Just before Origins, the news about the change in leadership at Chaosium broke and it was the talk of the con. Whenever I would see an old friend or Keeper, the conversation would inevitably turn to the subject. Since then, more information has come out concerning what is going on, as well as a lot of criticism. This is my take on it (not that anyone asked, but I just want to get it out there).
If you don't know whats going on, I suggest listening to Paul of Cthulhu's excellent interview with Sandy Petersen.
In my real life, I work security incidents. Due to that, I've had the unique experience of investigating breaches and then seeing the media report "fact" based on rumor, and see others speculate on what is going on. I've learned one important lesson - do not ever speculate on something unless you have the facts, because 9 times out of 10, you'll be wrong.
I've been very guilty of this during this time and for that I apologize (to Chaosium and all others).
A lot of people are passionate about Call of Cthulhu, and rightly so. Its one of the oldest RPGs still being actively played and developed, and it has 1000s of fans world-wide. Chaosium (and Charlie) have done a great job keeping the company and game afloat for a while. However, when people feel they've been lied to, they get angry no matter who is doing it.
The last few weeks have had me go through mixed emotions due to all of the information coming out - from "I'm never playing this game again" to cautious optimism. At this time, I'm still in the cautiously optimistic phase.
The reason is I am giving the new management a chance to right the wrongs that happened. Yes, the Kickstarters are long overdue and, while I don't know what happened, its obvious something happened to delay them farther than what we were told with no end in sight.
And the new management seems to realize they need to do this and are working hard. This is evidenced by the recent Chaosium sale to generate more income, their willingness to talk, and the updates they have been giving. (Note that most of these updates are on their Facebook page that I have seen.) So, I am optimistic.
I am taking this as an opportunity for myself to move forward and look to a brighter (and squamous) future in regards to Call of Cthulhu. What happens in the next few months will decide the game's future. As a fan of the game, I am willing to wait a bit longer and see.
And I highly suspect we will never know what really happened. After all, Chaosium is not a publicly held company. We are not shareholders. While many of us are monetary backers of the Kickstarters, that does not give us the right to company information. They don't have to release any information, but the fact they have has been a good sign.
I'm sure my glasses are a little rosy at the moment, but so be it. Time will tell, but hopefully in a few months I'll be writing another post here that is reviewing the hardback of Call of Cthulhu 7th Edition that I just received.
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