Pirates: Beware Wizards of the Coast

The AP reports:

"Two of eight people accused in lawsuits of illegally distributing Dungeons & Dragons handbooks over the Internet have settled, and the maker of the pioneering role-playing game is seeking a default judgment against a third.

In one of three lawsuits brought by Wizards of the Coast LLC, a subsidiary of Hasbro Inc., U.S. District Judge Thomas S. Zilly on Friday accepted a settlement in wh">In a settlement accepted by Zilly in July in a second Wizards lawsuit, Arthur Le of San Jose, Calif., agreed to pay $100,000 to the Hasbro Inc. subsidiary.

Wizards has asked the judge to order that Le's co-defendant, Mike Becker of Bartlesville, Okla., pay $30,000 in damages and $14,616.75 in legal fees and costs. Becker has not responded to the lawsuit and was found in default in July, court filings show." More.

That's a lot of money - and probably unrealistic to believe that those 2600 downloads each would have translated into a $40 hard copy sale equaling slightly over $100,000 in sales. Even with the correct price of $34.95, this is a PDF file we're talking about. This seems like a great business practice - don't offer download purchases of your products, just sue when they're downloaded. How long were the files up on scribd.com anyhow? It seems like there might have been better oversight considering the amount of downloads made - surely a flag could have been raised to at least check up on what was using that kind of bandwidth. Assuming conservatively it was a 10mb download that's 25gb of data if I did my math right. What are they, in cohoots with WotC, or just grossly negligent?

Maybe next we'll see RIAA-like tactics with peer to peer file sharing lawsuits. Except in the case of WoTC, it looks like their bottom line might actually be better served. I don't condone piracy, and I've wondered if, like the music industry, WoTC would be better off selling electronic versions of their products (or rather, going back to doing so). Considering these lawsuit amounts, maybe not!

Update: Just to add some more speculation, presumably (WotC's ex-Brand Manager) Scott Rouse's very recent departure from the company has nothing to do with this, but if I'd been in his position, based on the PR disaster the music biz suffered as a result of its lawsuits, it would definitely have encouraged me to leave if they're even considering going after individual downloaders.

Tavern Graffiti: The Purple Worm Limerick

Bursting through the tavern door
"The purple worm is no more!"
So said the paladin...
But between sips of gin,
"I beg to differ" said the whore.

Collaborative Campaign World Design

The evil cleric Agnal has no god. That is, we jumped into game play before ever bothering to sort it out, and then the character got ejected from the party (and the game) once his evil nature was discovered. Later, nearly the whole party was killed, new characters were rolled up, and perhaps to bring the aborted Agnal back into play, all the characters were made neutral or evil.

I’d like to make Agnal a larger plot force and was thinking of asking his player if he’d like to design his own deity for Agnal to use. There seems so much rich role playing material that is underutilized when it comes to clerics and their relationships with their dieties - perhaps part of the reason for this is the whole supermarket approach to god selection that most people seem to use.

After considering all of the benefits of this particular approach, it quickly dawned on me that there was no reason to stop with just clerics and deity selection - why not really open up the campaign world creation process so that it was much more collaborative overall? Obviously this happens in the course of play as the actions of the PCs inform the world - but I’m talking here about even before the PCs enter the picture. Geography, races, religion, culture - all of these can be created along with the players. Of course it won’t be for everyone, some are not going to have the time or interest, but I would imagine particularly with more experienced players it might be met with enthusiam. A side effect is that the role of DM becomes potentially something that can be shifted from person to person in the playing group more easily since we’re all playing in each others’ world that much more.

Practically, how would this look? One option would be to draw up rules that would outline the collaborative creation process, step by step, and give each participant a turn in contributing a part (reminding me again of my earlier thoughts on Exquisite Corpses). Knowing I'm not the first to have thought of this approach, I first turned up this interesting DM handout proposal, and then discovered N. Bob Pesall’s “Dawn of Worlds” game, which is exactly what I’d been hoping someone had already developed. I haven’t yet tried it out, but if nothing else it’s a great road map for potentially creating our own rules with the same purpose in mind, perhaps utilizing them with an online white board and wiki, or even Google Wave.

Korgoth of Barbaria and Conan: Red Nails

Sniderman at the GG forums brought this gem to my attention. Must see viewing, although discretion is advised...

Korgoth of Barbaria - Pilot

June|Bug|MySpace Videos

I'm curious to see if Conan: Red Nails will be any good, that is if it ever gets released. I think it's been in "post production" status for years now. Or did I just miss it somehow?

Hiatus

I'm taking a break from any posting until I get over this illness I've been fighting for weeks now - maybe the respiratory specialist I'm seeing tomorrow will help. "Fight On!" as they say...

Tavern Graffiti: Two Limericks

The last time I stayed at the Ruddy Angel Lodge, I noticed these two limericks carved into the restroom's walls. If you're easily offended, it's probably best that you don''t read them...

The Scary Halfling

The Weird Dwarf

Reading and sharing those two terrible works with my fellow adventurers back at the bar, we all swore an oath to drink copious amounts of ale on a more regular basis in order to find our muses and resurrect the lost art of the limerick.

Disclaimer: Ok, I've been sick lately and I guess it's showing...

Zombie RPGs

I'm a huge fan of zombie films (actually, the last movie I saw at a theater was the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead), and I've been meaning to try out a zombie rpg sometime. I saved a link a little while back intending to research the genre some more...In case you missed it, here's Tim Bannock's excellent Complete List of Zombie RPGs post on Examiner.com. There's still plenty of time to learn some rules, roll up some characters, and create an adventure for prospective Halloween party players - personally I'm favoring the All Flesh Must Be Eaten Demo kit at the moment.

d30 Table of Taxes, Fines, Tariffs, and Fees

Ah yes, the fine art of separating a PC from his hard gotten treasures...Here's a d30 table that might provide some inspiration or aid in this endeavor:

1. Entering the City/Kingdom Fee. "We like people to prove they have some money and won’t be a drain on the economy should they need to be thrown in jail, executed, and disposed of."

2. Sales Tax. On Everything. Varies by locale. Fun to announce just after the party has carefully calculated exactly what items they need and can afford.

3. Firewood Tax. "Look around - Notice how we’re starting to run a little short on trees around here? We don’t appreciate outsiders warming their backsides with our wood." Yeah, those torches count.

4. Smoke Fine. "We got a bad pollution problem in this valley mister! You can only burn on the days specified on the public notice posted in the town square. You might want to check there frequently, as the days may change without much (any) notice."

5. Employer Tax. (per hireling)

6. Slave Tax. Fixed amount per slave, levied once per year. "Hey, we’re trying to outlaw it here! This is our way of progressively instituting a ban." Only an evil PC would keep a slave anyway, so you’ve probably nothing to worry about.

7. Hunting/Fishing Permit Fees. "That there’s our game!"

8. Tavern/Inn Taxes. Ostensibly to pay for periodic “health” inspections, state-run vermin exterminations... all part of the King’s Health Plan. Conveniently taxes travelers instead of townees.

9. Fines to Help the Poor. Or rather, to help us pay for their transport out of town, or for their imprisonment. This is usually levied by a tax collector posing as a beggar - if you don’t at least offer something, you’ll be fined. Yes, it’s hard to tell the difference between beggars and tax collectors, especially since some of those darn beggars are corrupt! At least the locals mostly know the real McCoy.

10. Army/Militia Tax. Barracks upkeep, pay, outfitting, and sometimes to keep from being conscripted.

11. Brothel Tax. Levied only on customers of course. Part of the King’s Health Plan.

12. Unbound Weapon Fine. Applies to spears, polearms, battleaxes, etc. whose blades aren’t bound with cloth and twine.

13. Unsheathed Weapon Fine. I mean, really. Put that away.

14. Corpse Disposal Fee. "These things don’t just magically disappear all on their own you know."

15. Horse Tax. Also known as the shit shoveling tax.

16. Inheritance Tax. "Your hireling told us that the magic user just inherited the dead fighter’s possessions...Um yeah, we’re gonna need a full accounting of those..."

17. Potions Tariff. "Well, really it’s a liquor tariff, but we’re gonna tax those potions too - unless you don’t mind us testing a few to make sure they’re not booze?"

18. Toll Bridge.

19. Toll Road.

20. Toll Dungeon. "You dungeoneers waltz in here with your whistle britches and fancy armor, throwing around yer money and thinking you can buy anything or anyone you want!"

21. Census Tax. You are taxed because you had to be counted, we had to pay the counters, and we had to count how many people there are to know how much to tax everyone.

22. Retirement Tax. "Not for you silly! For the guild masters."

23. Beard Tax. That’s right, if Henry VIII could tax beards, so can we. Dovetails nicely with the local prejudice against dwarves in these parts.

24. Paper Tax. There’s a paper shortage! Can’t pay the tax? Sacrifice your book for paper recycling. Why is there a paper shortage? "We need it to track tax collection and those who haven’t paid!" Yes, that scroll counts too.

25. Rations Tariff. Because “We support our local agriculture!”

26. Gambling Winnings Tax. Fun to announce just after the party decides to collect their winnings and leave.

27. Property Taxes. How nice that you could finally afford your own stronghold/tower/fortified building/etc. Pity you haven’t paid the king anything for it - annually, by the square foot.

28. The King’s Health Plan Tax. "Who do you think pays those clerics when the poor can’t afford it? What do you want, a plague?"

29. Thieve’s Guild “Insurance” Fee. Pay now or pay later, your choice. You don’t want to have to worry about pickpockets do you? Or about a group of well armed thugs jumping you at night, twisting a knife in your back, and taking all your possessions? Recurring fee on an irregular schedule.

30. Tobacco/Halfling Pipeweed Tax. Part of the King’s...oh you know the drill. Also, beware of number 4 above.

A Limerick: The Stirge

Mr. Gygax the demiurge
Happily created the stirge -
It's like a mosquito
Except you're finito
If your paths should ever converge.

Another Gambling Game Within The Game

Now those are precision d6’s! Not cheap, but it doesn’t get any better than brand new casino dice when trying to scratch that itchy dice fetish.

I’ve always liked the idea of games within the game. Gambling is an easy way to introduce this into a session - whether it’s on the street, in a shady alley or tavern, or just the PCs gathered around a campfire rolling bones.

There’s Appendix F of the 1e DMG for gambling ideas, but here’s another one you might like. Heck, you might even try this at your next real bar visit.

This simple game was called 2-4-24 by the person who taught it to me (my wife). We used to play this with some of our drunk friends in San Francisco dives, way back when we were dating. Ah... the idyllic days of yore. Anyhow, here’s how it’s played:

Before rolling the dice, everyone antes up whatever the agreed upon amount is (we usually did $1-$5 each). First, you roll 6d6. Every time you roll, you need to take away or save at least one of the dice and roll again, but you can finish on the first roll if you want - the idea is to end up with a 2 and a 4, and then have the highest sum of the other 4 dice. The highest sum would be 24, hence the name of the game, 2-4-24. Highest roller with a 2 and 4 wins the kitty. If you don’t have a 2 and a 4 saved by the time your last die is rolled, you’ve automatically lost - in the case of a tie, there’s a roll off. Play proceeds in a clockwise fashion, with the first person always being the winner from the last round (as a handicap). If someone is playing “the house”, they should always roll last, to give them the added benefit of knowing what number they need to beat. Of course, usually you’d never play with the house, but another way you could play it would be for the house to start with 7 dice instead of six. I’ve never tested that though, so I’m not sure how unbalanced it might make the game.

The game would scale easily with 1, 10, 100, etc. gold piece antes for example. Hey, if nothing else, now you’ve got another reason to take those six siders with you wherever you go.

A Limerick: The Fearless Cleric

I've been out of town for a couple of days having fled for the coast to escape the smoke from the forest fires. Still catching up on my blog reading as I've had no internet connection for awhile...

Here's a limerick somewhat inspired by the Rusty Battleaxe's haiku postings. As far as following tradition goes, it's very tame. I've actually got a couple that are more genuine (ie. obscene and offensive) but I'm not sure if I should post 'em here as this blog is listed as family safe. :-)

There once was a cleric without fear
Who always kept cudgel and cup near
His last words, it is said,
were, "I'll turn those undead
Just as soon as I've finished my beer."

TSR's B9: Castle Caldwell and Beyond (1985)

I picked this up on a visit to Ancient Wonders near Portland recently. What a cover! The author seems a bit shy, unless he was seriously cursed with the name "Harry Nuckols". One of the things that appealed to me about it was that it contains five mini-adventures. From the back cover:

• The Clearing of Castle Caldwell - A local merchant has recently purchased a small castle...but when he tried to move in, he discovered that the castle was already inhabited!
• Dungeons of Terror - A strange trapdoor in the floor of Castle Caldwell leads to a terrifying challenge!
• The Abduction of Princess Sylvia - One the eve of her wedding, the beautiful princess has been kidnapped! Can you save her in time?
• The Great Escape - Imprisoned in an enemy fortress, without armor or weapons, your situation seems hopeless. Yet there may be a way to freedom...
• The Sanctuary of Elwyn the Ardent - A mystical chime of great power has been stolen - but by whom? In the wrong hands, the chime can cause untold harm! But can you find and defeat this mysterious and powerful creature?

I'm not even sure if that last line fully makes sense to me. Still, check out that front cover! :-) I can't remember ever playing any of these.

I was a little sad to see the pencil and pen marks on the map of Castle Caldwell...but then realized I could easily touch it up in the GIMP. In the process of doing so, I found that a previous DM had discovered an error in the map numbering, and corrected it in pencil. I verified this from the room descriptions, and went ahead and added his correction (seems only fair to share it here).

Update: Just to add that having read through this a bit now, it looks pretty weak...Still might be good for a quick session or two though.

Traveller - Roswell in Reverse

I've finally gotten around to replacing my original GDW Traveller little black books, today winning the last book I'd needed - the original Book Zero for $1.04 on eBay. I'm not sure how much I'll want to play just yet but I've been really looking forward to reading the books again (love that d6).

An idea for a campaign or adventure I had for Traveller recently was based on having to patrol an Earth-like planet at close to our current level of development but just about to develop intersteller travel capability. The general idea is that there's an alien species with whom we haven't had contact, but we've been watching their development and for legal and ethical reasons haven't made them aware of ourselves in order to be able to better to objectively study them as well as allow them to sort of self-actualize as a species.

Complicating this are other, less ethically inclined species that have no compunction about dealing with less technologically developed civilizations with their own self-interests in mind, as well as the less than admirable, profit-driven and other factions of our own. Could be fun to throw a type of Roswell in Reverse incident into the mix, where our guys crash and get discovered.

Shrewsbury Renaissance Faire

Josiah and I paid a visit to the Shrewsbury Ren Faire outside of Corvallis here in Oregon today. I seem to remember more role playing by the faire participants in previous ones I've been to a long time ago, but there were a couple of fun exchanges - when approached by a drunkard with wooden flagon in hand, I asked if he knew where I could find any rats on a stick. To this he responded in a booming and incredulous voice "RATS ON A STICK?!? Well I could certainly point you in the direction of a turkey leg if you've a few quid." Drawing the stares and attention of the nearest forty or so attendees. :-) Josiah was too shy to pose with any knights or rogues, and spurned the attention of the wench or two that spoke to him.


We timed it very nicely, arriving about ten minutes before the jousting and sword fights. Great sparks coming off of that steel! Perhaps a few too many kicks to the groin though...