Critical Failure: WotC Employed Toxic Harassers As Consultants On New D&D

Last week, I cast a spotlight on the newest edition of Dungeons & Dragons and praised the Player's Handbook for taking the bold step to have inclusive language on gender and orientation right in the handbook. I heralded it as a great step forward and said "Kudos to WotC."

I take it all back.



The blog Fail Forward details how beneath the positive press for its inclusive language, the latest edition of D&D also counts among it consultants two men that have a long history of engaging in harassment, homophobic and transphobic behavior: RPGPundit and Zak S.

Seeing their names there in black and white was just too much, and people began to speak out. Most did so in private, others posted publicly but without naming names. This, I became aware, was because anyone who criticized the pair found themselves subjected to harassment, abuse and real world stalking... This is where Zak excels. He has in the past posted lists of people who he feels have displeased him in some way, complete with their real names. Those people then lists find themselves subjected to sustained campaigns of harassment.
...
While this behavior is alarming, it the choice of victim that is the most telling. These attacks nearly always target women and LGTBQ individuals, mostly freelancers and independent designers. Zak and Pundit have taken pains to defend themselves against accusations of transphobia, but I know several trans people who their fans have attacked and harassed. Zak described one of them as ‘mentally ill’, both he and Pundit told others they would be better off committing suicide. Recently, in a post defending Zak and accusing his detractors of misogyny, his girlfriend attempted to out a trans designer.

The anonymous tumblr Problematic Tabletop started cataloging some of their more public behavior. Fresh waves of hate mail forced designers to delete and hide social media accounts to escape. At the same time Zak put his setting book on sale, using promotional quotes consisting of people calling out his behaviour. This was not unusual, Zak’s business model revolves around publicly being a jerk. He is, quite literally, a career bully. 

Eventually, Mike Mearls, the lead designer of the newest edition of D&D, asked for people to come to him privately with any stories of harassment on the part of Zak S. and the RPGPundit had engaged in. Days later, Mike Mearls said that he considered of the claims didn't matter, because he couldn't find any evidence of either man using explicit slurs, so the matter was closed as far as he was concerned.

 Meanwhile, Zak was publicly speaking on Mearls’ behalf, saying that WOTC had found the claims against him to be baseless. Those who sent Mearls information began to panic, had he just shared their complaints with their harasser? Mearls responded that he had told Zak the claims were baseless, but hadn’t shared any names or details with him. Nevertheless they were not pleased, nor did they feel safe. Why had Mearls consulted with Zak before replying to them? Why was it more important to re-assure Zak he was in the clear than respond to allegations of harassment? Mearls again replied, saying that he was not taking the accusations seriously because some of the people stating them were members of the Something Awful forums... Meanwhile, The RPG Site, operated by someone Mearls hired as a consultant, currently contains such topics as: “Bruce Baugh can go fuck himself with a rusty spoon”, “Why I dislike feminism” and a thread defending the use of the word ‘Jap’ in WW2 settings...  

In investigating this story I heard the same tales over and over again. The RPG community is small enough that almost every woman, person of colour or LGTBQ individual seems to have had a run in with Zak or Pundit. The only reason I hadn’t heard about this before is because they are too afraid to speak out. Discussions happen in private, or with the names left out, because both Zak and Pundit are infamous for googling their own names and attacking their critics. Zak even now tries to portray these allegations as prudish conservatives out to smear him due to his involvement in pornography. Yet for that to be true almost every marginalised voice in the RPG community would need to be part of a secret right wing conspiracy. At a certain point you have to accept that that is implausible.

WotC has not made a public statement on the matter. All communication has been through private emails and a now-deleted G+ discussion. It's been nearly a month since this brought to light. WotC has been content to soak up praise and admiration for using inclusive language, but wants to dodge responsibility for using two poisonous people as consultants for that same new edition of D&D.

You don't get to have it both ways. Inclusive language has to accompany inclusive behavior-- otherwise, you're doing nothing but paying lip service with empty words.

Shape up, WotC.

RPGX at A-Kon 2008 in Dallas This Weekend

Just a reminder—you can meet members of the RPGX crew at the A-Kon anime convention in Dallas from May 31 to June 1st.

I’ll be wandering the convention on Saturday and Sunday in-between interviewing people, or setting up interviews, or taking notes at a panel. I’ll be waering a plain-white T shirt with the RPGX logo on the front.

Fellow RPGX member (and former roomie) Wraith should be haunting the tabletop gaming area and should be playing in two Palladium Robotech games run by an area Megaversal Ambassador.

My wife is returning to the Dealer’s Room, once again running her Green Dragon Candles ‘n’ More booth, selling scented candles & incense .

Other RPGXers, check in! Any other site fans, are you going to be there? Maybe we could organize some sort of meetup?

Scenes From a D&D Barbarian Campaign

So, my character, Par Vaartal The Dark, is a barbarian originally from the frozen north. The current campaign has the group of barbarian PCs plucked from around the world and dumped in a strange, almost tropical forest and plains. So, in addition to initial communication difficulties, there is also the geographical unfamiliarities.

Michelle's character, Dru, is a fierce warrior as well. The group was just jumped by a horde of Kobolds, and through a hard-fought battle, use of the death's door rule (where if you're healed quickly enough after your hit points drop below zero, you don't die), and our groups SOLE shaman healer, Par Vaartal is taken from near death to a whopping 3 hit points.

Dru wants to help. She is not a healer. She knows just enough to realize that the healer can't make another healing check unless there is a fresh wound to be healed. Dru approaches Par, and says "Do you trust me?"

Par nos, "Yes, of course!"

... only to be poked by Dru a second later with her dagger; after all, if she can make a tiny wound, then the healer can heal that, and perhaps gain Par a few more HP...

... and ends up doing maximum damage with her dagger: 4 points. PLUS her strength bonus.

So, of course, Par was a little leery of her when ever he saw her dagger.

In another irony, the healer used the last of her healing herbs.... and brought Par Vaartal back up to positive hit points.

TWO hit points total. So it was a net loss. ;)

But also one of the funniest moments in any campaign.

A Great resource for DMs: Gnome Stew

Wanted to give a little link-love to a site I discovered last week. It's called Gnome Stew.

It's a game mastering blog, written by GMs, for GMs. With 10 authors, Gnome Stew delivers system-neutral and system-specific content for game masters.

Here's a bit from a great recent article, 12 Ways To Use Google Apps at the Game Table:

Personally, I think Google Docs is one of the most powerful and useful applications that Google offers. It’s a basic word processor, spreadsheet and presentation program, but with the ability to share documents and have users edit them simultaneously and collaboratively. For instance, one of the simplest ways to use Docs is as a character sheet. Once it’s done, have your players share the character sheet with you and the other players. That way you can always access the most recent version of their characters. Now you can check their current Spot and Listen checks and don’t need to keep pestering them to update the hard copy that’s perpetually two levels behind. If one of your players misses a game, your group has a copy of their character ready to play.

Along a similar vein, you can share hireling and party NPCs among your group so that anyone can pop the sheet open and start running them.

Some more advanced usage might be to keep a collaborative party log. Nobody likes keeping a log, so let your players share the work. Changes to the document are shown in other people’s open documents nearly instantly, so when Suzie types in “Met Orc King,” John can update that to include the King’s name, and you can correct the spelling.

Loot tracking is another task that is sometimes viewed as tedious. A shared party loot tracking spreadsheet can share the load, and prevent the rogue from skimming off the top. (Sure, that’s in character. Jerk.)

If you’re busy (or lazy) you can create a house rules document but make your players do the work of entering the questions, changes and clarifications when they come up at the table.

Stat Shot: More Home-made D&D Characters

Partially as a reminder for tomorrow night's D&D game my wife is co-running, and partially so I can gauge interest in more homebrewed stuff, here is a quick and dirty info sheet on the character I'll be playing this Friday: a Faerie Dragon Mage.

Character: Jareth Q(uincy) F(aerie) Dragon
Class: Mage
Level: 5
Align: CG
Racial Advantages: As per Faerie Dragon PC write-up
Racial Disadvantages: As per Faerie Dragon PC write-up
ALT USE OF EXPXP /PENALTIES: One Clerical Spell, 1st Level (Cure Minor): 10%, Being a Faerie Dragon: 15%= 25% XP penalty
Advantages:
Bonus Spells, Any School (15 points), Improved Hit Die [d6] (10 Points), 4 Extra non-weapon proficiencies (4 points)
Disadvantages:
Allergy, apples [SEVERE] (8 pts); Behavior: Must Reciprocate or Repay Gifts (2 pts); Forbidden from Using Spell Under The Necromancy School (5 pts), Phobia, Undead [Severe](14pts)
Jareth was always a quiet and studious faerie dragon, rather shy and bookish for his kind, viewed as something of an oddball for his allergy to apples. He also turned out to be born with an unusually keen intellect (INT of 20), and wanted to know what made magic MAGIC. He dotes on his younger sister, Teedra, and encourages her to always excel in her magical studies. He also spoils her rotten (at least, as rotten as a Faerie Dragon can get), continually sending her all sorts of exotic bananas and banana-related desserts.
While Jareth doesn't need to wear spectacles to correct his vision, he dwears them because he feels they lend him an air of authority (or, in one case, are a minor magical relic). His guiding purpose in life is to study magic thoroughly enough to unlock the secret to becoming a Chosen of Mystra, goddess of Magic.
Jareth loves bananas, especially banana pie. Despite his academic nature, his devotion to magical studies, and his large vocabulary, he does have a typical faerie dragon prankster's streak within him that occasionally manifests itself in harmless cantrips (like the time he made a stuffy knight nearly beside herself by daily changing the color of her horse's mane for one week straight). Unlike most faerie dragons, Jareth tends to keep his scales one color-- a royal purple.
NWPs: Arcanology; Sage Knowledge: Cartography; Alchemy; Read/Write; Spellcraft; Religion; Heraldry; Fire building; Cooking; Direction Sense; Hypnotism; Languages: Common, Elven, Dwarvish, Draconic

Dungeons & Doggerel 2: Electric Bugaloo

Remember my previous post detailing spell poems I wrote for my 2nd Edition D&D Bard?

Reader R^2 has contributed a few more! here they are:

Time Stop--
For this spell all the Mythal is beckoned
And the power of aracnists reckoned
All reality twists
While this spell exists,
But it's Time Stop, so I've got second.

Prismatic Sphere--
If you're as dangerous as you appear,
I'll defend with a Prismatic Sphere.
You've got seven dispels
Before this ward is quelled
While you do that, I'll go get a beer.

Power Word, Kill--
I've patiently waited until
your health dropped below 60. Now we'll
Allow no saving throw
'Cuz when it comes, you go;
That's what I mean by "Power Word Kill"

Gate--
The gods themselves laugh and chortle
At reality at the whim of mortals
Let's pop open this Gate
To see if we can relate
Because now, we're thinking with portals

Dungeons And Dragons Special Martial Arts

In the aforementioned houseruled 2nd edition Advanced Dungeons and Dragons games my gaming group runs, players are continually encouraged to come up with new or unique ways of doing things with one's character. One of my characters, a half-dragon thief/martial artist, has a few maneuvers I've created that may be of interest to anyone that used martial arts in either 2nd AD&D or the Oriental Adventures handbook setting.

Long Talon Heart Strike:
Forgoing all other attacks for the round, on a successful hit with this maneuver, the opponent struck will take no damage. However, once the opponent has moved a total of 15 feet (or ten feet if the opponent is size Small or smaller), they must immediately make a saving throw vs. Death Magic. A successful save means the opponent is stunned for 1d2 rounds. A failed save means that the opponent falls, instantly dead.

The Long Talon Heart Strike may only be attempted once on an opponent. If the opponent's save is successful, then it is immune to the attack forever after. This attack will automatically fail if used against undead.

Heart of The Dragon Kata:
Once/day the martial artist may apply half of their level (or level of Martial Artist, if they are multi-classed) as a bonus to one's Strength score. This bonus lasts only one round.

Relentless Midnight Kata:
Once/day, if the Martial Artist has been wounded to half or more of one's maximum hit points, the Martial Artist may spend one melee attack to gain temporary hit points equal to four times the Martial Artist's level. These hit points are temporary, lasting for 1d6 rounds, and the martial artist will suffer damage at the end of the 1d6 duration if healing has not been performed.

Remembering Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons

Last week, Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons, the grandfather of tabletop roleplaying games, passed away at the age of 69.

On a personal level, news of his passing made me very sad. I had hoped to meet him at GenCon some day, shake his hand, and thank him for creating a product that had such a profound impact on not just the person I am today, but the writer I strove to become. The house I live in now, with the friends I have down here in Texas, I would not have if it was not for D&D. My work with RPGX? A fellow D&D player in our gaming group introduced me to RPGX's head honcho. One of my best friends, a man who became ordained just so he could be the one to officiate at my wedding was someone I first got to know via a few sessions where he ran some amazing Dungeons and Dragons games.

Tributes have been pouring in from all over the 'net in ways personal, profound, profane, hilarious, and heart-warming.

Here's a run down of some of the best tributes:

Web comics:

• The Order of the Stick
• Penny Arcade
• Full Frontal Nerdity
• XKCD
• Dork Tower
  

Online Communities:

• Metafilter
  
• RPGX.org
• RPG.net
• Gary Gygax Facts
• Worst Forums Ever

Also of note are three illuminatingt looks at Gygax: a cute interview with Gygax from 2001,
and video of Gygax reflecting upon the influence of D&D in the movie Uber Goober: A Film About Gamers, and an article about Gygax from The Believer published September 2006.

Every tabletop or fantasy gamer owes this man a debt of gratitude. I'd say if you're a nerd of any stripe, you probably have a memory of your first encounter with Dungeons and Dragons.

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