Welcome Back to the Labyrinth

"We have been away far too long, my friends," Ashoka declared, his face lit by the eldritch green glow of his staff. "But we have finally returned to the labyrinth whence our adventures first began."

"Just imagine the treasures that lie within," said Yun Tai, flexing his mighty muscles. "Wealth enough to live in luxury the rest of our days."

"And arcane artifacts of great power," added Ashoka his words dripping with avarice. "All ours for the taking!"

"Umm...guys?" Nysa interrupted. "Do you hear something dripping?"

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Dilbert on OSR Publishing

This Dilbert cartoon in yesterday's paper really made me laugh.  How many times have I gotten half way through a project only to have someone else publish the same thing?  There is truly no such thing as a new idea.

9 comments:

Trey said...

So true. I think the problem is a lot of time there's a growing zeitgeist with ideas, and it's a race to see who happens to pounce first.

John Matthew Stater said...

Publish anyways. Your versions will be slightly different from the other versions, and might be just what somebody else is looking for.

Sean Robson said...

@Trey: I think this is very true; it seems almost as if the OSR community produces a group gestalt upon which we all derive inspiration. So it should come as no surprise that certain ideas reach a critical mass and have simultaneous birthings.

@Matt: I'm sure you're right. For the last couple of years I've been working on a Sword & Sorcery RPG, and then Crypts & Things came along, making it unnecessary. My own game is a labour of love, however; it's D&D the way I've always wanted to play it, and I'll probably publish it for no other reason than that.

Greyhawk Knight said...

When I read that strip my initial reaction was to jump to the comments and post "So true!"

Then I read Trey's comment. So even my comments have been created before...

Sean Robson said...

To quote the oft-used phrase from Battlestar Galactica: "all of this has happened before, and will happen again." :)

At least we can take solace in the fact that the OSR will likely never become as derivative and creatively bankrupt as, say, Hollywood. Recent advertisements for a Three Stooges movie made me shudder. Not content to endlessly remake old movies, they're now stooping to remake old actors? Really?

Anonymous said...

"To quote the oft-used phrase from Battlestar Galactica: "all of this has happened before, and will happen again." "
That quote is not from Battlestar Galactica. It's from the "gritty" remake.

Sean Robson said...

I suppose that's a matter of opinion.

What you consider to be the 'real' Battlestar Galactica' I consider to be a cheesy Star Wars rip-off, while the remake is the socially relevant drama that Glen A. Larson had always intended Battlestar to be.

Gothridge Manor said...

hehe, yeah might as well give it go. Sometimes you just never know what will be successful. And I only know one person who relies on publishing games as their livelihood. Most of us do it to do it.

Sean Robson said...

@Tim: I've been wondering, lately, if the day of the professional game designer is done. There are so many high-quality products coming from hobby publishers these days; some of the best stuff I've bought in years have come from the OSR community and it outstrips much of the professional material. Will we see the gaming industry return to its roots as home-based hobby businesses?