The Culture: BattleTech Is Not The Only Game That Needs No Publisher

Remember what I said that one week recently about Hobbyists not needing Publishers? Mage Leader does, and he reminds us of another forgotten gem.

Sure, you'll likely need to call up Captain Harlock for the videogames and you'll need a hookup for tabletop play tokens, but Mage Leader's point here is valid. This game is now taken by the players and run by them for them.

Hunt around and you'll find the rules you need for the original tabletop game, and maybe even WizKids' Clicks version too.

What I want to point out is that Mage Leader got the memo on settings: never advance the timeline. He correctly concludes that this is for players to decide, not the publisher, and it won't be long before he does as I did and makes the connection between doing this and turning the property into a Setting Bible for an IP Brand (i.e. going down the Hello Kitty road).

This is another setting ripe for Braunstein sessions being integrated into the established Conventional Play paradigm, making the game better by putting all of the action into player hands.

He mentioned using Savage Worlds for adventure scenario play, but there are other options that are just as good or better at getting the feel across (TORG is good for this, using the Nile Empire rules, but a more old-school minded folks could easily adapt Traveller).

And as there is no Publisher to fuck things up, you don't have Community Managers playing the role of Human Resources to poz properties.

In 36 hours, I've seen Trench Crusade spike in popularity—and promptly shoot itself in the foot.

The major lesson here is to onboard community managers aligned with the community, not against it.

It's been real, but it's time to pack things in and move on. https://t.co/6tnLZhLzFK

— Kit Sun Cheah (@thebencheah) May 16, 2024

TLDR: CMs use their position to kick out their enemies and lock in their friends, pozzing the property and turning it into a Death Cult propaganda outlet.

That they are consistent in doing this even for micro-properties shows that this is not cynical clout-chasing, but sincere cult fanaticism and attendant zealous pursuit of the Black Crusade against all enemies.

And that is what not having a Publisher prevents.

Kill the commercial aspect of gaming and you solve over 80% of the problems. Kill the Publisher and you solve it nigh-completely.

This is applicable to far more than tabletop and videogaming. This applies to all cultural and hobbyist pursuits.