The Future of Non-Ownership Is Now

Between the time I graduated high school in 1994 and completed graduate school in 2005, the concept of ownership drastically transformed into something else. Now in 2012, I not only cling to fond stories of obsolete technologies from my youth, but also a seemingly ancient sense of what it means to truly own something. It reminds me of the first lines in the film version of The Fellowship of The Ring:

The world is changed. I feel it in the water. I feel it in the earth. I smell it in the air. Much that once was is lost, for none now live who remember it.

When my generation has aged and expired, it seems the concept of ownership will come to pass. No one will recall a time when an individual sought out real-world products, purchased them and physically took those products home to display them on shelves, desks and other storage centers. Media cabinets full of books, music albums and movies have already been replaced by such things and services as Kindle, Nook, iTunes, Pandora, Spotify, Netflix and Hulu.

“For it shows things that were, and things that are, things that yet may be. But which it is that he sees, even the wisest cannot always tell. Do you wish to look?”

Over three years ago, the current Editor-in-Chief of The Scholarly Kitchen wrote about the Kindle and the freedom of not owning books:

Consider how many encyclopedias you’ve purchased in the past 20 years. Will you ever buy one again? Of course not. Wikipedia and Google have combined to make ownership of an encyclopedia irrelevant. The same thing is happening to atlases (Google Maps and GPS), and will soon start happening to cookbooks (Epicurious, anyone?) . . .

Ownership isn’t a panacea, especially in an age of information abundance. Will I be concerned if the Kindle dies and books I’ve read on it become inaccessible on that platform? Not really. If I want to read them again, there will be plenty of alternative ways in the future. And my bookshelves long ago stopped being my collection of known facts and resources . . .

Two of my favorite old Sherlock Holmes collections are on my Kindle — for free. A copy of “Moby Dick” typeset especially for the Kindle also held sway for a while. From classics to current bestsellers, I can wirelessly get books for free and for less.

And I don’t have to own them.

It is a common theme offered in support of the new concept of ownership – whether it be books, albums, movies or even video games. People are perfectly agreeable to not owning a product and are willing to enjoy the product for free or for less cost at their convenience. And how the new process of non-ownership will play out with tabletop roleplaying games is both unknown . . . and completely predictable.

You’ve Been Terminated

During the past five weeks , I have moved out of a house, sold said house, closed down at one job, driven 1,200 miles and started a new job. And that’s the condensed version! One of the more challenging aspects of leaving my former hometown was saying goodbye to cherished friends and acquaintances. Since learning that I would be moving across the country, I have been terminating relationships left and right.

“And maybe it’ll be enough if you know that in the few hours we had together we loved a lifetime’s worth.” ~Sarah Connor

Termination is the somewhat unfortunate psychological term for the final phase of treatment with a client. For example, when a counselor is preparing to end therapy with a client he or she might say, “I’m about to terminate with Mrs. Jones” or “Mr. Jones and I only have three more sessions before termination.” Applied to my situation, I terminated with approximately 100 clients during the past two to three months. Ending a relationship with a client is a crucial portion of therapy, and it presents unique challenges.

I certainly gained a great deal of practice in termination. I have been a terminating machine!

As I prepared to leave town, I also had to terminate an ongoing Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition campaign, which had been running for over two years. I relied on many of the principles underlying appropriate clinical termination in a therapeutic relationship. Below, I describe how the process of termination can be best utilized to ensure a gaming group can end on the best possible terms.

1st Annual Iddy the Lich Art Contest Results

Thank you to each artist who submitted an entry for what I plan to become an annual feature of my blog – The Iddy the Lich Art Contest. I was pleasantly surprised to have eight great entries!

The contest features three prizes – one decided by me, a second by the readers of the site and a third by the artists who submitted an entry. One artist swept all three categories!

Winner – Jimi Bonogofsky

Congratulations to Jimi Bonogofsky!

I found Jimi’s submission to be a fantastic mixed-media representation of Iddy the Lich. The text background was unique and the painting captured the original, slightly whimsical design for Iddy. The image also makes me wonder, “Who’s skeletal hand he is holding?” Perhaps Iddy has a long-lost love interest, which drove him to the dark arts to bring back his true love? Or perhaps it’s just the last person he melted with his vile magic in pursuit of unholy goals? What do you think?

It was a tough decision as each entry was wonderful, but she earned my vote. She was also voted as the readers’ choice and the favorite of the other participating artists. A clean sweep!

Visit Jimi’s website to learn more about her and view galleries of her work and offer your congratulations on Twitter. She provides the following description of herself:

I am an illustrator and animator, with a passion for storytelling. I am a proud geek, and spend much of my spare time playing video games or Dungeons and Dragons. I love to write fiction stories in the first person and nerdy or angsty folk songs.

I learned that these three key words describe me: Purple. Earth. Domestic cat.

Sounds like a wonderful person to game with; once again, congratulations!

Winner – Jesse Pyne

I previously considered that the same artist might win the votes of myself, the readers and the artist. To break the tie to award the other two Dragon Chow dice bags, I relied on the voting completed by the readers. The other winners – as voted by the readers – are Jesse Pyne and Melissa Johansson. Congratulations!

Jesse created an image that I immediately thought could be used as a wallpaper for my laptop computer. The design takes the cartoonish look of Iddy and morphs him into a realistic lich with a Spawn-like flowing cape. I have a soft spot in my heart for those early Image Comics and I always thought Spawn was an interesting character, although I lost track of the series around issue #50. It is a very cool side view of Iddy, and the purple background adds to his overall regalness.

Winner – Melissa Johansson

Meanwhile, Melissa remained close to the cartoonish Iddy design but created a slightly menacing look for him. His pose also suggests that he is beckoning the viewer to come closer if they dare. The expression on his face is rather taunting, and it adds up to a great image.

Each winner will receive a custom-made Iddy the Lich dice bag created by Dragon Chow. I wish I could give something to the other five entries in the contest. I enjoyed all of them and will certainly feature them in future articles throughout the year (if the artists find that acceptable).

Thank you one final time for each entry and for all of the voters who placed votes over the past week. Let me know if you’d like to see this as a yearly feature.

First Annual Iddy the Lich Art Contest

Last month, I announced an art contest and I had no idea what to expect in terms of a response. I asked for submissions on art depicting the blog’s official mascot, Iddy the Lich. Throughout the month of September, I was pleasantly surprised to receive eight entries into the contest. As I mentioned, there will be three winners; each winner will received a custom The Id DM dice bag created by Dragon Chow.

Iddy the Lich

The winners will be decided by three voting processes. The first is quite simple, I’m going to select my favorite. The second will be a free-for-all, open-to-the-public voting period that will begin today and conclude next Monday, October 15th. The third will be a private vote from each of the eight artists who submitted an entry (and they cannot vote for their own entry).

Before displaying the entries, I want to thank each artist for sending me their rendition of Iddy the Lich. I was happy to receive each entry throughout the month of September; it always brightened my day when a new entry arrived in my inbox!

Please consume the Iddy the Lich entries and vote for your favorite. Also, please investigate the talents of each artist through their website or Twitter feed – I have included the links below.

Gen Con 2012: What Now?

If your time to you
Is worth savin’
Then you better start swimmin’
Or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’.

                ~ Bob Dylan – The Times They Are a-Changin’

What follows is likely the most personal entry in the history of my blog. It is the culmination of a number of major events in my life and many weeks of thought. There will not be any specific tidbits or suggestions for running a RPG campaign (those will return next week), although I believe some of the things discussed below (e.g., shifting priorities, work/life balance) may resonant with others in similar situations.

Perhaps the best place to ignite this self-disclosure fire is a conversation I had with my Unofficial Blogging Mentor, Mike Shea. He asked me an interesting question during dinner one night at Gen Con:

Where do you want to take The Id DM?

While it’s a question I considered often during the life of the blog, I did not have a very good answer for him in the moment. Spending a few days at Gen Con rubbing shoulders with other prominent bloggers, writers and designers in the D&D and RPG community was fantastic . . . but it also resulted in a personal swim through existential waters. It forced me to really think about the question, “What am I trying to accomplish with the blog?”

Ego Check: Crew of Dungeons & Dragons: A Documentary

Would you like to sit down in your cozy home theater and watch a feature-length film about the history of Dungeons & Dragons? Would you like to see hours of footage from interviews with major players who were there during the tumultuous journey of the game from creation to today? Would you like to go back in time to see how Dungeons & Dragons was portrayed in the media around the world during its boom period and also during times of dark controversy? Would you like to learn just how much Dungeons & Dragons has influenced our modern world?

Filmmakers Anthony Savini, Andrew Pascal and James Sprattley are currently working to give you this opportunity with Dungeons & Dragons: A Documentary – and they need your help.

I was able to communicate with the three filmmakers to learn about their motivations for starting the project in addition to their plans (and dreams) for reaching a final product. I quickly learned how passionate they are about the subject content – and the respect they believe Dungeons & Dragons has not received. They view the history of D&D as a riveting tale – and a force that has shaped many aspects of modern culture.

Below, the team for Dungeons & Dragons: A Documentary scratches the surface on the scale of their production and discusses some of the major themes they plan to tackle in the film. As someone unfamiliar with the twists and turns in the history of D&D, I am hoping they are successful!

Gen Con 2012: Meetings, Greetings & A Contest

Behold Iddy the Dice Bag!

One of my primary goals at Gen Con was tracking down as many of the people I have gotten to know in some capacity over the last year or two through my blog. As a way to thank the individuals who were kind enough to agree to an interview for my site, I had special The Id DM dice bags created by Dragon Chow Dice Bags. The end result was fantastic, and I was excited to dispense the bags at the convention.

There are still a few individuals I need to reach so I can mail them a bag; not everyone was at Gen Con. But it was a pleasure to finally meet the following people in person after communicating with them online for interviews:

• Carl Bussler of Flagons & Dragons
• Lyndsay Peters of Dragon Chow Dice Bags
• Mike Shea of Sly Flourish
• Scott Rehm of The Angry DM
• Brian Patterson of d20monkey
• Tracy Barnett of Sand & Steam and School Daze
• Tracy Hurley of Sarah Darkmagic
• Jennifer Steen of Jennisodes and Project Ninja Panda Taco
• Monte Cook of Numenera
• Mike Mearls of Wizards of the Coast and D&D Next

I once again offer my gratitude for their time and willingness to respond to my questions. And if you enjoy the photo of the dice bag above, then this is your lucky day because I am going to run my first-ever contest through this site. Multiple winners will be mailed a The Id DM dice bag created by Dragon Chow Dice Bags. Read below for the details!