Month: August 2005

There’s a reason why I CHARGE for consulting…

Just a quick rant:

When somebody offers business advice for free (especially via a gimmicky format like podcasting), you can be reasonably sure that the advice is worth what you’re paying for it.

I was going to keep mum about this, but the fact that this guy (who has directly ripped off my IP in the past and has copied the business model and trade dress of other publishers, while continually demonstrating a lack of understanding of the licenses that his products are released under) is offering advice on being an RPG Publisher is LAUGHABLE….if it wasn’t for the fact that I know there’s going to be a bunch of newbies who’ll decide to use his “insights” to create their own companies, further flooding the market with enthusiastic incompetents. Just what we need.

His post about Hollywood is particularly painful…guy gets his RPG property optioned, without apparently knowing what that means, and also apparently never figured out that the connection was his chance to get some screenplays seen by producers. Talk about wasting an opportunity….

If you’re somebody who is seriously considering starting an RPG publishing business, or you’ve started one and you’re looking for advice….contact me. My rates are pretty reasonable, and I can provide references.

Or, you can choose to just listen to MP3s from somebody whose idea of insight is to recommend that RPG publishers emulate the porn industry.

Just sayin’.

Buncha small update-like things to share:

Fist off, interesting post from Serenity star Nathan Fillion over at the official Browncoat forums (You have to register, but that’s how we found out about nifty stuff like the advanced screenings, so it’s worth it). Seems he was trying to buy a copy of the new Serenity comic book for his Mom, and some mouth-breather Simpsons-Comic-Store-Guy-stereotype tried to charge him 20 bucks for it. Yes, the comic is much hotter than Dark Horse was expecting (I didn’t get a copy, I’ve got it on back-order, and Dark Horse is having to do a second printing), but attempting to charge 20 bucks for a brand-new comic is pretty much typical of what I hate most about the fan-based industries. This asshole didn’t realize who he was talking to, either, and now he’s got Browncoats crawling up his ass. Serves him right.

Second: My company, Adamant Entertainment, just kicked off our officially-licensed support of Atlas Games’ NORTHERN CROWN D20 setting of colonial-period North American fantasy. We’ve released The Caves of Chisca, a full-length adventure, for FREE. You need to register at RPGNow, but there’s no charge, so check it out.

Third (related to second): There are two Livejournals of note with regards to NORTHERN CROWN. One is the design blog of the creator, Doug Anderson, at , and the NORTHERN CROWN LJ community, at .

Fourth: I finished reading Star Trek: Vangard – Harbinger, and I really enjoyed it. I’ll definitely be picking up the other books in the series when they’re released. The author created some great new characters, whom I’m actually interested in reading more about (which is, bluntly, a rarity in licensed fiction), and the over-arcing plot threads are intriguing. Good stuff.

A Few Things…

Buncha small update-like things to share:

Fist off, interesting post from Serenity star Nathan Fillion over at the official Browncoat forums (You have to register, but that’s how we found out about nifty stuff like the advanced screenings, so it’s worth it). Seems he was trying to buy a copy of the new Serenity comic book for his Mom, and some mouth-breather Simpsons-Comic-Store-Guy-stereotype tried to charge him 20 bucks for it. Yes, the comic is much hotter than Dark Horse was expecting (I didn’t get a copy, I’ve got it on back-order, and Dark Horse is having to do a second printing), but attempting to charge 20 bucks for a brand-new comic is pretty much typical of what I hate most about the fan-based industries. This asshole didn’t realize who he was talking to, either, and now he’s got Browncoats crawling up his ass. Serves him right.

Second: My company, Adamant Entertainment, just kicked off our officially-licensed support of Atlas Games’ NORTHERN CROWN D20 setting of colonial-period North American fantasy. We’ve released The Caves of Chisca, a full-length adventure, for FREE. You need to register at RPGNow, but there’s no charge, so check it out.

Third (related to second): There are two Livejournals of note with regards to NORTHERN CROWN. One is the design blog of the creator, Doug Anderson, and the NORTHERN CROWN LJ community.

Fourth: I finished reading Star Trek: Vangard – Harbinger, and I really enjoyed it. I’ll definitely be picking up the other books in the series when they’re released. The author created some great new characters, whom I’m actually interested in reading more about (which is, bluntly, a rarity in licensed fiction), and the over-arcing plot threads are intriguing. Good stuff.