Layoffs at Wizards of the Coast R&D Dept.

If you haven't heard, Wizards of the Coast has laid off several of their creative/R&D staff--among the departures is Bill Slavicseck, head of the dept. From the posts I've read, it's not yet clear if he left of his own accord or not. He's married to Michelle Carter, another designer who was laid off. So he may have simply left in solidarity.

In any case, this is huge news--whether you enjoy D&D 4E or not. On the one hand, there's speculation that there's a re-evaluation of the older editions and what made them so popular (and therby, what led to the attrition of older players from the new ruleset). On the other hand, there's the rumor that Hasbro is really putting D&D on the path to boardgame-dom.

Now, I'm a fan of D&D translated into board games--for their own sake. But it's primary purpose is as a role-playing game. You may say to yourself, "I don't care about 4E" but the truth is that Wizards is the Big Kahuna when it comes to publishing RPGs and there's just no getting around the fact that this will have ripples throughout the industry.

I also wonder if any of this is fall out from Wizards losing the Star Wars license or their decision to drop their pre-painted plastic miniatures line. In the last year, Hasbro also stopped producing the popular Heroscape miniatures strategy game. And let's not forget that Wizards had already stopped supporting their OWN miniatures game rules before that.

I guess we'll have to wait and see what Wizards does next and how it will effect the rest of the RPG community--for better or worse. (Let's hope, for the eventual better!)


Rumors and speculation at the Acaeum
Props to Chuck over at Design Notes for the heads up

Land for Gygax Memorial Approved

So it appears that the Great One will in fact get his statue--whatever shape it may take--in Donian Park in Lake Geneva, WI. From the memorial's website:

Here's a section of the City of Lake Geneva Board of Park Commissioners meeting minutes from Janurary 5th, 2011:

Gygax Memorial-

Library Park was added to the application so that it reads both Donian Park and Library Park as a potential place for a monument. The design would include a castle turret with a bust on top and possibly have a dragon wrapped around the turret. A motion was made by the Mayor to approve the site in Donian Park, south of the walkway, on the southeast corner of Mill Creek. The footprint is not to exceed 10 feet by 10 feet. This was seconded by Phillips. Added to the motion was that Gygax should bring a detailed map to bring to the Council as well as a detailed statue design to come back to the Park Board for approval. Motion passed unanimously.

Location and design are still TBD, but this is a pretty big milestone (no pun intended). I've yet to locate the park on a city map--everything so far seems to lead to a generic map of the city. I did however find this video by Gail Gygax with what looks to be a design for the memorial once this step of getting the space approved was completed. Curiously she also references plans for future game projects. I have no idea if this has already been bandied about the interwebs (I'm sure it has) but it was new to me.


Anyway, what do you think of the plans?


Full details.
Props to Boing Boing

Back From Toronto: Tales of the Silver Snail!

I'm glad to be home from Toronto--not that I didn't like the trip--but it did feel like a long week because of work. I had one morning to roam the city (on foot) before my flight out and stumbled upon the Silver Snail on Queen Street, which was a great treat to find. The outside is covered in huge super hero murals!

The inside is filled with all kinds of goodness: comics, action figures (LOTS of figures) and the upstairs is stocked with games/RPGs. It leans more towards the comic fanboy than the gamer fanboy, but I'm equal parts, so it was a welcome discovery. And then there was this little lady guarding the comics....

Great fun!

Regular posting to resume shortly. :)

No more A's, Just XPs please!

A professor at Indiana University has replaced the grading system with experience points!

Students commenced the program as avatars at level one, which corresponded to zero XP and a grade of 'F'. They gained XP by completing 'quests', 'fighting monsters' and 'crafting'-- in other words, giving presentations, sitting quizzes and exams, and handing in projects.

Personally, I think it's a neat idea. Feel free to discuss your thoughts in the comments.

Full story...