I never got a good look at SWA. I'm really only familiar with War! because it's on Scribd. I've heard some of the complaints, like a pretty but flawed map and poor research, but I can't personally speak to any of it.
So all of this vitriol and complaints comes about a book that you haven't read? I'm confused there, or did I misunderstand what you said?
I think he's complaining about War! which he read without purchasing, and not Sixth World Almanac which he hasn't read at all and therefore he isn't complaining about SWA. SWA does have a lot of errors in it, but I heard rumors of an updated paper copy that fixed some, but I haven't seen it myself, nor has any errata been released. My book unfortunately has the side bar errors in it (basically missing two sidebars as they've had duplicate information put in them). It's a good product overall though, just marred by some errors that could (and may have been) fixed with errata.
Exactly right. I'm not going to slam SWA, because as much as I dislike CGLs business practices and as little faith as I have in their ability to produce a good book. As angry as this whole business makes me I try tol only speak about what I've seen. The fact that War! was leaked isn't my fault, and to be honest I won't be using it at any table I run nor do I truly consider the content legitimate; so it's a moot point from a sale perspective. And I won't be giving out any download locations either, publicly or privately. Personally I'm not afraid of piracy as much as bad business plans, but I respect that the owners of this product can go ahead and succeed or fail to make money of it any way they choose. As long as they pay their writers and artists I don't care if they only print one copy and try to sell it in Nepal or if they throw it up on the torrents themselves.
And Dread Moores, what's the difference between reading the book in a store and deciding not to purchase it and reading it online? Browsing in store is a time honored tradition where I come from. It's disingenuous if you use a book in a store game and never pay for it, just like if you play with a downloaded book you never bought a copy of. Ultimately it's up to what the person does with the material, and CGL has nothing to fear if their worried about me using the material in this book in a game.