Month: August 2007

Went to the “publisher’s meeting” about the future of the OGL and d20STL yesterday evening. I had quite a few problems with how it was handled:

1) No effort was made to get the word out to publishers. Those of us in attendance had to find out via word-of-mouth.

2) They scheduled the meeting for 6. The dealers hall (you know, where the PUBLISHERS ARE) didn’t close until 6. So, those few publishers who DID know about it, weren’t able to show up until well after it had started.

3) At the room, the meeting was billed as an “Open discussion of the future of the OGL” — in other words, not specifically for publishers. 80% of the room was J. Random Gamer, who of course took up most of the time offering their important opinions on our business model.

4) For a product that is launching in May, I expect to hear more from the Brand Manager than “we really haven’t decided how we’re going to handle the STL — What do you guys think?” No, I’m not kidding. That was a direct quote. Which, of course, was then turned over to the floor, where most of the time was spent hearing what non-publishers thought should be done……about publishing issues.

Sweet cheese-flavoured Jesus on a low-sodium cracker.

Finished the evening by attending the ENNIES (enjoyable, if overlong), and having a few discussions which are making me consider asserting my creator’s rights to HONG KONG ACTION THEATRE!, to get it back in-house, where I could release a third edition.

Lots to think about.

In brief (as it’s 1:00 a.m. local time here, and I’m somewhat drunk):

* Brilliant to see friends again. My main reason for attending, and well worth the trip.

* 4th Edition D&D announced today. Meeting for publishers occuring tomorrow night, where I expect many of my questions (specifically revolving around future plans for Adamant) will be answered, or at least made slightly more clear.

* Looking around today, I’ve come to the inescapable conclusion that apparently, the Gamer Sumptuary Laws have decreed that Utilikilts are the new fedora. This is not a Good Thing, in many cases. Far too many.

* It’s a surreal experience to be sitting for a bit in the Auction, and having the first product you ever wrote (PERIPHERY), which had a print run of 500 copies ( if memory serves), come up on the block. (Even more surreal — somebody paid 15 bucks for it.)

* Looked around, saw a great many products which interested me….but not many that stood up to the nagging “yeah, but would I ever play it, and so isn’t it just going to take up space” test.

* People buying you drinks are evil. So is vanilla vodka and ginger ale.

Off to bed (finally) — more anon.

Arrived in Indianapolis. Had lunch with and Co.

Currently back at the hotel, awaiting ‘s arrival. Industry drink-up this evening, Convention proper begins tomorrow. I took a look at the exhibitor’s hall today — larger than I’ve ever seen it before. Mind-boggling huge. Multiple football fields full of geeky goodness.

Speaking of football (the real kind):

Checked on my Gameweek 2 results for my EPL Fantasy Team — my captaincy bad luck continues. Ronaldo was red-carded, leading to a grand total of -2 for his contribution to my points total. *sigh*

However, the rest of the team played like a house on fire — 5 of my starting 11 scored goals, in fact. 39 points (provisional — I’m waiting for it to be made official), which should leapfrog me up the standings quite nicely.