As I was idly wasting time online, I wondered about my Slumbering Tsar subscription. I went to the Necromancer Games messages board and found the Release schedule for ST thread.
However, the conversion schedule is about to hit a snag. First let me reassure that all of ST including the big book at the end will be coming out, it is done, it is NOT vaporware, but we may not be able to meet our one-a-month guesstimate that we made last summer. I know I said we were still shooting for this a week ago, but the limited FGG resources are getting retasked for the moment…for a good thing, but admittedly not likely to make our loyal ST subscribers happy. For this I apologize. – Greg A. Vaughan [1]
I still remember the Razor Coast delays. (I got a refund.) Having ordered both The Complete Tome of Horrors and Slumbering Tsar, I don’t feel too good. The sad thing is that the lesson I should be learning here is that I should not pre-order. Unfortunately the reality appears to be that small companies are unable to take financial risks and therefore are unwilling to bet on their products, relying on pre-orders instead.
June 1 is when the pre-ordering for the Swords & Wizardry Tome of Horrors will be ending, and it’s a somewhat important deadline because not very many additional books are going to get printed. – Matt Finch [2]
In addition to that, I find myself unwilling to spend a lot of money for role-playing game products as I realize how little material I actually read and use – even though I play around ten times every month.
I really need to find a way to disconnect from the market: Not read press releases, not read blog posts eagerly awaiting this product or that, not read forum threads where all the excitement is building.
Strange, that. I used to be proud of myself for having disconnected my television from the networks. No more ads, no more endless zapping, no more longing for useless stuff. And now I find that the web is exhibiting similar properties, except it’s all hidden in social media. Excitement building on Twitter and the blogs, product information reaching me via forums and Facebook, endless zapping on my feed reader, the regular shopping experience in bookstores and malls has been replaced an endless stream of subscriptions, fanzines, eBay purchases, Amazon buys and small-press preorders coming in at an indigestible rate.
Stuff I pre-ordered and now I feel like I should not have done it because I have the D&D 3.5 Monster Manuals I–V and I don’t think I’m going to run Pathfinder or an adventure path any time soon:
Stuff I am subscribed to even though I feel I should cancel:
I’m falling behind in reading the books and I’m not running a Pathfinder game and I have difficulty imagining a way of integrating the adventures into my D&D 3.5 or Labyrinth Lord sandbox – and currently I feel that running a Sandbox is my preferred mode of play.
Stuff I managed to cancel reluctantly because I figured that sticking to Fight On ought to be magazine enough:
Stuff I bought even though I wasn’t sure I needed it since I’m not running a Pathfinder game:
Stuff I managed to avoid even though I was tempted:
Stuff I managed to avoid even though I am still tempted:
I guess writing this list and linking all the stuff was a bit of a penance. Now I feel bad for tempting you, gentle reader.
Tags: RPG
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