Author: wincenworks

The Broken Road (2025)

Released at the same time as Wonderfilled Presents: GiantLands: Tuskaloosa’s Reckoning: The Sun Sword: Part One, (Tuskaloosa’s Reckoning)1Stephen Erin Dinehart IV “Tuskaloosa’s Reckoning: The Sun Sword: Part One” (Wonderfilled Inc via Amazon Print-On-Demand, Lake Geneva WI, 2025) this is the long awaited introductory module for GiantLands2 Stephen Erin Dinehart IV & James M. Ward “GiantLands” (Wonderfilled Inc, Lake Geneva WI, 2021) and allegedly the final work of James M. Ward. (Jim or Jim Ward)

I say allegedly because from my observations it seems Jim stopped working on it in 2022 at latest, the product I read didn’t really mesh with the way it was described by Jim (videos now deleted) or the session he did on a video call, supposedly covering the opening of the module.

Much like Tuskaloosa’s Reckoning it seems the primary authors are Stephen Erin Dinehart IV,(Dinehart) and a collection of video cards running a Large Language Model. Almost none of it is connectable to Jim’s video call playthrough, and that which is has been re-written to become unrecognizable for those familiar with Jim’s work.

The product seems to be an attempt to do a soft re-launch of GiantLands, but to make it focused around the co-released Tuskaloosa’s Reckoning with no real connection to the events, characters or ideas in that novel. There are surface level references, but nothing about the core plot of aliens invading, destroying sacred places to steal the Ley energy or even Gaea and her champions.

In fact, it creates a weird alternative version where characters like Dinehart’s own self-insert can only be understood as having just idly sat by and watched it all happen from their ivory tower, and undermines the significance of the Jim Ward insert.

This review is from the hardback copy of GiantLands: The Broken Road (The Broken Road)3 James M. Ward & Stephen Erin Dinehard IV “GiantLands: The Broken Road” (Wonderfilled Games via Amazon Print-On-Demand, Lake Geneva WI, 2025) I ordered on 30 November 2025. It is, hopefully, the final part of the GiantLands Saga.

Continue reading The Broken Road (2025)
  • 1
    Stephen Erin Dinehart IV “Tuskaloosa’s Reckoning: The Sun Sword: Part One” (Wonderfilled Inc via Amazon Print-On-Demand, Lake Geneva WI, 2025)
  • 2
    Stephen Erin Dinehart IV & James M. Ward “GiantLands” (Wonderfilled Inc, Lake Geneva WI, 2021)
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    James M. Ward & Stephen Erin Dinehard IV “GiantLands: The Broken Road” (Wonderfilled Games via Amazon Print-On-Demand, Lake Geneva WI, 2025)

I read: Tuskaloosa’s Reckoning: The Sun Sword

On or about 29 November 2025, the long overdue The Broken Road adventure for GiantLands was announced on X née Twitter,1Stephen Erin Dinehart IV as “GiantLands” (29 November 2025, X née Twitter) <x.com/GiantLands/> making up 50% of the current front facing posts and having the singular like on the posts. Also on Facebook.

A screenshot of the GiantLands feed on X, aka Twitter: 19 November "Two new epics Launch today! THE BROKEN ROAD (adventure) TUSKALOOSA'S RECKONING (novel) Old school RPG x Ancient pyramids x crashed starships x Thunderbirds x alien tech Avaiable now (links) #GiantLands #IndigenousFuturism #TTRPG" (Beneath it is a very busy and difficult to parse AI generated image featuring Aztec Pyramids, 11 September: "Race is a myth."

It was accompanied with an announcement of a book, Tuskaloosa’s Reckoning, full title: Tuskaloosa’s Reckoning: The Sun Sword : Book One… or I suppose:2 Stephen Erin Dinehart IV Tuskaloosa’s Reckoning: The Sun Sword (15 November, Wonderfilled Inc, Amazon Print on Demand) (Tuskaloosa’s Reckoning)

Wonderfilled Presents Tuskaloosa's Reckoning The Sun Sword: Book One GIANTLANDS By James E. Ward & Stephen E. Dinehart A GiantLands (registered) Novel
Nothing says close friend and collaboration by changing Jim’s middle initial to match Dinehart’s… or something. Also, mandatory “graphic design is my passion” joke.

Now, predictably after years of Dinehart bragging that his products would never be digitized, and would only be sold via master craftspeople using American products he picks himself etc… it seems they are just being sold via Amazon print-on-demand and the novel is available on Kindle. So, while I wait for The Broken Road to be delivered, I figured I’d read the book.

At the time I purchased it, it has 1 review giving it 5 stars.

Customer Review (five stars) Classic Pulp Goodness Reviewed in the United States on November 23, 2025 Format: Paperback (Verified Purchase) A compelling entry into the Giantlands universe. Classic really.

This reviewer gave the same rating but more effort into explaining Those Pesky Goblinz, so I’m not convinced they’re entirely unbiased.

I however, am, at this stage—the foremost GiantLands scholar alive. So, let’s get into what is is, and is it worse than the AI slop nuTSR put out. Spoilers ahead.

Continue reading I read: Tuskaloosa’s Reckoning: The Sun Sword
  • 1
    Stephen Erin Dinehart IV as “GiantLands” (29 November 2025, X née Twitter) <x.com/GiantLands/>
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    Stephen Erin Dinehart IV Tuskaloosa’s Reckoning: The Sun Sword (15 November, Wonderfilled Inc, Amazon Print on Demand) (Tuskaloosa’s Reckoning)

ORC 2-ish years later

It’s been 2-ish years since Paizo “finished”1 “ORC License: The Final Version is Here!” (29 June 2023) Paizo <paizo.com/community/blog/v5748dyo6sico> their Open RPG Creative License (ORC)2 “Open RPG Creative License” Paizo <paizo.com/orclicense> (more on that in a bit) so it seems like a good enough time to see how the new license is coming along, what sort of momentum has it built, what was the overall outcome. Did it revolutionize tabletop role-playing games (“TTRPGS”)? And what was the overall significance and involvement of Azora Law?3 Azora Law <azoralaw.com/>

The Azora Law logo which is very specifically designed ot look like a d20... not well, by very specifically.
Tell me you want to be the premier law firm for TTRPGs without telling me you want to be the premier law firm for TTRPGs.

Azora Law is, according to a publication in the Washington State Bar News – June 2021, it is “one of Seattle’s oldest virtual law firms”.4 Brian Lewis “Three Big Developments in Soft IP Law” Washington State Bar News (Washington US, June 2021) at 30 This seems to be the singular instance of it claiming to be a virtual law firm, which is an odd claim since if they’re all in Seattle and they have a registered office address… that means they just let staff work from home if they want? Pretty sure that was the standard in mid 2021.

Unless they also had a presence in the Metaverse at some stage.

Anyway, I thought ORC sucked… but I’ve been known to be wrong.5 Kim Wincen “The ORC has landed. It kinda sucks” (2 June 2023) A gentleman with opinions <blog.wincenworks.com/2023/07/02/the-orc-has-landed-it-kinda-sucks/>

My name is Kim. I am not a lawyer, certainly not a US lawyer specializing in copyright and most importantly I am not your lawyer. I am a law graduate in New Zealand who has a passion for role-playing games, and you should not consider anything I post to be legal advice (or take legal advice from blogs or social media posts in general). Also please, understand – absolutely nothing you say to me falls under lawyer-client privilege – especially if you do it in the comments.

Okay, now that’s done, let’s look at this.

Continue reading ORC 2-ish years later

What is GiantLands? Is it… a theme park? A bimonthly snack box, or phat beats?

So, after GiantLands 1st Edition1 James M. Ward & Stephen E. Dinehart GiantLands 1st Edition (Wonderfilled Inc, Wisconsin USA, December 2021) (also known as “GiantLands, the only edition”) was released, it only had 1,000 units (again, 1,000% of the amount promised in the Kickstarter).

What next for this exclusive limited edition?

As a note, this has gotten trickier to report on as in June 2025, Dinehart had another meltdown – this time provoking the far-right audience he’d cultivated and ended up nuking most of his public facing posts and accounts. So I’ll have to be relying on screenshots, notes and memory from here on.

Is GiantLands: A Theme Park?

Well the first thing was a paid press release “article” about how Wonderfilled intended to make a nightmare of a theme park in Wisconsin.2 Stephen E. Dinehart “GiantLands Theme Park Will be a Game Park Built on a Groundbreaking Vision” (1 January 2022) PressRelease <https://www.pr.com/press-release/852171> Archive: <https://web.archive.org/web/20220101122718/https://www.pr.com/press-release/852171>

A drafts diagram of an Inca/Mayan/Aztech "theme park" which mostly seems to consister of huge, inexplicable sculptures and buildings - with farms and shrubbery, a river on one side and an aquaduct. Also, agraian animals wandering about.
“A project of remarkable vision” according to the project proposer.

Wisconsin receives an average of 40+ inches of snow per year, with higher snowfalls in particular areas – not exactly a place that’d be create for pseudo-Mayan/Aztec/Inca fusion architecture that was designed for the tropics.

But, by far the weirdest thing about this is its not clear what the vision is. This doesn’t seem to be a specific location, so the overall layout etc isn’t really clear if its a proposed layout, or a sort of conceptual depiction. There’s also no way to know what the attractions are supposed to be. Is the arena for shows or do you go to fight?

Largely the reason that’s not clear is there’s no real thought beyond it other than he assumes that native american themed Evermore would be a license to print money for no particular reason. Evermore closed it’s doors permanently in April 2024, and this seems to have gone unnoticed by Dinehart.3 Darienne DeBrule “No fantasy: Evermore Park closes its gates for good” (10 April 2024) FOX News Utah <https://www.fox13now.com/news/local-news/no-fantasy-evermore-park-closes-its-gates-for-good>

Continue reading What is GiantLands? Is it… a theme park? A bimonthly snack box, or phat beats?

I played: Adios

Adios1 Doc Burbank Adios (Mischief, Kanas USA, 17 March 2021) intriguingly obscure arthouse game by Mischief (that’s the American one, not the French one – which seems to be dabbling in Horse games),2 Rattle “It’s a mess” (4 February 2025) Youtube <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRpgTIyyj48> so obscure that it doesn’t have a Wikipedia page and only received 9 professonal reviews on Metacritic.3 “Adios PC Critic Reviews” metacritic <https://www.metacritic.com/game/adios/critic-reviews/?platform=pc>

In the tradition of many arthouse games, the events of the game are largely pre-determined, with the focus being on how the player chooses to interact with them and inhabit the viewpoint. How well it achieves this seems to vary wildly, but I remain confident that its worth examining for how it reflects upon gaming trends in the 2000s & 2010s, the role of interaction in games and building emotion.

Adios is not a conventional game in how many people define it. The residents of r/TwoBestFriendsPlay feel that it was probably better as a short movie,4 LostHuaun “So, I’ve played Adios after seeing Woolie’s first video and… good story… I probably would’ve liked better as not a videogame” (9 December 2021) Reddit <https://www.reddit.com/r/TwoBestFriendsPlay/comments/rbz13k/so_ive_played_adios_after_seeing_woolies_first/> and Rob Zacny of VICE felt it was a great story but not “a great game”.5 Rob Zacny “‘Adios’ Has a Great Story to Tell, But Isn’t a Great Game“ (25 March 2021) VICE <https://www.vice.com/en/article/adios-has-a-great-story-to-tell-but-isnt-a-great-game/> I disagree, I think is a rare example of a game that achieves immersion through cartoony graphics and emotional fidelity.

If you haven’t played it, and are interested in the idea of video game immersion as an opportunity to inhabit a complex character – I highly recommend it.

Spoilers ahead as I overthink a unique indie game and gaming in general.

Continue reading I played: Adios

Mitchell v Jobst – A Low Score

Content Warning: This matter does contain discussions of suicide, particularly suicide in relation to bullying and difficult relationships with peers. If that’s a topic that is very personal to you, while this does discuss defamation law, it’s unlikely that anything in this is going to be worth reading this for. Please take care of you and use your discretion.

YouTuber Karl Jobst has made many and numerous videos about the lawsuit brought against him by Billy Mitchell – many of them full of bravado and mocking Billy’s claims regarding the lawsuit. So, when Karl lost the case on 1 April 2025, it went worse than the usual bad news on April Fool’s Day.1 Mitchell v Jobst [2025] QDC 41 District Court Judge KC Barlow went into detail all the aspects he found relevant in this 118 page judgement.

Karl attempted to resume his regular content, he took the video down because he concluded that he needed to address the issue.2 Karl Jobst (First week of April 2025, YouTube) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3ltptWa0xfrDweghW94Acg/community?lb=Ugkx2SvAB2ecQ1pF_U3gXh8maSs7XbXdmxhy Karl’s fans were not happy and felt very confused and mislead about the situation, particualrly those who contributed to his GoFundMe.3 Karl Jobst Karl Jobst Legal Defence Fund (4 November 2022, GoFundMe) https://www.gofundme.com/f/karl-jobst-legal-defence-fund

On 18 April 2025, Karl released his video explaining his side of the story – I and many other people were very unimpressed.4 Karl Jobst I Lost (18 April 2025, YouTube) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1XBqeAQ3nI I, in particular, was unimpressed since despite Karl apparently having spent a fortune on lawyers and been discussing this for years – he didn’t seem to understand basic concepts of law. He also seemed to downplay his own involvement in people believing this was a lawsuit about cheating at video games, and not about an allegation of using spurious lawsuits to bully someone to a point where they committed suicide.

My name is Kim, I’m not a lawyer but a law student in New Zealand who was born and raised in Queensland, Australia. Most importantly I’m not your lawyer and I’m not speaking for anyone but myself here. Please don’t interpret blog posts as personal legal advice, ever.

I’d like to talk about defamation, how it works when it escalates to an Australian court, what went wrong for Karl and how it fits into this overall situation. I will however, be adding extra information where I think it’s relevant to understanding the parties and the events.

Though I’d like to be clear, I’m going to try to avoid speculating about conversations or the relationship between Karl and his counsel – as while I understand that its terribly fun to do from a gossip perspetive, it’s not productive for genuine understanding and all of it is tied up in strict confidence. Also, we can see what they were working with:5 geniusdude69 Fuck the lawyers I paid for with YOUR money (4 April 2025, Reddit) https://www.reddit.com/r/youtubedrama/comments/1jqs49z/fuck_the_lawyers_i_paid_for_with_your_money/

A screenshot of Discord exchange on 28 March 2025: GhostOfYoda asks Karl: "Do you ever run scripts for videos like this past a lawyer, or is it not worth the expense?" Karl replies: "no I don't because fuck lawyers and what they think, if I want to say something I will say it, fuck letting other people tell you what to do a lawyer will always tell you to say nothing who wants to live by that principle"
Continue reading Mitchell v Jobst – A Low Score

Ernie Gygax is dead, he remains dead.

On 28 February 2025, after numerous health struggles and incidents, in the company of his sister and her family – Ernie Gygax passed away.1 Obituary of Ernest Gary Gygax Junior (Legacy.com) https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/name/ernest-gygax-obituary?id=57714235 Luke Gygax wrote a touching announcement on his Facebook page,2 Luke Gygax (Facebook, USA, 1 March 2025) <www.facebook.com> and has continued to share his personal feelings about the struggle of losing a father and an older brother, while being supported by a great community.

This is not about how the tragedy of Ernie’s death impacts me, or sharing memories I had about him. I didn’t know him. I feel a certain amount of empathy to those he left behind, and for that reason I encourage them not to read this post. This post isn’t about memories or feelings about Ernie Gygax.

Rather it’s about the heartless exploitation of the memory of his public presence now he’s dead, and how traditional “be polite” moderation methods fail in these situations.

And, it’s rough – I don’t wish dealing with it on anyone.

Continue reading Ernie Gygax is dead, he remains dead.

TSR Rating Meter

As part of his quest to try to prove that he was someone who should be listened to and treated as an authority in table top role-playing games (“TTRPGs”), and push the owner’s deplorable politics into the space, TSR LLC and associates (“NuTSR”) tried to create a rating system. They way he did it was a very funny chapter in the TSR Saga.

Game Rating in the USA

Justin is a yankee who cosplays as a southerner, which is to say that he is an American who seems to only really be aware of systems and politics within the USA. To what degree he is aware of these is highly debatable, but he wanted a career in politics and so it seems intuitive that he’d base a rating system off those in the USA.

As much as fans of various TTRPGs love to talk about the Satanic Panic of the 80s, the real impact on media in the US came from the video games scares in the early 90s. In response to see growing pressure for a legal solution, major players in the video game space formed the Entertainment Software Rating Board (“ESRB”) and committed to having their games rated through it.

The ESRB is a non-profit that relies upon fees for doing the rating to continue to sustain itself, and the expectation is they will maintain consistent standards and retailers will promote these and handle the products appropriately. It is legally recognized in Canada, but there’s no real interference. This is in contrast to places like Australia where a government board issues ratings, and can refuse to classify a product – thus barring it from retail sale or requiring it to be altered in ways that are frequently baffling.

As above, the S in ESRB stands for “software”, so they don’t really do board games etc Thus the TTRPGs space has generally just operated on people being up front about their content and retailers using their own judgment. Remember, most places that sell them also sell things like Pokémon cards so they have a vested interest in not having to deal with angry parents yelling about their child having seen a boob.

The nuTSR solution

Unsurprisingly the approach by nuTSR was to emulate the ESRB’s model, if you can call copy-paste then vandalizing emulating. Quality was not a priority, as showcased by this hilariously janky images for the ratings:1 TSR LLC “The TSR Rating Meter” TSR Hobbies (Wisconsin USA, Archived: 30 May 2023) <https://web.archive.org/web/20230530023350/https://tsr-hobbies.com/tsr-hobbies-rating-meter>

An animated gif of the various ratings, the ratings on the right hand side jump about as they are not consistently aligned, and the dot in the i in "Hobbies" disappears in one frame.
Graphic Design Is My Passion (Yes, he managed to lose the dot in the “i” in one fo them)
Continue reading TSR Rating Meter