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The Long Way Home

2016-05-29T04:47:43Z

2601:1C0:4B00:7BEB:D8C9:8646:19EA:AFD0:

{{story}}
It wasn't until dawn that Tarlassiel stopped running. Collapsing at the bottom of a shrub-covered ravine, he looked up at the sky, considering the situation he was in. How did it all go so wrong?

It had started with the casino. The lawless human border town of New Kersh, here on the eastern edges of the south continent, had the most interesting games Tarlassiel had encountered in his 120 years of life. It was exquisite. Dice of different sides, shapes, sizes. Card games of almost infinite complexity, with combinations of potential winning hands numbering in the tens of thousands. Roulettes, hand crafted by lizard artisans. Bets on everything: gladiator games, clockwork beetle races, Sergal eating contests. Probability elementals summoned by an unassuming Faestir calculatrix watched over the games, ensuring cheaters were dealt with. Tarlassiel didn't cheat. Perhaps he should have.

It had started innocently enough, him playing a simple dice game and winning a modest sum. Then that smiling, tan-skinned human dancer girl with the husky voice suggested he have some more dwarven ale, and led him to a table where a game of Yoshuri was being played, a gnoll croupier smiling silently at the attentive crowd. Tarlassiel bet. Then lost. Then bet again, with higher stakes this time. And lost again. And so, as midnight approached, he had lost his entire allowance, a considerable sum; he was, after all the son of Dutchess Kryleira, ruler of the more prosperous Drow city of Ilshum.

With sobriety came the realization of what he'd done. He borrowed money from a Dwarf, and lost that too. Returning to the stout, bearded figure, his prepared apologies were ignored, and two Sergal enforcers stepped up. The Dwarf was Eberhard Axehandle, apparently a notorious figure in these lands. Telrassiel smacked his face with his palm and groaned. How had he managed to become indebted to a gangster?

He had ran, then. And only now, as the dawn lit up the unfamiliar forest around him, had he stopped to look around. Where had his flight taken him? The trees were vast, moss-covered and silent, like temple arches. The ground, covered in mulch and leaves.

His ears twitched. Voices! Were they coming after him? He stood up, brushing himself off, and drew his blade. They wouldn't take him unprepared!

The voices grew louder. Telrassiel's keen hearing allowed him to form an image of a group approaching, the noises they made making their path evident. They were moving in a slow, leisurely pace. Not like a hunting party. He strained to listen.

"Look, all I'm saying is, we shouldn't have listened to that toothless old fart in the inn! He was obviously insane, and now we're going off into Asu knows where in order to find... a heap of rocks?" A shrill, human male voice.
"That heap of rocks is the key to the home to the creators of my race. I cannot ignore information about such things, regardless of the trustworthiness of their source." A deep, resolute voice, as if carving the words into the air. An elderly Faestir .
"I don't know about you guys, but I love it here! The trees, the grass... It reminds me of home!" Soft barks. That must be one of those sentient dog-men Telrassiel had encountered during his visit to Solaris. He relaxed. These were adventurers, a party journeying through the woods. He sheathed his blade, and walked towards them, confidently, with arms outstretched in a gesture of peace. Already rehearsing a sob story about how a Drow prince managed to find himself two continents away from home with no money, he smiled as the party came into view.

They would be his ticket out of here.

...They had been walking for hours, twisting paths taking them deeper into this forest, somewhere along the easternmost coast of Lindwurm. Telrassiel noted his exhaustion, his frantic run from New Kersh and this march with his new traveling companions into the wilderness were taking their toll on his feet. But he took pride in not complaining or slowing down. He walked tall, hands in his pockets, looking around at his surroundings...

THWACK! The flat end of a broad halberd struck him in the back of his head. He swore, and looked back to see the elongated, vicious-looking head of the party's Sergal warrior, Udmyn. He had his tongue out, like a dog.

"Eyes on the path, darkelf. And pay attention to what you're doing, this isn't a stroll in the park. Weapon out, space 7 paces, scan the surround, silence your steps. Understand?" He hissed at Tar with a dry, desert accent. The drow turned away from the Sergal's face, his breath smelling of raw meat and blood. "I understand." "Good," the reply came, "Then I won't have to remind you again. Walk like you just did, and the next time you get whacked in the head, it'll be the business end of my spear." The Sergal licked his lips and moved away silently, crouching. Tarlassiel rubbed his head and swore again, quietly this time. He walked with caution now, weapon drawn and ears attentive to the soundscape around him.

As he listened and scanned his surroundings, he realized how different the forest was compared to what he had entered in the morning. It was much quieter, and the trees were older. The ground was damp and mossy. No birds sang now.

Suddenly, they stopped. Rhyn, the small, energetic corgi ranger who scouted ahead of the group, had halted abruptly and was motioning to the rest of the party. Tar approached with the rest, looking at where Rhyn was pointing.

It was a trail. A depression in the mossy ground, as if someone had dragged a heavy sack across it. Tarlassiel knelt beside it. The corgi was alert, ears out. "It's nearby. I think. The scent's all over the place, and it's moving in strange patterns... I can't track it properly." "What sort of creature made these?" Tel asked in a hushed tone. "A wurm of some kind?" "Not a wurm. Worse. I've smelled this before, it's the smell of a..." The corgi's tale was interrupted by a loud crashing and an unearthly wail. The party dropped to the ground, but it was too late. They had been seen.

Tarlassiel looked at the emerging creature. It was taller than a man, its scaled snakeing lower body pulsating with muscle contractions. Its upper body, rising above even the sergal, was vaguely female-proportioned, and as his gaze traced the gray figure, it met the thing's eyes, green-gray and glowing with power. It stretched out a grotesque clawed appendage towards them, each of its four arms bending in strangely obscene gestures, and roared again with a voice that seemed to Tarlassiel to contain a hint of sadness within all the fury.

"Godsdamnit." He heard Lutessa, the Faestir adventurer who he had understood to be the leader of the party, partly because of her authority, partly due to her age. She stood up, drawing her weapon. "Godsdamnit, naga. Just what we needed."

They rose to their feet, and the naga coiled itself, and charged, like a blur, unnaturally fast for something this big. Tarlassiel dove out of its way, his blade bouncing off the creature's tail. He saw the Sergal hiss in approval as he struck out with his halberd. It would be a long fight.

Udmyn was baiting the thing, egging it on, stabbing at it almost playfully. Lutessa leaped, jumping twice her own height, landing gracefully on the creature's back. It reared and shook, swatting at Lutessa, but the Faestir had time to stab it through the shoulder blades with a short sword before tumbling down to the ground and landing on her feet. Rhyn, the Corgi was muttering something, making gestures with her paw-like hands, and Tarlassiel felt the familiar taste of magic in the air, a sudden dryness. It was probably going to be fire, or a bolt of lightning.

For the first time in his life, Tarlassiel felt that he had gotten in way over his head. These adventurers were obviously far more experienced at what they were doing. He looked at the naga, and suddenly it turned to face him, and its eyes met his. He froze, mesmerized by the glare, willing his muscles to move but completely unable to break the trance he was in. Cold sweat was pouring down his back.

A smile seemed to pass over the naga's bluish, corpselike lips. It turned, and charged again. This time, directly at Tar.

Time seemed to stretch. Talrassiel saw the serpent creature bearing down on him, saw the spell cast by the Corgi hit the naga's back without it as much as shrugging in response. It stretched out its arms towards him, as in beckoning him forward. He saw the naga's mouth distend, revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth. More than anything in the world, Talrassiel wanted to close his eyes, but he was unable to. He was forced to watch his death close in.

A shadow in the corner of his eye moved, and he was free. He blinked and dropped to the ground, then looked up. A tall figure stood between the naga and her prey, shouting and pointing at it with a thin-bladed rapier. It was the human in the party, a wizard by the name of Selonius. Suddenly, as if he had emerged out of water, Tal's hearing returned.

"...foul creature! You... Shall... Not... PASS!" The wizard turned his grinning, bespectacled face towards Talrassiel, winking and remarking "I've always wanted to say that!" The naga seemed to the drow to have a disgusted look. "I shall strike you down, and you will die, alone and unmourned in this forest forsaken by the gods..." The naga lashed out against the wizard, but he dodged the attack skillfully, and mumbling a word in an arcane tongue, his hands crackled with magical light, and bright, shifting streams of color flashed from the wizard and hit the naga's head. It roared, blinded. Tal's head was suddenly clear.

With a sound that was half battle cry, half moan, Talrassiel swung his long-bladed sword and dove under the naga's arms. He hardly saw where he was aiming, but with a fleshy squelch, he struck, burying the sword into the creature's guts. He let go and rolled back, as the naga screamed and clutched the blade, pulling at it, and as it screamed he saw Udmyn the Sergal skewer the snake-thing on his spear, pulling it out and spilling blood and ichor, and then Larnessa landed on the naga's back once more and decapitated it with a quick, precise stroke of a longsword. Tal watched the head fall to the ground in a slow, arcing motion, and land with a soft thump on the forest floor. It was over. He looked at his blood-soaked hands and stained, dirtied clothing, and sighed. He was still alive.

Later, at nightfall, they made camp inside a ruined tower standing on a hill. Talrassiel could hardly tell that the lumps of stone on the shrub-covered hilltop had ever been a building if it hadn't been for Larnessa finding an inscription in what she claimed was the ancient language of her people. She was excited, pacing about and poring over the ruins in search of more writings. The party settled down around a small campfire, each sentient looking the others over thoughtfully as they carefully ate their rations: the sergal consuming a freshly-killed squirrel, the corgi chewing on dried, salted meat, the human enjoying a couple of thin enchanted wafers, and the Faestir eating a handful of fruit, then boiling some water to make fresh-smelling tea the color of fine brandy. Tal ate his own rations, then turned to the Sergal sitting beside him.

"I appreciate you saving my life. All of you..." he began, but the predator interrupted him brusquely. "Look, darkskin. Right now, you're a useless fuck. And maybe you'll grow to be a slightly more useful fuck, but at this moment, there's no value to your life, and if I feel you're a burden to us, I'll gut you and let you bleed out in the woods. I don't need your appreciation. I need you to be good in a fight. And don't think that we've all bought into your little tale about how you ended up here in these woods. Exiled, shipwrecked and robbed, my ass. I'm keeping my eyes on you." Spitting on the ground, the sergal rose and left the campfire. Shocked by the Udmyn's rudeness, Talrassiel turned to Larnessa. "What's wrong with that guy?" he asked, hurt in his voice.

"Nothing's wrong with him," she replied patiently. "He's Sergal, my friend. They're all like that." "You've done a lot of business with Sergals, then, Madam, that you know them well?" Talrassiel inquired. "Business? Sergals don't do business with other races, young drow. They simply sell their services. And they always extract their payment in advance. And another thing you should remember... If you ever cross or cheat them, may the Gods have mercy on you. Because a Sergal certainly won't..." "If, as you say, they always collect their pay in advance, how would I ever be able to cheat a Sergal, madam?" Telrassiel interjected. "Well," the Faestir looked at him, "I've seen people try to underpay them. Or sell them something or other, pocket the money, and then not producing the goods... I've seen a lot of things in this world. But know this, my friend: the Sergals can forgive greed, avarice, corruption, cruelty and treachery, but only as long as it's not directed at them." "Why are you telling me this, Madam?" Telrassiel blushed. "I know your people," she answered bluntly, looking him straight in the eye.

That night, he slept uneasy.

The Shepherd and the Stray

2016-05-29T04:46:30Z

2601:1C0:4B00:7BEB:D8C9:8646:19EA:AFD0:

{{story}}
This story, part of the community effort on the [[Emperor's Nightmare]] chapter, follows Chief Apothecary Eidelan in an encounter with the Forty-sixth Terminator himself.
----

Apothecary Eidelan moved through the Battlefield, harvesting Progenoids with grim purpose. Eight Nightmares had been lost this day. A devastating blow. He sighed as Reductor pierced armor and extracted the bulbous organs before dropping them into strengthened glass vials, too much blood had been spilt this day. But two Sleepless had gone to their final rest. Though it was unnecessary, Eidelan lifted the helmets of the Sleepless and marveled. After the constant neurotic movement of their faces, their eyes had now closed, and a peaceful smile lingered on their lips.
How did it feel, Eidelan wondered. To be keenly aware of every aspect of life, from the smallest of dust motes to the blazing shine of the sun. His Catalepsean Node had never degraded, much to the envy of many Battle-Brothers. Was that why he spent so much time with the Sleepless? It was true a proper rest cycle for him meant he would never feel the agonies even the regular Brothers faced, with month long rests and monthly activity, but it also meant he would never feel the keen perception the degradation gifted the Chapter with. As a result, he’d decided for himself that if he could not suffer with his Brothers, then Eidelan would devote every waking moment to the most hurt of all. He reverently placed the helmet of the fallen Marines back on before looking for more corpses, more heroes, marking the sites he’d left for Servitors and other Brothers to pick up. He’d hardly gone ten steps when he saw an impossibility.
A Terminator armor clad figure, simply standing in the shade with his weapons at his side. Had the legendary, or perhaps more appropriate was infamous, Thureos recovered some measure of sense at last? Carefully, Eidelan made his way near the motionless Marine, telegraphing every movement though Thureos did not react. Eidelan clicked a vox query before forcibly patching in to the Terminator’s channel and fought back a wince.

“-course you are correct Chapter Master. The bloody days arewillnot have passed until the end. I promise you, I will not falter, never surrender to the debased filth that surrounds me.”
“Brother?” Eidelan asked, his hand ready on his bolter, ready to jump back and call for help.
Thureos stopped speaking, as though he’d noticed Eidelan for the first time, though the Apothecary knew he must have been detected long ago.
“Brother, it is I-”
“I see you,” Thureos brusquely interrupted as Eidelan’s heart leapt. Finally, a chance to bring the renegade home where he could be helped.
“And I find myself disgusted that the Traitor Legions would consider themselves my Brothers,” Thureos growled before lunging with his chainfist.
Eidelan swore before dashing back, too slow to avoid the grazing blow as hungry teeth covered by a whirring power field ate through reinforced ceramite as though it were paper. The wound was shallow, but Thureos continued to move impossibly fast, forcing Eidelan to raise his boltgun to gain time. He bought himself three seconds, as Thureos took care to slice through the weapon just before Eidelan could squeeze the trigger. Apparently savoring the moment, instead of merely spearing Eidelan with his chainfist, a gauntlet lifted Eidelan bodily as the Apothecary gasped at the effortless strength Thureos showed.

Acting quickly, Eidelan ripped out a knife, where he’d hoped to stab a vulnerable joint but Thureos’ sharp senses detected the movement punched Eidelan’s breastplate hard enough to crack the Aquila before he found himself thrown back several meters. He worked quickly to stand up, as Battle Brothers finally responded to his distress, firing at the rogue Marine as soon as they were in range. To his credit, instead of simply allowing the hard armor to take the shots, Thureos actually twisted and moved, dodging quite a few bolts, even as all the Nightmare could only gape at the strangely graceful figure. It was as though the Sleepless was unarmored, so quick and unhampered was he by the Terminator Armor’s great weight. Thureos apparent decided not to take his chances with two full squads bearing down, his madness lifting just enough for him to move out of sight.
With stealth even seasoned Secundus operatives would have envied, Thureos vanished into the forest as though he were a ghost. Fearless as the Nightmare were, they were not stupid, fully aware that Thureos would only retreat to a better position. The squads held back, keeping their bolters aimed at the treeline.
“Are you wounded Apothecary?” thundered a Primus Marine.
Eidelan coughed wetly before gritting out, “Ribs…will heal.” Even as he walked back to the waiting Thunderhawk, Eidelan still never turned around, too wary of a possible ambush.
‘One day I will find you Brother. If you will not come home to us, I will grant you the peace you so seek,’ Eidelan promised as he took out an empty vial. This one had already been prelabeled. In elegant script was the name Thureos.

[[Category:Emperor's Nightmare]]

Approved Literature

2016-05-29T04:37:48Z

2601:1C0:4B00:7BEB:D8C9:8646:19EA:AFD0: /* Other Recommendations */

This page lists the genre fiction which is popular on /tg/, along with a brief description and the notable area's of merit. While paragons of Fantasy and Science Fiction...

==Fantasy==
*'''''Brandon Carbaugh - Deep Sounding''''': A two-part story written by a fa/tg/uy, dealing with themes of isolation in a Dwarven society. Consistently humorous and socially relevant.
*'''''Robert E. Howard - Conan the Barbarian''''': Conan the Barbarian was born from this quill. A seminal pulp classic which could be considered the father of sword and sorcery.
*'''''[[George R. R. Martin]] - [[A Song of Ice and Fire]]''''': Best character development in genre, with a bit of mystery, political chess and realistically high death rate. Tends to drag at times, and since the release of the HBO series will be consistently overrated by those who've seen little else.
*'''''Michael Moorcock - the Elric Saga, the Corum Saga, the Hawkmoon books, and anything he's ever wrote.''''' - The spiritual liege of Drizzt Do Urden and the Witcher, with all of the Mary Sue replaced with badassery and getting shit done. Elric, the High Lord of Chaos, travels reality with a shadow puma and a soul-eating demon sword learning the true nature of Order and Chaos. He also is the destined guy who reincarnates to battle both the forces of Order and Chaos. Among these incarnates are Hawkmoon, a heroic dude who has a jewel implanted in his head, Corum, a badass motherfucker who kills BOTH CHAOS GODS AND GODS OF ORDER for fun, and Erekose, who is an alright bro. The saga that Dungeons and Dragons, Warhammer Fantasy, & Warhammer 40k blatantly stole and/or were influenced by it's ideas in it's concept of Chaos. In fact, pretty much almost everything from Warhmammer was arguably taken by the Elric mythos. Think of it; Warp Gods = Lords of Chaos. Dark Elves/Dark Eldar = Melniboneans, Malus Darkblade = Elric himself, Necrons = The King Under the Hill and the Doomed Folk. His best book of all time is still The War Hound and the World's Pain.
*'''''Terry Pratchett - Discworld series''''': Starts from parodying Fantasy as genre, soon turns to far beyond AWESOME, then the last few books... eh. Rare combination of good humor and wise messages, until at the end when the humor goes out the window and the message becomes preachy. Still great read, though.
*'''''Patrick Rothfuss - The Name of the Wind''''': A mary sue bard goes on mary sue adventures - world building may be weak but it's a fun read, so enough people on /tg/ have read it to count, even though nobody will praise it.
*'''''[[J.R.R. Tolkien]] - The Hobbit, [[The Lord of the Rings]], and anything else he wrote (eg; the Simarillion)''''': The great grand-daddy of modern fantasy. Not having even the slightest familiarity with his work is inexcusable. He is the creator of the entire genre.
*'''''Robin Hobb - The Farseer Trilogy and The Liveship Traders''''': First is a story of a royal bastard's horrible upbringing as an assassin. Second is a story of magical sailing ships that talk, dragons, pirates, rape, 14 year old girl overcoming terrible misfortune. It has it all. (Please note the following two sets of books in the series are a little average compared to these two).
*'''''Charles De Lint - Someplace to be Flying and Trader, Pretty much all of his books, you can't really miss''''': Most of the books seem to be set in canada and revolve around gypsy folk-lore and native american spiritual stuff with urban settings. Don't get attached to characters.
*'''''Fritz Leiber - Swords and Deviltry, et al.''''': A runaway momma's boy and a failed magician's apprentice lose everything and become thieves in Lankhmar, center of civilization and debauchery. They are Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser:, swordsmen supreme, insatiable adventurers, womanizers unequaled, and bros of the highest caliber. Together, they plunder the world of riches, women, and wine, while facing magic and horror of a decidedly cosmic sort.
*'''''Glen Cook - The Black Company''''': I can't remember the exact quote, but someone put it best when he said "it's a story about level 5-8 badasses trying to make it in a world dominated by epic level Wizards". Follow the mercenary entourage known as the Black Company as they sell their swords to the highest contractors, who usually end up being The Big Bad Evils.
*'''''Gene Wolfe - The Book of the New Sun''''': The setting is inspired by Jack Vance's Dying Earth series, so this could be either in SF or Fantasy. A torturer is exiled from his guild and old life after he helps kill the woman he loves to spare her from the agony of torture, now forced to journey through Urth; our Earth in the far, far, far future, in a time when our sun is beginning to die. These books do not make for easy reading, however. The author uses lots of very obscure words to create the worlds own unique lingo. Also, the main character is an unreliable narrator of the more extreme sort. The reader will be spending some time figuring out what are the truths and what are the lies.
*'''''Richard Adams - Watership Down''''': The epic story of a tiny band of desperate people's odyssey to flee a great calamity and find a new homeland. Along the way, they fight dangerous battles, encounter dangerously seductive dystopia after dystopia, and ultimately destroy a fascist dictator before founding a new nation. Also, [[Bunnies and Burrows|everyone's a rabbit]]. Badass storytelling, sweet worldbuilding, and an incredible level of quality for a children's book.
*'''''Ursula K LeGuin - Earthsea trilogy+''''': Threads about /tg/-approved literature will consistently end up having a poster say something to the effect of "no Sea Jedi Wizard Chronicles WTF" about halfway down, immediately being followed by a chorus of agreement. Needless to say, this series is an excellent one, little-known but suprisingly influential. It's the series that established the concepts of the concept of nominal magic as understood in modern fantasy literature: names of power in the language of magic are spoken to exert power over the person, place, thing or idea that name refers to. Later, less-respectable novels such as those by Christopher Paolini would abuse this concept for fun and profit. Sadly, such novels seldom strive to equal the actual accomplishments of the Earthsea novels, such as the successful building and display of a rich, believable, and internally consistent setting without letting any of the world building bog down the narrative like in LotR.

==Science Fiction==
*'''''Douglas Adams - The Increasingly Inaccurately Named Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy''''': On of the funniest works of science fiction ever made.
*'''''Robert Sheckley - short stories''''': once dubbed the clown prince of sci-fi, recommended by Douglas Adams.
*'''''Edgar Rice Burroughs - the Barsoom Series-aka Mars Chronicles''''': Iconic, manly, and fuckin' A!
*'''''Harlan Ellison - I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream''''': The last five humans alive are being held deep in an underground complex, where they are perpetually tortured by AM, the sadistic AI that wiped out the rest of humanity, with no hope of escape. The most creepy thing in this book is that the author thought it was ''optimistic''. If he someday went to wrote something pessimistic, the universe would implode from the sheer grimdark overdose.
*'''''Robert A. Heinlein - [[Starship Troopers]]''''': Where Space Marines and Tyranids came from.
*'''''Frank Herbert - [[Dune]] & its earlier sequels''''': World-building, politics, super-humans - it's one helluva party. The spice must flow!
*'''''Walter M. Miller, Jr. - A Canticle for Leibowitz''''' In the grim darkness of the far future there is only Catholicism. Think Fallout meets Farenheit 451 and you wouldn't be too far off.
*'''''George Orwell - [[1984]], Animal Farm''''': WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH!
*'''''Neal Asher - The Gridlinked Series''''': Some of the best, hardest sci-fi out there, this is one of those universes that has unique, creative technologies (rare nowadays)as well as 007...EEEN SPESSS
*'''''Aldous Huxley - Brave New World''''': Take 1984, and do the total opposite the way people are controlled (rather than "Do what I tell you or I'll beat you", it's "Do what I tell you and I'll make you feel good") mixed with a Tau-esque genetically enforced caste system and conditioning to make people embrace their servitude.
*'''''John Steakley - Armor'''''

==Horror==
*'''''[[H.P. Lovecraft]] - The Call of Cthulhu & Other Stories, Dreams in the Witch-House, At the Mountains of Madness, and anything else he wrote''''' - Lovecraft is to modern horror what Tolkien was to fantasy.

==Mystery==
*'''''Raymond Chandler - The Big Sleep''''': The grandfather of Noir.

==Historical Fiction==
*'''''Kawabata Yasunari - The Master of Go''''': The story of a brash young [[munchkin|power gamer]] challenging a grizzled old [[neckbeard]] to a championship [[Go]] match. Chronicles the national-scale [[edition war]] that was 1930s Japan through the medium of gaming obsessed hyper-autists.

==Shunned/Hated==
*'''Terry <del>Good</del>Badkind - The Sword of Truth:''' An infamous series full of Terry's [[magical realm]] BDSM, utterly gratuitous rape and torture (Terry's cheap/lazy method of making his main characters look better by comparison), and "heroes" we're supposed to arbitrarily like no matter ''what'' horrible things they do. Badkind himself having nothing but contempt for the entire fantasy genre while bragging about how he is a "serious" novelist and packing the later books with his stupid Ayn Ranting (even when it ''contradicted previous fucking events'') did him no favors. Model for George R. R. Martin.
*'''Stephanie Meyer - [[Twilight]]:''' ...Have you ''been'' on the internet lately? The series that singlehandedly killed an [[Vampire: The Masquerade| entire style of modern fantasy vampire]] for an entire generation of fantasy fans who ''aren't'' sexually-frustrated housewives and hormonally-addled teenage girls.
*'''Christopher Paolini - [[Eragon|The Inheritance Series]]:''' A Mary Sue main character and a derivative plot. It was written when Paolini was a teenager and it shows. Every single book could stand to lose at ''least'' a third of its wordcount and there are lot of times when the plot grinds to a halt for entire chapters just for the characters to think and ramble about the most inane of topics. Less offensive than other stuff on this list since it lacks traits such as bootlick fans and an asshole author. The author also put a decent amount of effort into his worldbuilding which is more than can be said for Badkind and Smeyer.

==Other Recommendations==
[https://archive.foolz.us/tg/thread/27995546/ Fatguys briefly exit their basement comfort zone to recommend /tg/ romance novels.] DEAD LINK
[[Category:Approved Media]]

Approved Literature

2016-05-29T04:36:42Z

2601:1C0:4B00:7BEB:D8C9:8646:19EA:AFD0: /* Shunned/Hated */

Approved Literature

2016-05-29T04:34:56Z

2601:1C0:4B00:7BEB:D8C9:8646:19EA:AFD0: /* Science Fiction */

This page lists the genre fiction which is popular on /tg/, along with a brief description and the notable area's of merit. While paragons of Fantasy and Science Fiction...

==Fantasy==
*'''''Brandon Carbaugh - Deep Sounding''''': A two-part story written by a fa/tg/uy, dealing with themes of isolation in a Dwarven society. Consistently humorous and socially relevant.
*'''''Robert E. Howard - Conan the Barbarian''''': Conan the Barbarian was born from this quill. A seminal pulp classic which could be considered the father of sword and sorcery.
*'''''[[George R. R. Martin]] - [[A Song of Ice and Fire]]''''': Best character development in genre, with a bit of mystery, political chess and realistically high death rate. Tends to drag at times, and since the release of the HBO series will be consistently overrated by those who've seen little else.
*'''''Michael Moorcock - the Elric Saga, the Corum Saga, the Hawkmoon books, and anything he's ever wrote.''''' - The spiritual liege of Drizzt Do Urden and the Witcher, with all of the Mary Sue replaced with badassery and getting shit done. Elric, the High Lord of Chaos, travels reality with a shadow puma and a soul-eating demon sword learning the true nature of Order and Chaos. He also is the destined guy who reincarnates to battle both the forces of Order and Chaos. Among these incarnates are Hawkmoon, a heroic dude who has a jewel implanted in his head, Corum, a badass motherfucker who kills BOTH CHAOS GODS AND GODS OF ORDER for fun, and Erekose, who is an alright bro. The saga that Dungeons and Dragons, Warhammer Fantasy, & Warhammer 40k blatantly stole and/or were influenced by it's ideas in it's concept of Chaos. In fact, pretty much almost everything from Warhmammer was arguably taken by the Elric mythos. Think of it; Warp Gods = Lords of Chaos. Dark Elves/Dark Eldar = Melniboneans, Malus Darkblade = Elric himself, Necrons = The King Under the Hill and the Doomed Folk. His best book of all time is still The War Hound and the World's Pain.
*'''''Terry Pratchett - Discworld series''''': Starts from parodying Fantasy as genre, soon turns to far beyond AWESOME, then the last few books... eh. Rare combination of good humor and wise messages, until at the end when the humor goes out the window and the message becomes preachy. Still great read, though.
*'''''Patrick Rothfuss - The Name of the Wind''''': A mary sue bard goes on mary sue adventures - world building may be weak but it's a fun read, so enough people on /tg/ have read it to count, even though nobody will praise it.
*'''''[[J.R.R. Tolkien]] - The Hobbit, [[The Lord of the Rings]], and anything else he wrote (eg; the Simarillion)''''': The great grand-daddy of modern fantasy. Not having even the slightest familiarity with his work is inexcusable. He is the creator of the entire genre.
*'''''Robin Hobb - The Farseer Trilogy and The Liveship Traders''''': First is a story of a royal bastard's horrible upbringing as an assassin. Second is a story of magical sailing ships that talk, dragons, pirates, rape, 14 year old girl overcoming terrible misfortune. It has it all. (Please note the following two sets of books in the series are a little average compared to these two).
*'''''Charles De Lint - Someplace to be Flying and Trader, Pretty much all of his books, you can't really miss''''': Most of the books seem to be set in canada and revolve around gypsy folk-lore and native american spiritual stuff with urban settings. Don't get attached to characters.
*'''''Fritz Leiber - Swords and Deviltry, et al.''''': A runaway momma's boy and a failed magician's apprentice lose everything and become thieves in Lankhmar, center of civilization and debauchery. They are Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser:, swordsmen supreme, insatiable adventurers, womanizers unequaled, and bros of the highest caliber. Together, they plunder the world of riches, women, and wine, while facing magic and horror of a decidedly cosmic sort.
*'''''Glen Cook - The Black Company''''': I can't remember the exact quote, but someone put it best when he said "it's a story about level 5-8 badasses trying to make it in a world dominated by epic level Wizards". Follow the mercenary entourage known as the Black Company as they sell their swords to the highest contractors, who usually end up being The Big Bad Evils.
*'''''Gene Wolfe - The Book of the New Sun''''': The setting is inspired by Jack Vance's Dying Earth series, so this could be either in SF or Fantasy. A torturer is exiled from his guild and old life after he helps kill the woman he loves to spare her from the agony of torture, now forced to journey through Urth; our Earth in the far, far, far future, in a time when our sun is beginning to die. These books do not make for easy reading, however. The author uses lots of very obscure words to create the worlds own unique lingo. Also, the main character is an unreliable narrator of the more extreme sort. The reader will be spending some time figuring out what are the truths and what are the lies.
*'''''Richard Adams - Watership Down''''': The epic story of a tiny band of desperate people's odyssey to flee a great calamity and find a new homeland. Along the way, they fight dangerous battles, encounter dangerously seductive dystopia after dystopia, and ultimately destroy a fascist dictator before founding a new nation. Also, [[Bunnies and Burrows|everyone's a rabbit]]. Badass storytelling, sweet worldbuilding, and an incredible level of quality for a children's book.
*'''''Ursula K LeGuin - Earthsea trilogy+''''': Threads about /tg/-approved literature will consistently end up having a poster say something to the effect of "no Sea Jedi Wizard Chronicles WTF" about halfway down, immediately being followed by a chorus of agreement. Needless to say, this series is an excellent one, little-known but suprisingly influential. It's the series that established the concepts of the concept of nominal magic as understood in modern fantasy literature: names of power in the language of magic are spoken to exert power over the person, place, thing or idea that name refers to. Later, less-respectable novels such as those by Christopher Paolini would abuse this concept for fun and profit. Sadly, such novels seldom strive to equal the actual accomplishments of the Earthsea novels, such as the successful building and display of a rich, believable, and internally consistent setting without letting any of the world building bog down the narrative like in LotR.

==Science Fiction==
*'''''Douglas Adams - The Increasingly Inaccurately Named Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Trilogy''''': On of the funniest works of science fiction ever made.
*'''''Robert Sheckley - short stories''''': once dubbed the clown prince of sci-fi, recommended by Douglas Adams.
*'''''Edgar Rice Burroughs - the Barsoom Series-aka Mars Chronicles''''': Iconic, manly, and fuckin' A!
*'''''Harlan Ellison - I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream''''': The last five humans alive are being held deep in an underground complex, where they are perpetually tortured by AM, the sadistic AI that wiped out the rest of humanity, with no hope of escape. The most creepy thing in this book is that the author thought it was ''optimistic''. If he someday went to wrote something pessimistic, the universe would implode from the sheer grimdark overdose.
*'''''Robert A. Heinlein - [[Starship Troopers]]''''': Where Space Marines and Tyranids came from.
*'''''Frank Herbert - [[Dune]] & its earlier sequels''''': World-building, politics, super-humans - it's one helluva party. The spice must flow!
*'''''Walter M. Miller, Jr. - A Canticle for Leibowitz''''' In the grim darkness of the far future there is only Catholicism. Think Fallout meets Farenheit 451 and you wouldn't be too far off.
*'''''George Orwell - [[1984]], Animal Farm''''': WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH!
*'''''Neal Asher - The Gridlinked Series''''': Some of the best, hardest sci-fi out there, this is one of those universes that has unique, creative technologies (rare nowadays)as well as 007...EEEN SPESSS
*'''''Aldous Huxley - Brave New World''''': Take 1984, and do the total opposite the way people are controlled (rather than "Do what I tell you or I'll beat you", it's "Do what I tell you and I'll make you feel good") mixed with a Tau-esque genetically enforced caste system and conditioning to make people embrace their servitude.
*'''''John Steakley - Armor'''''

==Horror==
*'''''[[H.P. Lovecraft]] - The Call of Cthulhu & Other Stories, Dreams in the Witch-House, At the Mountains of Madness, and anything else he wrote''''' - Lovecraft is to modern horror what Tolkien was to fantasy.

==Mystery==
*'''''Raymond Chandler - The Big Sleep''''': The grandfather of Noir.

==Historical Fiction==
*'''''Kawabata Yasunari - The Master of Go''''': The story of a brash young [[munchkin|power gamer]] challenging a grizzled old [[neckbeard]] to a championship [[Go]] match. Chronicles the national-scale [[edition war]] that was 1930s Japan through the medium of gaming obsessed hyper-autists.

==Shunned/Hated==
*'''Terry <del>Good</del>Badkind - The Sword of Truth:''' An infamous series full of Terry's [[magical realm]] BDSM, utterly gratuitous rape and torture (Terry's cheap/lazy method of making his main characters look better by comparison), and "heroes" we're supposed to arbitrarily like no matter ''what'' horrible things they do. Badkind himself having nothing but contempt for the entire fantasy genre while bragging about how he is a "serious" novelist and packing the later books with his stupid Ayn Ranting (even when it ''contradicted previous fucking events'') did him no favors.
*'''Stephanie Meyer - [[Twilight]]:''' ...Have you ''been'' on the internet lately? The series that singlehandedly killed an [[Vampire: The Masquerade| entire style of modern fantasy vampire]] for an entire generation of fantasy fans who ''aren't'' sexually-frustrated housewives and hormonally-addled teenage girls.
*'''Christopher Paolini - [[Eragon|The Inheritance Series]]:''' A Mary Sue main character and a derivative plot. It was written when Paolini was a teenager and it shows. Every single book could stand to lose at ''least'' a third of its wordcount and there are lot of times when the plot grinds to a halt for entire chapters just for the characters to think and ramble about the most inane of topics. Less offensive than other stuff on this list since it lacks traits such as bootlick fans and an asshole author. The author also put a decent amount of effort into his worldbuilding which is more than can be said for Badkind and Smeyer.

==Other Recommendations==
[https://archive.foolz.us/tg/thread/27995546/ Fatguys briefly exit their basement comfort zone to recommend /tg/ romance novels.]
[[Category:Approved Media]]

Hasbro

2016-05-29T04:24:29Z

2601:1C0:4B00:7BEB:D8C9:8646:19EA:AFD0:

{{Fail}}

[[Image:Hasbro.png|thumb|right|The Enemy.]]'''Hasbro''' is a corporation best known to the world as a maker of children's toys and games.

Hasbro is notable to /tg/ because it owns [[Wizards of the Coast]], and is thus much beloved by WotC fanboys everywhere- specifically for providing a convenient scapegoat every time somebody dares criticize Wizards and their policies. [[Games Workshop|Wallet-raping business strategy]]? Hasbro wants more money. Complete avoidance of somewhat "unwholesome" topics? Hasbro wants it more kid-friendly. Books released with glaringly obvious errors and little testing? Hasbro forced Wizards to rush it out. Licenses that stop just shy of giving Wizards the right to [[Anal circumference|anally rape]] anyone stupid enough to sign them? Hasbro's lawyers' idea. While Hasbro is still a giant megacorp and is thus automatically lawful evil (your corporate motto isn't fooling anyone Google), that doesn't mean it's automatically behind every bad idea wizards makes.

Regardless of whose fault these things ultimately are, however, that does not make them suck any less for the rest of us.

Aside from owning [[Wizards of the Coast]], Hasbro also owns Milton Bradley and Parker Brothers, which means that they are, by extension, the ones responsible for the shitty state of [[board games]] in the United States. How are you enjoying that [[Monopoly]]?

==From [[/v/]] With Rage==
Hasbro is not restricted to fucking over [[/tg/]]. It is notorious for the practice of acquiring IPs and smaller companies, asserting total creative control, and nose-diving their IPs - seemingly on purpose. A large number of the companies bought up were ones that brought about some pretty impressive gaming all their own, and the exact point at which their works took a turn for the [[FAIL|shit]].

Casualties so far:
* MicroProse (Creators of the [[X-Com]] series, as well as some damned good flight-sims): After being forced by Hasbro's meddling to create X-Com Interceptor and X-Com Enforcer, both of which failed miserably, the company's stock nosedived and it [[squats|ceased to exist]].

* Spectrum Holobyte (the guys who brought Tetris to the US): Was a partner of MicroProse, and likewise a victim of Hasbro as a result.

* Lauren Faust (The lady behind the new [[My Little Pony]]:Friendship is Magic cartoon): Say what you will about My Little Pony in general, but the fact remains it could have (and according to many bronies, the previous generations of MLP have) been WAY WAY WAY Worse. Lauren, whether for adults or little girls, put her whole soul into the show, basing characters off personal experiences, including a little yellow pony she based [[Mary Sue|upon herself]]. She had a plan for a long and epic tale that would make even trolls cry (well, if it wasn't about magical ponies that is). Sadly, this required creative freedom to achieve and when she asked the overlords they replied "You want us to let you make a show NOT about selling our shit!?! YOU'RE FIRED!" (Acultiy she left the show on her own and stated the Hub gave her a lot of freedom only guildlines since they knew making a good show would result in more ratings more people watching means more people buying toys, but Bronies are too butthurt to remember that) Since then many of the things that attracted the bronies in the first place, especially dark undertones and hints at adult topics underneath the cutesy shell, were removed. Bronies still tend to watch because they want to see what happens to these characters, but overall the series is more like your average kids cartoon now as opposed to something special (although again what bronies wouldn't mention the "charm" was it was a GOOD written girls show, once that worn off and Hasbro made other girl-aimed shows like Care Bears and The Littlest Pet show, and the dark undertones was just them overthinking things, FIM's writing has been about the same level since season 1 even added acuatle dark undertones like [[Big_Bad_Evil_Guy|King Sombra's]] on-screen death, which is something Hasbro GI-Joe show never did).

[[Category:Publishers]][[Category: Model Manufacturers]]

Wizards of the Coast

2016-05-29T04:19:16Z

2601:1C0:4B00:7BEB:D8C9:8646:19EA:AFD0: /* Schism and Competition */

{{Publisher Infobox
|name = Wizards of the Coast
|logo = [[Image:Wizards_of_the_Coast_logo.svg.png]]
|year = 1990
|notable = [[Magic: The Gathering]], [[Dungeons and Dragons]]
|website = [http://www.wizards.com http://www.wizards.com]}}
'''Wizards of the Coast''' (Abbr: WotC), like so many luminous icons of the tabletop industry, was founded in a dingy basement in the rainy city of Seattle in 1990. Originally, they developed ''[[Magic the Gathering]]'', and, after using their patents on various cardgame staples like "tapping" and "counters" to strangle literally every other competitor but ''[[Legend of the Five Rings]]'' out of business, they made ''so much goddamn money'' on the sucker's market that is the CCG scene that they were able to fulfill every nerd's dream of buying the dying ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' property out from under [[Lorraine Williams]], then revitalizing it with its [[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition|most popular edition]]. Since then, they've been themselves bought out by the [[Call of Cthulhu|cold, emotionless, alien beings taking the form of corporate suits]] at [[Hasbro]], but in recent times the corporation has adopted a more "hand-off" approach to Wizards, to mutual benefit.

They are a source of [[skub|civilized and respectful debate]] on /tg/, but while the [[Old School Roleplaying|old guard]] will probably [[butthurt|never forgive them]] for changing literally anything about the game from the ''[[Chainmail]]'' days, general consensus is that, as evil megacorporations in the tabletop business go, [[Games Workshop|they really could be much worse]]. Besides, they got a bit better, so that's good I guess.

==Early History: Oh~ Oh~ Oh~, It's Magic!==
Wizards started out as a small-time game publisher, releasing new editions of defunct old niche games and small dribbles of their own material. They'd probably have gone the route of [[Iron Crown Enterprises]] or be languishing in obscurity today, if not for a stroke of good luck. [[Richard Garfield|Some math major]] with an eye towards game design walked into their office and pitched a board game to them. They liked it, but they didn't have the cash to produce it, so they asked him to come up with something cheaper to produce, something portable and quick to play. Well, to make a long story short, he went home, ran some numbers, and [[Magic the Gathering|the rest is history]].

''Magic: The Gathering'' was (and, if you're into the Skinner Box of CCGs, still is) a damn fine collectible card game, the first commercially successful one of its kind in the world... which isn't actually that impressive, considering the only other CCG at that point was a baseball card game from the early 1900s. Still, it started an industry, won shitloads of game-design awards, and led to Wizards using its patents on various basic card game mechanics ("tapping," counters, etc.) to ruthlessly crush all competitors. Sometimes, they were justified in protecting their IP against hacks and shovelware imitators. Sometimes, they just went after people they didn't like. Let's just say there's a ''reason'' ''L5R'' used to make you lose points if you accidentally said "tap" instead of "bow."

It also made them more money than can easily be imagined, not least because the 90s was the age of know-nothing idiots speculating on "nerd shit," a trend started in the comic-book industry. (Humorously, the cards from this time have sometimes ended up being ''[[Arabian Nights|more]]'' [[Legends|valuable]] than the pointless comics bubble ever would be.) Rather than blowing it all on hookers and blow, in the tradition of the 80's, they funneled it back into their RPG business, buying up various old games and refurbishing them, including ''Ars Magica'' from fellow swaggering new kid on the block [[White Wolf]]. Most of them had enjoyed only moderate success at best, not least because the market then was smaller than it had ever been following the fundamentalist-o-caust of the 80's purge and the company was putting its fingers into too many pies and failing to support all its games, but eventually, they managed to land the biggest fish of all.

==[[Conan the Barbarian|And so, my lord became a king by his own hand...]]==
As a cash-strapped and [[Lorraine Williams|internal-politics-crippled]] [[TSR]] was folding and dying, Wizards bought them and all their stuff, including the famous and venerable ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' property, for a paltry $25 million. They gave all the old TSR guys jobs, called off the lawyers and openly allowed fans to release stuff for [[Dark Sun|poorly-selling]] [[Ravenloft|but much-beloved]] [[Spelljammer|campaign settings]], and put various designers from TSR to work building the [[Dungeons and Dragons 3rd Edition|most popular and successful edition of D&D ever]]. [[Derp|Then paid to do it again when it needed a shitload of patching,]] leading to the silliest ''D&D'' edition name of all time (3.5). They also held a contest to design a setting that was weird and new for the new edition, ultimately settling on [[Keith Baker]]'s ''[[Eberron]]''.

Along with that edition, they put out the [[Open Gaming License]], offering free reign for other companies to use their rules and produce supplements. While this had the unfortunate side effect of sometimes putting their tacit approval on complete [[fail]], it is generally held to be one of their smartest and most fan-friendly moves ever, generating huge amounts of content for their game without paying a dime for it. Whether you want [[Microlite20|uber-minimalism]], [[Diaspora|hard sci-fi]], or [[Book of Erotic Fantasy|erotically-charged sexventures]], you can generally find it somewhere in the library of OGL content, in varying degrees of quality.

As the decade wound down, they also got the license to make a CCG for ''[[Pokémon]]'', and while we scoff now, it was a pretty good game that wasn't a complete ''Magic'' rip-off, and it probably made them about as much money as ''Magic'' for a while there. The ''Pokémon'' craze was at its height, and children everywhere begged money off their parents, worked menial lemonade-stand jobs, and, in some truly [[fail]]-tastic cases, murdered each other in cold blood for the next sweet, sweet hit of booster pack fever.

==New Management, or the Road to the Great Mistake==
At the turn of the millenium, [[Hasbro|terrible, alien intelligences]] examined our realm of existence. With minds too different from ours to comprehend their motives, and the cold, unfeeling calculations of inhuman thoughts, they reached out their slick black tentacles into our plane and acquired Wizards of the Coast. They also paid nearly ten times as much for the privilege as Wizards spent for TSR, so suck it fanboys!

What happened next is hard to conclusively prove, since nobody involved wants to stop working in the business forever by getting a rep as a fuckin' snitch, but over the course of a decade, most of Wizards' upper management was quietly replaced. Various minor aspects of the property, like GenCon and the ''Dragon'' and ''Dungeon'' magazines were portioned off and outsourced to other producers (notably, Paizo). Keeping a low overhead meant firing all the veterans to hire newbs with lower asking salaries, draining the company's talent pool. Whether these cutbacks were the fault of Wizards, a company run by enthusiasts for enthusiasts with a history of mediocre business sense, or Hasbro, a corporate giant with a history of undermining their acquired brands with needless executive interference and anti-consumer bullshit, is probably never going to be openly known. Either way, eventually, the decision was made to build an entirely new edition of ''Dungeons & Dragons''.

In theory, this wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Third Edition and ''3.5'' had always had their flaws ([[CoDzilla|Monte Cook's traditional caster-dominance]], weak [[fighter|martial classes]], incoherent high-level play that turned into a maze of magic item abuse and extra turn stacking, etc.) and the latter was starting to show its age. Furthermore, they decided that this edition wouldn't just be a revamp of the old, but a complete rebuilding of the entire ''D&D'' system from the ground up, intending to fix long-running problems and set a bold new direction for the future. No more would martials announce "I make a weapon attack" and throw a d20 round after round: they would have access to cool techniques and a varied playstyle just like the casters. No more would casters break the game over their knee and [[Cybering|don their robe and wizard hat]] to fuck its corpse: their power would be drastically scaled back, with magic now divided into limited-application combat components and longer-and-more-involved ritual spells.

Unfortunately, this well-intentioned and high-profile project was destined to go horribly wrong...

==Schism and Competition==
Despite what the [[butthurt]] fanboys will tell you, ''[[Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition]]'' was (and still sort-of is as they sell off the backlog) a financial success. And the hatred for it was never uniform. Even people that hate 4e will admit that it's not a [[FATAL|terrible]] [[Racial Holy War|game]], but even its fans have to admit that, in many ways, it is utterly unrecognizable from the game that preceded it. The sad truth is that 4e was worse than a bad game: it was a flawed-but-good game who just happened to have a lot of stupid drama to deal with.

To make a long story very short:

The people who love 4e (or Fur-e) love it <s>because it's great for making furry characters and having animalistic sex</s> for its tightly-defined rule set, tactical depth compared to 3.5 (no more martials flanking and power attacking every turn while the casters fly out of reach or teleport out of sight and spam save-or-die rays from their familiar), strong support for the DM via online materials, ease of play compared to the frequent RULESRULESRULES problems of earlier editions, giving every class, even former low-tier sad-sacks like the [[monk]] a fair shot at being as awesome as the previously-dominant full-casters, and for introducing some genuinely good new ideas to the lore. (Ex. [[The Raven Queen]] replacing the evil death gods as an iconic neutral death goddess, some ''great'' new books and campaign ideas for ''[[Eberron]]'', adding lots of off-beat, niche races like [[githzerai]] and [[goliath]]s to the core rulebooks, and a new, wonderfully revamped version of ''[[Dark Sun]]'' for the first time in two-and-a-half editions that not only brought back all the best parts of that gameline but sanded off all the worst ideas, like the biomechanical halfling empire and the DM taking over a character during the Dragon transformation.) (But really it's all about making furry sex characters.)

The people who hate 4e hate it for sharply segregating the game into combat and story sections, focusing heavily on the use of [[miniatures]] and battle mat combat rather than the "theater of the imagination," being hard to run without "power cards," sold separately, to keep all the abilities straight, nickle and diming consumers to try to force them to buy ''[[World of Warcraft]]''-style subscriptions for access to character generators or other online materials, shoehorning all classes into the same sets of mechanics (Leaders heal and buff their allies, Strikers hurt things, Defenders [[tank]], Controllers debuff and throw out area attacks), making a lot of gratuitous changes to D&D lore, from slaughtering the cosmology of ''[[Planescape]]'' to dropping a [[Exterminatus|Spellplague]] on the ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'', and releasing a castrated new version of the Open Gaming License for the game system.

Worse, it seems many of these problems were corporate mandated from above by Hasbro, seeking to create a more tightly-controlled IP and cut the Open Gaming License off at the roots. While 4e remained a modest financial success, many fans began leaving the oldest roleplaying game of all behind to go looking for other ways to scratch the itch. And many of the Hasbro-based marketeers, being, like most marketeers, dumb blood-sucking [[vampire]]s who only vaguely remember what it is to be human, made the whole situation worse by emphasizing 3.5's flaws as much as they praised 4e's features in a vindictive way that hurt feelings and created a lot of bad blood.

Paizo, the former magazine publishers, took advantage of this to start fully promoting their own D20-based RPG game, [[Pathfinder]], a sort of "D&D 3.75" that attempted to fix the problems without transforming so drastically from the 3.5 model. How successful they were is... debatable (read that page for details), but it drew in the fans like mad. Because it ran on the OGL, it soon had rafts of refugees publishing quality third-party material for its game. Riding that surge of popularity, Paizo began to become a true challenger to WoTC's former dominance over the gaming market, even outselling them at times.

This act, creating one's own worse competitor, was humiliating for Wizards and disquieting to Hasbro. The slimy, icy tendrils of the conglomerate began to withdraw. So long as Wizards did not become a financial liability, the interns through which Hasbro communicated sang (they burn out, bleeding from every orifice, after channeling a single communication and have to be replaced), it would now be free to pursue whatever direction it wished for yet another edition. But it ''must'' have another edition. The insatiable hunger of the otherworldly suits would not be satisfied with ''second place'', no matter how profitable it proved.

Yet, in many ways, as Wizards scrambled to clean up the floors under the intern and move on, this whole experience was good for Wizards. Now that they had actual competitors, product quality could be an actual defense against the bizarre demands of their alien masters, since now they stood to lose customers if they fucked up. And they could dissect what Paizo did leading up to ''Pathfinder'' and take notes.

==Today==
After seeing how much success Paizo had with its open playtests for [[Pathfinder]], Wizards did something similar with the new edition of ''D&D'', which got years and years of hard, careful work and testing put into it. Wizards promised to keep the best aspects of every previous edition, distilling a better product at the end. Despite a frequently-skeptical response, it helped rebuild community confidence, and the eventual result, many years in the making, was ''[[D&D Next]]'', or, as it would inevitably eventually be known, 5e.

So far, 5e has been a roaring critical and commercial success. The game is fun, simple yet deep, streamlined without being dumbed down, and has combined the playability of the early editions with the mechanics of the d20 system and the best ideas from 4e. And with the monthy community surveys and ''Unearthed Arcana'' articles providing anyone with an Internet connection with quality, officially-sanctioned homebrew content and a genuine system of feedback, Wizards has begun to reclaim the reputation they nearly lost after the ill-advised attempt by their corporate masters to chase the MMO dollar. And even Paizo has begun to step up its game to compete, with positive results for fans of both gamelines.

No one knows, obviously, what the future holds, but it certainly looks bright from here.

Also, they were still making a mint off the [[Magic the Gathering|cardboard crack]] through all of this, so don't feel ''too'' bad for them.
==External Links==
* Drive to Work, episode 40 (the Wizards of the Coast episode) ,[http://media.wizards.com/podcasts/magic/drivetowork40wizardsofthecoast.mp3].
[[category:Publishers]]

Kryasch

2016-05-29T04:05:34Z

2601:1C0:4B00:7BEB:D8C9:8646:19EA:AFD0:

{{delete}}
http://4archive.org/tg/thread/34372856

The Blood of the Fallen

2016-05-29T04:02:56Z

2601:1C0:4B00:7BEB:D8C9:8646:19EA:AFD0:

{{story}}
The Fallen had hoped that he would escape his foolish former brothers on this warpcursed world. The inhabitants had not even raised an eyebrow at the appearance of a Space Marine, and for the first time in 10,000 years, he'd felt safe again. That was until yesterday. Two fleets had appeared in orbit above the planet, and a crusading force of Black Templar's and a chapter that escaped recognition, but with a symbol that seemed familiar yet distant, had landed, cutting into his fellow devotees of Chaos with cries of praise to the Corpse-God. The Fallen had fought bravely alongside a small contingent of Word Bearers that had been spreading the glorious truth on the planet, before they were cut down by members of the unknown chapter, the Fallen barely escaped, wounded but still alive. And now he was being followed.
A small group of the unknown ones had broken off from the main force, and had been trailing him ever since. The Fallen continued his walk towards the distant horizon. He would escape this day, no matter what it took.

One week later:
The Fallen cursed the Gods who had brought him nothing but misery. The small squad that was tailing him was now down to three men from ten, those seven having turned back to the main force. He could still hear the screams in the distance from the poor bastards being "Liberated" by the crusade. His ship had been totaled by the crusader's initial bombardment, but there was still a chance that the vessel that had brought the Word Bearers to this cursed world was still intact. The Fallen noted that he hadn't seen the three he'd thought were still following him through the mountains in a whole day. Then he heard a voice slightly farther ahead. It was a battlecry. "Heresy begets retribution!" thundered from ahead as three marines charged out from an outcroping, chainswords whirring, their machine-spirit's eager for blood. The Fallen pulled his chain-axe off of his belt, and battle was joined. This was his only chance to survive, and he would not lose it to some stripelings not even worthy of the title "foe". The three attacked together, leaving no opening for him to strike, and keeping the Fallen on the defensive. He finally recognized the symbol, a variation of his former legion's emblem, as the chainsword's of all three pierced his ceramite breast plate. The Fallen looked towards his killers, his lifeblood spilling from his body, as they spoke in unison.
"Retribution must be paid in blood."