11-14-2021, 05:20 PM
Aldarron Wrote:Is that what Rafe looks like? heh.
Actually, I'm totally surprised by this, and intrigued.
:mrgreen: That's not me, of course - that's the guy who became a memetic internet hero after asking at a Blizzard Q&A whether some announcement was an out-of-season April Fools joke.
Havard is too kind - I look way more like the reincarnated "abuela" from Altered Carbon. Honest to God, I tend to behave the same way.
Aldarron Wrote:Edit: well, okay - I just read all the rest of the posts. I mean how odd, how baffling. I don't think I know Mr, Dorso, nor how he could get so many high profile folks sign up to a first-time convention that has seemingly ignored most of the actual Blackmoor fanbase. Isn't that strange? He must be quite the salesman, I guess. But why not reach out beforehand? And why highlight Tim Kask, given what he has made very plain regarding his feelings toward Mr. Arneson? And between Mentzers harassment issues and all the hate thrown at Ernie lately, its like asking for a giant firestorm, so why even invite, let alone give top-billing to these guys especially when they have no (Mentzer) or little (Ernie) relation to Arneson? This is Twilight Zone stuff. I mean no disrespect to Mr. Dorso, but I can't see how this convention makes sense.
Yeah, pretty much. The only place where this is okay is Bizarro World, and the whole setup looks very, very, very much like some strawman deal to secure the name rights now that Blackmoor is becoming "a thäng" again. Going to be very, very, very careful with what I suggest here, but it's difficult for me not to assume that Ernie Gygax - or rather, Mr Dorso - has a smart tax consultant at hand who has told him how to fiscally optimize a one-weekend side-gig.
But in principle, if this not the doing of total idiots - which is a possibility, seeing who is involved in running this operation -, then it's all about occupying "territory", or, rather, about market space. Which is a strategy that's about as stupid as everything else we've seen so far - but then, if you do the math, hosting such a con (no pun intended) will give you pretty beautiful tax returns, at the very least, and if you manage to get your, whatever, two-hundred people in there who buy the premium tickets to the assigned price, then... Then it's not quite "stupid", any more.
Personally, I can only marvel at the way some of these folks are behaving. Instead of trying to desperately declare their ownership of stuff that clearly neither morally nor factually belongs to them, one would wish that people like Ernie or the T. I. M. would just lock themselves into their basement for a few years, and just write: Just create cool stuff, and the rewards will come. Number one rule in life, "game recognizes game". Especially with these guys: Maybe not us, in particular, but I'm pretty sure there are people out there who would love to love them if they only stopped embarrassing themselves with stupid shit like this.
Anyway - not my milk, not my cornflakes. If these morons want to continue being the laughing stock of the entire RPG community, then that's their decision.