another comment and address the response to your last question: the difference between PR and doing the right thing.

Zak Sabbath said...

@richie

You didn't address the response to you so your comments have been removed. If you want to comment you have to respond to what the other person says.

Kindly Little Old Warrior Noble said...

I just showed up to say I'm sorry you had to deal with this. Keep the fires of the OSR burning whatever the naysayers say! Don't let the buggers get you down, eh?
Besides, I have no doubts that your upcoming release of demon city (coupled with further legal action) will dispel all doubts.

Anyway, have a cheroot on me.

Zak Sabbath said...

@Evard

Of course they did:

1. Most people in indie RPGs are (strangely) -still- not used to people even a little bit outside their bubble talking about them and so have a very active response to being mentioned. It's weird--you'd think by now people would be used to this but they aren't.

2. The 4chan OSR people are obsessed with their "named" members and very closely knit. The same would've happened if I'd mentioned that Skerples is a fucking sociopath (which they are).

3. Bullshitting online is their major source of entertainment

4. There's a plague on, so they have even less to do than usual

-------

As for why I'm talking to Greg:

I have an obligation to be fair. Greg is, so far, following the rules. I have an obligation to deal with whatever he raises so long as he continues to do the same for me.

Zak Sabbath said...

@erased anon

1. No anonymous comments

2. Of course it's linked in 4chan, see the comment above

3. Even if someone is trolling, so long as they have a question and follow the rules, their question must be answered. That way nobody has to -guess- about what's a troll and: A real question raised for a stupid reason still deserves to be answered so all the people better than the asker who are reading along get the answer. Most people are too stupid or timid to asked questions, even ones they have, so any opportunity to clarify should be seized upon.

Zak Sabbath said...

@Kindly Little Old Warrior Noble

if you mean that: thanks!

Zak Sabbath said...

@erased anon

"obsessed with" covers both love and hate, especially at 4chan

It's SO weird you guys think the rest of the world doesn't understand this stuff

dandy said...

Holy shit is that KLOWN? I knew the rona didn't get him!

Anyway, I'm just here to ask if/when demon city is coming out. I've been waiting too long and I have a mighty need.

dandy said...

I mean just because you know 4chan culture doesn't mean everybody does, right? Most peoppe don't go there.
Anyway, I don't think that's actually KLOWN, and you're getting skidoodled.

Zak Sabbath said...

@dandy

When Shawn Cheng finishes the graphic design.

Don't worry: hes done way too much work to stop now.

actual greg stop pretending to be me said...

I don't think demon city is gonna come out it's been in dev hell for a year.
I'm taking bets on whether it or the LotFP referee book goes under first, though.

Hey zak, is DC sunk yet?

Zak Sabbath said...

@dandy

" Even if someone is trolling, so long as they have a question and follow the rules, their question must be answered. That way nobody has to -guess- about what's a troll and: A real question raised for a stupid reason still deserves to be answered so all the people better than the asker who are reading along get the answer. Most people are too stupid or timid to asked questions, even ones they have, so any opportunity to clarify should be seized upon."

dandy said...

What if the rona gets him though? I'm pretty sure it got KLOWN and that legit makes me sad.

dandy said...

Are you saying I'm stupid? That was kinda mean calling Richie a moron. Like, sure, he was, but you aren't meant to say it.
I'm funposting with you, though. Do you have a date for DC? Lotta people saying it's vapourwave at this point.

Zak Sabbath said...

@Actual greg

Since all the art and writing is done, if it really got to the point where Shawn didn't seem like he'd finish we'd get a new designer or just put out what we had.

It's not a situation where there's work to be done on the playable part of the game

Zak Sabbath said...

@Dandy

If the rona gets him he will suffer.

dandy said...

Weirdly ominous there. Are you... threatening the corona virus?

Zak Sabbath said...

@dandy

1. Not decided yet

2. I do the unpleasant work

3. No, see Cheng discourse above

4. Lots of people say a lot of things. If theyre RPG people then that probably means they're bullshit

Zak Sabbath said...

@dandy

No i was just describing whatd happen if Klown got the virus.

But yknow "weirdly ominous" is what people come here to read.

Zak Sabbath said...

@bogbrush

I feel like he would've mentioned it.

I think he's just on lockdown like everyone else in big cities

bogbrush said...

I'm in new york and like fuck am I letting them lock me down. This isn't china, we have the freedom to go outside if we want to, as garunteed by a little ol' piece of paper called the constitution!

Also good on you for calling out that bullshit with masks. It's just another fear tactic so THEY can keep you nice and under control.

SwordOfTruth said...

Time to end the disastrous democratic experiment.

Zak Sabbath said...

@Actual.

Erased. Slur. (and yes, i know the slur is hilarious 4chan slang but fuck off with that).

Newzealander Farms said...

Boy howdy this comments section sure is going well.
Hey Zak, when is your game I Am The Weapon coming out?

darlin denise said...

not bein funny but isn't cavegirl in hospital? seems kinda mean to say that about her when shes poorly :C

Zak Sabbath said...

@newz

It's mostly written but i haven't started on the art and probably will wait til after Demon City comes out since i'd probably wanna se cheng for graphic design but I'd wanna give him a contract that made it easier for him to move fast

Allen Zadoff said...

I too wish to know when IATW is gonna hit dtrpg.

Zak Sabbath said...

@darlin denise

I don't know but I didn't lie about her committing a felony so I've got a lot of "mean" to go before I'm in the running

Zak Sabbath said...

@Allen Zadoff

Then go here: https://www.reddit.com/r/osr/ and ask

darlin denise said...

I think you shouldn't say that kinda stuff about somebody whose in hospiterl. Wait until she's better, or dead.

Allen Zadoff said...

IATW isn't osr though?

Zak Sabbath said...

@darlin denise

I have no way of knowing so even if i agreed with you i'd be out of luck

Zak Sabbath said...

@Allen Zadoff

Quite a philosophical question.

Is FASERIP OSR?

Major Bloodnock said...

This thread has done me the power of good!
Needle nardle noo etc.

Allen Zadoff said...

LIGHT THE CANDLE
RING THE GONG
FALSE OSR ENTHUSIASR
GET YE GONE

Zak Sabbath said...

We like when people are wholesomely entertained here on D&D With Porn Stars.

Zak Sabbath said...

@Allen

Best of luck with that one

sage goes in every field said...

this thread is the gift that keeps on giving
(zak, you understand that you're getting trolled, right? anon is quoting private eye at you)

Greg, probably said...

FOE GYG FOE GYG I SAID THE WORDS YOU HAVE TO ADMIT DEFEAT NOW

David "The Amazing Human Thumb" Guyll said...

I predicted that this would happen on my award winning blog "Your RPG Is Flawed"

Zak Sabbath said...

@sage

Again: it's -so- weird 4chan think other people can't grasp what you do.

I mean: if someone googles "I am the weapon" and sees some rando asking when its coming out and then sees my answer: good. They don't care that it's someone who only did it to...what? annoy Cavegirl?

Troll all you want. Just don't break the rules: that's what they're for--to make it impossible for bad intentions to lead to any actual bad results.

Fujobait said...

Is it true that one time you and Raggi got drunk and tried kissing to see what would happen?

Peggy said...

For me, you cannot publicly accuse someone without having proof or having carried out an investigation. Laying charges is not trivial and cannot be done lightly, or even be based on 'sayings' or impressions. Such a judgment is only a point of view that shows the lack of reflection on the part of the speaker or proof of gratuitous wickedness ... Sorry for my english (i'm french)...

what if i AM cavegirl? said...

well, what if?

Zak Sabbath said...

@Fujobait

he doesn't drink

msiregalpehtmai said...

So real talk where DID the idea for IATW come from? Who came up with that?

Fujobait said...

It's fine I'm sure you drank enough for the both of you.
Is it true he has a tongue piercing? And ~other~ piercings?

Fujobait said...

C'mon man, gimme something to work with here.

Zak Sabbath said...

@ msiregalpehtmai

1. I like superheroes

2. Mutants and masterminds sucks and was published by a harasser--Nicole Lindroos at Green Ronin

3. Marvel Heroic sucks and was written by a harasser--Cam Banks

4. FASERIP is great but has obvious places it could be updated

5. I thought it was an interesting challenge to make a random superhero generator that didn't suck

6. Nice way to write about all your made up superhero ideas without having to draw a whole comic

Thanks for the question

Zak Sabbath said...

@fujobait

i don't know

Zak Sabbath said...

@bigby's

Shitty people are more motivated to write to Gen Con than fun interesting people

Zak Sabbath said...

@Fujobait

If you want something to work with ask about White Wolf.

Bloodwar said...

tfw got into the OSR last summer
tfw everyone is really mean
tfw Im scared of being an active part in the community
tfw my blog gets less than 20 views on a post, no comments.
I'm lonely boys

Zak Sabbath said...

@Bloodwar

once in a while i look at the google searches that send people here and years ago one was "i want to play d&D and i don't have anyone to play with" and it weirdly made me really sad so i used to always think i am writing for that person whoever they are and when this all happened i wondered whether whoever that was was one of the people who dogpiled onto this shit

helpful bus said...

zak are you drunk?

Zak Sabbath said...

@helpful bus

Im not

Zak Sabbath said...

@Greg Nictero

Erased--you're not allowed to lie in the comments

Sales weren't consistent, as it says in the piece, orders decreased over the course of the year.

Vizcayan said...

Why do you have an anonymous comment option if you delete anonymous comments? Why don't you change your settings?

Zak Sabbath said...

@Vizcayan

Because the only other option is to use things like Google Accounts only, etc.

If someone doesn't have a google account or another specific account it's not fair to deny them the ability to comment.

Zak Sabbath said...

@La Creatura

Don't promote abuser's work in the comments.

Simon Tsevelev said...

Completely agree on M&M, Heroic, and especially FASERIP. Even though it had those funny glitches like J. Jonah Jameson being a better swimmer than Olympic sportsmen, it was great.
Really looking forward to IATW, whenever it happens.

G/Dread said...

To be completely honest, this whole thing just makes me exhausted and sad. It's overwhelmingly bad, pathetic, dramatic and infuriating.

LotFP brought me back to DnD after years of playing other RPG's (namely through "Maze of the Blue Medusa" and "Veins of the Earth", those two kicked off my OSR feels). I still support both LotFP and I still support you (didn't get all the Cube World stuff yet, but hope to do so eventually).

But the majority of the scene is depressingly strong and doesn't budge and it feels like it's getting worse. ZS can't be mentioned, LotFP is being ridiculed without much basis and I suspect those same people will just rejoice if it goes under. It hurts and I imagine it hurts you and James far more.

I'm not sure what to do at this point, to be honest? Like yeah, financially support authors, I'll do that. But it seems like this is enough. And doing stuff within the scene is an impossibility. There's just no feasible conversation allowed, so much so that it borders fascism. We saw what happened a few days ago on the OSR reddit when someone posted about Cube World.

It's tiring. I just want to enjoy a hobby and not deal with drama and a hate-dominated scene. But that seems like an impossible thing at this point.

Zak Sabbath said...

@G/Dread

There has literally never been a new creative thing in the world without inspiring hate and drama.

But if you can't bring yourself support with your mouth, money will do.

Kyle T said...

Opposite problem of most here - I value a lot of what LotFP and James are doing in the abstract but don't actually play much in the way of OSR. I'll buy a few things and gift them instead.

Zak Sabbath said...

@Johnny F Normal

Erased--no personal attacks.

You aren't allowed to dismiss concerns you haven't engaged with as "childish". Engage concerns fully or go away.