The Point Of No Return

So, a lot of things have happened this week. We've seen an increase in campaign rhetoric from both sides now that the DNC is done; Jerry Doyle, who played Garibaldi on Babylon 5, passed away; and I've decided to no longer do RPG material for profit.

CUE RECORD SCRATCH "Say what now?"

Let me repeat that for you. I'm no longer doing RPG material for profit.

So the big question is: why? I've already made known my reasons for creating stuff as well as my lack of enthusiasm toward the popularity games behind various RPG awards, but there's a number of reasons.

OBS and the Outrage Brigade: This has been a thorn in my side for some time and just recently (tonight, in fact) I reached the tipping point. This wasn't a matter of money or popularity, but of principle. People who have read my blog in the past have seen me voice concerns about OBS' apparent relationship with the hobby's Outrage Brigade, the almost pathological need some people have to find things to be offended by, and the disturbing fact that some publishers use all of this as a way to silence their competition. Of course, that was just the tip of the iceberg. At this very moment, I'm steering my ship toward open seas after seeing the Outrage Brigade lay another turd mine in Postmortem Studios' path.

For those of you who don't want to click away from this entry, I'll give you the abbreviated version. Postmortem Studios has been the target of this activity in the past. This time, the target of choice was Hentacle, a card game that, while it will never appear on my hard drive or shelf due to its sordid and distasteful subject matter, was being sold on OBS' site without issue since 2004 or thereabouts.

Some will openly argue that since the First Amendment clearly states, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances," that the matter is settled. OBS is a private company, not a part of the federal or a state government, and so Postmortem Studios and James Desborough have no legal footing. Unfortunately, it's not that simple. The First Amendment protects the advocacy for and expression of ideas that some may find distasteful, despite its exception for obscenity.

Now before you come at me with torches and pitchforks, let me note that I do have a bachelor's degree in Mass Communication, was a working journalist for close to a decade after I graduated from college to the Real World, and have knowledge of the Miller Test. While the Miller Test is certainly valid, the issue of community standards is the sticky wicket here. There are three things in the Miller Test that need to be met in order to declare something "obscene."

1. Whether "the average person, applying contemporary community standards", would find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest,
2. Whether the work in question depicts/describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct or excretory functions as specifically defined by applicable state law,
3. and whether or not the work as a whole lacks serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value.

Now, the first two apply to community standards on the local and state levels. The third aspect, however, is the check against the first two; it applies to the national level. In other words, while someone in Rochester, MN, may find an item under scrutiny to be obscene, someone else in Rochester, NY, may not. Want an even more in-depth look at the matter? Check out the article Mike Godwin (yes, that Mike Godwin) wrote on the matter.

Of course, the Miller Test isn't the only issue complicating matters here. While OBS is indeed a private company located in the United States, the gaming community is not limited to the U.S. What may be declared obscene or otherwise offensive here in a variety of states may not be looked upon the same way in a nation across either ocean. Additionally, Postmortem Studios is located in Great Britain. A lawsuit filed against Mr. Desborough here in the U.S. isn't going to go very far unless you have the money to get you a very good lawyer. Additionally, open flames and pitchforks are are not welcome on aircraft - the TSA says so. Good luck keeping those torches lit as you swim across the pond to serve the papers, folks.

Well done, and thanks a lot, OBS. It's been real and it's been fun, but it hasn't been real fun.

That in and of itself would be enough to raise my blood pressure, but wait, there's more! The Outrage Brigade is known for its selective goonery. While they managed to get Hentacle banned, they missed the Lovecraftian expansions offered by Postmortem. One would think that OBS would want to maintain consistency and review ALL the supplements under that line.

In the past, the Outrage Brigade has managed to ban Postmortem's Gamergate card game, a questionably titled supplement for for Skortched Urf's Black Tokyo line, and temporarily banned Venger Satanis' Alpha Blue RPG (it was later reinstated). All of these are items that I will never buy because of their terrible material and premises, but I support the rights of the designers to produce this material. Why? Because it's only a matter of time before even the most innocent of game designers finds their home or workspace surrounded by Outrage Brigade goons chanting "Think about the children! Think about the children!".

Way to go, OBS! You're batting .05-4 here - and that's me being far from remotely generous.

The takeaway from all the above legal blathering is this: Effective immediately, Silent Sage Publishing's current and future RPG offerings will no longer be found on any commercial site and they will be available free of charge. All announcements of future products will be made here and elsewhere online as deemed necessary by management. Appropriate links to sites where the products are available will be provided with the announcement and the links will be archived on this site in a catalog entry.

This will not affect any current or future fiction offerings from my wife and myself; those will be made available from Amazon/Createspace as well as other outlets both online and brick-and-mortar. (EDIT: For those of you wondering where the RPG product links are, you can find the beginnings of the RPG catalog here.)

Pressure To Perform: I don't always do well under pressure. Couple the perceived pressure of the Outrage Brigade breathing down my neck, the pressure of making a profit, and my own lack of a local community, and you can see why this change is necessary. I knew from the get-go that I was not going to become a rich man, no matter how much Beyond the Wall needed a GM's screen and reference pack. The decision to step away from doing this for profit means much less pressure in this and many other ways.

Moving away from for-profit RPG work means I can work with whomever wants to work with me and not worry about dividing up royalties, let alone waiting for the publisher to send the check. It also means I don't have to worry about pricing myself and my fellow designers and writers out of the market.

My perception is that gamers are notoriously cheap, hence a lot of the howling about PDF pricing versus hardcopy pricing. I know my wallet and I bristle slightly at having to pay $24.99 for a professionally made PDF. Also, gamers don't always hold fan products to the same standard as professional-for-profit books and PDFs. After all, Gygax and crew as well as the folks behind Judges Guild put out material that was typeset on typewriters, composed by hand, and mimeographed/photocopied. I'll admit I'm not made of money. I may have to use black and white art inside my products and possibly even reuse art from time to time, but I promise to adhere to a professional standard of quality in my goods.

So, all in all, it's a winning situation for everyone. You get quality material for free, I don't have to worry (as much) about the Outrage Brigade and money, and my blood pressure stays normal so I can produce more good stuff.

The Mongoose and the Big Red Button

 "They finally really did it..."

A while back I wrote my breakup letter to Traveller as a third party publisher and gave my reasons why. Today, I have to honestly say I'm glad I walked when I did. John Watts, head of Gypsy Knights Games, recently announced that he had major issues with the new Travellers' Aid Society terms and conditions, which you can't see until you go to upload something on DriveThruRPG. The terms state:

"'User Generated Content' shall be defined as the copyrightable elements included in your Work, such as original characters, scenes, locations and events. User Generated content shall not include the illustrations and cartographic artwork included in your work. Per the terms of this Agreement, you expressly agree that your User Generated Content, once submitted to the Program will become Program IP and useable by other members of the Program as well as the Owner as described in this Agreement."

 ...and furthermore:

No Reversion. Due to our licensing arrangement with the Owner and the collaborative nature of the Program, you are granting us broad licenses in your Work and your User Generated Content included in your Work, and the rights to your Work will not be reverted once it is published in the Program. You will have the ability through online tools at OBS websites to stop public display and sale of your Work on OBS marketplaces, but not to stop the sale of works of other authors in the Program even when such works use your User Generated Content that you originally created in your Work and thereby became part of the Program IP for other authors to use.

In short, surprise! You've just lost control of your intellectual property! Now, I don't have a problem with the way the original OGL states things - namely, if you clearly specify what material in your product is Open Game Content, as well as acknowledge the copyrights of the authors whose OGC you use in Section 15 of the OGL, you're fine. However, this - at least to me - implies the need for professional courtesy, namely, asking the author of the material you want to use for their consent. What the Mongoose TAS "program" does is eliminate the professional courtesy aspect of things and allows anybody who is part of "the program" to have their way with your material, even if you've taken your product off the market after another person makes use of the material in their product.

Further clouding the waters is the fact that now people can publish material for ANY part of the Third Imperium, including the Spinward Marches, which has long been a historical landmark for Traveller. The original licenses restricted OTU publications to the Foreven Sector, which was a player/GM reservation of sorts. Now it would seem nothing is holy to Mongoose Publishing. How Marc Miller let this slide is beyond me.

Overall, trading the freedom to write material for all of the OTU in exchange for giving up your IP rights is a bad trade - a very bad trade. With the Traveller and Foreven Sector licenses, there was still enough freedom in exchange for maintaining control over one's intellectual property. The choices were simple - you could write your own setting for Traveller under the Traveller license, or you could publish material for the OTU set in the Foreven Sector. The only checks and balances were that the writers had to ensure their products trade dress was significantly distinguishable from that of MgT or any other previous Traveller product (CT, MT, TNE, etc).

At any rate, there's discussion of the matter on the CotI boards and Mongoose forums. You'll have to log in to comment at either place, but given Mongoose's track record of a barely-supported SRD, a failed attempt at Traveller organized play, and running with bad ideas while ignoring playtest feedback, I'm not holding my breath for change.

EDIT: As I reflected upon what I wrote today, I felt it was a good idea to further explain why the TAS offer is such a bad deal as compared to the original Traveller/Foreven OGL. Additionally, I thought I was a bit misleading and hyperbolic regarding the discussion of the matter elsewhere online. While it has remained fairly civilized at both forums, Mongoose has been very quiet with regard to the concerns voiced by third-party publishers; meanwhile, general questions regarding Marc Miller's control over the OTU have been quickly answered... Make of that what you will...

EDIT #2: Some of you may have noticed all of my Foreven material has disappeared from my old Forge of Foreven blog. I purposely reverted everything to draft in order to prevent any "misunderstandings" between me and Mongoose Publishing. That being said, if any of it does see the light of day again, it will most likely be under the FFE Fair Use Policy. Meanwhile, John Watts of Gypsy Knights Games was kind enough to post the full language of the TAS "agreement" to the MgT 3pp group on Facebook. I'm providing it here for those of you who are masochistic enough to wade through a bunch of legalese. TL;DR version: "All your Traveller are belong to us. Good day."

This Community Content Agreement (this “Agreement”) is a binding agreement between you, the individual identified by your customer account on this website or the legal entity you represent, and OneBookShelf, Inc. (“OBS”) the parent company of website marketplaces including DriveThruRPG, RPGNow and more.
This Agreement covers your participation in and use of The Travellers' Aid Society and the OBS websites that administer it, (the “Program”).
1. Acceptance
You accept this Agreement by clicking “I Agree” to set up and submit a new title (the “Work”) to OBS.
2. Intellectual Property Definitions
(a) Mongoose Publishing (collectively, the “Owner”) has granted OBS the right to use elements of Owner’s Traveller game (“Owner’s IP”) and sublicense certain limited rights to you under the terms of this Agreement.
Owner’s IP includes any and all Traveller tabletop roleplaying materials and content made available to you through the Program including, but not limited to:
Traveller rule sets
Portions and elements of Traveller campaign setting(s)
Artwork and other graphic templates and materials
Owner’s IP may be amended at any time and for any reason whatsoever without liability to you. However, any Work published in the Program prior to the removal of Owner’s IP will not require the removal or amendment of that Work.
(b) “Program IP” shall be defined as any User Generated Content (defined, below) distributed by the Program.
(c) “User Generated Content” shall be defined as the copyrightable elements included in your Work, such as original characters, scenes, locations and events. User Generated content shall not include the illustrations and cartographic artwork included in your work. Per the terms of this Agreement, you expressly agree that your User Generated Content, once submitted to the Program will become Program IP and useable by other members of the Program as well as the Owner as described in this Agreement.
3. Account Information; Account Suspension.
(a) Account Information; No Multiple Accounts. You must have an active user account in order to participate in the Program. You must ensure that all information you provide in connection with establishing your account, such as your name, address and email, is accurate when you provided it, and you must keep it up to date as long as you use the Program. You may maintain only one account at a time. You will not use false identities or impersonate any other person or use a username or password you are not authorized to use. You also consent to our sending you emails related to the Program and other publishing opportunities. This consent regarding contacting you by email takes precedence over any contrary directions you may have given us, including through Owner’s website.
(b) Account Security. You are solely responsible for safeguarding and maintaining the confidentiality of your account username and password and are responsible for all activities that occur under your account, whether or not you have authorized the activities. You may not permit any third party to use the Program through your account and will not use the account of any third party. You agree to immediately notify OneBookShelf.com of any unauthorized use of your username, password or account.
(c) Account Suspension. We may suspend your account or your participation in the Program at any time. You acknowledge that if we do so, you may be prevented from accessing communications and content on the OBS websites. If we suspend your account, you must stop using all The Travellers' Aid Society accounts and you will not create any new accounts.
4. Rights Granted to You.
(a) Subject to your compliance with the terms of this Agreement, OBS grants you the limited, nonexclusive, nontransferable, personal, worldwide and revocable right to use and otherwise incorporate Owner’s IP and Program IP into your Work(s) for distribution through the Program or other platforms and channels at the sole discretion of Owner.
(b) Except for short promotional excerpts used to promote your Work, you may not display, recreate, publish, distribute or sell your Work (or derivatives thereof) outside of the Program administered on OBS websites or through other platforms or channels authorized or offered by Owner.
5. Rights You Grant to OBS
(a) No Reversion. Due to our licensing arrangement with the Owner and the collaborative nature of the Program, you are granting us broad licenses in your Work and your User Generated Content included in your Work, and the rights to your Work will not be reverted once it is published in the Program. You will have the ability through online tools at OBS websites to stop public display and sale of your Work on OBS marketplaces, but not to stop the sale of works of other authors in the Program even when such works use your User Generated Content that you originally created in your Work and thereby became part of the Program IP for other authors to use.
(b) Exclusive License to your Work. Effective as of the date you setup your Work through the Program on OBS’s website, you grant us the exclusive, irrevocable license for the full term of copyright protection available (including renewals), to develop,
license, reproduce, print, publish, distribute, translate, display, publicly perform and transmit your Work, in whole and in part, in each country in the world, in all languages and formats, and by all means now known or later developed, and the right to prepare derivative works of your Work.
(c) Exclusive License to all User Generated Content in your Work. Effective as of the date we first make your Work available through the Program, you grant us the exclusive, irrevocable license for the full term of copyright protection available (including renewals), to all User Generated Content included in your Work. You agree that the User Generated Content is available for unrestricted use by us without any additional compensation, notification or attribution, including that we may allow other Program authors, the Owner and other third parties to use the User Generated Content.
6. Waiver of Claims; Waiver of Moral Rights.
In order to prevent legal claims that could be disruptive to the Program participants or impede the ability of you and other Program authors to participate in the Program, you irrevocably waive any legal claim you may have under any theory of law in any territory that your rights were infringed due to any use of your User Generated Content by us, the Owner or its affiliates, licensees and sublicensees, and/or any other Program authors, including copyright infringement. This waiver does not apply to royalty payments we may owe you under Section 7. You also irrevocably waive any moral rights in your Work and agree not to assert any moral rights in your Work against us, the Owner, and/or other Program authors. If, under any applicable law, this waiver of moral rights is not effective, you acknowledge that your Work is subject to the licenses you grant in Section 4 without any credit obligation, that you intend for your Work to be used in this way, and that this form of use will not be contrary to your moral rights.
7. Royalties and Payments
(a) Royalties. As full consideration of the rights you grant us under this Agreement, we will pay you a 50% royalty of the price paid on digital download format sales of your Work, and a 50% royalty on the print margin of print-on-demand sales of your Work. Print Margin is the amount paid less the print cost to physically manufacture the book as listed on OBS websites.
(b) Sales taxes and freight charges are not considered part of the price paid.
(c) No royalties accrue on sales resulting in consumer refunds, charge backs, or fraud.
(d) Royalties are computed in US dollars.
(e) Royalties are paid via PayPal. You shall have access on OBS websites to a webpage that allows you to withdraw accumulated royalties to your PayPal account. OBS may deduct a fee of $2 or PayPal’s prevailing fee for its MassPay service from each payment to you.
(f) OBS or Owner may send complimentary copies of your work for reasonable promotional and administrative purposes. No royalties shall be paid to you on such copies.
(g) You shall set the sale price of your Work. OBS may include your Work in site promotional sales events at discounts up to 40% off your normal sale price.
(h) Royalties on a sale of your Work shall be eligible for your withdrawal 60 days after the sale.
8. Representations, Warranties and Indemnity.
You represent and warrant that:
(a) You are old enough to form a legally binding contract.
(b) If you are accepting this Agreement on behalf of a company or other legal entity, you represent that you have the legal authority to bind that company or legal entity.
(c) Excluding the Owner’s IP and Program IP which we license to you and excluding the illustrations and cartographic artwork in your Work, you are the sole owner of all rights in your Work. You have the rights or license to use the illustrations and cartographic artwork in your Work.
(d) Your Work does not contain material that is libelous; that violates the copyrights or trademarks of another party; that violates the law; or that the general public would classify as pornography.
You will indemnify and hold OBS and Owner harmless from any liability or cause of action arising from any breach of your representations and warranties including all reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs.
9. No Obligation to Make Available or Sell. You acknowledge that we have no obligation to market, distribute, or offer for sale your Work, or to continuing marketing, distributing or selling your Work after we have started doing so. We may remove your Work from the Program and cease further exploitation at any time in our sole discretion without notice to you.
10. Disclaimers; Limitation of Liability. THE PROGRAM IS PROVIDED "AS IS." WE AND THE OWNER WILL IN NO EVENT BE LIABLE FOR ANY LOSS OF DATA, LOSS OF PROFITS, COST OF COVER OR OTHER SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, INDIRECT, EXEMPLARY OR RELIANCE DAMAGES ARISING FROM OR IN RELATION TO THIS AGREEMENT, OR FOR ANY EQUITABLE REMEDY OF DISGORGEMENT OR OTHERWISE, HOWEVER CAUSED AND REGARDLESS OF THEORY OF LIABILITY. IN NO EVENT WILL OUR (OR OWNER) LIABILITY UNDER THIS AGREEMENT EXCEED THE GREATER OF (I) THE AMOUNT OF FEES DUE AND PAYABLE BY US TO YOU UNDER THIS AGREEMENT FOR THE TWELVE-MONTH PERIOD PRECEDING THE CLAIM AND (II) FIFTY DOLLARS ($50.00). WE SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIM, WITH RESPECT TO ALL SERVICES, SOFTWARE, CONTENT OR PRODUCTS PROVIDED BY OR ON BEHALF OF US IN CONNECTION WITH THIS AGREEMENT OR THE PROGRAM, ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. YOU AGREE THAT WE CANNOT ENSURE THAT EDITIONS OF YOUR USER GENERATED CONDITIONS WILL BE PROTECTED FROM THEFT OR MISUSE OR THAT CUSTOMERS WILL COMPLY WITH ANY CONTENT USAGE RULES. ONEBOOKSHELF WILL HAVE NO LIABILITY ARISING FROM A FAILURE OF ANY SECURITY SYSTEM OR PROCEDURE OR OF ANY CUSTOMER TO COMPLY WITH ANY CONTENT USAGE RULES. WE CANNOT GUARANTEE THAT OUR SYSTEMS WILL ALWAYS BE AVAILABLE, AND WE WILL HAVE NO LIABILITY ARISING FROM SYSTEM OR PROCESS FAILURES, INTERRUPTIONS, INACCURACIES, ERRORS OR LATENCIES.
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12. No Rescission or Injunctive Relief. All rights granted to us (and Owner) under this Agreement are irrevocably vested. No breach by us (or Owner) of this Agreement will entitle you to equitable relief, whether injunctive or otherwise, against or with respect to your User Generated Content or any other works produced pursuant to the rights granted under this Agreement or their exploitation. If the rights granted to OBS (or Owner) under this Agreement should revert to you under any copyright law or similar law, and if you are at any time thereafter prepared to enter an agreement with a third party for the license, exercise or other disposition of all or any of those rights, you will, before entering into the agreement, give OBS and Owner notice of the proposed terms (and all modifications of the terms) and the party involved. In each case, both OBS and Owner will then have 10 business days in which to elect to acquire the rights involved on the terms you offered to that third party.
13. General Provisions.
(a) This Agreement constitutes the entire agreement between the parties with respect to its subject matter. If any provision of this Agreement is held invalid by a court or other tribunal with jurisdiction over the parties to this Agreement, that provision will be deemed to be restated to reflect as nearly as possible the original intentions of the parties in accordance with applicable law, and the remainder of this Agreement will remain in full force and effect. The failure of either party to enforce any provision of this Agreement does not waive the party's rights to subsequently enforce the provision.
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Snowflakes, and Tempests, and Pundits, Oh My!

So, last month I wrote about how OBS is on thin ice with me in light of the recent scuffle over a certain "problematic" RPG product. While the outcome was more in line with the ideas of fairness and First Amendment freedoms, it's clear that the Special Snowflakes of the Outrage Brigade are far from done stirring this turd-filled tempest in a teapot.

Last week as I was surfing one of my usual online haunts, I found out a woman, former gamer, and former game shop employee posted on the Internet that tabletop gaming has a "white male terrorist problem." She recounted a number of incidents of sexist behavior directed at her by male gamers both in real life and online. She openly stated that rape and death threats had been made by members of the community behind Wyrd Miniatures' Malifaux game.

Since reading her post, I've been watching the arguments, counter-arguments, and trollery develop. Some fervently believe her account. Others fervently deny it amidst the blue haze of their own sexism. A third group has taken the middle road, stating that while they question some of her claims and outright reject her hateful hyperbole, they consider the issue of sexism in gaming (and fandom in general) to be a serious issue that needs to be dealt with in a serious fashion.

As a result, the period leading up to this post has been one of anxiety, introspection, and anger. Dealing with identity politics, claims of sexual abuse, as well as the propaganda that is slung about by both sides in the fight is a twisted, confusing mess. I would compare it to "going down the rabbit hole", but it's more of a black hole with Dr. Hans Reinhardt/Maximilian as your only guide. This entire fight has led me to believe that like a black hole, no light can escape this "debate" (to describe it politely). Nobody is coming away unscathed, least of all the people both sides believe they are championing.

So, "In for a penny, in for a pound," as some would say. Here's my take on the whole situation and where I stand on it, one reason at a time.

•  As a GM, I live to see my players have a good time. Because of that, I was moved to introspection by the recent online confession of an acquaintance and fellow third-party publisher. In it, he recounted the times he had the chance to call his fellow male gamers on their bad behavior and failed to do so. I can recall several instances where I was GM to one or more women in my group; there were multiple women in both my private and public groups; the other instances were at two different conventions, each a different year. The first two were Call of Cthulhu scenarios at a convention back in Iowa. There were multiple women in each event, all the players were close to my age at the time (early to mid-twenties) and everybody had a blast while respecting each other. The third was also a Call of Cthulhu scenario in which the majority of the players were men. There was jocularity around the table, and the phrase "Get in the kitchen and make me a sandwich" was bandied about jokingly as they explored the haunted house - and even the sole woman player of the group laughed. I half-heartedly asked the guys to tone it down, but looking back, I feel I should have done more. Last year, I was running Beyond the Wall for a group comprised mostly of older male gamers, a couple closer to my own age, and a teenage girl. The experience hearkened back to my earliest convention games. Everybody was well-behaved, cheered each other on, and laughed at each other's foibles and botched rolls as well as their own. All that being said, in light of that one instance, my table will be a safe space within reason, which I will further detail below.

• For the past eight years I have been married to a wonderful, empowered woman, and for the past four years we have striven to help raise a young, outgoing, and empowered foster daughter. While neither of them are interested in gaming, the fact that the daughter of one of my best friends is interested in her dad's hobby (along with the above reason), was a precursor to both the re-ignition of the debate and this statement. If anybody at my table makes my friend's daughter uncomfortable, they will have two angry dads to deal with. The same goes without saying regarding my foster daughter.

• Having been a victim/target of abuse in the past, I am sympathetic to those who have suffered any kind of assault. At the same time, I reserve the right to be skeptical. Despite my dislike of his tribalist hyperbole, the RPGPundit made some good points regarding the issue in two separate blog posts here and here. To sum up both posts, he states - as I did in my last post - that the Outrage Brigade does not want to debate things in good faith. They want their way to be the only way and woe to those who stand between them and their goal. If that means smearing the names and reputations of those who call them on their own terrorist behaviors, then they will (and they have). I hold the right to hear both sides of the story and make up my own mind. I will not be fed a narrative wholesale without considering the facts. In this case, the other side of the story came from a statement from Wyrd Miniatures' Nathan Caroland concerning the claims made by the woman. Considering that requests for evidence made of the victim by the company have gone unanswered and that Wyrd Miniatures is a small company in a small, niche market, I highly doubt the woman's statements that the company is out to get her. That she suffered the cruelty and indignity of being assaulted and being either dismissed or threatened by others in the hobby, I have no doubt. However, to make false allegations is damaging not only to the target of the allegations, but also the victim and what little credibility they have in our troubled, victim-blaming society.

•  I may be a nice guy, but I'm not a pushover. Having dealt with an abusive parent and no less than two abusive sociopaths in the past, I'm going to be taking a more hardline stance in dealing with abuse of any kind at my gaming table. You'll get one warning for bad behaviors in any game I GM. One. After that, you're done - blacklisted. I have no reservations about calling convention security or store management to help resolve the situation to the benefit of the group and perhaps even the hobby. If a game I run is at another gamer's house, I will demure to the host so long as the situation is resolved to EVERYONE'S satisfaction (within reason) and there is no imminent threat of re-escalation, later retaliation, or physical harm. If I'm running a game in my own home and I tell you to leave because you're blacklisted, you'd better do so. Conversely, if a convention or other game host refuses to deal with behaviors that cause one of my players to be upset or otherwise not have a good time, I will be more than happy to extend an invitation to the non-offending members of the group to game elsewhere with me; at the same time, I will advise the host that they are blacklisted for their complicity and I will not return. If this causes bridges to burn between me and the gaming community here or abroad, so be it. If there's anything I've learned from The Big Purple Cesspool, it's "no gaming - or solo gaming - is better than bad gaming".

In light of what I've revealed and said, I plan on putting into practice an idea I thought of running with in the past - namely using icons to denote what my games will be about. In the past these icons were part of the whole "GM Merit Badges" schtick, but they really have multiple uses. In this case, they won't just tell what I value as a GM, but also serve to inform people as to the content of my games, both public and private.

While there are people in the hobby who would consider this concept policing or x-carding - it's not. In short, I want to beat the Outrage Brigade to the punch and let people know up front what to expect from me as a GM. Once a person is informed, they really can't claim to be triggered or otherwise "shocked" by the content of my games. Of course, I know this won't affect the Outrage Brigade in any way other than to expose their hypocrisy.

That's it in a rather large nutshell, folks. Seeing as how I've gone on babbling for so long, I'm going to hold off presenting the details of my idea (with examples for upcoming events) in my next post...

SHORT ADDENDUM: For those of you who are wondering, I am still going to go ahead with my plan to diversify the platforms I offer my material on. Right now taxes are taking up my time, but once tax season is behind me, I'll be doing more with regard to that quest.

EDIT(S): Sorry for the constant updates. I've been working on this all night while at my graveyard shift job. It's now 6 in the morning here and so my brain center is turning to mush. I just wanted to make sure people who know me and may be reading my blog don't feel I've neglected any details here.

Color Me Unsurprised

Hello, folks. It's been a while since I shot some electrons at the public, but I'm here now with some rather unsettling - yet unsurprising - news.

Cue the golf clap...

OneBookShelf just dropped the other shoe in addition to dropping the ball on protecting small publisher's rights within the bounds of their adult filtering system. I was surfing the RPGSite when I came across a post about what is looking to be the sequel to the fight over Skorched 'Urf's adult material brouhaha. What's that? You didn't hear about it? Here's some links to discussion about the issue on the aforementioned site:

• Discussion of the initial OBS situation and other adult material on the site...
• RPGPundit's follow-up a month later...
• Further discussion three months later...

At any rate, there was originally talk on TheRPGSite about forming a site to compete with OBS's DriveThruRPG and RPGNow sites, talk which some publishers took to heart and acted upon, as evidenced by this announcement on EnWorld and website.

All of this seems to herald the incident behind this statement from Venger Satanis, author of the infracting material, a statement of support from the man behind Barrel Rider Games, and some talk on TheRPGSite. Before people start labeling me as being in favor of smut or other material that defames the image of our hobby and the industry, let me say this: while the material of this type is not my thing either to read or produce, I won't stand by while others seek to censor it. I am more than happy to let people know that such material is not an accurate portrayal of our hobby or of gamers in general.

At the same time, as a businessperson, I find it disheartening and disgusting that some of my fellow publishers (who will remain nameless to avoid giving them any more fame) are now in the highly unethical business of scourging and purifying our industry of what they consider "undesirable" elements. What I've seen of this fledgling witch hunt - and it is the beginning of a witch hunt - is cherry-picking of targets and facts. The material in question was, according to the author, behind the mature content filter, meaning it won't show up unless you log into OBS' sales site AND have the mature content filter turned OFF. Claiming to have "stumbled upon" material you deem offensive after you've logged in and either turned off the mature content filter - or failed to turn it on in the first place - is the same as blaming a wild animal for injuring you after you've provoked it.

That being said, I'm looking into joining up with TableTopLibrary and ending my short run with OBS. Now, my products have never been big moneymakers for OBS - heck, they aren't even that numerous or widely known - but that doesn't mean I'm not going to keep my head down and pray the inquisitors leave me alone. Eventually, they will come for me. All it takes is something I've said being intentionally quoted out of context or someone being "outraged" at a perceived slight or offense and I'll be tied to the stake while the Outrage Brigade dances merrily around the bonfire.

The Outrage Brigade doesn't want to discuss things in good faith. It just wants its way to be the only way, and its members don't bother to distinguish friend from foe when it comes to achieving their goals. And if you don't think it will happen to you, just you wait.

3/23/16 ADDENDUM: Venger Satanis announced that Alpha Blue has been returned to circulation on OBS. While I applaud OBS for following through and FAIRLY applying its policies this time, there's no guarantee of it in the future given the tenacious nature of some within the Outrage Brigade. I am still going to look into at the very least expanding to TableTopLibrary and possibly diversifying to other platforms such as Paizo's online store. You've won a reprieve as far as I'm concerned OBS, but as far as I'm concerned, one whitelisting does not fully undo the damage your previous gaffe did.