Hellboy tabletop RPG

Keeping this blog updated is taking more effort than I originally thought: it's hard to keep notes meanwhile you're playing! That's probably the reason that some people is actually payed to write reviews (not my case anyway).

This title is about the "Hellboy sourcebook an roleplaying game" from Steve Jackson Games, but could also be named "your knowledge about Brazil makes me wanna puke".

I'm a fan of Mike Mignola's Hellboy and that's the reason I bought this book even though I didn't have a copy of GURPS myself. Not entirely necessary anyway, if you're the type of more roleplaying and less about rules. So, I would classify this book as OK, if it wasn't because a annoying mistake that I see now and then when foreigner RPG authors decide to write about Brazil.

Errors happen no matter how much you put effort on it (and that's why you hire reviewers), but some pieces are just unacceptable, like doing some very basic research before writing down something that is not fiction. Add that to the fact you can't get a errata even after writing and providing proper feedback, well... it turns out as just disrespectful.

The annoyance about this book is at page 130, in the description of the character "Eliana Alexio". Let me quote the annoying part of it:

"Eliana Alexio is a native of Teresópolis, near Rio de Janeiro, Brazil... Her parents tried to raise her as a good Catholic, but the local practitioners of Brujería (a spiritual tradition combining Catholicism and Aztec beliefs)..."

Let me break down this in parts:

1. "Alexio" is not a common Brazilian last name. Not by a long shot.
2. Brujería is not a common religion in Brazil (if there are really any practitioners at all), in fact the word is Spanish.
3. Aztec, the last time I checked, was from the region that we know as Mexico today (from Wikipedia "people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico").

Looks like the authors have a problem understanding that Mexico and Brazil are very different countries, not even neighbors at all. And no, the capital of Brazil is not Buenos Aires.

Common guys! Let's do some research! Wikipedia is there for it! Jesus, you can even watch the short movie "Things Brazilians Are Sick of Hearing", it will take you about 3 minutes and help you avoid writing shit about what you don't know.

Or if you want to do fiction, create a new land and people on it!

Worst of all? I wrote to the respective e-mail address from Steve Jackson Games that took care of receiving erratas. It took me at least three e-mails to convince and explain to them that they could choose between a Mexican character or a Brazilian one, and even gave them alternatives to make the character Brazilian (like choosing the religion called "umbanda" as the most appropriate for it). I never got a response, nor the errata is available. Here it is the complete exchange of e-mails:

-------- Mensagem encaminhada --------
Assunto: Re: Errata report: Hellboy Sourcebook and RolePlaying Game, 1st Ed. 1st Printing
Data: Tue, 17 Sep 2013 12:04:52 -0700 (PDT)
De: Alceu R. de Freitas Jr. <glasswalk3r@yahoo.com.br>
Responder a: Alceu R. de Freitas Jr. <glasswalk3r@yahoo.com.br>
Para: Errata <errata@sjgames.com>
CC: Andreas Stein <andreas@sjgames.com>
Hello,
Thank you the fast answer. I believe you can make the errata quite quickly and I don't bother helping either.
Regarding your question, I believe that what you call "Pre-Columbian" civilization is one of the biggest three:
- Maias,
- Incas,
- Astecs
None of these civilizations were identified in Brasil. The closest one, the Incas, is believed that they occupied the borders of the territory known nowadays as Brazil. See here for an image: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1jlAHtrUBSOqEreok-9b3x9OsX6mF1F-vn4KB_erDMjdVdaS2T3WmZUXOBq4hKQ2aISpay2Gl4H6M5ewQc2mCkXjeugACfTPrbinkAfQwnJyk_pGhXR7l9IzPXT-_Bzj4DnVbknUnagw/s1600/mapa+Inca.png
This website is a good reference and might give you more information (but it is in Brazilian Portuguese, an online translator might help you enough):
http://guiadoestudante.abril.com.br/aventuras-historia/existiu-alguma-grande-civilizacao-pre-colombiana-brasil-435493.shtml
Regards,
Alceu Rodrigues de Freitas Junior
--------------------------------------
glasswalk3r@yahoo.com.br
---
A well-used door needs no oil on its hinges.
A swift-flowing stream does not grow stagnant.
Neither sound nor thoughts can travel through a vacuum.
Software rots if not used.
These are great mysteries -- The Tao Of Programming, 5.1


>________________________________
> De: Errata <errata@sjgames.com>
>Para: errata@sjgames.com
>Cc: Andreas Stein <andreas@sjgames.com>; glasswalk3r@yahoo.com.br
>Enviadas: Terça-feira, 17 de Setembro de 2013 12:29
>Assunto: Re: Errata report: Hellboy Sourcebook and RolePlaying Game, 1st Ed. 1st Printing
>
>
>
>Hello Alceu,
>
>Usually errata isn't taken into account until there is a new printing of a particular product. However, this being an online fix I'll go ahead and poke the GURPS line editor about maybe including it sooner. You're right: mixing up Brazil and Mexico is a pretty regrettable error. By the way, what was the Pre-Columbian civilization of Brazil called? I know of the Incas and Nazcas, but they were in other parts of South America.
>
>Thanks for your patience.
>
>Errata Coordinator
>
>
>
>On Tuesday, September 17, 2013 10:08:09 AM UTC-5, Alceu Rodrigues de Freitas Junior wrote:
>Greetings,
>>
>>Thank you for giving me feedback about my errata submission.
>>
>>Today I checked again the Steve Jackson errata website and could not
>>find anything related to my errata.
>>
>>While I completely understand the lengthy process of errata revision, it
>>also has been a while since I submitted the errata and I understand that:
>>
>>- the errata is really short to fix, so I believe an hour of work should
>>be enough.
>>- the content will be available online, so the costs for it should be
>>negligible.
>>
>>As a customer of Steve Jackson, it makes me sad to see that the time
>>that I took for reviewing publishing mistakes of your part can be just
>>ignored. As a Brazilian, I feel offended because such behavior shows
>>that Steve Jackson does not have any respect regarding Brazil language
>>and culture.
>>
>>I would appreciate if you could review the terms of publishing an errata
>>under the light of the points that I wrote here.
>>
>>Thank you in advance,
>>Alceu
>>
>>Em 20-05-2013 10:44, Errata escreveu:
>>> Alceu,
>>>
>>> For your information, errata does not instantly appear in published form
>>> once it has been submitted. It is sent to an internal database and the
>>> information is evaluated by the Line Editors in charge of the product
>>> before becoming official. It can be a lengthy process, and some
>>> submitted errata is found to be unnecessary and is therefore never
>>> published.
>>>
>>> Thanks again for your submission,
>>>
>>> Errata Coordinator
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Thursday, May 16, 2013 10:43:29 PM UTC-5, Alceu Rodrigues de Freitas
>>> Junior wrote:
>>>
>>>     Greetings,
>>>
>>>     I just checkout the errata index web page at
>>>     http://www.sjgames.com/errata/ gurps/
>>>     <http://www.sjgames.com/ errata/gurps/> and found out that the errata
>>>     was
>>>     not published as you can check by attached screen shot.
>>>
>>>     Could you please check again the errata publication?
>>>
>>>     Thank you,
>>>     Alceu
>>>
>>>     Em 30-04-2013 12:15, Andreas Stein escreveu:
>>>      > Thanks for your errata submission! It has been added to the
>>>     database.
>>>      >
>>>      > On Saturday, April 27, 2013 8:16:29 AM UTC-5,
>>>     glass...@yahoo.com.br wrote:
>>>      >
>>>      >
>>>      >     Errata report from Alceu Rodrigues de Freitas Junior
>>>      >     (glass...@yahoo.com.br <javascript:>)
>>>      >
>>>      >     for Hellboy Sourcebook and RolePlaying Game, 1st Ed. 1st
>>>     Printing
>>>      >
>>>      >     On page(s) 130
>>>      >     Actually this is an ugly research error. Steve Jackson writers
>>>      >     should be more careful when writing about countries that they
>>>     don't
>>>      >     know.
>>>      >     You should know that:
>>>      >     - Brazil official language is Brazilian Portuguese, not
>>>     Spanish. So
>>>      >     "brujería" is not even know among the common folk here.
>>>      >     - Aztecs were from the region know as Mexico nowadays. Never
>>>      >     anything related to the aztecs were found in Brazil.
>>>      >
>>>      >     That said, I believe that the character Eliana should be
>>>     Mexican not
>>>      >     Brazilian.

Diablo3 supports sucks!

This post is a bit different from the previous ones. In fact, you may be asking yourself why a support annoyance is being related here. Keep reading to understand how online games and their bad support affects your fun.

A Short Introduction

I'm a fan of Blizzard. I've being playing games from them since Lost Vikings and I think they do state of art games. They might not use the best of graphics, but games are not only to tease the eyes. And yes, they're new games don't force you to buy new hardware at each new release.

That was the golden age of them.

Today the industry changed a lot... almost all games depend on having a connection to the internet (even if it's only necessary for keeping your game data stored there), don't sell whole games anymore (the technical name for that is "DLC" or "expansions") and try to solve the never ending problem of software piracy.

Diablo3 is a clear example of that. Diablo was a single player game, Diablo2 added the possibility to play with other players in a network (and was great because the network could be a simple LAN built with a hub and a bunch of players in the same room).

Now you play Diablo3 in single mode, but still requiring a connection with Blizzard's servers (no play if they are under maintenance) just to keep your characters data. Well, that solves the problem with cheaters that invented editor's to give to their characters impossible powers through items that were not created by Blizzard designers. IMHO, those guys didn't matter at all.

Give me the annoyance!

Now that you have some background, let me put this: if your online game support sucks, you're in trouble. That's different of receiving a bug with your game because now the whole infrastructure of your game is much more complex, and thus so much more possibilities of errors are possible.

I recently experimented the "season character" of Diablo3 Season 5. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to finally acquire the set "Monkey King's Garb", which I was unable to find myself even after finishing the game with all characters, hardcore mode included.

After many hours of gaming (include the difficult to complete a 6 items set to be able to finish all the challenges), I finished it. But didn't get the Monkey King's Garb, only the portrait frame and the companion.

What did happen there? I don't know... and Blizzard's support doesn't either. I spent days exchanging messages with them and the final result is... they can't do a thing to solve my issue.

I'm putting some screenshots as evidence, the text is in Brazilian Portuguese but I'll translate to English the interesting parts. Specially those that I'm treated as a teenager (I'm 37 years old), and I mean a retarded one.

In the screenshot above (highlighted part), the person tried to convince me that I could possibly had receive the items and deleted (?!?) them from by character. Yeah, sure. All 6 items at once and quickly enough so I didn't even notice receiving them.

After some more (angry) messages exchanged with support, I receive this final answer:

Here the guy clear states that they don't have access to my game data and cannot do anything. He also insists telling me that the Season 5 is not "over" yet, basically ignoring all my previous statements saying that a season ending means shit regarding receiving the rewards (that's exactly the text of challenges says).

The person also suggested that I could try to post a bug in a Diablo3 and see if I could get an answer from there. Finding it really difficult, I tried anyway (at least nobody cannot say that I didn't try). Here is the post (in English) and you can also access it if you want to:

Of course, the issue is not solved. And of course, I receive again the same answer about using "Haedrig’s Gift" to get the set, but these people forgot to read that they would give the whole set of Monkey King's Garb after completing the challenges.

So, I'm pissed of... there is no way I'll go through the game again for getting it (and this was also one of the "suggested solutions" that I received).

Frankly Blizzard, this is pretty unprofessional from your side. Don't want to expend bucks on good online support? That's OK... but don't create online games then! At least let us know that your support will be very limited and we shouldn't be angry with we would need it.

In matter of facts, Blizzard Entertainment is rated pretty poorly in the Reclame Aqui website from Brazil. This social media website rates companies based on complaints made by consumers. Last time I checked their bad reputation is given the fact they even don't bother to reply complaints at all.

You can check their profile at http://www.reclameaqui.com.br/indices/25283/blizzard-entertainment/.