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Welcome to You Heard it Here Last where we talk about news, you’ve already heard.
Let’s kick things off with the seedy underbelly of publishing.
https://www.enworld.org/threads/diamond-bankruptcy-settlement-hits-snag-as-sparkle-pop-files-objection.720559/
Well, maybe that’s not fair, although this is where my friends who aren’t fans of capitalism point to me and say “Told Ya So”.
We talked last month about the long running Bankruptcy of Diamond Comics Distribution and the fact that several game companies had millions of dollars of stock held up due to the bankruptcy proceedings. This has led to Paizo having some cashflow problems and laying off staff. Other companies like Green Ronin have had to lean into crowdfunding for legal bills, all while trying to get back their product from Diamond Comics.
This is a very complicated case, Bankruptcy isn’t as simple as somebody unable to pay their bills, especially when you get into the distribution and consignment side of things.
Then along comes Sparkle Pop. Sparkle Pop is a spin off Limited Liability Corporation that spun off of Ad Populum and collectible and toy holding company. They were created right in the middle of the bankruptcy case for the sole purpose of sliding in and purchasing warehouses owned by Diamond Comics, which would give the access to the contents of said warehouses. They then started selling the product in the warehouses against court orders.
You would think that would get them into hot water, but it hasn’t. Instead, they are holding up the entire settlement saying they haven’t gotten their money. Money, they didn’t earn, money they shouldn’t have access to, and money that is hurting businesses in our hobby.
Have I oversimplified things, mostly. But I have a history of keeping things simple. And this is, in my opinion, simply unethical.
Christina, as our in-house ethicist, let’s talk.
[Kick to Christina]
Since we started off with a pretty negative story, we might as well stay in the headspace.
Ok, that’s not fair, and maybe I should try a positive spin on this next piece of news.
https://www.wargamer.com/dnd/dan-ayoub-interview-ogl-lessons
In a recent interview with Wargamer. Dan Ayoub the Head of Wizards of the Coast Dungeons and Dragons talked about his first year in the position and the steps D&D has taken to fix some mistakes made during the OGL scandal. Dan says the biggest thing he has done is to listen and his work will never be done listening.
It reminds me of the answer everyone gives when doing a job interview: What’s your biggest negative, the thing you don’t do well. And you answer with “I work too hard”
Bullshit.
The whole interview just screams bullshit. I trained in PR and making press statements and after reading the interview twice I still can’t find where he answered a damn question.
But, to be fair and try and stay positive let’s point to the fact that D&D had a strong presence at GenCon for the first time in decades and that they have made amends with some of the old creators and worlds that made D&D what it is today. So maybe there are positive things coming out of WOTC right now, just don’t look for them in this interview.
Chistina, what did you take away from this interview?
[Kick to Christina]
And there you have it, all the news, you’ve already heard.

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Ok, wait a minute…they’ve got rules for guns in this. Sweet!
I remember saying that exact line when I first dove into Steve Jackson’s GURPS. The Generic Universal Roleplaying System had come out of their skirmish system Man to Man which I had loved. This was 1986 and the 18-year-old me was looking for new roleplaying games.
Sure, I had done my early work on D&D. I had even played around a little with Gamma World and Traveller, but even at 18 I was a history nut. I was reading Cornealius Ryan’s A Bridge Too Far at the time and Alexander Dumas the Three Musketeers was already solidified as my favorite book. So as soon as I saw this new game that had rules which would let you mix fantasy with reality and bring in historical roleplaying, I was hooked.
GURPS would become my favorite and only roleplaying game for a good decade and don’t get me started on Call of Cthulhu. 
Using GURPS I would run and play in historical and realistic based games set in Three Musketeers world of 1620s France. The Wild West of the 1870s. The Espionage filled world of the 1980s. The Vietnam jungles of the 1970s. The beaches of Normandy in the 1940s. and even the creepy cornfields of Kansas in the 2010s. I personally find that I prefer games set in realistic and historical settings then the pure fantasy settings found in most roleplaying games.
On this episode Christina and I are going to talk about running games in a historical setting and give you some tips and tricks and address some myths to help you transition your games into something really special.
Christina, you do a lot of gaming in those alternative history settings. It’s really the same thing, right?
[Kick to Christina]

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Welcome to you heard it here last where we talk about news, you’ve already heard.
Let’s start off with some news that’s close to our heart. Oddfish Games has announced that Wordleaf Media is joining their Leviathan Rising team. Wordleaf Media is a TTRPG focused publishing support company that provides professional editing, layout, graphic design, art, and creative content. This is going to help bring the amazing rules of Leviathan Rising to life in the upcoming Kickstarter scheduled for a January start.
https://www.wordleafmedia.com/
Christina, since this is your game, what’s the addition of Wordleaf Media mean for the production of Leviathan Rising
[Kick to Christina]
But wait, that’s not all the news on the Leviathan Rising front. Oddfish Games has also announced that the cover for the Leviathan Rising book will be created by Sammy Castillo.
https://www.castillostudios.ninja/
Castillo Studios has provided art content for Batman, Detective Comics, Legends of the Dark Knight, George Romero’s Toe Tags, Green Arrow, Catwoman, Spider-man, Savage Dragon, G.I Joe, Magic The Gathering, Dungeons & Dragons, Warhammer, Fangoria, and Rolling Stone Magazine, just to name a few.
We had the pleasure of meeting and talking with Sammy at GenCon and are very excited to be able to announce her as the cover artist for the upcoming Leviathan Rising.
Christiana, are you jazzed to have Sammy working on the cover?
[Kick to Christina]
And there you have it, all the news, you’ve already heard.

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Alexander Dumas’s The Three Musketeers is one of my favorite books of all time. I first read the classic in junior high and I was immediately blown away. It was like reading my favorite super hero comics, but it was a classic. It’s one of those books that made me want to read, and that’s a love I have never lost. I tend to read a lot, rarely going back to books I’ve already finished, but The Three Musketeers is the exception to that rule. I have read the book 4 times now and what is amazing is that every time I read it, I look at it completely different, and I connect with a different character.
That Jr. High me was all about D’Artagnan. The young brash kid trying to make something of himself. To prove himself and to fight for the queen and for his country. I connected with that character and loved him.
I picked the book back up a decade later. I’m in my early 20’s starting a career. And this time it was Aramis. The intellectual, the reluctant soldier, the scholar, the lady’s man. He was complex, interesting, and always seemed to have something going on. He made me feel smart and refined.
Fast forward another decade and this time it was Porthos. I had always overlooked Porthos. He was comic relief and not really important. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Porthos was the heart of the group. He was what really held them all together. He also has the most tragic story of the entire group.
My last read of the book in my 50’s really brought Athos into the limelight. I had always liked and appreciated the character of Athos, but I never truly connected or understood him. But just as I move into my later years. Recognizing the weight of life’s baggage. How decisions stay with you forever and the weight of quiet leadership.
On this episode we are going to dive into The Three Musketeers and talk about the characters, the archetypes, and why they made an excellent adventuring party in the novels and would continue to make an excellent adventuring party in your games.
Christina, what was your initial impression of the Three Musketeers?
Kick to Christina

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Welcome to you heard it here last where we talk about news, you’ve already heard.
Let’s start off with at the end, or the beginning of the end, or…well I guess it’s been going on for a while now, but…let’s just start with I told you so.
https://www.enworld.org/threads/is-the-5-5e-dark-sun-going-to-remove-controversial-aspects-of-the-setting.720375/
Dark Suns, the very mature themed D&D setting that is coming back in 2027 will be released in shrink wrap due to its content. Let’s call that a win. Greg Bilsland--D&D executive producer--has confirmed that the content is being reviewed by sensitivity readers, and that the setting will not need to focus on elements such as slavery in order to make it feel gritty and oppressive.
Well, you lost me a sensitivity readers.
Dark Suns was mature, dark, down right evil in places and that’s what made it good. Everyone was a slave and that was far from the darkest aspects of the setting. When they announced that it was coming back I cautioned that it was going to be watered down for the modern audience.
Do I think this setting should be played with children. No
Do I think this source book should come shrink wrapped so unaware and unprepared eyes don’t flip through it. Sure
Do I think you can remove the things that make the setting dark and have the same experience. Absolutely not.
Ladies and gentleman, whatever Wizards of the Coast ends up printing will not be Dark Suns. It will just steal its name. The darkest thing in that book is going to be the title.
Christina, am I overreacting?
[Kick to Christina]
Next up we have a topic that’s been going back and forth between us for awhile now. Crowd Funding costs. EN World has a great article about the rising costs of crowdfunding.
https://www.enworld.org/threads/on-ttrpg-kickstarters-merchandise-and-600-markups.720290/
The article talks about profitability and the 600% markup. That seems a little excessive. With our own Dr. Stiso’s Leviathan Rising coming to Kickstarter in January we have been talking costs. As currently planned the hardback book will sell for around $60 dollars, but Kickstarter pledges today are all about the add-ons and add-ons cost money. Not just to the buyer, but to the seller as well.
Christina, with your new game Leviathan Rising coming in the very near future what are your thoughts?
[Kick to Christina]
And there you have it, all the news, you’ve already heard.