A to Z 2013: Final Topic Change [Again!]

I have gone back and forth on the theme for my A to Z 2013 posts.  I thought I had settled on updating all of my projects but after some writing and inspiration I finally made one final change on my topic – all of my posts will be related to expressing my campaign world of Toldara in the B/X D&D rules.  Good luck to everyone that is doing the challenge!

Competition

I live in Small Town, Oklahoma so we are a tad behind on a few things.  No - before you ask - we are not still fighting "the Indians out there".  No, that comment is not meant to be offensive.  Someone always seems to be under the impression that it is "almost the Wild West" in this part of the nation.  I assure you that is not the case.  We have the same modern conveniences as other places in the United States; from automobiles to computers to shopping malls and even that fancy internet!  So, what is my point you may be wondering.

 

Quite simply, my wife and I have two small children and have elected to live in a smaller town.  There are several reasons - family, schools, college, etc. - but the biggest reason is the option to avoid being in "thug-central" because it "feels safer" in this smaller town.  One of the side effects of that choice is being a little behind in some areas.  For instance, we have high speed internet but we could have much faster internet if we lived in the big city.

 

I had Netflix for quite some time but the internet was just lagging too much in this area.  I cancelled my subscription about 8 months ago.  In the months following my cancellation, the internet has gotten more stable in this area and we received an upgraded router.  I decided to give Netflix another try because I figured if I was out $7.99 due to dissatisfaction then it really was no big deal.  It works great now because the Internet is much faster and I have experience no delays or lagging while we have been burning through seasons of shows that are now available on Netflix.

 

This past weekend I was down with whatever bug was going around the community.  It had went through the rest of the family and it was my turn.  I had a little bit of insomnia after sleeping off and on all day so I went to the living room and decided to fire up the Netflix while I was surfing the Internet in hopes of making myself drowsy. 

 

I am a long time professional wrestling fan so I browsed the wrestling titles available.  I would have preferred something from the old school era but I settled on The Rise & Fall of WCW and NWO: The Revolution because I had some big gaps to fill in on my wrestling history.  I knew a bit about WCW but I mainly watched WWF at the time.  As I watched those programs I was visiting the various role playing forums and blogs I have saved on my favorites list.  

 

As I watched the story of the Monday Night Wars between WWF and WCW unfold I realized that I watched a bit more of WCW than I had previously thought.  I was in the Army at the time so we would hang out, drink beer, and see what was happening on the wrestling shows.  Professional Wrestling was huge at the time and there was wrestling shows on 6 nights a week with Pay-Per-Views on about every 3 weeks when you throw ECW in to the mix.  I recalled that during this time, Eric Bischoff made WCW the #1 wrestling company in the world.  Nitro was clearly leading in the ratings at the time and did so for something like a year or two years.  Fast Forward several years down the line and there is no WCW or ECW left to compete with WWF.  There were many WWF fans that felt everything would have been better off that way all along. 

 

I am sure you are wondering what in the world does all of this have to do with D&D or roleplaying in general?  Quite simply, there are some interesting parallels that can be drawn between the Monday Night Wars and the 4E/Pathfinder split in the fan base.  It all starts by replacing WCW with Paizo Publishing and WWF with Wizards of the Coast.  WCW really started hitting it big when they got an old WWF product - Hulk Hogan - and made him their own by turning him heel and then launching the NWO invasion angle.  Paizo did something very similar by taking D&D 3.5 and creating the Pathfinder system.  If your throw the OSR/retro clone publishers into the mix then you basically have ECW represented also.   

 

I may be grasping at straws with this post but I do have two points to make.  First, all of these competing products in the D&D field eventually makes the whole field stronger.  When WWF had WCW and ECW to compete against for money then it was a much better in ring product.  Sure, there is TNA today but their show is on one right a week and does not go head to head with WWF on Monday Night.  WCW literally took the fight to WWF and it made both of their products better.  Second, a lack of competition basically translates to a lack of a measuring stick to compare product against product.  I read several posts from 4E fans that wished Pathfinder was not available so 4E could rule the D&D field.  I think it would be more interesting to see how D&D Next responds to the shortcomings of 4E to see what is next.  Then maybe we can see what comes from Pathfinder 2 has to offer against 5E?  Honestly, without Pathfinder would Wizards be knee deep in play testing D&D Next or would they have let the edition have a life span that lasted several more years? 

 

Just some food for thought...   

 

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Note: Yes, I am aware that it is now properly WWE but I just refuse to use that label.  I grew up with WWF and it will always be WWF to me.   

A - Z Theme Change

This is just a heads up for anyone that is interested in the A - Z challenge.  I was originally going to do my A - Z postings this year on updating my campaign world; I even asked for a little assistance with a few letters.  I have been writing and updating my posts and some other stuff around here.  I have decided to expand my theme for the A - Z challenge to include updates on any and all projects I have started; not only will this include Toldara but also further updating of Escape From Camp Blood, Back to the Dungeon supplementary material, and my honest best effort to update as many projects from my Old Gaming Notebook as I can get done.

Minor Reorganization

For anyone interested, I have done a little bit more cleanup around here on the old blog.  I have removed some information from the Collected Posts page and moved them to their appropriate place on the Old Gaming Notebook page or the Toldara page.  All of the information is still here but is now located in a "better" area. 

Knights of Pen & Paper - Mobile Old School Gaming Fix

I do not play many mobile games on my Android phone but there are a few that I enjoy.  My current favorite is Knights of Pen & Paper from Behold Studios.  It was only $1.99 and has provided hours of fun.