DCs recent Blackest Night colored ring promotion did exactly what it was meant to do. It boosted sales of the company's books, and in the process knocked some of Marvel's books from their normal place on the top of the sale's charts. Marvel apparently did not take it well.
In retaliation, though they claim it is a good will gesture to retailers, Marvel has offered to give 1 copy of the Siege, Marvel's new event mini-series, issue #3 with the Deadpool variant cover to retailers for every 50 covers they send in from the Blackest Night tie-in books. According to the articles I've seen on Newsarama, Comic Related, Cosmic Book News and CBR, as well as numerous message board postings, retailers have mixed feelings about this move.
Some retailers have posted that they agree with me, this is a dick move by the Mighty Marvel and have no intention of participating. Some say they simply don't have enough of the BN tie-ins to qualify, but would if they could. Others, who were stuck with too many Blackest Night tie-ins, are happy to rip those covers and receive their variant from Marvel. According to some of the retailers I've spoken with they would have to sell the Siege variant for $200 to break even. To be honest I have not and do not intend to read Siege but all of the feedback that I've heard about Siege has been negative. What I don't understand is why would anyone want a $200 variant for a book that sucks according to many fans? I guess they wouldn't offer it if they didn't think someone was dumb enough to pay it.
Personally I think that this is not only a dick move by Marvel, but in very poor taste. I'm all for competition between the two companies, after all their goal is to sell the most books, plus the fans enjoy it. I just think that openly taking cheap shots at the other company is tacky. Some fans may favor one company over the other, but most of us enjoy characters from both and often include Marvel and DC comics/characters among our top 10 favorites. We tend to feel a connection to both companies and seeing one act "unsportsmanlike" kind of lessens our view of the offender.
Marvel seems to come off as a spoiled diva that can't take temporarily losing a couple of spots with grace. Seriously I love DC, but everyone knows Marvel is the bigger seller and will be again. Fans want the competition to continue between the two, but not in the same under handed mudslinging manner we tolerate from politicians. Personally I want them to compete for our dollars by trying to tell the best stories possible. That way whoever ends up in the top spot, deserves the position.
I'm not big on variant covers and honestly don't give the value of my comics a great deal of thought. I buy them to read and if one day they put my grand kids or great-grand kids through college that's super. Until that day, and unless I get my hands on Action #1 or a similar rare book, I don't give a shit about 99% of the variants produced or the "value" of my comics. The true value of my comics is that I enjoy them. I'm not really a collector, I'm a fan who owns a lot of comics.
So as far as I am concerned, I'll keep my multi-colored rings (I'm only missing blue and red) and all the BN books I bought. You can take your variant and shove it.
*Here is where I interrupt this post to insert my own little side rant. I'm just on a roll and didn't feel like making a new post.*
Anyone who knows me personally, knows that I am a much bigger fan of DC comics than of Marvel. That being said I like Joe Q and think he has done some really great things at the big M. 10 years ago I may have read 1 maybe 2 Marvel books per month and now I regularly enjoy about 6. That may not seem like much, but considering my 20 DC books, and my couple of independent books per month, making room for 6 Marvel books in my budget is a big deal. Also note that I didn't just say I read the books, I said I enjoy the books, which is something I haven't been able to say about Marvel in a very long time.
Granted I think the current developments in Spiderman's comics is beyond ridiculous, though I do hear the stories are good, I just don't care. Marvel has frakked with everyone's favorite webslinger so much over the years (yes I was a Scarlet Spider fan and hold a grudge) I can't bring my self to read his book(s). However, Capt. America, Iron Man, Fantastic Four, Guardians of the Galaxy, Nova and Moon Knight absolutely kick ass. Ms. Marvel, Iron Fist, Daredevil and New Avengers were on that list but lost their momentum, for me at least, so I dropped them.
I just hope that the idea and approval for Marvel's Siege variant offer was solely the responsibility of marketing or some other corporate department filled with suits that have nothing to do with creating comics. I also hope that Joe Q had nothing to do with this or I will lose a great deal of respect for the man. Given some of the stories I've heard about Didio, from fans and comics pros, I would expect something like this from him.
Though to be honest I do not know that man, and while I do not agree with a great many of the editorial decisions at DC, I have had no direct contact with the man and can not personally speak about his character. I just hope that DC decides to take the high road and not stoop to Marvel's level.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Friday, January 8, 2010
Bitten by the "Old School" bug
Over the past few years it seems that everyone has jumped on the old school bandwagon. Something I've had no real desire to do, until recently.
I've often thought about breaking out my AD&D books or trying to get a better understanding of the Palladium system, but there are just so many new, great games to play that I always found reasons to put them off. Granted one of those reasons was that my group isn't too fond of Palladium, and find the system to be too clunky, but that's a post for another time. Still I have made it a goal to try relearning these systems for the New Year, but now I may be putting those two games on hold. I've become somewhat obsessed with two other older systems.
Some time last year I stumbled across Villains & Vigilantes as I was nosing around on RPGNow and added it to my wishlist. The game stayed there until a few days ago when I finally broke down and bought the core rule book. It was less than $5, and who could pass that up?
I am really enjoying this system. Sure it has its flaws and doesn't offer as many options as Mutants & Masterminds, but there is an elegant simplicity that I find appealing. I've actually become excited about running this system and can't wait until my group's winter break is over so I can try a supers game using V&V.
I sat down and within 10 minutes of printing out the rules had a character written up. There aren't many of the newer games that will allow you to have a ready to use character in that little time. Even the streamlined systems usually take a bit longer.
Granted I haven't had an opportunity to actually run the game, but so far even the combat seems just as simple. It does suffer a bit from the tendency to rely on charts a bit more than I like, but considering the book is just shy of 50 pages, finding the chart you need couldn't be that hard.
Once my group finishes our Dragonlance/Pathfinder campaign, V&V is going to be my first attempt at getting them to try another system. I figure that since I've been dying to run a supers game anyway, why not use a simple little system like V&V?
I was so taken with the system I went ahead and downloaded Supercrooks and Criminals and the Alone in the Night adventure module. At the moment, without having actually run the system I don't feel qualified to actually write a review, but if my plan to run the game works out I will do a more thorough post at a later date.
V&V isn't the only older game that I have been smitten with of late. DC Heroes is a game that I wanted to play as a kid, but as the only comic book fan in my gaming group, at the time, I was the only one that wanted to play anything other than D&D. So I never got the chance.
I've been looking for affordable copies of this game for years and just yesterday I got my hands on a copy of DC Heroes 3rd edition as well as a few sourcebooks. I haven't had the chance to read any of the books yet, just thumb through them, so I'm not ready to comment on the system just yet.
I've had most of the Marvel Superheroes books for a while now, but since I'm not really the biggest Marvel fan I haven't really felt the urge to read them. However, as a huge fan of DC comics and characters, this is the one game I have always wanted to play, but never got the chance. Every time I would go to the mall as a kid, I'd stop by Something To Do to pick up a new D&D book or an issue of Dragon magazine and thumb through the various DCH books. So now, years later, I finally have the long sought after system and plan to at least give running it a good try.
While all of the old school fantasy games that others are now so fond of may be very good games, they just don't appeal to me. I'm a fan of the Pathfinder/3e fantasy system and have no plans to change that anytime soon. Instead the old school superhero rpgs have not only piqued my interest, but made me anxious to run a supers game.
So this year I plan on introducing these older games to my group. We'll kick the tires and hopefully try a campaign using each system in the near future. I'll follow up with more detailed reviews, my thoughts on the systems as well as updates on what my group thought about them as things progress.
I've often thought about breaking out my AD&D books or trying to get a better understanding of the Palladium system, but there are just so many new, great games to play that I always found reasons to put them off. Granted one of those reasons was that my group isn't too fond of Palladium, and find the system to be too clunky, but that's a post for another time. Still I have made it a goal to try relearning these systems for the New Year, but now I may be putting those two games on hold. I've become somewhat obsessed with two other older systems.
Some time last year I stumbled across Villains & Vigilantes as I was nosing around on RPGNow and added it to my wishlist. The game stayed there until a few days ago when I finally broke down and bought the core rule book. It was less than $5, and who could pass that up?
I am really enjoying this system. Sure it has its flaws and doesn't offer as many options as Mutants & Masterminds, but there is an elegant simplicity that I find appealing. I've actually become excited about running this system and can't wait until my group's winter break is over so I can try a supers game using V&V.
I sat down and within 10 minutes of printing out the rules had a character written up. There aren't many of the newer games that will allow you to have a ready to use character in that little time. Even the streamlined systems usually take a bit longer.
Granted I haven't had an opportunity to actually run the game, but so far even the combat seems just as simple. It does suffer a bit from the tendency to rely on charts a bit more than I like, but considering the book is just shy of 50 pages, finding the chart you need couldn't be that hard.
Once my group finishes our Dragonlance/Pathfinder campaign, V&V is going to be my first attempt at getting them to try another system. I figure that since I've been dying to run a supers game anyway, why not use a simple little system like V&V?
I was so taken with the system I went ahead and downloaded Supercrooks and Criminals and the Alone in the Night adventure module. At the moment, without having actually run the system I don't feel qualified to actually write a review, but if my plan to run the game works out I will do a more thorough post at a later date.
V&V isn't the only older game that I have been smitten with of late. DC Heroes is a game that I wanted to play as a kid, but as the only comic book fan in my gaming group, at the time, I was the only one that wanted to play anything other than D&D. So I never got the chance.
I've been looking for affordable copies of this game for years and just yesterday I got my hands on a copy of DC Heroes 3rd edition as well as a few sourcebooks. I haven't had the chance to read any of the books yet, just thumb through them, so I'm not ready to comment on the system just yet.
I've had most of the Marvel Superheroes books for a while now, but since I'm not really the biggest Marvel fan I haven't really felt the urge to read them. However, as a huge fan of DC comics and characters, this is the one game I have always wanted to play, but never got the chance. Every time I would go to the mall as a kid, I'd stop by Something To Do to pick up a new D&D book or an issue of Dragon magazine and thumb through the various DCH books. So now, years later, I finally have the long sought after system and plan to at least give running it a good try.
While all of the old school fantasy games that others are now so fond of may be very good games, they just don't appeal to me. I'm a fan of the Pathfinder/3e fantasy system and have no plans to change that anytime soon. Instead the old school superhero rpgs have not only piqued my interest, but made me anxious to run a supers game.
So this year I plan on introducing these older games to my group. We'll kick the tires and hopefully try a campaign using each system in the near future. I'll follow up with more detailed reviews, my thoughts on the systems as well as updates on what my group thought about them as things progress.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
RPGNow 20 for $10
I've been out of the loop for a bit so I don't know if anyone else on the RPGBN has posted about this, but it still deserves another mention.
RPGNow is trying to "jump start the gamer economy here at the start of the year" by offering 20 pdfs from various game publishers for only $10. Normally I only give deals like this a passing glance because most of the titles are likely on sale because no one really wants them. This is not one of those times.
The sale features books from Margaret Weis Productions such as the Battlestar Galactica core rules, Geist: The Sin Eaters core rules from White Wolf and Mutants & Masterminds 2e core rules from Green Ronin, among others. There are a few titles listed that I'm not familiar with and that don't seem like my cup of tea, but I want copies of at least half of the books on the list. Even the M&M 2e books, which I already own in hardcopy. I don't actually need it but $10 is too good to pass up for a portable copy. Just don't tell my wife, she'd probably kick my butt.
I finally broke down and bought the Savage Worlds Explorer's Edition pdf recently, so am thinking about picking up Deadlands for SW to use as I learn the system. For $10 a piece I can afford to buy a few books and at that price I think I can tolerate printing them out to use.
These are the prices that pdfs should be all the time. I'd buy a lot more of them if that were the case.
RPGNow 20 for $10 page.
RPGNow is trying to "jump start the gamer economy here at the start of the year" by offering 20 pdfs from various game publishers for only $10. Normally I only give deals like this a passing glance because most of the titles are likely on sale because no one really wants them. This is not one of those times.
The sale features books from Margaret Weis Productions such as the Battlestar Galactica core rules, Geist: The Sin Eaters core rules from White Wolf and Mutants & Masterminds 2e core rules from Green Ronin, among others. There are a few titles listed that I'm not familiar with and that don't seem like my cup of tea, but I want copies of at least half of the books on the list. Even the M&M 2e books, which I already own in hardcopy. I don't actually need it but $10 is too good to pass up for a portable copy. Just don't tell my wife, she'd probably kick my butt.
I finally broke down and bought the Savage Worlds Explorer's Edition pdf recently, so am thinking about picking up Deadlands for SW to use as I learn the system. For $10 a piece I can afford to buy a few books and at that price I think I can tolerate printing them out to use.
These are the prices that pdfs should be all the time. I'd buy a lot more of them if that were the case.
RPGNow 20 for $10 page.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
New Year, New Outlook
Happy New Year RPGBN!
After taking a break from the blogging world to reassess some things, I have decided to return to the fold.
When I last posted I was aggravated and considered not only leaving the RPGBN but to close down this blog all together.Things that were happening here, in my personal life and in the comic and gaming industries were simply getting on my nerves. I took my dissatisfaction to heart and pretty much left this blog sitting cold. Looking back that was a bit of a drastic move to make.
I enjoy blogging, though I admit I'm not as active as many of the other member, and I do like writing about things which interest me. Namely comics, movies, books and of course gaming. So I figured it was about time for me to quit pouting and get to posting.
This year I'd like to try posting more than just reviews and opinion pieces, though those will still be posted just because I like them. I plan to post summaries of the games I run. Granted most of them will be Pathfinder, but I am going to try to fit in a few Mutants & Masterminds, Silver Age Sentinels, AD&D, Hollow Earth Expedition or Rifts adventures during 2010 as I try to coerce my group into genres other than straight fantasy as well as other systems. In a way everyone that reads my blog will be right there with me. Following my group through the ups and downs of our gaming experience. For some this may be helpful or to others it may just be humorous. Either way this will allow and hopefully encourage something I am very fond of, discussion.
You will see posts about adventure ideas I come up with, settings I am working on, how I try to convince my group to try a new system, whether it worked, and then how things went. If you have suggestions for my failed attempts, comments on my successes or even just wanna say hi, feel free to jump right in. Everyone is welcome.
One thing I may explore this year is my experience trying to learn and relearn various systems. You see during my hiatus I went back and read many of my old game books. Doing so caused me to realize something, I don't know my favorite systems as well as I thought I did. I've been gaming for at least 20 years and honestly found out that I still have a few things to learn, even about old systems.
I've taken a great many of the things I know about my favorite games for granted. Assuming that I knew what I was talking about, until took the time to really read the books and found that sometimes my way of doing things wasn't exactly correct. I blame this on my tendency to throw out things I don't like upon first reading a rule book. Generally, as I've stated here before, I take the parts I like and run the game the way I want. So one of my goals this year, call it a resolution if you like, is to not only thoroughly learn some new systems but to relearn some many of my older games.
I've even decided to go back and relearn AD&D. Partially because of the old school resurgence, and partially out of nostalgia. Only one member of my group has stuck around since or was even gaming when we made the switch from 2e to 3e nearly a decade ago. To the younger guys it will seem like a whole new system. I'll let you guys know how well I think the system held up or whether nostalgia has made me remember the game more fondly that it deserves.Plus I'll give you the new kids' opinion of the system. That should spark at least one good debate.
So for 2010 I'm going into this new year with a slightly different outlook on gaming and blogging. Hopefully it will be fun for all of us.
Also I want to give special thanks to my friend Jason James from the Nut Gallery Review for his fill in posts over the past month.
After taking a break from the blogging world to reassess some things, I have decided to return to the fold.
When I last posted I was aggravated and considered not only leaving the RPGBN but to close down this blog all together.Things that were happening here, in my personal life and in the comic and gaming industries were simply getting on my nerves. I took my dissatisfaction to heart and pretty much left this blog sitting cold. Looking back that was a bit of a drastic move to make.
I enjoy blogging, though I admit I'm not as active as many of the other member, and I do like writing about things which interest me. Namely comics, movies, books and of course gaming. So I figured it was about time for me to quit pouting and get to posting.
This year I'd like to try posting more than just reviews and opinion pieces, though those will still be posted just because I like them. I plan to post summaries of the games I run. Granted most of them will be Pathfinder, but I am going to try to fit in a few Mutants & Masterminds, Silver Age Sentinels, AD&D, Hollow Earth Expedition or Rifts adventures during 2010 as I try to coerce my group into genres other than straight fantasy as well as other systems. In a way everyone that reads my blog will be right there with me. Following my group through the ups and downs of our gaming experience. For some this may be helpful or to others it may just be humorous. Either way this will allow and hopefully encourage something I am very fond of, discussion.
You will see posts about adventure ideas I come up with, settings I am working on, how I try to convince my group to try a new system, whether it worked, and then how things went. If you have suggestions for my failed attempts, comments on my successes or even just wanna say hi, feel free to jump right in. Everyone is welcome.
One thing I may explore this year is my experience trying to learn and relearn various systems. You see during my hiatus I went back and read many of my old game books. Doing so caused me to realize something, I don't know my favorite systems as well as I thought I did. I've been gaming for at least 20 years and honestly found out that I still have a few things to learn, even about old systems.
I've taken a great many of the things I know about my favorite games for granted. Assuming that I knew what I was talking about, until took the time to really read the books and found that sometimes my way of doing things wasn't exactly correct. I blame this on my tendency to throw out things I don't like upon first reading a rule book. Generally, as I've stated here before, I take the parts I like and run the game the way I want. So one of my goals this year, call it a resolution if you like, is to not only thoroughly learn some new systems but to relearn some many of my older games.
I've even decided to go back and relearn AD&D. Partially because of the old school resurgence, and partially out of nostalgia. Only one member of my group has stuck around since or was even gaming when we made the switch from 2e to 3e nearly a decade ago. To the younger guys it will seem like a whole new system. I'll let you guys know how well I think the system held up or whether nostalgia has made me remember the game more fondly that it deserves.Plus I'll give you the new kids' opinion of the system. That should spark at least one good debate.
So for 2010 I'm going into this new year with a slightly different outlook on gaming and blogging. Hopefully it will be fun for all of us.
Also I want to give special thanks to my friend Jason James from the Nut Gallery Review for his fill in posts over the past month.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
The RPG community a damn good bunch of people.
All of the other RPG Bloggers are doing a terrific job covering the RPGNow/DriveThruRPG Hati megabundle, so I really don't have a whole lot to add. I will spare you a long post extolling the greatness and generosity of the rpg community and the companies that participated. At least for the moment.
In lieu of an actual post I am going to re-post a comment I made on Creatively Anomalous.
"I finally got all of mine downloaded, though I never had the problems that plagued everyone else. It just took me around 4 hours to download that many items.
I have to say that was the best $20 I have spent on my rpg hobby/addiction in my life. As a diehard cheapskate, that is also one of the only times I have felt good about spending $20.
It is also the first time I’ve actually been proud of us, the rpg gaming community. No bickering, flaming or edition wars. Just a bunch of gamers stepping up to help our fellow man, and get some cool stuff in the process.
Kudos to everyone that spent the $20 and to all the companies that participated. Especially DriveThruRPG/RPGNow for putting it together.
I’ve been telling everyone I know about this deal. Hopefully that $70K will be a much bigger number tomorrow."
In lieu of an actual post I am going to re-post a comment I made on Creatively Anomalous.
"I finally got all of mine downloaded, though I never had the problems that plagued everyone else. It just took me around 4 hours to download that many items.
I have to say that was the best $20 I have spent on my rpg hobby/addiction in my life. As a diehard cheapskate, that is also one of the only times I have felt good about spending $20.
It is also the first time I’ve actually been proud of us, the rpg gaming community. No bickering, flaming or edition wars. Just a bunch of gamers stepping up to help our fellow man, and get some cool stuff in the process.
Kudos to everyone that spent the $20 and to all the companies that participated. Especially DriveThruRPG/RPGNow for putting it together.
I’ve been telling everyone I know about this deal. Hopefully that $70K will be a much bigger number tomorrow."
Saturday, December 12, 2009
Hero 5e Sale
From Dec. 10 - Dec. 24 Hero Games is offering their Hero 5th edition products at a 25% discount. If you are a 5e player who is still missing some books or even if you just want to try 5e this seems like a good deal. Especially if you buy the pdfs, some of which are around $13.
Check out the Hero Games store.
Check out the Hero Games store.
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Pathfinder listed in shopping list of Game Informer
I read Game Informer as it is one of the best video game magazine out there. This last issue they made a christmas wish list. In that list under fantasy section of the wish list the number 1 item listed was the Pathfidner Roleplaying Game. The following is the write up that they put with the caption.
"This huge role-playing book includes all the info you need to get started and have a blast with your friends. A smarter skill system, improved classes, and streamlines combat systems highlight the list of gameplay to explore. Gorgeous art and smart, revised design ideas fill the pages, but everything is compatible with the old D&D 3.5 edition rules through only minor alterations. If you're ready for something new, don't miss out on 4th edition D&D. but if dramatic changes to your role-playing hobby terrify you. Pathfinder should be right up your alley."
I know that there is a pretty good following to Pathfinder and this should help the cause. I also wanted to mention Savage Worlds just released the fantasy companion to the Savage Worlds rule set. I am looking forward to checking that out in the coming weeks.
"This huge role-playing book includes all the info you need to get started and have a blast with your friends. A smarter skill system, improved classes, and streamlines combat systems highlight the list of gameplay to explore. Gorgeous art and smart, revised design ideas fill the pages, but everything is compatible with the old D&D 3.5 edition rules through only minor alterations. If you're ready for something new, don't miss out on 4th edition D&D. but if dramatic changes to your role-playing hobby terrify you. Pathfinder should be right up your alley."
I know that there is a pretty good following to Pathfinder and this should help the cause. I also wanted to mention Savage Worlds just released the fantasy companion to the Savage Worlds rule set. I am looking forward to checking that out in the coming weeks.
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