The Hobbit Hole

A little in arrears in holiday wishing. Still, I can jump on the bandwagon even if it has left the gates.

So, happy holidays and a very happy new year.

Robin Law is an author for Steve Jackson Games. He wrote what is considered by many to be the definitive guide to roleplaying.

Someone named ellydragon took the ideas in the book and made a “What kind of RP are you?” quiz. Here is how I scored:

I wouldn’t have put myself as tactician, though I do like a good mix of challenges that require brains more than rolls to solve. Not puzzles necessarily, but challenges in situations. So, perhaps I am a “tactician”, though people who’ve played wargames with me would hardly agree with that assessment.

I’m going to add the PDF of this guide to my wishlist. It should make for some interesting post holiday reading.

There is a disturbing story floating through the RPG blogosphere at the moment. There were recent layoffs at Wizards of the Coast, including some core D&D 4e members.

Here are the posts that I’ve seen on it so far:
A Hero Twice a Month
Questing GM
6d6 Fireball
The Core Mechanic

and a discussion about it on ENWorld

I’m sure more posts will surface as well. I’m surprised at the layoffs of Dave Noonan and Jonathan Tweet especially. They were high profile people. Dave Noonan especially, given that he was on the podcast. Hasbro doesn’t send a very confident message about D&D when they lay off highly visible people.

What really is disconcerting is the timing of the move. Right before the holidays? That’s just inconsiderate to say the least (and that really is the least I can say).

I feel for all of them. Having worked in the videogame industry for a decade, I have been laid off several times. Even successful companies would lay off people at the conclusion of a project. It’s a pit in your stomach, and there is always a slight feeling of rejection, no matter what the rationale.

That said, most of these people are professionals with experience that is unrivaled. I mean, they worked on the grandaddy of all RPGs. I’m sure they’ll land on their feet. Almost all of my positions found following a dismissal were better than the one previous to it.

I’d like to make a pitch about Microsoft. While the beneficiaries of this tragedy might not think about Microsoft, the skills as game designers and editors would be useful to the Xbox division.

I redid the template for the site over the weekend. It took longer than I thought and IE is still not quite right. I should be able to get it fixed this weekend.

I unabashedly stole the template from this guy. At least I can say that the site looks better now.