Grognardia: Still the G.O.A.T.*?

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Doesn't Leiber call Fafhrd & the Grey Mouser 'the twain'? I'd have to dig the books out of the basement, but I think he does.

Of course, just because he did doesn't mean anyone else should...
 
Lofgeornost said:
Doesn't Leiber call Fafhrd & the Grey Mouser 'the twain'? I'd have to dig the books out of the basement, but I think he does.

Of course, just because he did doesn't mean anyone else should...
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I'm sure he does (and I haven't re-read those books recently, but have them on the shelf after a recent move and probably will soon). However, as Voros Voros already mentioned, Leiber has a particular ironic and satirical voice and style that makes a difference in context. I'm not saying my negative reaction was totally logical and justified, but it was nonetheless real...
 
T. Foster said:
Leiber has a particular ironic and satirical voice and style that makes a difference in context. I'm not saying my negative reaction was totally logical and justified, but it was nonetheless real...
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Sure; I know I'd think twice or three times before using the phrase 'the twain.' Unless I was writing about Mark, or maybe Shania.:smile:
 
I can't believe you missed the chance to title it "Tn'T"...
 
Honestly, threads like this are probably *exactly* why commenting is turned off at Grognardia these days.

A lot of it seems really mean-spirited. It reminds me of the transition of commentary on my own work as I went from horribly amateurish (and getting tons of praise) to my current work (where there's little commentary in response to the work itself, and instead there's meta-discussions about how it just isn't good enough).
 
Dyson Logos said:
Honestly, threads like this are probably *exactly* why commenting is turned off at Grognardia these days.

A lot of it seems really mean-spirited. It reminds me of the transition of commentary on my own work as I went from horribly amateurish (and getting tons of praise) to my current work (where there's little commentary in response to the work itself, and instead there's meta-discussions about how it just isn't good enough).
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Really? I mean I can see a few people being pretty harsh on him but here and elsewhere I feel like he's mostly getting praise and glad he's back comments in higher ratio than negative feedback. Am I looking through too rose colored glasses?
 
Dyson Logos said:
Honestly, threads like this are probably *exactly* why commenting is turned off at Grognardia these days.

A lot of it seems really mean-spirited. It reminds me of the transition of commentary on my own work as I went from horribly amateurish (and getting tons of praise) to my current work (where there's little commentary in response to the work itself, and instead there's meta-discussions about how it just isn't good enough).
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Welcome to the Pub Dyson!

I think the folks here with the harsher opinions are at least also the sort not to go to Grognardia and comment on it. Some of it does seem a little over the top for some guy's blog, but they've likely been cultivated over the last decade, and I find the more people that like a thing, the more other people find a need to articulate why they do not like a thing.
 
Even with positive comments, it only takes a few nasty ones to bleak your day. Unless you are one of those rare people who can just steam ahead and keep focus. And that's just for your average innocuous blog or YouTube channel... gods forbid the witch hunters get the notion they have anything like a righteous cause.
I've got no doubt that if he were to open up the comments there'd be a group, ready and waiting to spit their poison.
Also, I suspect a few people here have held back once they saw it wasn't going to be the dogpile they were hoping for.
 
Dyson Logos said:
Honestly, threads like this are probably *exactly* why commenting is turned off at Grognardia these days.

A lot of it seems really mean-spirited. It reminds me of the transition of commentary on my own work as I went from horribly amateurish (and getting tons of praise) to my current work (where there's little commentary in response to the work itself, and instead there's meta-discussions about how it just isn't good enough).
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Welcome to the Pub, Dyson Logos Dyson Logos. Sorry to hear you are dealing with backlash. I've always appreciated your work.
 
Simlasa said:
Even with positive comments, it only takes a few nasty ones to bleak your day. Unless you are one of those rare people who can just steam ahead and keep focus. And that's just for your average innocuous blog or YouTube channel... gods forbid the witch hunters get the notion they have anything like a righteous cause.
I've got no doubt that if he were to open up the comments there'd be a group, ready and waiting to spit their poison.
Also, I suspect a few people here have held back once they saw it wasn't going to be the dogpile they were hoping for.
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I think I've gotten a bit numb to it after years on the forums. I really didn't take any notice until Dyson said something about it.
 
When I first saw the thread I was dreading reading a rehash of Dwimmermount complaints but that didn't happen.
From that perspective his reemergence has been pretty pleasant. Some comments on style but that's life.
 
Dyson Logos said:
Honestly, threads like this are probably *exactly* why commenting is turned off at Grognardia these days.

A lot of it seems really mean-spirited. It reminds me of the transition of commentary on my own work as I went from horribly amateurish (and getting tons of praise) to my current work (where there's little commentary in response to the work itself, and instead there's meta-discussions about how it just isn't good enough).
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I love your work by the way.
 
Yeah, I tend to think that personal attacks on James are obnoxious (and to be blunt, unless someone was personally affected by the Dwimmermount debacle I tend to assume that people getting indignant about it all these years later are constructing their outrage). But I don't think criticising his writing or content are personal attacks, in the same way that James criticising a RPG isn't an attack on the RPG's author.
 
T. Foster said:
I'm sure he does (and I haven't re-read those books recently, but have them on the shelf after a recent move and probably will soon). However, as Voros Voros already mentioned, Leiber has a particular ironic and satirical voice and style that makes a difference in context. I'm not saying my negative reaction was totally logical and justified, but it was nonetheless real...
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JMal can come across as a smug, tweed-wearing academic, the kind of uptight, soulless professor you want to beat to death when you get them for a class on Byron. But, the guy‘s a good egg and always meant well. Knocking him for “The Twain” is on you, that’s Lieber, not JMal.

Now that you know it’s Lieber’s term, I’d think you’d be more “Ok, that was me being a dumbass”. :shade:
 
Dyson Logos said:
Honestly, threads like this are probably *exactly* why commenting is turned off at Grognardia these days.

A lot of it seems really mean-spirited. It reminds me of the transition of commentary on my own work as I went from horribly amateurish (and getting tons of praise) to my current work (where there's little commentary in response to the work itself, and instead there's meta-discussions about how it just isn't good enough).
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Hey Dyson. I love your maps. I’ve used a ton of them in my Hyborian campaign.

Surprised to hear that you’re getting backlash, what current work is causing the criticism?
 
The idea of someone shit posting about Dyson's maps is so stupid I hardly know how to react. This is probably the best collection of rpg maps of all sorts you can find - huge, diverse (dungeons, cities, hex crawl hexes, etc.), mostly free if you want, and uniformly great looking. They are to modern online content what the pastel D+D modules were to 'first-wave' dungeon design: they set the curve.
 
Moonglum said:
The idea of someone shit posting about Dyson's maps is so stupid I hardly know how to react. This is probably the best collection of rpg maps of all sorts you can find - huge, diverse (dungeons, cities, hex crawl hexes, etc.), mostly free if you want, and uniformly great looking. They are to modern online content what the pastel D+D modules were to 'first-wave' dungeon design: they set the curve.
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I'm guessing it's the same type of criticism your see towards Jmal. Not their style. Or that's not realistic!!!!
Whatever. I like em.
 
More likely I'd guess it is because he has started to work with WotC and it is some people's fulltime job online to hate on WotC (both OSR and anti-OSR).
 
Moonglum said:
The idea of someone shit posting about Dyson's maps is so stupid I hardly know how to react. This is probably the best collection of rpg maps of all sorts you can find - huge, diverse (dungeons, cities, hex crawl hexes, etc.), mostly free if you want, and uniformly great looking. They are to modern online content what the pastel D+D modules were to 'first-wave' dungeon design: they set the curve.
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I also like that they are in a sweet spot of looking professional without being intimidating. My issue with most of the maps in modern D&D supplements it that the production values are so high that they don't resemble anything the average GM can make on their own. The simple maps in my the B/X books I started with encouraged me to start immediately on making my own. Realistically, I know that most people won't be able to make maps as good as Dyson, but their clean simplicity makes it seem possible.
 
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Baulderstone said:
Realistically, I know that most people won't be able to make maps as good as Dyson, but their clean simplicity makes it seem possible.
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I find Dyson maps nearly as inspiring as the old B/X maps. I break out the Micron pens and graph paper to make maps using some of his techniques.
 
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