Saturday, August 1, 2015

The Reaping Of The Tears

Last night, working, I suddenly noticed I had 25 new messages...


Hey, that's that book I wrote, winning an award.
They told me Stacey's acceptance speech was very sweet.

I figured it'd be fun to check all the twitter accounts that had been harassing us all year...

...it so was.



Meanwhile, Mandy was already at the bar...


I don't have a very good relationship with Fred, but if you do
you could explain to him that the reason his thing didn't win Best Writing
was because the writing in it was bad.





Stacy's third acceptance speech was a joke about how
she was running out of things to say. Actually it was
her fourth acceptance speech because her thing, Contessa,
won best blog.








Well, not everyone, Harassment Bunny.


(PS at some point a Japanese girl had painted a
bunch of swirlies on Mandy's face)



This, at least, is true. I entirely lack remorse.


Me too, it doesn't have 300 pages.
















Responsible, grown-up commentary on what all this winning means by Stacy here. Visit booth 835 if you get a minute.
What a stupid bear.





63 comments:

PapaJoeMambo said...

I like to see the fact that most of Team R&PL, and CONtessa were ready to say that they wouldn't get any awards at ALL,and the fact that Team Drama was determined of the very same thing, and both being proved wrong as being the Dunning/-Kruger Effect in demonstrable action.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect

Congratulations to you, Zak - you deserved this, and to Stacy & company as well - you ALL deserved your medals. I am happy that your surprising misjudging of people's tastes worked in your favour. Team Drama has more to be dramatic about now, really, so EVERYBODY wins (no, really, to Hell with Team Drama).

Nick said...

This is just fucking weird. The lack of perspective would be funny if it wasn't possible to make some kind of twisted connection between these tunnel zone lunatics and future global armageddon. Congratulations anyway. The marker has been placed.

Ian Coakley said...

Well holy shit that was unexpected.

And also awesome.

Congratulations - you put your a piece of art and people recognised that. Serious kudos.

Adam Dickstein said...

Congratulations Zak, and company. Well done. Doubly so for irritating the gaming community at large.

Never did care much for communities. Except the TV show. That one has it's moments.

airbornegrove26 said...

Awesome job Zak and crew. Congrats to you all. Keep on doing what you are doing. I love reading it. ;)

foreshame said...

I gave my first edition to my partner for xmas, she was delighted. So now I have an even bigger excuse to buy a second copy, once James gets the "4 times Ennie Award Winner" stickers printed up ;-)

Anonymous said...

Congratulations! I bet there was somebody out there saying negative stuff about any thing that won :P

Looking forward to the next kit.

Unknown said...

I use Pathfinder to run my home games but I bought Vornheim and R&PL when they came out because I realized the value they would bring to my table. Different perspectives and ideas could only add to my game. Zak and Raggi won because they put out something I didn't know I needed at the time and now wouldn't run a game without. ConTessa has become my go to site for game articles. So from a "mainstream" gamer, R&PL and ConTessa deserved to win.

Patrick Mallah said...

Congrats!

Is there a reason you do not attend GenCon?

Zak Sabbath said...

Uh, it's in Indiana?

AuraTwilight said...

What a wonderful victory, congratulations.

Also, look at all these asshats that shit on a work purely because of the creator. They probably think Ender's Game was shit purely because Orson Scott Card is a homophobe despite that having no impact on the novel whatsoever.

Zak Sabbath said...

I fully support people boycotting art that makes money for shitty people.

The problem is that I am wonderful and not shitty at all.

Patrick Mallah said...

So?
There are these things called airplanes that you can crawl inside of and then they fly through the air and take you to other places incredibly quickly.

Is it the distance? the time away from Cali? the cost? all of these things and more?

Zak Sabbath said...

Yeah.
Plus it's my birthday month which is basically 24/7 hotel orgies

remial said...

FWIW, I bought RaPL in pdf, (can't afford the hardcopy right now) liked it, and voted accordingly because I really DID think it was the best in the categories it was in. if that means I stuffed the ballot box, then I guess I'm guilty.
Congrats again on the win.

Patrick Mallah said...

I can see how a gaming convention doesn't compare.

ERIC! said...

Guess I gonna buy this, with this much tears to drink it's got to be Excellent, Tell the crybabies they created a Zak S. fan.

DuckyDan said...

Holy crap. This may sound weird to you, but I hope my kids end up like you. You don't give a shit what other people think and you seem to really live life to the fullest. I can't even imagine how that feels. I really can't.

Ανδραγάθημα said...

Congratulations!

TimothyLinward said...

I need to upgrade my birthday month

Mikael said...

Long time listener, first time caller, in fact I’m such a big fan i went back before the big bang and started to read you. But I’m not here to wax on about the improbabilities of time travel, no, I’m here to gush about A RED & PLEASANT LAND. I bought this fine piece of literature for my brother for his birthday, i bought it sight unseen solely on the beautiful cover art and having seen some of the art inside it. My brother loved it, i then borrowed the pdf and i loved it and then i bought it for myself since it was such a beautiful book to have in the bookcase. I hope you keep putting these kind of amazing books out, because i for one will keep on buying books of this caliber where so much love has gone in to making it. Anyway, this book, you and everyone who has helped make it deserve these awards because frankly, this book is fucking awesome.

MTZE said...

Congrats, loved the writing and stayed for the art of red and pleasant land! To be fair though, John Harper posted about the Ennies before you won yours, well deservingly of course

Zak Sabbath said...

He knew I was nominated at the least.

And he's always been a locker room dickhead. So who knows?

MTZE said...

Just hadn't associated the tweet with you but more so as a general jab at the event.I don't think I am well informed though, so who knows indeed.

Mick said...

Congrats, Mr.Smith. Will be wearing my "Zac S. saved D&D" shirt on this last day GenCon.

Mick said...
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Mick said...
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Doomsdave said...

Congratulations, I knew you would win big. Well deserved.

Jason said...

Congratulations! 'Red and Pleasant Land' is made of purest unalloyed awesome; I'm proud that I voted for it in the Ennies. As a one-time D&D writer turned indie publisher, I feel inspired whenever recognition is awarded to the deserving like it was for your outstanding book.

Unknown said...

awesome job Zak and James

great to see AR&PL getting the gongs

Fonkin said...

I hear trolls are susceptible to fire. Given the bent of those tweets, however, I'd avoid acid.

The only real drawback here for me is that I usually use the Ennies to sift for new quality content. Since I already own R&PL, NOW WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO? Now that you have DESTROID TEH WURLD!

Anyway, you earned it. And success is always the best revenge, eh?

AndreasDavour said...

WTF is wrong with Twitter? Are there anything on there but shitheads?

Anyway, congrats to the Ennies!

Will said...

Congrats man. You showed me a copy of R&PL at a gallery in SF and I could tell you were really proud of what you'd made. It's always nice to have recognition too, in addition to that pride.

der eisenhofer said...

Lol this was fun. Tears, well deserved. :D

s7610ra said...

Read my mate's copy of RPL today. Beautiful piece of art. Well done.

s7610ra said...

Read my mate's copy of RPL today. Beautiful piece of art. Well done.

s7610ra said...

Read my mate's copy of RPL today. Beautiful piece of art. Well done.

HDA said...

Lighting it up! Nice one man, I'm waiting by the door for the postman to bring my copy.

SC78 said...

Congratulations! the booth sold out of copies before 12:30 so I hope you've had more printed :)

Timothy S. Brannan said...

I want to wish you congratulations here as well. RaPL is a lot of fun and is even better using it as a Dreamscape Victorian setting.

So.


What's next?

x said...

Congrats! I'm wondering, is this some kind of a record?

Greyhawk Grognard said...

Certainly a hearty congratulations from here as well. Why some people seem to feel the compulsion to rip down other people to make themselves feel good quite honestly escapes me.

That said, I have every confidence that if their favorite candidates had won, the very people declaiming the value of the ENnies right now would be saying how wonderful they are, and how they rightfully reflect the feelings of the hobby-and-industry-at-large.

Sour grapes.

Tupac Chopra said...

Sweet Jesus those haters gon' hate! Congratulations Zak!

Will there be another printing of R&PL?

AsenRG said...

Congratulations on winning, Zak! I didn't vote this year, because I hadn't read most of the nominated books, and I don't vote on any other basis.

Then again, your collection of tweets made me laugh so much, I kinda feel I've got to buy Red and Pleasant Land now!

Vandel Arden said...

My beliefe in a certain range of creators of RPGs was severly shaken. Yes sure, they seem to dislike you a lot, but all this noise and ugly stuff, just becouse you won those awards? Thats so sad

Zak Sabbath said...

I think the "noise and ugly stuff" on Cam Banks, Adam Jury, Fred Hicks' et al's part is fine.

Or it would be if the things they believed were true.

The real problem is that they didn't investigate the rumors before deciding to believe them, not that they acted on their beliefs.

Calls for civility shouldn't be used to cut off legitimate protest. Their protest was illegitimate though.

jmk jr said...

No need just yet: http://www.lotfp.com/store/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=190

SamwiseSevenRPG said...

Congratulations Zak and company. :)

I think that is a bit absurd that this much hate can be directed toward something RPG-related. Life is too short you silly angry people. hehe.

amy said...

The thing that really fucking gets me about this is that these idiots don't recognise quality when they see it. No, screw that, not quality - something REALLY REALLY GOOD, with more imagination in one paragraph or in one splotch of ink than the whole of pretty much everything it came up against. Zak, you are a brilliant writer - playful, witty, inspired and economical - and a brilliant artist too. You're the reason I got back into D&D in the first place. I'm so pleased you won.

machinelf said...

Congratulations!

Capn Howdy said...

Congratulations! Love the blog, love the book. Fuck those guys -- may they choke while eating all those sour grapes.

StevenWarble said...

Congratulations on the surprise Ennie wins. The book is crazy and brilliant and weird and deserves recognition.

Cyprine said...

congrats x4 :)

Unknown said...

Sincerest congrats to you from a recent fan. A year ago, I'd barely heard of "OSR" and had never heard of you, James Raggi, or any of the other DIY game designers out there.

And now, you are all my inspirations, and proof that it can be done with a little dedication, discipline, and a sense of fun.

Awards well deserved.

And I'm not the least bit interested in any of the drama on display here. If those people had any legitimate complaints, their rage-fit over your win makes me uninterested in what those complaints ever were. Creative excellence speaks for itself.

AuraTwilight said...

Yea, but there's a difference between "I don't want to give money to this bad person" and "This artwork is inferior because of who the artist was."

Kent Miller said...

Kudos. RaPL is one of the prizes of my RPG collection. Success very well deseved.

Adamantyr said...

Congratulations! I was rather hoping you WOULD win something so we could see the incredulous look on your face. :D

As for the haters, should be interesting to look next year at the line-up and see how many of them made the effort to produce something themselves that gets nominated for an Ennie.

Pal said...

Hey Zak, would you please direct the new D&D movie now that you've won awards and everything? They can't have people who can't write modules direct it!

Zak Sabbath said...

@celis
Trolls aren't allowed to comment on this blog.

Zak Sabbath said...

@celis
Trolls aren't allowed to comment on this blog.

Pal said...

If that's directed towards me I want to tell you I'm not sarcastic at all. The D&D movie is probably going tp suck, but if they'd hire you you might be able to save it :)

Zak Sabbath said...

It isn't directed at you. It's directed at matt celis

Tupac Chopra said...

Looks like I may have missed out by now. I am not a savvy consumer. I put all my money into a set of plastic soldiers that I won't get until over a year from now.