Whoops!!

Well, I made some comments about Dragon and Dungeon online in a post at ENWorld including the fact that I felt the writing was "poor." I feel that some of the Dragon articles simply aren't up to the level of Paizo's and made a generic comment that unfortunately included things written by some people in the industry that I really, truly like. Including Ari Marmell, and C.A. Suleiman, who I worked with on the Tome of Artifacts for Lion's Den Press and Necromancer Games. Basically, by making a general comment to avoid insulting specific people (because I don't think it is their fault) I went ahead and put a smack down on people I definitely didn't want to insult.
In my follow up post, you know, the one where I tried desperately to pull my foot out of my mouth so I could stop gagging on my knee, I include the following tidbit:
"I guess the big thing for me is that I don't think that WotC is showing anything that makes me excited and interested in the "Digital Initiative" or in Dragon/Dungeon online and the people I know that would normally be drooling over this, well, they simply aren't. I am pretty much an easy sell, I spend a lot of money on gaming materials, and when you include how much I get in comps, well, you get the idea. WotC just hasn't sold me on this. If they haven't convinced ME to buy it, then there are a lot of people on the fence right now. If they want to get those people off the fence and getting ready to sign up, they need to set a firm release schedule, hold to it, and match Paizo's quality.
In my opinion (take it for what it is worth), the managers at WotC should have KNOWN they didn't have the manpower to do this full strength and they should have hired the people required to get it done. This way people actually working like mad to get 4e out don't have to be distracted writing articles for Dragon."
Well, that pretty much says it. I just don't think that WotC is doing the job required to get people ready to sign up for Dragon and Dungeon online and the Digitial Initiative.
Then again, I am not getting enough work done for G.U.P. either, so I guess that is they way it goes. Speaking of which, I have to go ...

Grumble ...

Well, sick children and chaotic schedules are slowing me down. I am clearly more focused on getting some of the background work done than on posting to the blog ;).
I have several good submissions for the City Streets line, and I have some good writers lined up too. I am very excited about that. What I am NOT excited about is the friend that was going to do building exterior illustrations and some cartography for me. No, he didn't do anything bad, he just happens to be going to Afghanistan in a few weeks so he has to focus on that (stay focused buddy). So, if you are one of the, oh, 3-4 people reading this and know a cartographer--let me qualify that, inexpensive cartographer--please send them my way.
I am working on a special logo for all of the planned generic RPG lines. Yes, it is still a secret, yes, I have more than just City Streets planned. We'll see how it all goes.
WotC and 4th edition.
Wow, what to say? Sounds like they have completely blown off a d20 trademark license. I know that Scott Rouse is dedicated to the OGL but I also know that WotC wanted to create a new (different) d20 logo to go with 4th edition and they wanted it to have "value" to distributors and retailers. When I talked to him at GenCon he admitted that WotC was really torn about it. Basically, the distributors want it to indicate WotC approval, WotC simply can't review material from other publishers while still worrying about their own work. They dicussed ideas of charging to use the license, and/or giving it to only certain proven publishers. Based on posts to ENWorld and elsewhere, it sounds like WotC simply decided that making a d20 logo mean something again would cost them to much time, money and effort for the return they would get (um, none, really). 4th edition will still be OGL, or at least part of it, I wonder what part?
Meanwhile, once upon a time WotC told some publishers that they would have access to the new edition rules probably by early November. Nobody has them yet.
I don't know, the more I hear and see about the coming edition of DnD, the more I wonder if it is DnD anymore. Lately, those small moments I have time to play something, I end up playing with my boys (12 and 8) and we use Castles and Crusades, no pesky skill points to keep track of, no feats to worry about, etc. I love DnD, and I think 3.5 is a great, well-designed game. I just wonder what WotC is really up to. Let's face it, I will be buying those first 3 books, hell, possibly more than that. I will also write material for it, the real question is, will this be good enough that I feel like signing up for the "Digital Initiative" and/or Dungeon/Dragon online? So far I am not impressed with either Dungeon or Dragon online and, hell, I use a Mac so the Digital Initiative is sounding dead in the water to me too.
Well, that is the gaming news I suppose. I took my oldest son to the Trinity University men's DIII NCAA championship tournament game tonight as a reward for his stellar grades. The 8-year old would have gone too, but he got himself a "mandatory study" (after school detention) for neglecting to do his homework (he basically has all A's too). My boys love soccer and Trinity is the topped ranked DIII team right now. They are fantastic to watch and won VERY convincingly tonight. Well, the Spurs game is over (Go Spurs!) so it is time to close this and get a bit more work done.

Moving Along

Well, I am getting things done. Exterior of the house has been repainted, new front door installed, you know, things that are important but that don't really get a business up and running. Despite having a handy laptop that I use quite a bit, I still write out a lot of ideas in notebooks and/or edit on paper. It makes it easier to work outside in the wonderful weather while keeping an eye on the kids. This means I have quite a bit of material that I need to actually type into the computer. I might get time to do a bit of that tomorrow, but the kids have the day off from school so I am guessing we'll be filling some of that time with other activities.

I have had a few submissions and some questions for my open call. I updated the open call page (http://www.genericuniverse.com/opencall.html) with some questions/answers and a comment. Of the two more completed submissions I have so far one guy is a good writer and certainly has some ideas and material that I want. I have already corresponded with him several times and he is already adjusting things for me. The other one is from someone new to writing (at least for RPGs). He sent something that falls into a "new" genre apparently called "Horror-Porn." Wow, really, really NOT my thing. Not sure who decided to combine Horror and Porn, but, well, I just don't see how this would be part of any type of RPG that people would sit around a table and actually play. It was well-written though (at least what I read), just not something I would be interested in publishing. I told the author that the writing is good and I am interested in seeing something else (PG13), but that the material he sent isn't something I can publish. We'll see how he responds.

I have now upped the Open Call announcements to include several message boards. Before it was pretty much the people that came by the website and/or noticed the small line in the announcement(s) I posted. I also got some nice word-of-mouth on the Open Call from Vicki Potter who told some of the writers she has worked with and Bret Boyd who pointed to it from his Blog. The questions I have received show that several more people are at least considering creating a submission.

I will probably post announcements looking for artists fairly soon but I know I won't have time to look at portfolios until late next week so I see no need to do that now.

Okay, back to work.

Time Roars By

Well, I did get the announcements out last Thursday and posted Open Call information on the website. I'll post Open Call info at RPG.net and ENWorld in a few days.

Bret Boyd and Vicki Potter have both helped by letting people know about the Open Call. Thanks to both of them! Bret's company, Tricky Owlbear Publishing now has a product out called "Lotsa Blocks" which, strangely, is a perfect counterpart to some of the generic products I have planned.

The weekend was both hectic and sad. Went to the Memorial visit for a friend that died after a long battle with cancer. Her 15-year old son lost his father to cancer 3 years ago and now he's lost his mother. It has taken quite a toll on him. I spent some time talking with him and with the uncle he is living with now. It is a tight family and they are doing their best to help him, and he is definitely playing like he is "strong" and dealing with it okay but I have known him for a number of years and I can tell that he is hurting pretty badly.

Strangely, they canceled soccer practice(s) this evening. I don't know if we'll know what to do with ourselves. It isn't really raining but I am guessing the fields are still wet and they want to protect them. The boys were REALLY looking forward to a practice where they'd end up covered with mud.

I suppose we might go out for dinner (don't get the chance that often, and let's be honest, neither my wife nor I want to cook this evening). Tonight I want to finish some more website updates and I am probably going to set up some forums using a free forum service. I don't expect a lot of traffic there yet but I want to get some things set up and ready when I do start getting some products going. I also need to respond to some of the emails that came in over the weekend. Let's see how much gets done...

Grumble

Well, I probably could post announcements and update the website but I am not completely happy with a few things and a friend of mine has been trying to convince me that it is best to announce on a Friday. I might still have things ready to go tonight, then I'll have to decide what to do. Might just get the website uploaded anyway. We'll see.

I have about 5 logos that came in from one of Casey's art classes. His students do some nice work. I have decided to put some of them up for a vote and see what people think about them. Not sure how to go about it though.

Well, I have a crying baby sitting in my lap so I guess I better go.

Bleh

Well, I was going to do some public announcements of the new company, website, etc. today but that is at least delayed tomorrow. Possibly Wednesday.

Well, one friend called with some bad news.

Then later that afternoon another. (different bad news)

Finally, get the kids home from school and I get another phone call with more bad news. Bad enough I have a funeral/memorial service to attend this weekend.

After that, well, an active decision to simply take the older boys to their soccer practice and then come home and have a stiff drink. Not sure if I need another or not.

On the G.U.P. front I actually have some fun, interesting news, and even some web site updates I haven't uploaded yet, but today just isn't a day for me to post about them or be excited. They say bad news comes in threes, well, that's three, I think we save announcing a new business for another day.

Back...

Okay, I have been back from vacation for a few days and still haven't posted to the blog.

I am playing with a number of different cover ideas and trying to narrow my list of "product lines" that I want to start with. It is also clear that I am going to need to tag some other writers to help cover some of these products. I am taking on far more duties than I actually intend to in the long-term, but I want to know everything involved, art, layout, etc. on my own. That experience will help me let others know what I want them to do when I hire them and give me a good idea of how long each step should take.

I am going to try to get some Halloween T-shirts up on Cafe Press this weekend. I don't know if that will get done with the soccer games and birthday parties that are scheduled today. Tomorrow should be fairly free though.