I don’t do press releases, or product release “carnivals” any more, for a number of reasons. First, even though I still write a lot about roleplaying games, I don’t consider this to be an RPG site and I’m certainly not exclusively an RPG writer. Second, I have a certain ethical squeamishness about how some (not all) of those press carnivals work. We’ll send you a free product to review, and on the day of its release you write a nice review. In return for the favorable publicity, we’ll keep sending you free stuff. Yes, I’ve done it. Yes, I’ve stopped. Yes, I think this is one of the many things I’ve done that’s created some distance between myself and certain members to the RPG blogging community. They want to have an “in” with the big publishers, so they get news and interviews and sometimes even jobs. Good on ‘em, if they can leverage the love of a game and a solid blog into a chance to work in a field that they love. I prefer to speak my mind, which is sometimes critical of quality, or business practices, or even the behavior of individuals.
That said, I will continue to write about Kobold Quarterly and Open Design projects. Yes, Shelly Baur sends me review copies of things, and asks me to participate in launch activities occasionally, but it’s different. When I don’t participate, I’m not dropped like a hot rock. They still ask me if I’m interested in reviewing the next thing. I don’t write negative reviews any more — too many games, too little time, and I’d rather push stuff I really love than waste time on stuff that doesn’t float my boat — but I feel that if I did give a poor review to an issue of Kobold Quarterly or an Open Design product, Wolfgang and Shelly (as well as the author of said product) would be gracious and say “hey, thanks for the feedback, we hope you like the next one better”, and we’d still be on good terms both personally and professionally.
Yeah, I’ve never met Wolfgang or Shelly, but I’ve chatted with them on social media and corresponded via email a couple of times, and consider them acquaintances if not friends. They’re really, really nice people, they’re fan friendly, and they remind me of why I love this hobby and got so deeply sucked into it to begin with, all those years ago.
So for those reasons (along with the fact that I actually play and use a lot of their products in my Pathfinder campaigns), I’ll keep reviewing their stuff. I’ll even run their press release.
Welcome to the Multiverse!
Open Design is opening a portal to new demons, killer angels, and the strange landscapes of the planes, from the hells to the shadow plane! Led by Dan Voyce, the designer of the outstanding Northlands sourcebook, this patron project will examine playable sites such as the Vault of Mammon and reusable NPCs suitable for planar journeys, as well as new gear, spells, and hundreds of adventure hooks!
With development by some of the Planescape campaign setting crew and contributions from Paizo’s planar designers as well, this will be an outstanding book for anyone interested in the planes. As always with Open Design, supporters are invited to brainstorm, pitch, design, and playtest the material as much or as little as they like, resulting in a stronger book (as proven by Open Designs 6 ENnie Awards in 5 years!).
Water is wet, hot coffee is hot, and it goes without saying that Open Design stuff is excellent because the Baurs know what they’re doing and attract top talent. There’s more to it than that. They’re tuned in to what players and gamemasters want. The patronage programs allow gamers to be involved in the development of a product. There is a very real, very genuine sense of community. They make tabletop roleplaying material because they love the game. They’re not corporate overlords pushing their vision of what the game should be and how you should play it down your throat.
So there it is, less of a press release or editorial and more of an open love letter, really. Your mileage may vary.
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