The death of Black Industries (RIP)
BI (Black Industries) is being killed of for the good of GW and to divert more resources into the novel lines: Black Industries Announcement.
In case you didn't know, BI was part of the Publishing Division of Games Workshop known as the Black Library (thankfully BL is continuing) which was responsible for producing RPGs based on the worlds of Warhammer and they did a fantastic job.
This really was a huge shock as they had just released the drop dead gorgeous 40K RPG 'Dark Heresy' to whoops of delight from just about everyone; fans and press alike. It seems to have surprised everyone in the RPG community, though many of the old cynics seem to take it on the chin and pointed out 'what did you expect from GW' as they flounced off.
First of, I have to say I was pissed. Not so much for GW binning the RPG and me being upset to see the RPG droped, but can you imagine all the blood, tears and sweat it must have taken the BI team to crack out this product to such a high standard that rabid fans have been waiting for over 20 years for it fell in love instantly, only to have that successes and rare glory (trust me it's really rare among Warhammer fans) and have that all ripped away within a few weeks of release?
The special edition sold out in 6 minutes, a copy sold on ebay for just over £500. Now the regular book is getting on to be rare than hen's teeth. It's been a huge hit.
Dave, everyone, I feel for you. This sucks lemons.
My creative fight back side kicked in, and I tried to put out some ideas to get the RPG back in play, a vain attempt to rally the troops;
= Novels and RPG link? = [dead link, no wayback machine archive either]
= Would you buy 40K RPG as a POD? = [dead link, no wayback machine archive either]
But obviously it was futile (I knew it was futile deep down) but I felt I had to do something as it felt so wrong. I suppose anyone who's been through this type of thing is going to feel it when they see another go through it. I just think it was a really nasty thing to happen, and I hope GW has a very good reason for doing it (though as I say it, I suspect the suits are doing their usual business hack and slash in times of trouble, thinking selling RPGs is like flogging washing machines. Over the years I sometimes wonder is any of the top brass actually play the games or even like the fans)
Rest in peace BI, I liked the buzz and the crowd over there, a decent community full of creativity, I hope all that passion finds a new home - long live Warhammer!
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