Bardach's page

Thanks for listening - additional pictures are very useful. Any chance of adding additional images for some of the existing packs? There are a few I am considering purchasing as PDF's with the Holiday discount but lack enough information.

WotC also suported the hobbyand expanded on what TSR did with volunteers, etc. but then Hasbro appeared. MtG was not the prime reason, WoTC had got the licences for Pokemon and that is when Hasbro stepped in.
The launch of Pokemon in the UK was after the states and I was in the WoTC offices in Reading when one of the first big post launch events was being planned. The two marketing staff were briefed and then went off, I sat opposite one of them as she picked up a phone, called an outside marketing firm and got them to do everything. A month or so later the event was held and the same person went from that event, with a bonus check and got a sports car.
The volunteers, who had supported TSR and WoTC up to then, repeatedly asked for some basic sets to teach people the game. We were repeatedly refused so a large number of the kids were never even shown how to play the game and a chance to draw them into the hobby was lost - they just collected the cards.
What made this more annoying was when I saw inside a WotC warehouse their damaged goods section, I discovered cartons ful of the original sets that had been returned and replaced because "the rare card" packed with each set was reported missing. Enough written off stock was there to have given all the RPGA and MtG volunteers in the UK several sets each.
I ran the schools RPG competition for WotC/Hasbro that first year and it was when I went to set up a mail account to send out the intial packs to schools theat the then UK WotC/Hasbro staff discovered that these existed. Large mailings went to an outside company and someone went to the post office for everything else. After I intervened they had franking machines and bulk posting discounts.
Hasbro may have brought in a more effective and business like approach but they did not understand the hobby. They isolated a lot of their volunteer support - in the UK I still see a lot of the same RPGA UK people supporting the hobby but not for WotC/Hasbro. They did the same with WotC and TSR brands as with many others they took over - narrowed their focus. Now this can be good but it also places everything on one product. Out went a lot of WotC products that had had a lot of development spent on them. Roleplaying would be D&D only, Magic and Pokemon were the card games and everything else went. We have not got as bad as the Monopoly brand where all other boards games went from the company and they simply produce an endless set of variations on the game - nothing new to generate interest.
Hasbro may have a better commercial organisation but have the streamlined out any inititive to move things forward or inovate. When they brought out 4th Ed they cut all support for previous editions. Trouble was they had cut their control on D&D with the Open Games Licence which allowed others, with a better understanding of the hobby, to prosper by carrying 3.5 on into Arcanis and then hugely into Pathfinder. One of the last things I said to WotC/Hasbro manager before I stepped back from my links was "are you sure an open licence is a good idea, what happens if someone makes better use of it then WotC?".

btw I have no commercial background or training, when I showed WotC how to use mail accounts I was a school teacher!!

TSR actually promoted the hobby and diversity. The problem was those at the top at the end screwed up badly. 2 products had a lot to do with it but only because no one checked the figures.
The produced the set of spell, etc. encyclopedias which were well liked and sold quite well - problem was at a very late stage someone decided that these would look really cool if they looked leather bound and issued an order that they would be, without checking the costs so they ended up with a product which I believe made virtually no money, and if unsold stock was factored in a loss.
Dragon Dice and appalling financial control dealt the death blow. Dragon Dice was a huge success when it launched. So much so that the launch date outside the US was not going to happen because all the product was going straight into the US market. This when three fatal mistakes were made:
1. a second manufacturer was brought on line with out checking the figures properly, new manufacturer was much more expensive and the profit margin dissapeared.
2. the first expansion was released but mistakes in the packing and distribution meant that all the rare 3 point unit dice ended up in europe and the 2 point uncommon in the states making the new race unplayable.
3. and most fatal of all, a huge deal had been done to get all TSR product into book shops. Huge sums came in from this and were gleefully taken in bonuses, spent on fancy covers for books, etc. Trouble was the deal was sale and return. No one checked what was happening, kept back money or saw that the support given to the products in the traditional game store was put in place. A year later the book shops sent back their returns - which is when TSR discovered that most of the product (including enough dragon dice to have launched Europe without the expensive second factory)had not sold and had just sat on shelves. TSR had no money refund the amount required so enter WoTC.

Atarlost, I agree with you in principle.

There were a host of products, including a cardboard spinny-wheel in DRAGON, that attempted to make that data easier to use.

But yes, there should sensibly be space restrictions for big swinging weapons. When you're exploring a tight sewer tunnel, you should be able to fight with a spear but not a sweeping greatsword.

They also produced a plastic version for fighters (originally there was to be a fighting wheel for each class) combining all the tables - trouble was it took at least as long to use as just checking the tables. They sold so well that years later they gave a bunch of them away at a con - no one wanted them for the game but tried using them as frisbees. Trouble was they were so thin that when they came towards you it was difficult to see them ... and the edge was surprisingly sharp.

One DM wanting to run a new Cthulhu campaign had us generate characters without being allowed to discuss this with each other as we would not know each other until we met.

Week 1: all the characters were independently at a function in a hotel. We were supposed to meet each other (and would then learn about each other as the campaign progressed). After 3 hours the DM had never managed to get two characters together at one time.

Week 2: DM: you have all been summoned to this meeting to do a job for ####. Describe your characters and abilities and then I'll read the intro...

Bardach wrote:

Playing in a 2nd ed. mod we came across a statue near the entrance.

Statue was actually a stone golem with instructions to attack any one who damaged it or attempted to pass through a door.
Being suspicious we put a bag over its head without damaging it.

Thing was it was max. size bag of holding which we then took up a nearby hill to a 300ft cliff and then shook the bag out.

The DM's face was a picture....

Yeah - just because it can hold as much material as the golem doesn't mean that it can fit the golem through the bag opening.

2nd ed TSR module, not a bestiary golem. It was specifically described as life sized statue of a attractive slim female. Not that you would normally want to pull a 2ft wide sack over an attractive slim female - but you could.

We had ended up on the wrong largely uninhabited continent, searching for a way back. While on watch one night DM informed the character that he saw a falling star. Character remembered a legend that you could wish on seeing a falling star:

DM: You see a falling star, what do you do?

Bogey: I wish for a pie and a pint.

Bogey enjoyed his pie and pint, and we spent several weeks exploring before taking the DM's next plot hook to get home.

SKR's final word in that thread was

So, short answer: if something gives you a natural attack, it gives you a natural attack (whether that's primary or secondary is built into the attack, just as a claw or bite is always primary and a tentacle or hoof is always secondary), and your chosen attack sequence may change whether you use your full BAB or use the –5 for it being in addition to manufactured weapons or other primary attacks.

Note the section in bold - prehensile hair is specified as Secondary.