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And Venger Satanis aka Darrick Dishaw genuinely at least at some point worshipped a bizarre Cthulhu-Satan hybrid and claimed it got him kicked out the theistic Church of Satan for being too real. While his permanent ban on RPGnet was eventually rescinded because his nobody actually took him casting Prismatic Spray at the mods through his monitor that seriously it was reinstated when he announced he was turning into a Deep One or something and likened this to the transgender experience.
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Mar 16, 2022 15:09
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Darrick "Venger Satanis" Dishaw also tried to create a "real" Cult of Cthulhu with himself as the high priest. He wrote a bible for the cult that includes lengthy passages copied almost entirely from Wikipedia and details of sexual rituals and practices which, of course, involve important people like him having sex with female congregates and practicing polygamy.
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Mar 16, 2022 15:11
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Hostile V posted:Kasimir "RPGPundit" Urbanski is a loving Nazi jackass who deals in a lot of bad faith arguments about game design and is involved in the OSR. He makes his own indie poo poo but his main claims to fame are being a Nazi and being credited as a consultant in D&D 5e before mass uproar over him being an enormous piece of poo poo along with the other major piece of poo poo Zak S being removed as consultants. He is currently repeatedly making GBS threads into an ever-filling bucket with diminishing returns as his fanbase slowly leaves him. His schtick on rpg.net (and elsewhere) was screaming "Swine!!" to insult anyone who had ever dared to play a White Wolf game, as these were "Storygames" designed to ruin his personal hobby. Back in the early 2000s you could post on rpg.net without a registered account - after he arrived people begged the staff to require registration so that they could "ignore" his posts. While he ran the North Korea of gaming sites - therpgsite - he swore to never ban people ("Free Speech!") but soon started banning anyone who mentioned his New Age grift business, or disagreed with him about gaming, or who he didn't like, or, etc, etc.
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Mar 16, 2022 15:11
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For example, I believe he banned someone for pointing out that the spell list in his Arrows of Indra was a straight copypaste from Empire of the Petal Throne. Most of what he's done has been very bad clones of other games. When he got the 5e gig, people had to tread lightly around that, too. Dragonsfoot is built on advocating a particular edition (AD&D1e). Trollman's forum is built around his own weird philosophy regarding game design. TheRPGSite wasn't partisan in the same way--it really was just a catchment for people who couldn't get along on other forums.
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Mar 16, 2022 16:12
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Halloween Jack posted:For example, I believe he banned someone for pointing out that the spell list in his Arrows of Indra was a straight copypaste from Empire of the Petal Throne. Most of what he's done has been very bad clones of other games. When he got the 5e gig, people had to tread lightly around that, too. Dragonsfoot is probably the biggest single forum for 2e discussion, too - at least rules-wise, the setting discussion goes to the Piazza. Also if Zak is reading this, you're right and I'm wrong you aren't banned from theRPGSite I was incorrect and you can stop angryblogging at me now.
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Mar 16, 2022 16:15
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Oh yeah, I saw that. Sorry you got targeted by a maniac. It's funny that he can't fathom that you just, like, forgot a detail about one of many online maniacs. Nah, this is some carefully crafted conspiracy to lie about what forums he is and isn't banned from.
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Mar 16, 2022 16:23
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LOL LMAO Is there an industry award for "most living rent-free in ZakS` head"? If so, there are some accolades in SA's future!
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Mar 16, 2022 16:28
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Speaking of, Skerples wrote a good rundown of what's been up with Zak over the last while, although Skerples is very confused by and does not understand the Comedy Goldmine at all https://coinsandscrolls.blogspot.com/2022/03/on-zak-sabbath-smith-lawsuits.html
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Mar 16, 2022 16:29
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Isn't RPGPundit the guy behind that superhero game on DrivethruRPG? The Ascendant, I think it's called? If so, I'm kind of disappointed its done so well.
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Mar 16, 2022 16:40
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Hiro Protagonist posted:Isn't RPGPundit the guy behind that superhero game on DrivethruRPG? The Ascendant, I think it's called? If so, I'm kind of disappointed its done so well. That's Alexander Macris.
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Mar 16, 2022 16:42
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Hiro Protagonist posted:Isn't RPGPundit the guy behind that superhero game on DrivethruRPG? The Ascendant, I think it's called? If so, I'm kind of disappointed its done so well.
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Mar 16, 2022 16:42
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A lot of work obviously went into this book - 496 pages of content. Sadly as far as I am concerned it's much too involved. The system is a mix of DC heroes, Champions and FASERIP. The rules take a "hero physics simulation" approach and that's where everything falls apart for me. 496 pages of detailed special cases and rules (3 pages for bombs, 1.5 pages for handling asteroids, 2,5 pages for handling avalanches, 7 pages for diseases [in a superhero game??? come one!], 3 pages for earthquakes, 4.3 pages for realistically handling fire, 2.5 pages for nuclear disaster, and so on... for tornados, tsunsamis and whatever). And the rules themselves for these cases aren't trivial either. Take the two (!) pages on listening: Hearing clarity = passive listening range + sound loudness - effective range - sound absorption - ambient loudness. Effective range = passive listening range + sound loudness - hearing clarity - sound absorption - ambient loudness. Maximum effective range of earshot = ... (and it goes on and one - this is ONE paragraph) of two pages. It's just too involved and as far as a I am concerned a simulation approach does not work for superhero gaming if you want to to feel like in actual comics. Might work if it were codified in a computer game and the software shields you from all the complexity but I really can't see anyone playing this game by the rules and having much fun. Or any kind of comic experience. Combined with the art (which I technically really like) that depicts most women with... huge... ballooning... attributes... so to speak and a rather inept layout (one column sans-serif 8 point (or less?) font) this tome is just too much to digest for me in a sane manner. lol
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Mar 16, 2022 16:44
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motherfucker forgot aural circumference
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Mar 16, 2022 16:45
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90s Cringe Rock posted:That's Alexander Macris of ACKS/Autarch/The Escapist/Milo Inc. Ah, okay. Was he another chud, or am I getting confused with something else?
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Mar 16, 2022 16:50
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Hiro Protagonist posted:Ah, okay. Was he another chud, or am I getting confused with something else?
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Mar 16, 2022 16:53
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Arivia posted:Speaking of, Skerples wrote a good rundown of what's been up with Zak over the last while, although Skerples is very confused by and does not understand the Comedy Goldmine at all https://coinsandscrolls.blogspot.com/2022/03/on-zak-sabbath-smith-lawsuits.html This is a good little summary, thanks for posting it. I want to shout out an unnecessarily well done bit that someone might gloss over : towards the end when they're summarizing a (well deserved) judgement against Zak for being a poo poo-heel, they coin the phrase Qui maledixerit feritor which seems like a pretty good schoolboy Latin rendition of "talk poo poo, get hit". (literally "who [is a] bad.talker is hit/banged/walloped")
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Mar 16, 2022 17:32
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90s Cringe Rock posted:Combined with the art (which I technically really like) that depicts most women with... huge... ballooning... attributes... so to speak and a rather inept layout (one column sans-serif 8 point (or less?) font) this tome is just too much to digest for me in a sane manner. "aT lEaSt It'S nOt PoLiTiCaL lIkE oThEr SuPeRhErO sTuFf" "Non-political" means copying the worst 90's era Image art as hard as you can.
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Mar 16, 2022 17:38
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Macris IIRC is the only publisher to have discussion of his games banned from rpg.net because he kept threatening to sue them.
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Mar 16, 2022 18:52
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Arivia posted:Speaking of, Skerples wrote a good rundown of what's been up with Zak over the last while, although Skerples is very confused by and does not understand the Comedy Goldmine at all https://coinsandscrolls.blogspot.com/2022/03/on-zak-sabbath-smith-lawsuits.html Glad this has a bunch of screenshots.
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Mar 16, 2022 18:54
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the weird thing about zak s is that i've run into many of his personal and professional acquaintances and basically no one can really stand him, especially now. sad.
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Mar 16, 2022 18:58
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if he acts and talks in real life like he does on the internet, there's nothing 'weird' about it.
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Mar 16, 2022 19:07
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The weird thing would them being able to put up with him much in the first place. Maybe he talks less like a debate robot IRL, I dunno.
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Mar 16, 2022 19:10
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I belive scientists call this the "finding out" phase.
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Mar 16, 2022 19:15
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Ego Trip posted:I belive scientists call this the "finding out" phase. I think that's exactly why Zak is suing everyone and everything he possibly can: he knows he's losing influence and connections and prestige everywhere as fast as he can, so he's suing in the hopes that he can prolong it as long as possible before it all becomes actually permanently lost.
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Mar 16, 2022 19:21
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That makes a lot of sense. Wonder if he'd be able to make the switch to alt right grifting like so many others.
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Mar 16, 2022 19:25
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https://twitter.com/screaminbutcalm/status/1105577845642878976?s=20&t=XnNN8Mj6tkSQP70sCdYA-QImpermanent posted:the weird thing about zak s is that i've run into many of his personal and professional acquaintances and basically no one can really stand him, especially now. sad.
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Mar 16, 2022 19:25
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Impermanent posted:the weird thing about zak s is that i've run into many of his personal and professional acquaintances and basically no one can really stand him, especially now. sad. I still talk to a few OSR notables on discord here and there and one them summed it up as "Everyone is friends and everyone loving hates everyone else." The Skaven of RPG publishing, if you know their lore. Speaking of Games Workshop, they pulled out of russia today.
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Mar 16, 2022 20:54
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That's bigger than it might seem to those who don't know. Warhammer cosplay is this Big Thing in Russia. I have no idea what GW's revenues are from Russia, of course (the company's financial statements are grouped by region, not individual country other than UK). e. In 2021, the annual revenue provided by Asia business was just 3.4% of the company's total revenue, so closing down Russia business won't have a significant impact on the company's income. It's just a big deal for the Russian hobbyists. I also note that the company's annual report shows GW has committed to a formal "Ethical sourcing" agreement and audit program, and imposes this agreement on all of its suppliers, so it's possible the company had no choice but to close its business in Russia based on whatever that audit program demands. Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 23:11 on Mar 16, 2022 |
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Mar 16, 2022 23:03
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Why are you lumping Russia with Asia in GW’s reporting? Wouldn’t it make up part of EMEA or EU region for reporting purposes?
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Mar 17, 2022 01:14
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Nystral posted:Why are you lumping Russia with Asia in GW’s reporting? Wouldn’t it make up part of EMEA or EU region for reporting purposes? It sure would be weird to mark Russia as EU. Even if EU is just short for “Europe”, that’d be ambiguous and possibly confusing. Never liked the whole “Russia isn’t real Europe” nonsense, but the Russian Federation* is also profoundly not part of the EU and it’s been a whole big thing in European politics for a while. *Very purposeful phrasing.
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Mar 17, 2022 02:13
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CIS, maybe?
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Mar 17, 2022 02:46
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One of the strangest things about RPG Pundit is that he now makes YouTube videos which are just him talking over a static camera image. This is usually some of his books, but on one older video he decided viewers would like to see his sink full of old washers for half an hour.
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Mar 17, 2022 02:52
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They only use free range plastic now.
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Mar 17, 2022 02:58
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If you want an example of how insufferable Zak must be to work with, you can just go check out the kickstarter comments section for Demon City which Zak has basically colonized as a sort of secondary blog where he spends half his day arguing with people while his co-creator just sort of tries to keep the whole mess at arm's length.
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Mar 17, 2022 03:19
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TheDiceMustRoll posted:I still talk to a few OSR notables on discord here and there and one them summed it up as "Everyone is friends and everyone loving hates everyone else." The Skaven of RPG publishing, if you know their lore. Not particularly a coincidence since Skaven are fascists and fascists all hate everyone and everything.
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Mar 17, 2022 07:30
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Arivia posted:Speaking of, Skerples wrote a good rundown of what's been up with Zak over the last while, although Skerples is very confused by and does not understand the Comedy Goldmine at all https://coinsandscrolls.blogspot.com/2022/03/on-zak-sabbath-smith-lawsuits.html I see Zak and a few of his clique (or sock puppets) have turned up to defend himself in the comments. And he's doing so in the most exhausting way possible. Just show that thread to any neutral third party who'd never heard of him before and watch them go  He's clearly gone all in, this whole whiny relentless nitpicking is all he's got left. This is his life now.
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Mar 17, 2022 10:46
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Kai Tave posted:If you want an example of how insufferable Zak must be to work with, you can just go check out the kickstarter comments section for Demon City which Zak has basically colonized as a sort of secondary blog where he spends half his day arguing with people while his co-creator just sort of tries to keep the whole mess at arm's length. Or just the comments of the article with how he and people who might even not be sock accounts have swarmed it.
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Mar 17, 2022 13:55
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Commenter 1 - ZorkS - Not A Sockpuppet Commenter 2 - ZorkS - Not A Sockpuppet Commenter 3 - ZorkS - Not A Sockpuppet ......
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Mar 17, 2022 14:47
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I'm not really sure what Skerples intends to gain by Zakposting since engagement is something Zak cannot walk away from and will engage back until the end of time. Like this is G+ days all over again. I thought skerps was like...aware of this, but there be is, in the comments, engaging engaging engaging. Skerples himself has advocated for not engaging with Zak....like years ago. I can dig up old 4chan posts if people want but this one works the best. Five years ago Skerples was going around on /osrg/ telling people the way to defeat Zak was to not give him the engagement he wants: (And yes I know the post is anonymous but Zak confronted him about the content of posts in that specific thread and Skerples didn't go "wasnt me cant prove it lol" so I would be kind of surprised if Skerples just appeared to own those posts as an excuse to burn bridges with Zak, but who knows, I could be mistaken) Just kidding, I guess the real way to defeat Zak is to write massively long blog posts and get into a back and forth with him in the comments of those blog posts including a series of charts tracking his pornography career to prove he wasn't much of a porn star or something. I guess. Well, I guess he's keeping himself busy. I think his other pursuits were better, I liked his imperial guard modeling project.
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Mar 17, 2022 14:55
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I appreciate that  has only become more relevant.
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Mar 17, 2022 15:16
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