The Business: I Told You They'd Lie About It

To no one's surprise, Wizards of the Coast did what I said they'd do and just lie about their AI usage.

I put in a start point at the segment where they talk about this news article. It ends at 59:00.

Go figure, this came out during a quarterly investor call, and he layered the lies. ("Teans have discretion" my ass.)

As regular readers know, I am not against AI. I am against suck, and the DD crew shows that WOTC's Art Direction sucks by letting through such AI images. You do need to know certain things to make solid images using AI, and you need to know how the tool you're using works to get the best result; LLM-based image generators work best when you prompt on a very simple basis to allow for a lot of variation in interation, controlling only the core elements, and then filtering out until you get what you're after.

As my friend @olivercampbell says, you don't need to prompt long or heavy to get what you want. I didn't say who the princess is, who the monsters are, or what Chapter the Marines come from, or when this happens, etc.

I wanted Cause & Effect. I got what I asked for.

— Bradford C. Walker (@MrBCWalker) February 10, 2026

I did that as a shitpost.

I put up a few more to show that it's nowhere near as hard as these twats fucking it up make it look. I make images daily, often for illustrating my Substack articles, and just as often to show what the tool can do in the hands of someone that has an idea of what it is and how it works- and what WOTC's Art Directors allow is stuff by people that don't.

The real issue? It doesn't do nearly the damage that detractors think it does. Most people do not notice, do not care, and could not care less. It's Good Enough, and (as Tex said) Good Enough is Perfect.

That, ultimately, is what drove WOTC to flat out lie about AI usage for art; it will also drive WOTC's use of AI for writing copy. The Normies, Casuals, and Tourists (i.e. WOTC's target audience) do not notice, do not care, and could not care less about it; they just want cheap widgets that are Good Enough for them to use in Beyond and enjoy their themepark power fantasies.

You won't win by fighting this. Network Effects won't allow you to. You have to go premium and bespoke, with concommitment increases in price and expectation, to remain relevant going forward; you can't make a better Basic Bitch Shitbox and win, but you can do a White Glove 100% bespoke ultra high-end luxury product and service that targets Whales- this is where the Kickstarter Begger Scene has to go to stay relevant and stave off the inevitable so they have enough time to pivot to one of the viable post-collapse solutions in one piece.

So far, no one in Conventional Play is even trying to make their own Clubhouse. Too bad for them. WOTC won't let them do what they want in its own, and neither will I in mine.

The Culture: The Professor's Pivoting To (Self-)Promotion

A week ago, The Professor announced a pivot.

He's moving to shilling his own shit and stuff like it.

No, he's bullshitting about doing this as a hobby; he makes real money doing this, he's hip to the game, so he knows that being active on YouTube is marketing for his Useless Slop Product. All he's actually doing is cleaning up his timeline to focus old content to serve his new content cycle; he, at last, recognizes that YouTube (like all social media) rewards very narrow siloing over broad topic variety.

That's the news. "I will now just shill my shit and stuff like it."

Good job fucking it up, Professor. Even the Pundit knows that's not good enough; that's why he branched into interviews.

I've done a massive culling of shit-tier Tabletop channels on YT, just yeeting them from my feed entirely. The Professor, so far, has avoided that culling by bothering to have something to say from time to time--sometimes without trying--but this pivot makes it very likely that he gets the yeet while the Pundit has stayed.

I don't need Yet Another Shill Channel anymore than I need Yet Another Retard Tourist Theather Kid Being Wrong About Everything, Yet Another Grog That Got It Wrong For 50 Years, or Yet Another E-Girl Doing Something Besides Whoring On Onlyfans. I need solid, useful, content- even if it's from someone that irritates me.

Shilling shit no one needs gets the cut- and the gas face. Fuck off with that.

The Business: Stop Expecting Anything But Vidya To Threaten Current Edition

To you this is crazy talk. To C-Suite at Wizards and Hasbro, this is what they actually compete with.

Short, sweet, and to the point.

The only errors are the presumption of a narrative, rather than the creation of a self-sustaining perpetual virtual world; the tools shown here can do that too, and it is that--not Le Epic Story--that matters.

The other option for agentic AI additions to Beyond is to cut deals with Hytale to incorporate Current Edition (or even Past Editions) to servers. Generate, shape, populate, and run. Play when, how, for how long you like- no need to Schedule Your Fun or other typical Conventional Play dysfunction.

Yeah, this turns the game into a videogame but that's what Hasbro and WOTC wants anyway.

Conventional Play is unsustainable as it is; the collapse is ongoing, and WOTC wants out by going digital- one way or another. This is another route to removing that "must need other players" friction that is required for WOTC to be satisfied, and it can be implemented as soon as C-Suite gives the go-ahead.

For younger folks, this is preferable to being around a table- even a VTT.

Don't be surprised that this, or something like it, becomes where Current Edition goes in the years ahead- and good luck replacing your table losses going forward if that happens and you resist it. You're going to follow, you're going to quit, or you're going to return to the Real Game and seek admission to the Clubhouse.

The Culture: You Don't Play Stardew Valley To Engage In World Conquest

It's time for the reminder.

Robotech the RPG, had many other vehicles that I'm sure most GMs never even thought of using besides the Veritechs or Destroids.

GM, there is a whole world out there besides Pew Pew Me Mech that is so rich if you only open your eyes. pic.twitter.com/ezOVw5HuXm

— Lutra Gaming (OtterPops) 🦦 (@Lutra_Gaming) January 31, 2026

*ahem*

NO ONE PLAYS MECHA GAMES TO NOT GET IN THE FUCKING ROBOT!

BattleTech understands the assignment; that's why everything other than a BattleMech is a deathtrap, and barring very specific situations you will lose if you aren't in a robot when the other guys in their robots come a-stompin'.

So no, there is nothing other than Robot Go Pew-Pew. It's like being in anything other than a Mobile Suit in a Gundam series; unless your name is "Bright Noa", you're fucked. It's why Star Wars is really about the space wizards first, the flyboys second, fleet commanders third, and everyone else a very distant Doesn't Fucking Matter (N.B. Andor/Rogue One is EXACTLY the DoomerPorn Bleakfic that Star Wars was made to combat, you shit-eating bugmen; Blake's 7 did that better decades ago on a shoestring and a prayer.)

There is a core premise to a game. Not fulfilling that premise is a Failure State. Saying "But you can not engage in the premise" is no different than saying "But you can smoke crack and fly by leaping off the roof" in that you're saying words, and even a coherent statement, but it's still meaningless gibberish nonsense that misses the point.

There ARE ways around this, but not in Conventional Play; for that you need to play the Real Game, and that's only possible in the Clubhouse.

The Culture: The Big 5 Chose To Decline Because It's Run By Death Cultists

Daddy Warpig explains why Normies can't find good new fiction in Barnes & Noble anymore.

About 10 years ago, the Big 5 Publishers and Agents/Agencies who serve them stopped accepting NEW Straight White Male authors. None of them, no more.

Since then, Epic Fantasy has become Romantasy, Urban Fantasy has become Paranormal Romance and just look at what Gengineered… pic.twitter.com/dDYmFt6xHJ

— Daddy Warpig (@DaddyWarpig) February 9, 2026

Click through and read the thread.

(N.B.: Jon Del Arroz proves that AI for writing is just fine, and he's not the only author writing good stuff--or making good music--with it.)

The Culture: The Black Lodge Gets It About AI

Black Lodge Games had one of the more sensible takes on AI.

I will not be so kind: it's happening and there's sweet fuck-all you can do about it but adapt.

"I won't buy stuff that uses it."

Yes, you will. There is no incentive to disclose using it other than to flex, so they're just going to do it regardless of what PR says- yes, they can and will lie to your face about it. It's already getting difficult to notice it when done at all competently, and it's only going to get better; soon you won't notice at all if it's outside your area of expertise, and not long thereafter you won't notice within it.

The commercial incentive to use it, to master it, and to apply it wherever it cuts costs far outweigh all the chimping against it can manage. That is why objectors will lose.

You will accept it. Why? Ultimately, because you won't have a choice; the people who produce the things you want to buy are all going to adopt it because if they don't they will lose to those that do and get crushed. At least it won't be like all the restaurants buying from the same supplier (if you ever worked in one, or for a fast food chain, you know).

"I won't use it!"

Yes, you will, or you won't be employable or be viable in business. You will be crushed by those that do EVERY SINGLE TIME! You no longer have to choose between Fast, Cheap, and Good; you can get all three now, and because you can get all you had better deliver all three OR IT'S YOUR ASS!

"But we can-"

There will be no government regulation that matters; those stupid enough to do so will prompt capital flight to those that don't and (say it with me now) end up crushing the stupid governments EVERY SINGLE TIME!

You will buy AI-made things. You will hire AI-provided services. You will use it in your own work, be it as a wagie or hustling for yourself. This is the new normal, and you will adjust or you will be crushed by those that do.

That's how things will work out, as they did last time there was a major shakeup with the widespread adoption of PCs in the office and then the rise of the Internet before that, and anyone that claims otherwise (and appears to be sustaining themselves) is actually getting their money elsewhere and doing this as an expensive hobby to farm clout or status-signal- like all those bookstores that are funded by Daddy's or Hubby's real jobs.

AI threatens only the shit-tier "talents". That so many in Tabletop are shrieking about AI tells you all you need to know about their real worth, and I can't wait for them to all either bend the knee or shut down.

The Business: GW's Latest Legal Fuckery (& More)

Arch talks about G-Dubs' latest fuckery.

This, as Arch notes, is not the first time that GW did this.

This is also, as Arch notes, not just GW doing this.

This is part of a trend by corpos using lawfare to shut down anything at all looking askance at them. We're not even close to where Axanar was when Paramount nuked them from orbit; this is a passing resemblance in one blink-and-you-miss-it shot in a trailer we're talking about.

Yes, GW is that petty; remember the lawsuit over "Space Marine" that ended up going MCA Hoegarth's way, forcing GW to asspull renames because they couldn't lawfare others into not using "Space Marine" or "Imperial Guard" anymore? We're on that level of petty here, and others (e.g. Trench Crusade) are now following suit.

Not that GW was done there. Pat has more.

GW flubs a release. Tuesday.

That's not the issue (but it is an issue).

The issue is refusing to fix a problem that GW is responsible for, knowing full well that the buyers lack the means to enforce their rights so they can just screw the customer even harder while capitalizing on the success of a tie-in product in order to buoy revenue during Yet Another Fucking Edition Turnover.

Chimping out is in order here.

No, not unhinged ranting. I mean the effective kind; if Pat were to have included links to legal authorities able to coerce corrective action out of GW, that would be effective chimping.

This is a Consumer Rights issue. The Yookay, occupied and deliberately dysfunctional as it is, still has those things and those agencies- use them. You're not whining about Pakis and rapists, so they may actually do something about it. Here in the US, this is a Federal agency: The Federal Trade Commission. Drop them a line, with all the information they ask for and more, and do so in massive numbers (so yeah, spread that link around). The FTC is SLOW, but when it hits it does so like a colony drop; GW can't ignore the damage.

Oh, and if you GW people on YT want a hint: see that above paragraph? Cut a video; show the link(s), and have a template ready to copy/paste for the complaint. Call To Action, friction minimized, Great Success.