ReverendDak's blog listings. Feed Zend_Feed_Writer 1.10.8 (http://framework.zend.com) http://community.wizards.com/reverenddak Why a good set of Core Rules are important. The game I play is what I like to call My D&D. It's my version of D&D which is a hodge-podge frankenSystem of rules. But the thing that keeps it My D&D is what happens behind the DM screen. Most of the house rules, exceptions and changes are completely invisible to the players. Anything I add to character generation has to be in addition to the core rules. My current set of core rules are the Dungeon Crawl Classics BETA rules. PCs are built using the rules as written, and any house rules are compatible with and "plug-in" to those rules. This allows someone to make a character, using the rules, and bring it to my game. So for a players purposes, they'll make a DCC RPG character. For about 6 months before DCC, it was Swords & Wizardry.

This is why Classic & Advanced D&D were the best version of D&D to me. The core rules were designed to be core rules, and any additional things you want to add, like Non-weapon Proficiencies or Skills, or psionics, etc, were optional. That's what makes a good core system. 3e went overboard. They made things that I wasn't interested in, part of the core rules. Feats are not how I want to do fancy tricks. I never used non-weapon proficiencies in Unearthed Arcana or whatever they were called in 2nd Edition, so why would I want to use skills now? If I wanted a skill system I'd play another system. Classes are shorthand for what your character can do, races & background are factors that bring depth to those classes. That's all I needed to figure out if someone can climb a cliff, pick a lock, or hunt some deer.

D&D Next has the opportunity to become my core-rules. So far they've promised HP, HD, AC, To-hit, Classes, Levels and Ability Scores--awesome. But will it be compatible with my what I'm using now?

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]]> Sat, 28 Jan 2012 10:02:47 -0600 http://community.wizards.com/reverenddak/blog/2012/01/28/why_a_good_set_of_core_rules_are_important. http://community.wizards.com/reverenddak/blog/2012/01/28/why_a_good_set_of_core_rules_are_important. The game I play is what I like to call My D&D. It's my version of D&D which is a hodge-podge frankenSystem of rules. But the thing that keeps it My D&D is what happens behind the DM screen. Most of the house rules, exceptions and changes are completely invisible to the players. Anything I add to character generation has to be in addition to the core rules. My current set of core rules are the Dungeon Crawl Classics BETA rules. PCs are built using the rules as written, and any house rules are compatible with and "plug-in" to those rules. This allows someone to make a character, using the rules, and bring it to my game. So for a players purposes, they'll make a DCC RPG character. For about 6 months before DCC, it was Swords & Wizardry.

This is why Classic & Advanced D&D were the best version of D&D to me. The core rules were designed to be core rules, and any additional things you want to add, like Non-weapon Proficiencies or Skills, or psionics, etc, were optional. That's what makes a good core system. 3e went overboard. They made things that I wasn't interested in, part of the core rules. Feats are not how I want to do fancy tricks. I never used non-weapon proficiencies in Unearthed Arcana or whatever they were called in 2nd Edition, so why would I want to use skills now? If I wanted a skill system I'd play another system. Classes are shorthand for what your character can do, races & background are factors that bring depth to those classes. That's all I needed to figure out if someone can climb a cliff, pick a lock, or hunt some deer.

D&D Next has the opportunity to become my core-rules. So far they've promised HP, HD, AC, To-hit, Classes, Levels and Ability Scores--awesome. But will it be compatible with my what I'm using now?

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]]> 0 D&D Again
I stopped playing your D&D (Official 4e) about 1.5 years ago. It started with the release of Essentials and the move from a client based Character Builder to a Web-based one. I was not happy about the changes, I killed my subscription (which I surprisingly got refunded for) and stopped playing 4e. I started looking for new games, I picked up a few "Story Games" and I found that tons of people were still playing Older Editions. That piqued my interest the most and decided to start at the root, Original Edition D&D. I picked up a copy of Swords & Wizardry because it was the easiest to find, and it is quite frankly well written. The changes it makes to the Original Game are minor, but innovations that I liked about d20/3x. Ascending AC being the big stand-out. So I started playing it, and realized that I still LOVED D&D THE MOST-EST! It really got to the heart about the things I loved about playing this silly Fantasy Adventure Game. It wasn't the intriging story lines, it wasn't the intensity of tactical combat. It was about playing a bunch of adventurers and dealing with whatever came their way. Whether it was saving a village from a horde of Snow Elves or figuring out what is down that newly uncovered tomb that reaked of the un-dead. I was having more fun playing D&D than I had since I returned to the game when 3.0 was released. I was a Grognard, I liked my combat quick, dirty, deadly and without minis. I liked magic powerful, but limited. I liked clerics who can fight, and thieves that got to treasure first so they can pocket the ring before the party sees it. 

For the past year & a half Old School D&D was my game of choiced. A few months later I switched over to Dungeon Crawl Classics BETA as my core rules, but guess what? I had full use of my S&W books, I dug up my Advanced D&D (1e) books, and have been using them all in my game. Picking and choosing whatever I liked best. I was entitled to it, because I was the DM and it was my campaign, and not too many others invested as much time pouring through as many books as I have. I bought everything that Lamentations of the Flame Princess released (Carcosa is mind-melting) and several Swords & Wizardry books as well. I downloaded a bunch of 1e adventurers, OSRIC to be specific, that I used as written in my "D&D" game. Same with a bunch of Classic D&D adventures, Labyrinth Lord to be specific, and have ran a few of those adventures as well. These books all sit nearby for quick reference if I need them. I also dug up my D&D and AD&D adventures as well as inspiration for use in my game, but more than inspiration, I could use the materials AS WRITTEN. I didn't have to convert anything because they were all compatible. 

To get to the point, I had use for my old books, and new things written for those old games and they all work very well with my current game. I couldn't do that with 4e. I could almost do that with 3e, but even 3e characters we're a bit over-powered and the emphasis on skills, feats and DC changed the focus.

So this brings us to Next Edition. WotC has kind of back-pedaled a bit. They're no longer saying the Ne will appeal to the Old and New, they're now saying that the Old can play with the New.  I'm not so sure about that. I don't see the point. But I guess I have to wait to see. If it's too much trouble to use my original copy of Tomb of Horrors with it, I'll be disappointed. 

I'm assuming, and already telling everyone, that whatever comes from Ne will just add to my already comprehensive D&D Tool-box. I hope there is some new innovation to steal from it. But if they do it right, it could possibly replace my core rules. No matter what, the game I play, my D&D, will always be a hodge podge frankenstein version of rules that will be unmistakably D&D.
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]]> Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:57:20 -0600 http://community.wizards.com/reverenddak/blog/2012/01/27/dd_again http://community.wizards.com/reverenddak/blog/2012/01/27/dd_again
I stopped playing your D&D (Official 4e) about 1.5 years ago. It started with the release of Essentials and the move from a client based Character Builder to a Web-based one. I was not happy about the changes, I killed my subscription (which I surprisingly got refunded for) and stopped playing 4e. I started looking for new games, I picked up a few "Story Games" and I found that tons of people were still playing Older Editions. That piqued my interest the most and decided to start at the root, Original Edition D&D. I picked up a copy of Swords & Wizardry because it was the easiest to find, and it is quite frankly well written. The changes it makes to the Original Game are minor, but innovations that I liked about d20/3x. Ascending AC being the big stand-out. So I started playing it, and realized that I still LOVED D&D THE MOST-EST! It really got to the heart about the things I loved about playing this silly Fantasy Adventure Game. It wasn't the intriging story lines, it wasn't the intensity of tactical combat. It was about playing a bunch of adventurers and dealing with whatever came their way. Whether it was saving a village from a horde of Snow Elves or figuring out what is down that newly uncovered tomb that reaked of the un-dead. I was having more fun playing D&D than I had since I returned to the game when 3.0 was released. I was a Grognard, I liked my combat quick, dirty, deadly and without minis. I liked magic powerful, but limited. I liked clerics who can fight, and thieves that got to treasure first so they can pocket the ring before the party sees it. 

For the past year & a half Old School D&D was my game of choiced. A few months later I switched over to Dungeon Crawl Classics BETA as my core rules, but guess what? I had full use of my S&W books, I dug up my Advanced D&D (1e) books, and have been using them all in my game. Picking and choosing whatever I liked best. I was entitled to it, because I was the DM and it was my campaign, and not too many others invested as much time pouring through as many books as I have. I bought everything that Lamentations of the Flame Princess released (Carcosa is mind-melting) and several Swords & Wizardry books as well. I downloaded a bunch of 1e adventurers, OSRIC to be specific, that I used as written in my "D&D" game. Same with a bunch of Classic D&D adventures, Labyrinth Lord to be specific, and have ran a few of those adventures as well. These books all sit nearby for quick reference if I need them. I also dug up my D&D and AD&D adventures as well as inspiration for use in my game, but more than inspiration, I could use the materials AS WRITTEN. I didn't have to convert anything because they were all compatible. 

To get to the point, I had use for my old books, and new things written for those old games and they all work very well with my current game. I couldn't do that with 4e. I could almost do that with 3e, but even 3e characters we're a bit over-powered and the emphasis on skills, feats and DC changed the focus.

So this brings us to Next Edition. WotC has kind of back-pedaled a bit. They're no longer saying the Ne will appeal to the Old and New, they're now saying that the Old can play with the New.  I'm not so sure about that. I don't see the point. But I guess I have to wait to see. If it's too much trouble to use my original copy of Tomb of Horrors with it, I'll be disappointed. 

I'm assuming, and already telling everyone, that whatever comes from Ne will just add to my already comprehensive D&D Tool-box. I hope there is some new innovation to steal from it. But if they do it right, it could possibly replace my core rules. No matter what, the game I play, my D&D, will always be a hodge podge frankenstein version of rules that will be unmistakably D&D.
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]]> 0 Three Business Days Later... ...or five earth days if you count the weekend.

On Saturday Wizard’s CustHelp contacted me. They informed me that it was a problem with Paypal. Because the payment was over 60 days ago (which is a DUH! because it was a yearly subscription) the refund was refused. Why didn’t they know that? Why weren’t they informed the first time? Why did it take a month for them to figure it out?

So, OK, what next? It was a weekend so I didn’t bother prying.

An email from Digital River disguised as Wizards Customer Help arrived this morning. It asked me to confirm my address so they can send me a check. They also noted that the check will take 4 to 6 weeks. Simply amazing. They have a paypal account, don’t they? They could have just paid me through the account. But they choose to use snail mail, paper and now I’ll have to go to the bank to deposit a $9.90 check.

Thanks, WotC. Thanks a lot.

I find it crazy how a business can take their time with your money, while if I owed them $9.90 and took as long as they did, my balance would have probably went to collections with all kinds of service charges and interest. But as an individual I don’t have a team of lawyers to do any suing.

Wouldn’t it have been easier for them to send me a voucher or subscription code for a couple months like I asked in the first place?

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]]> Mon, 22 Nov 2010 18:41:26 -0600 http://community.wizards.com/reverenddak/blog/2010/11/22/three_business_days_later... http://community.wizards.com/reverenddak/blog/2010/11/22/three_business_days_later... ...or five earth days if you count the weekend.

On Saturday Wizard’s CustHelp contacted me. They informed me that it was a problem with Paypal. Because the payment was over 60 days ago (which is a DUH! because it was a yearly subscription) the refund was refused. Why didn’t they know that? Why weren’t they informed the first time? Why did it take a month for them to figure it out?

So, OK, what next? It was a weekend so I didn’t bother prying.

An email from Digital River disguised as Wizards Customer Help arrived this morning. It asked me to confirm my address so they can send me a check. They also noted that the check will take 4 to 6 weeks. Simply amazing. They have a paypal account, don’t they? They could have just paid me through the account. But they choose to use snail mail, paper and now I’ll have to go to the bank to deposit a $9.90 check.

Thanks, WotC. Thanks a lot.

I find it crazy how a business can take their time with your money, while if I owed them $9.90 and took as long as they did, my balance would have probably went to collections with all kinds of service charges and interest. But as an individual I don’t have a team of lawyers to do any suing.

Wouldn’t it have been easier for them to send me a voucher or subscription code for a couple months like I asked in the first place?

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]]> 0 Why I'm not happy with WotC Customer Service ...or why I won't be spending another dime on D&D.

I requested an extension for the two months that there were no updates to Character Builder. This was around the same time the forums were heating up about the lack of updates, my subscription was expiring and they announced that a new Character Builder was being produced. I wanted an extension because I had an existing subscription, and I didn't want to pay an extra premium (a full price re-subscription) to try out the new web-based Character Builder. I thought it was a fair request, it was denied even after several attempts to reason with them. I finally gave up and accepted the 2-month refund. That's when I attempted to deactivate the Auto-Renewal. The system wouldn't allow me to access my account, so I reported it to Wizard CustServ. On their own they disabled the auto-renew, but didn't fix my account access. (Although I think they should have fixed it and allowed me to unclick it myself - but that's fine.) 10 days later, as they stated (it would take 5-10 days,) I checked on my status, and they said I was refunded for the two months, but that was not the case - I checked both my Paypal and Bank Account. I re-opened the case and they insisted that I was refunded. I got busy and check 10 days later, still no refund. I re-opened the case again. This time they did note that it didn't go through, and they resubmitted for the refund. I either missed that notice, or wasn't sent one. So I checked again three days later, no refund and to be safe I tried to check my account information with them. My account still reported a server error message, which I copied for them - just in case.

Three days later I get a reply stating that it has been reported to the "department" that handles these type of issues and if I didn't hear from them (them being Digital River, as I found out) in three days to call a number with a ticket number. I called the number today, because I didn't hear from them. The support agent on that end looked up my information and told me that they don't handle refunds, and that I have to contact the supplier (WotC). They're obviously not on the same sheet of music.

It's been a MONTH since I accepted the refund, only to be giving the classic run-around. I have to wait again up to three days to be contacted by Digital River. 

Since I started this process, a month and a half ago, I've been denied a simple request and had to basically give in to accept a partial refund, only to be given a run-around for a month. The lack of communication, questionable policies and just plain poor customer service is disappointing.

I have tons of great customer service stories that I could share, to show what I expected of WotC. I've work retail for 3.5 years, and IT for the past ten. So I know what customer service is.

WotC doesn't seem to have a clue. 

I'll be back with an update in three days.

2 Comments - Leave a Comment
]]> Thu, 18 Nov 2010 16:52:54 -0600 http://community.wizards.com/reverenddak/blog/2010/11/18/why_im_not_happy_with_wotc_customer_service http://community.wizards.com/reverenddak/blog/2010/11/18/why_im_not_happy_with_wotc_customer_service ...or why I won't be spending another dime on D&D.

I requested an extension for the two months that there were no updates to Character Builder. This was around the same time the forums were heating up about the lack of updates, my subscription was expiring and they announced that a new Character Builder was being produced. I wanted an extension because I had an existing subscription, and I didn't want to pay an extra premium (a full price re-subscription) to try out the new web-based Character Builder. I thought it was a fair request, it was denied even after several attempts to reason with them. I finally gave up and accepted the 2-month refund. That's when I attempted to deactivate the Auto-Renewal. The system wouldn't allow me to access my account, so I reported it to Wizard CustServ. On their own they disabled the auto-renew, but didn't fix my account access. (Although I think they should have fixed it and allowed me to unclick it myself - but that's fine.) 10 days later, as they stated (it would take 5-10 days,) I checked on my status, and they said I was refunded for the two months, but that was not the case - I checked both my Paypal and Bank Account. I re-opened the case and they insisted that I was refunded. I got busy and check 10 days later, still no refund. I re-opened the case again. This time they did note that it didn't go through, and they resubmitted for the refund. I either missed that notice, or wasn't sent one. So I checked again three days later, no refund and to be safe I tried to check my account information with them. My account still reported a server error message, which I copied for them - just in case.

Three days later I get a reply stating that it has been reported to the "department" that handles these type of issues and if I didn't hear from them (them being Digital River, as I found out) in three days to call a number with a ticket number. I called the number today, because I didn't hear from them. The support agent on that end looked up my information and told me that they don't handle refunds, and that I have to contact the supplier (WotC). They're obviously not on the same sheet of music.

It's been a MONTH since I accepted the refund, only to be giving the classic run-around. I have to wait again up to three days to be contacted by Digital River. 

Since I started this process, a month and a half ago, I've been denied a simple request and had to basically give in to accept a partial refund, only to be given a run-around for a month. The lack of communication, questionable policies and just plain poor customer service is disappointing.

I have tons of great customer service stories that I could share, to show what I expected of WotC. I've work retail for 3.5 years, and IT for the past ten. So I know what customer service is.

WotC doesn't seem to have a clue. 

I'll be back with an update in three days.

2 Comments - Leave a Comment
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