Poor old Lines. He is ever so keen and has been asking his DB questions for a while. All answered now on the FAQ. However, it does bring up a worthwhile point about how long it takes me to answer all your comments.
Firstly, let me assure you that I do read everything. My trouble comes when I need to find the time to reply to them all properly. If I’ve not been working on a game for a couple of months then I’m very likely to be less than 100% certain on the answer, and I’d rather be right than wrong. This means that I often need to spend quite a while checking references before I can write the few lines of reply. Remember that I don’t just know the final printed version of the rules as you do, but every iteration that preceded them. I’ve also generally done the same with one, two or more games since, and so things can easily get muddled.
Also remember that this site is done for my amusement in my spare time rather than as part of my job. Certainly, if it was part of my job then I’d need paying for the many hours it takes up. As it stands, I am reorganising my time to hopefully allow me to catch up with the backlog of comments (for which I apologise) and then stay on top of things. At least, that’s the plan. We’ll have to see how that pans out.
So what am I’m saying here?
I suppose I’m asking for you to keep posting your comments and joining in the discussions. I will get back to you as fast as I can. I fully intend to carry on posting new stuff (every day if possible) and trying to keep up with all the interesting debates that do continue in some of the older threads. Those discussions are what makes this entertaining for me too 🙂
So stay tuned. It’s only going to get better!
Quirkworthy 
I think it’s a testament though for how eager everyone is to play your games! I’m speaking more along the lines of Deadzone here but at least people are asking questions right?
Absolutely, and I’m very happy to answer them. I’m just trying to be open and straightforward with you guys about how this works at my end.
I’m flattered that so many people are enthusiastic about my games 🙂
I think the direct contact provided by this blog, and your frankness on it, play a big part in building your fanbase (so are quite a bit part of your job as well, let’s say PR).
I do not consider myself a Mantic fan or a Foundry fan, but YOUR fan. 😉
Thanks Rolex.
I suppose that you’re right about the PR value. Self-promotion was never something I was very good at though, so if simply chatting about games can count then that’s good. I can do that 😉
Jake, thanks for this post and your answers in the FAQ.
Sorry, I had to get a bit pushy, but there were some unaswered questions discussed for a longer time now, and I was looking for a way to push your attention in that direction.
As a League organizer I find it important to know the rules as good as possible.
I wonder why there is no one from the publisher active to anser questions. They should know most of the answers. I totally agree that it´s getting more and more time consuming for you with each game released. So maybe it´s time for some kind of official rules guy per game that helps you out and just forwards questions to you that haven´t been answered before.
Anyway, I´d like to ask you another thing:
If you have some time have a look in the Mantic Froum at the topics:
– Anti Judwan tactics
– Utility of prone players
There are some interesting tactics discussed that might be based on a loophole in the rules. I´m just curious about what you think of them and your original intention.
Thanks for listening.
And thanks for some great games.
While I was at GW we tried various permutations of “official rules guys”, all of which worked a bit, and none of which were entirely satisfactory. The problem is the depth to which people know rules and their understanding also of the meta game and the background reasoning, future plans, etc. There are often seeds within one set of rules, the results of which are only obvious when you have the rest of the story, and that may not be released yet.
Another issue is who has the final say? Who is right? Again, going from experience at GW I’ve seen the “rules guy” say one thing only to be contradicted later by the designer. That just caused even more confusion. It also creates almost as much work as doing it all yourself in the first place.
Mostly what happens is that experienced players naturally perform this sort of role on the forums and in the clubs, coaching newer players with their experience and understanding of the rules. In the end, what matters is that people can enjoy a game. I’ve had many an entertaining gaming session only to find out we were playing wrong afterwards. We learn, we move on…
I expect for the moment we will have to muddle along as we are 😉
With the length of many of my posts I am always amazed you even find the time to read my comments and the replies are even more appreciated. I know fully the amount of time keeping posts, and forums running smoothly takes, as I spend at least two hours every night making sure Ive not missed or forgotten anything important and that time doubles/triples when I am actively posting upon a subject. 😀
Crimsonsun
Reading is never the issue, and replying to discursive posts (even long ones) seldom takes as long as answering even a single sentence rules question. Discursive answers I can just write off the top of my head. Rules need cross checking and researching as well as thinking through. As my mistake with the last one that Lines was pushing demonstrates, rushing a reply when I’m not focused on the same topic is hard to get right. Lines is absolutely right – there is an issue to resolve there. However, as with most rules questions, it’s not a simple thing to do. If it was then you guys would have worked out the answer on your own and it would never come up 🙂
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