Dad, Husband, President of Atlas Games®, plastics novice, amateur woodworker, etc. he/him. https://t.co/hOpWm4Ppz1, https://t.co/n12x3Bm7IC
Jan 12, 2023 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
We somehow have passed into an age in which the scribes of The New Republic weigh in upon the licensing minutiae of the roleplaying game industry.
I mean, uh, wtf.
newrepublic.com/article/169978…
This is a section in an article in the magazine where my Dad used to read arguments about Reaganomics and the Iran-Contra scandal.
Jan 12, 2023 • 30 tweets • 7 min read
Thoughts from @elektrotal are always valuable. I think this is the pattern from history. But is it the same today? Why might it be different? I'm quote-tweeting because he set me off thinking in a different direction. Not sure if it's the right direction.
I've been an RPG industry pro since 1986; started my own company in 1990, @atlasgames. We've survived quite a few industry extinction events, and have managed to pull through while also seeing many friends and colleagues not make it. While I started as a writer, more of my career
Jan 11, 2023 • 6 tweets • 3 min read
Another must-read missive from @doctorow (even if I disagree on the margins)
@doctorow The margin where I disagree with the EFF article has to do with the historical context of the OGL and its role in sidestepping what were clearly open legal questions at the time it was put forward. Longer thread of mine:
Another thing to remember about the #OGL is how I think it was shaped by two events of the 1990s.
First was the start of Wizards of the Coast. The Primal Order, their first product, resulted in a lawsuit from Palladium Games because they included conversion appendixes for a
variety of RPG systems. (TPO was a "capsystem" product meant to be added on your game of choice.) This is exactly the sort of thing that people are now claiming is obviously fair use. It was not so obvious, as Wizards well knew!
Jan 11, 2023 • 10 tweets • 3 min read
This EFF article making the rounds is well worth reading, but I think it has some significant shortcomings in understanding the #OGL and its role in RPG publishing. eff.org/deeplinks/2023… via @eff
I think it missed the boat on understanding the role of both Product Identity and Open Game Content. The original D&D 3.0 SRD contained ZERO product identity. Designating it ALL as OGC meant that no one had to parse the legal minutiae of "is this specific thing protected by
Jan 10, 2023 • 31 tweets • 6 min read
Since people are having fun with speculation, let us suppose that @Wizards_DnD has the ability to unilaterally declare "This agreement is, along with the OGL: Commercial, an update to the previously
available OGL 1.0(a), which is no longer an authorized license agreement."
One interpretation is that this is declaring that WotC is no longer releasing material under the OGL1.0a, and will henceforth use this new license. But they want to evade paragraph 9 of the 1.0a, which reads "You may use any authorized version of this License to copy, modify and
Jul 22, 2021 • 38 tweets • 7 min read
Hey, the new EU rules for imports are a big headache. We have to deal with them as a publisher sending our own stuff (including mail orders and Kickstarter rewards); and we also have done worldwide fulfillment for a number of other companies. We've spent a lot of time looking at
all our options, and I just sent out a long message to our staff and clients, and thought I might just share it on Twitter in case it is of value for other industry colleagues.
Jun 17, 2021 • 17 tweets • 3 min read
Ugh. Seems like the freight apocalypse is only getting worse.
We are warned by our account manager about driver shortages & delays, such as: "Chicago BN (LPC) has 7,500+ containers available yet still sitting at the rail, they will not move additional containers to “available” until those sitting are picked up"
May 21, 2021 • 20 tweets • 4 min read
I received an email from Grizzly Industrial about how they were raising prices on various woodworking tools and why they needed to, and it got me thinking about the same with respect to board games and RPGs.
The main driver is shipping costs. In late 2019 we were quoted a port-to-door price of about $3000 for a 40-foot shipping container from China to Duluth. When we first booked the shipping container for Dice Miner -- in December -- the price to our door was something like $7,200.
Apr 4, 2021 • 26 tweets • 5 min read
As EU backers continue not to like paying for shipping and tax, I thought I'd do a little exercise to check my own sanity on numbers for Gloomier. At this point in time, we have 212 backers in all EU countries combined. (This puts the EU in the aggregate as #3 behind US, GB, CA.)
In comparison we have 442 UK backers, so post-Brexit our EU market is less than 1/3 the size it was, which has a big impact on logistics, as everyone who suddenly found customs bills accompanying packages between UK and EU in January has learned.
Apr 3, 2021 • 7 tweets • 2 min read
I love the art of Godsforge and there is a funny story about @KylaMcT and @boymonster that goes with it.
Kyla was looking for someone to illustrate Godsforge, and Cam recommended an artist that he had worked with before. So Kyla looked him up on Google and saw examples of his work, which was super distinctive and a striking visual direction for the game. She reached out by e-mail to
Jun 19, 2018 • 8 tweets • 2 min read
Wow, there are morons trying to start a "DNDgate" thing. With complaints about "attempted SJW entryism of non-gamers into positions of influence over the hobby". What year is this? How long have I been in this industry...working alongside women, POC, trans...? Oh yeah 30+ years.
I've been a pro in this field longer than some of these whining fanboy manbabies have been alive, and they're complaining about the people taking "positions of influence" trying to do things like increase the diversity of representation in games like it's something new.
