Jaded Gamer Diary - 2 pdf releases that make me happy

A couple of pdf releases that have my interest over on DrivethruRPG at the moment. 

Atlas Games releasing older Over the Edge books.

With the new edition of Over the Edge up on Kickstarter right now (which I'm less than excited about) Atlas Games has decided to move the pdfs of all the books for the older editions over.  So this means I'll finally at least have a digital copy of a couple that I missed out on back in the day.  Also the pricing on them is pretty low to boot.

Preorders for Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay 4th Edition

With WFRP moving back towards a standard RPG design instead of the bit, bobbles and parts style of 3rd edition many people are happy.  I now a lot of folks are looking forward to this especially after Zweihander which got more folks looking into this type of grim dark fantasy design.

Alita: Battle Angel | Official Trailer [HD] | 20th Century FOX

Jaded Gamer Diary - More Daruma/Nightfall stuff.

Okay more interesting details on the Daruma / Nightfall / Sla Industries / Word Press drama going on around their, currently, failed CS1 Kickstarter.

First off we need to look at Daruma Productions LTD.  Founded August 19, 2015 by four people.  Those four people being Graham Wallace, Jared Earle, Dave Allsop and Mark Wallace.  It's important to note that all four of those people were part of the company from day one. 

Three of those people left, Graham Wallace on May 1, 2018, Jared and Dave both left on April 17, 2018. 

Then we need to look at Nightfall Games LTD.  Was incorporated on Feb 27, 2018 by Dave and Jared from up above.  Later Mark Rapson (June 22) and Christopher Shepperson (June 15) come on board as officers.  Also another officer came on board on June 15 but resigned on June 22, that officer being listed as Word Forge LTD. 

June 22 becomes an important date.  It's the day Word Forge resigned from Nightfall, the day Mark Rapson (who is one of three people in charge of Word Forge in the first place) joins Nightfall.  Also it's the day of the announcement that the Kickstarter had failed on the update section of said Kickstarter.  Something they neglected to tell Mark Wallace of Daruma was going to happen. 

It is at this day where those of Nightfall and Word Forge started the line of thinking that it was all Darumas fault for the failure of the Kickstarter but without mentioning that the two main people of Nightfall were part of Daruma for several years. Listed as Directors for the company no less. So they want it to appear that they had nothing to do with the collapse of the company even though they left well after everyone had knowledge of what was going on.

Then we get some creative control going on over at Nightfall with the 'Persons with significant control' section right now.  Dave and Jared both are listed as having more than 50 but less than 75 percent control.  Then Word Forge (who is majority controller of Word Press) having more than 25 but less than 50 percent control.  So somehow there is AT LEAST 125 percent of control split up. 

Daruma has gone down to nobody in control. 

Can't find any listing for a previous Nightfall company owned by any of the current Nightfall Games LTD members at any point.  So I'm assuming that the Sla Industries IP was owned by an individual throughout the years (Dave most likely). 

Also Nightfall is saying they terminated the license agreement with Daruma for Sla Industries.  But Nightfall didn't exist until Feb of this year. A license agreement of such a short duration is rather odd.

So in the end it really looks like Dave and Jared jumped ship when they knew things were heading down the drain.  Then worked out a deal with Word Press for them to take over the work on the game including letting them buy ownership into the newly formed Nightfall company.  Removed the stock from wherever Daruma had it stored and moved it to the Word Press warehouse.  Finally made the announcement on the Cannibal Sector One Kickstarter leaving the Mark Wallace holding the bag and trying to make themselves look as clean as possible. 

So if anyone says not to trust Mark Wallace over this how shambles kindly remind them that Jared and Dave are up to their necks in the fault as well. 

I'm sure I'll have more later.

Jaded Gamer Diary - Daruma, Sla Industries, Nightfall Games....

Well that all went to hell rather quickly.  Okay so it took a couple years.  But now the Cannibal Sector 1 game for Sla Industries is all up in the air, legal actions are being threatened and all sorts of shady dealing are starting to come forth.

First up what was posted recently on the CS1 Kickstarter:

As of 22/06/2018 Nightfall Games Ltd (NFG) have terminated the license agreement with Daruma Productions Ltd for use of SLA material. Going forward NFG will work in association with Word Forge Games (WFG) to look at how best to complete and fulfill the Kickstarter. Be advised that at this time the SLA Industries: Cannibal Sector 1 Kickstarter campaign has no available funds. As such, fulfillment will be as a result of further investment from NFG and WFG. Drauma Productions Ltd is the company that still owns the Kickstarter debt, and although we have tried to purchase that debt, it has not been possible.

That’s the formal statement... but what does that mean to you, the backer? Well simply put, things have not worked out as planned. The Kickstarter dream that Daruma Productions Ltd pushed for was not realised. Exactly how and what went wrong we really can’t say at this point, but we at Nightfall Games recognise that SLA Industries needs to come out on top… and the game needs to be in your hands. As such, Nightfall Games has revoked the license that allowed the SLA Industries world and setting to be used by Daruma Productions Ltd and has formed a new relationship with Word Forge Games. WFG have a huge amount of experience in producing miniatures and miniature games and are working alongside us to consolidate what already exists for SLA Industries: Cannibal Sector 1, what is possible to finish off and what we can do get the game into your hands.

As you’ve probably seen on Facebook, work on the book, the main focus of the Kickstarter, has been ongoing in spite of setbacks. WFG has obtained the majority of the Daruma Productions Ltd SLA Industries stock (in lieu of payment for unpaid debt) and we are in a good place to resume the work on the Kickstarter once all of the legal crossed Ts and dotted Is have been dealt with.  

WFG will be completing a stock take during the next 2 weeks and once we know exactly what there is, we will share with you all and explain our plans in further detail. We are also in discussions over certain assets, which we expect resolution of in the same period.
We know you have not been treated as you (or we) would like to have been and we know this situation is far from ideal (believe us when we say, we wish this had played out differently), but please bear with us while we work out the details and figure out how best to do right by all of you awesome people that supported the campaign. We shall keep you updated as much as we can going forward – expect frequent updates and lots of work by the Nightfall team.

Our heartfelt thanks, apologies and respect,
Nightfall Games

Now that's all interesting.  BUT... now we get a post from Daruma on their Facebook page:

 Time to come clean - we have a big issue with fulfilling the Kickstarter, and also with being able to move forward in any meaningful way. The Kickstarter update which went out this evening was not from Daruma. Please let me be very clear and specific on this - that was not a Daruma update, it was made illegally by Mark Rapson of Wordforge - he was already informed not to use the Kickstarter logins that he'd been given and claimed to not have them, clearly a lie (he has also, against Kickstarter regulations, changed the passwords). The Nightfall team are desparate to save the Kickstarter, which we fully understand but unfortunately Dave and Jared have resigned from Daruma and given the Kickstarter logins to Word Forge Games, that they have taken this step is understandable but also, unfortunately.. illegal in several ways - ways that they were fully informed of prior to taking this action.

As all other 3 Directors resigned from Daruma before i became fully aware of just how difficult the situation was - i am, currently, last man standing as they clearly knew more than I did and jumped ship first. As there are a great many other debts owed by Daruma i have a legal obligation to follow a certain path.. a path which i will be following with some no small degree of sadness and reluctance and could not, until this point even discuss. Unfortunately.. this means that the stock which Nightfall has had transferred to Wordforge doesn't belong to them.. it still belongs to Daruma, even though i acknowledge Word Forge as a debt. And as such, any attempt to distribute or dispose of it will be illegal - as Daruma is about to commence down a path toward Liquidation.. we cannot and have not in any way shape or form agreed to a transfer of these goods, as Daruma doesn't actually own them at this point. Please let me reiterate that, for very relevant legal reasons - the other Creditors are all fully entitled to a share of any and all remaining assets that Daruma possess, every single one of those Creditors has the very same legal claim to those goods that Mark Rapson and Wordforge has and this action is in no way a Daruma action nor has been sanctioned by Daruma.
It is also the case that although Mark is now a Director with Nightfall and has the SLA IP, the CS1 IP is derivitive and belonged to Daruma as well, and we have not agreed to transfer that IP under any circumstances, and indeed i'm not sure we could do so given the current circumstance.

It may well be that there was a way to perhaps move forward with this regardless, and i was attempting to explore this avenue recently, with little success I might add as Mark Rapsons offer was simply not one i could accept, legally. As it stands, Mark has attacked me directly, personally, acted illegally and has seized, with Nightfalls support, a load of goods that i keep explaining to them.. they cannot take and cannot legally dispose of. If any of you have experience of the liquidation process then you understand the difficult situation in which i find myself - and why i'm taking this extraordinary step in revealing that i have been in discussion with the liquidators before the are "officially" called in. I know how bad this news is, and this is an update that i really wish i never had to make.. but unfortunately Nightfalls new association with Word Forge Games and the illegal actions they are taking have forced my hand - if any other Creditors are reading this, this is not a Daruma sanctioned action and has been taken as the results of some illegal and very dodgy backroom dealing. I'm so sorry.. but i think that these actions have brought an end to any possibility of moving forward and i will be informing the liquidators of this first thing on Monday Morning.

So now this all gets very interesting.  Now I feel rather justified in telling people not to back that Kickstarter in the first place.  Especially after some of the flak I caught over it.  Also justified for one of my older Jaded Gamer Diary posts in which I criticize the way Daruma does business. 

Time to get some popcorn and see where it all falls down now. 

Cyberpunk 2077 – official E3 2018 trailer

Mana Screwed - Take some control

Back in the original days of Magic the Gathering some of common cards were quite good.  Some becoming staples in decks almost as soon as they came out or becoming more sought after than some rares.  This led to a common phrase "Common cards and common sense".  Basically telling people not to get wrapped up in chasing the rare cards for your decks and instead looking at what you have plenty of how they can work really well for you. 

So I'm going to try to follow up with that a bit with some common cards worth using in Commander that get overlooked by many.

Let's look at something wonderful for people who like red.  Hijack is a card most people have but never use (or Act of Treason, Traitorous Blood, Traitorous Instinct, etc. as it gets reprinted with slight differences and name changes often).  The simple basics, you take control of an opponents creature until end of the turn and it has haste.  Now why this may not seem like a lot of awesomeness at first glance it is something to hold onto until later in the game. 

Don't blow these cards on something small. Somebody always seems to go Voltron and pumping up a creature into a real ass beater.  Laying down devastation every chance they get.  So grabbing that which somebody else has spent a lot of time and mana on and swatting them (or somebody else) with it for only a handful of mana is a really good feeling. Especially if you've been playing many red right and your opponents have their life already knocked down a bit. 

I've won games by suddenly dropping one of these cards and suddenly taking out the very person who was about to take the win by ousting me. Nothing like seeing their face when they are suddenly snatching defeat with what they thought was their victory. 

Some not so common cards that work well are any cards that let you sack a creature (hello Ashnods Altar) to toss their big bad into the graveyard or Willbreaker and take them permanently.

Mana Screwed - Not Magic but good news for another old CCG

I've had several other CCGs besides Magic that I have loved.  Doomtown for it's crazy set up and setting.  Kult for some amazingly simple, elegant design that tested the most skilled card floppers tactical skill.  Legend of the Five Rings for taking unique, at the time, methods of card mechanics.  Then there is the granddaddy of all multiplayer games, the one that does it the best.  Vampire the Eternal Struggle, originally released by WotC as 'Jyhad'.

Now thanks to Black Chantry Productions it's back.  Just not in collectible form.  They are going the route of Print on Demand through One Book Shelf on their Storytellers Vault/DriveThruRPG sites.

First up is the Lost Kindred Bundle which is the first run of actual new cards.  While the number of new cards isn't many they do give you full playsets for most of the Library cards. 

Also coming out are Keepers of Tradition Reprint Bundle 1 and Keepers of Tradition Reprint Bundle 2 which are reprints of the last two micro expansions for the card game.  Which, from what I hear, were hard to come by at release.  These two are heavy on the Crypt side and don't seem to have full playsets of the Library cards... which is not a good thing. 

While I am quite hopeful that this helps revive the game to some level there are some issues.  There so far isn't a 'new player' option of getting into the game expect tracking down a bunch of the older cards.  Something badly needed for this would be premade starter decks.  Even if just a handful it would make it much easier to bring somebody new into the fold without telling them to go hit up ebay or dig through a local game shops dead CCG boxes. 

Eventually I hope to pick up the Lost Kindred Bundle and give a full review.  But that may be a while as I have a lot of other things on my 'want to get list'. But if anybody else gets ahold of them and wants to give their opinion feel free.  Heck post your thoughts or a link to your post about the new stuff.