Things I learned about the #ttrpgcommunity and its members.

  • It’s possible for me not to 100% agree with someone and still consider myself a friend, fan, buy their product, and so forth. I do not need every single person I support to be 100% aligned with my values and beliefs so long as they are not the antithesis of what I stand for. I don’t always have to agree with someone to acknowledge their validity.
  • Sometimes it’s important to listen to people we don’t completely agree with because we can often still find some common ground. Are there some people who deserve to be ignored outright? Absolutely. The 🦆🦆🦆holes are pretty easy to spot most of the time, at least in the TTRPG space.
  • Companies are not people. I know it’s hard to believe, especially the farther down into the indie space one goes. While I pick on Wizards of the Coast/Hasbro quite a bit, they aren’t just one person. Just because one person in a company does something we don’t agree with, doesn’t mean the entire company is rotten.
  • Writers, designers, editors, and artists really should represent the company they work for. In light of the Goodman Games/BackerKit controversy, several people have come out of the woodwork to criticize what Goodman and others did in the wake of the outcry. A bunch of the Old School Renaissance crowd spoke up against Goodman.

    If you are the president of your own company, especially if you’ve got a product on Kickstarter right now, it’s probably best not to say anything about another company being “woke” or “leftist.” While no game company is a person, one can stand out as a spokesperson for a business. I hear one author even has a friends-enemies type list on his website. Talk about a poor way to represent your company and yourself as an author, dude.
  • Goodman Games has done nothing wrong by changing their social media ads and apologizing. An apology doesn’t make them “a bunch of leftists.” It doesn’t make Joseph Goodman and company look bad at all. I commended their efforts then and do so again now. Great job, Goodman.

    It makes me feel sad that so many people are threatening the financial future of Goodman Games and its employees. It might be true that the original group who complained aren’t regular Goodman Games customers. And the Grognards of the OSR might have been Goodman customers who are now supposedly swearing off the company, but they say the same thing about whatever was declared “woke” this week.

    The people at Goodman Games have tried to extend as much goodwill toward the community as humanly possible. It is not the employees’ faults that someone who does their social media ads screwed up big time. The company executives did their absolute best to make amends to the community and now they’re basically being punished for it.
  • Goodman Games is not Wizards of the Coast/Hasbro. WotC does dumb stuff all the time. They also don’t take critical action within a matter of hours when it happens. Goodman Games did, in fact, take action to correct the social media ads and apologize. Good for them! WotC would never do that. WotC does not care about their customers. Goodman Games does.

    Goodman Games/BackerKit are putting together an online summit to help Indie Creators. Does anyone think WotC would ever do such a thing? Look how well the WotC Dungeons & Dragons Content Creator Summit went. WotC desperately tried to buy back the goodwill of the thousands of fans angered by the Great OGL Debacle of January 2023. #StoptheSub, #OpenDnD, #DnDBeGone, #DnDone. WotC is now sending free product to select influencers every month in exchange for positive reviews and good publicity. Is Goodman doing that? Nope.

  • Indie RPG Creator Summit isn’t strictly about just creating TTRPGs. A lot of Old Grognards are getting wrong when they complain about the “back end people” speaking on various topics. Indie creators have a vested interest in learning about art, layout, sales, marketing, taxes, social media, and more. Why? Because most of us in the Indie TTRPG space are solo operators or maybe a tiny crew at most. If I can’t do something myself (like art) I’m either going to have to find a workaround or hire it out.

  • The Reptilian Overlords at Hasbro are never going to let Wizards of the Coast do something strictly for Independent writers/designers. They just want money. More money and total control of that money from the players, paid Dungeon Masters, electronic media, and writers. WotC want to rule the TTRPG market and operate it as a cash funnel to Hasbro. That’s it.

  • As far as I’m aware, Goodman Games does not have some secret “woke” agenda. They just want to sell Dungeon Crawl Classics and related products. They just wanted to put on an Indie RPG Creator Summit in maybe the vague hopes of encouraging more fans, writers, etc to write more RPG material. What’s wrong with that?

  • Right Wing cancel culture is far worse than anything anyone on the left could be accused of at this point. We see it with the OSR. We see it in the Warhammer community. The Goodman Games scandal is just the latest bump in the road. Cheese off the right; lose sleep at night, I guess.

  • Everyone has a right to be represented in the TTRPG community. No company in their right mind whether it’s OSR, 5E, Indie, fans of Cthulhu, or whatever. Everyone should be welcome at the table as long as they bear no ill will toward another group. (No Nazis allowed.) If you just want to roll dice and have fun, the community should be wide open and welcoming.

  • When my company gets rolling a bit more, I’m going to work hard on being mindful of Alt text and to use inclusive language as much as possible within reason. I, like most other Indie creators, just want to have fun and maybe sell some product. My very odd political stance has nothing to do with my company. My love for all kind citizens of the Universe has everything to do with my work.

  • If someone thinks they know it all and want to put on their own Indie RPG Creator Summit, feel free to do so. Please, show us how it’s done. I can almost guarantee certain YouTubers are all hot air when it comes to criticism. The same YouTubers won’t lift a finger when it comes to actually doing something about which they are complaining. It’s easier to make a list of good right wingnut game companies and evil, “woke” bad ones. (*Their words, not mine.)

  • I can only represent myself authentically. I am my company. Hence my interest in the Indie RPG Creator Summit. I’m making my own supplements and maybe my own game eventually. I want to freelance for Goodman Games or Kobold. I’d love to work with Cawood Publishing or DwD. I’d probably faint if Runehammer or the Arcane Library acknowledged my work.

  • I’ve gotten a couple of shout-outs on the OG GM’s Channel. I don’t always 100% agree with everything he says. However, I do think he and I have a lot in common. If he lived closer, I’d invite him over for barbeque and Shadowdark. I’ve been helping him with a bit of research here and there. He’s a good guy even if he appears to be a bit grumpy.

    The OG GM is a pretty cool guy. He covers a lot of topics and puts out close to three or four videos per day most days. I have his channel on notifications, and I recommend everyone do the same. We might not agree on everything politically, but I’d still totally hang out with him. Sometimes it’s good to take in different perspectives.

    Nothing in this article in reference to the OSR or old fartz is aimed at OG GM. He has been a pillar of the TTRPG space on YouTube every day with news and views on TTRPGs. Good job, OG GM! Keep doing what you’re doing.

  • I seem to recall someone in the OSR/Old Fartz community saying how “Dungeon Crawl Classics isn’t true OSR.” So why is this person coming out of the woodwork to criticize Goodman Games and every other decision that company has made for the last three years? We know you’re not buying DCC already. It’s not D&D 5E where it’s all up in our grills constantly. (*Unfortunately, he and I have several mutual online acquaintances, so I’m not calling him out directly.)

  • Truthfully, with three exceptions, I have no ill will with anyone in the TTRPG industry. TTRPG YouTube is a slightly different story. I watch a ridiculous amount of TTRPG YouTube. (*Soon, my own channel with start to get videos and then it’ll be intense.) But, I actually don’t have any ill will toward Goodman Games whatsoever. I think they’re great.

    If someone willingly runs their TTRPG business like a hardcore almost neo Nazi nutter, they won’t get my business. The same goes for YouTube. There are a few channels I watch strictly to report their numerous bigoted ToS violations. I feel like I watch some of the really negative Nellies in the hopes that others won’t have to.

  • Personally, I’m tired of the negativity, hateful bigots, and all the bickering that comes with the #ttrpgcommunity. It’s like some of us are constantly on the lookout for something new to be outraged over. Ever since the Great OGL Debacle of 2023 the community has been perpetually seeking out something new to freak out about. It’s getting tiresome.

Thanks for stopping by today. I appreciate you. #ttrpgfamily.