It allows you to search the
messageboards, send and receive private messages, give yourself a
custom usertitle, turn ads on or off, create a custom style for your
profile, get a nifty badge under your username, and gives you a special
warm glowy feeling! Oh, and it gets rid of this annoying message, too!
Open Calls & Job VacanciesSubmission calls, job vacancies, playtesting opportunities and other requests/advertisements for staff and/or talent. NO NEW THREADS IN THIS FORUM (you may continue to post in old threads). Please use the EN MARKETPLACE instead.
What would you think about forming a group of freelancers to produce adventure material for d20 publishers? I am talking about getting together to produce adventures that people will love and providing them to companies that we love.
We would be there to critique the work or our comrades. We would be there to provide editing for new modules. We would be there with adventures for the big guns who do not want to write them but may want to produce them.
Might I suggest you submit your material to Necromancer Games? They mostly publish adventures
__________________ Shawn "KingOfChaos" Muder
Fire Controlman 3rd Class, United States Navy
Founder, Realms of Evil Games and the Realms of Evil Network
If by adventure material you mean actual adventures, then I hate to break it to you, but there's not too many companies in that market right now. The small but most interested publishers would be Necromancer Games, Paizo Publishing (Dungeon Magazine), Mongoose Publishing (Signs & Portents magazine), and www.direkobold.com. You might also want to approach any company doing any sort of organized play since they are usually needing more adventures.
One word of warning is that the rate of pay will not necessarily be the same from one publisher to the next.
__________________ Darrin Drader
Freelance Writer/Game Designer
Previously posting as Whisperfoot
There are not many publishers that foray into the adventure business. This means there is more potential untapped market. What is needed is a standard of quality adventures that are so very usable, that purchasers must think of reasons NOT to buy them.
Here is my suggestion. For those that think that publishing adventures would be foolish, I present. . .
Foolish Ventures Publishing
A company run by freelancers using innovative, collaborative techniques to produce quality adventures using as little capital as possible.
Officers:
Grand Poobah- The CEO, the person who invests in the necessary software to make everything happen. Handles all financial matters which are published in an open report quarterly. Also serves as final editor on all products (best someone up on their English grammar.) Receives two shares from every product. Technically, this is his company, because all the paperwork is in his (or her) name.
Webmeister- Person responsible for handling the webpage and all web-related matters and publicity. Must purchase necessary web software. Receives two shares from every product.
La Artiste- The Layout Editor who is in charge of the layout team. She receives two shares from every product they work on.
Project Leaders are temporary officers in charge of individual projects. They get two shares from every product they produce.
That's the officer list. Other workers include writers, artists, layout people and playtesters. Here's how it works.
The mission is to make adventures in a PDF format that do the following:
Use a collaborative writing process with vigorous playtester feedback to ensure quality.
Has a strict balance of role-playing opportunities, puzzle-solving and combat.
Contain new and interesting encounters that could be "lifted" into other adventures.
Contain a high degree of new "crunchy" content" such as feats, spells, prestige classes, etc.
Complete environments that easily allow for a high degree of player freedom. No garden path adventures.
Interesting settings and NPCs that could easily be used out-of-context from the adventure.
Flat counters and "Cardboard Heroes" style paper miniatures for all NPCs and monsters.
Make tiles for miniatures or make maps compatible with other another company's tiles (like
Skelenton Key's new PDF tile series)
Many visual aids that can be printed separately, including NPC portraits and unusual rooms, etc.
Use of the "Arcane Artifacts" by Vshane for all magic items, all of which are defined with a background on the reverse side.
Use of Game Mechanic's Initiative Cards for all critters (with their agreement, of course.)
Three different copies per product. A standard color, a graphic-light black & white printable, and a landscape (horizontal) color for easy reading on the computer.
Cool layout and artwork, of course, complete with bookmarks and thumbnails.
Perfect appendix and index, including combat sheet (if you don't use the Initiative Cards), encounter EL list, and so on.
All products are produced to be "canon" with an adventure writing bible gleamed from various sources.
All products will be compared to best-selling products from other companies to ensure quality.
Whew, that's a lot. I further recommend that adventure be made part of a series, such as a mega-dungeon or an "adventure path" series that increases the chance of repeat business. They need to become "must haves" Each adventure is written so that it is playable completely on it's own as well. OR adventures could be linked to other OGC settings, such as Freeport, which have built in audiences already.
How can we do all that? Teamwork and a well-defined process. Think Monster Garage here, with a pirate ship pay system.
Each project starts as a concept. Concepts are given (or made by) a Project Leader. The Project Leader then forms a "concept team" (each of whom will receive a finished copy if greenlighted). The concept team write a proposal according to an outline that looks a bit like proposals for the movies. The company officers, the playtesters, and a public vote on the web then review this proposal. If all three parties vote positive, then the project is "greenlighted" and the Project Leader may proceed.
Then comes the writing stage. The Project Leader selects a team of writers, which should include at least one proofreading editor. Starting with the Project Leader, each writer will get turns in a round-robin fashion on the manuscript. No writer may have the manuscript over a week, anything may be re-written between drafts, each draft is copied to the Project Leader and Grand Poobah for documentation and guidance. This process continues until the draft is finished. The Grand Poobah establishes a set deadline for the project. If the deadline is not reached, then a new Project Leader may be assigned. Writers are encouraged to communicate with each other via a private messageboard.
Writers are paid ten shares total, split among the writers as the Project Leader sees fit. If a writer did 75% of the work, they get a 7.5 share. If the Project Leader worked overtime on the project, the Poobah must decide if they get a portion of these ten shares.
After deadline is met, then the playtesters get to hack into it, providing as much feedback as possible. We will need a small army of playtesters, BTW. This feedback is given back to the writing team who then turn out the (hopefully) final draft. All playtesters receive a copy of the final product.
La Artiste (the Layout Editor) now takes over with her chosen team. This consists of at least two computer layout people with the same software and two or more artists. Poobah gives them a deadline to complete. If not completed, the Poobah may take over the project and assign a new team.
Layout team gets ten shares split as La Artiste directs according to the level of work involved by each person. If La Artiste had to work overtime to complete the project, the Poobah must decide if they get a portion of these ten shares.
A final product is given to a few other playtesters and given a once-over by the Poobah to make sure they are perfect.
The final product is ten sold on RPGnow.com for a price of the Poobah's decision. All profits are split according the share count. 30 shares total (10 for writing team, 10 for layout team, 2 for Project Leader, 2 for La Artiste, 2 for Web-meister, 2 for Grand Poobah and 2 that go to the company for future capital.) So, if a product costs ten dollars, then eight is the initial profit after RPGnow.com takes it's cut (I think that's how it works.) Of that eight dollars, each share is worth around 27 cents. Thus, if we sold 100 copies, then a share would be worth 27 dollars. If we sold 300 copies, it would be worth 81 dollars. So high sales are the goal, providing motivation for everyone to do well and make a kick-ass product. No, the pay is not high, but the process is fun and freelancers get to make a name for themselves.
Given d20 Fool's structural outline, I'm intrigued. I'm not up for general writing at the moment, but I can write "crunchy" material (creatures, items, spells, feats...you name it). I also have editing experience and am looking for more.
I am intrigued as well. I might be interested in doing some writing work, as well as possibly some layout stuff. I’d defiantly be interested in hearing more
__________________ Can your players save their favorite tavern from vile cultists and prevent A Dreadful Dawn? (A Bleeding Edge Adventure)
Or perhaps they'd rather steal The Star of Olindor (A 1 on 1 Adventure) www.matthewjhanson.com
Very good ideas here. However, I think you left out one very important position.
Jester: This person heads the entire design and development department. They do not do any writing and their only purpose is to manage the various productions, leaders and people.
The one thing I learned during my stint in a d20 company is that anyone with a hand in the writing is too close to action. The production effort fails because a lot of people feel that decisions are being made arbitrarily or because the person likes their own work.
In addition, the CEO CANNOT handle this effort and still manage to do things like establish relationships with vendors, buyers and customers. The CEO needs the time to get that part of the production done because that is the effort that will really make us successful.
In any event, I think that d20fool should be the Grand Poobah. It may have started out as my call to arms, but I think that he has the right drive to make it a reality.
I would humbly offer my services as Jester. I am a managing editor for a top-ranked peer review journal, I have served as an editor and publisher on a textbook, and my main strength is in managing production efforts, such as deadlines.
Dave
__________________ Joined the NC EnWorld Yahoo group yet? It is a must join group for EnWorlders in North Carolina!
Keep the writing teams small. Too many and nothing will get finished as various schedules conflict, people disappear etc.
Adventure paths are great. Don't do them unless the entire series is written. It does not work for a campaign if someone uses and adventure, then has to wait six months for the next step. Campaigns moe on, we need customers who buy them to use in conjunction.
Have non-crunch areas. Little stories, history, short piece on how to manage a group etc. You have to offer something a little more tangible and different to get people's attention. Recurring NPCs etc will be a godsend to GMs running campaigns.
Dave
__________________ Joined the NC EnWorld Yahoo group yet? It is a must join group for EnWorlders in North Carolina!
Hmmm, I don't think I have the time to be a CEO, I have a hard enough time running my own life. I certainly have zero for capital.
However, I do know Ian Johnston of Silverthorne Games. Perhaps he would be interested in this idea.
Besides, I definately a writing guy and this is all about the process and the product. I am now going through the process of writing respondents to this e-mail.
This could be interesting. As BelenUmeria pointed out, the ‘Jester’ is by far the most important person on the team, at least insofar as he/she will be the one creating/coordinating the production of the actual product. In art/design firms, this is also the person who, without fail, puts in the most hours.
I have a background in design, art direction, and architecture, and have led many large design teams over many years on many different types of design and architecture projects. I’ve been Design Director/Art Director/Person in Charge of Design at a variety of firms. Blah blah blah. You might not need me though, my skills and experience would best be utilized as “the Jester”, and you already have BelenUmeria.
A question though. Is it possible to actually make money doing this?
Keep the writing teams small. Too many and nothing will get finished as various schedules conflict, people disappear etc.
Adventure paths are great. Don't do them unless the entire series is written. It does not work for a campaign if someone uses and adventure, then has to wait six months for the next step. Campaigns moe on, we need customers who buy them to use in conjunction.
Yes and no. To complete an entire campaign would mean making many adventures, all of which need to be tied together. A small writing/design team cannot do this in a timely manner. On the other hand, small writing/design teams generally (not always) work better than larger ones. And of course, many designers swear that its only possible to design alone.
In the professional world though, it's all about teamwork. And generally speaking, the more people you have, the more you can accomplish. As design/production teams get larger however, there are many new issues that arise. Coordination/Continuity becomes one of the largest issues. You may need to devote many people to this task, each concentrating on specific areas.
That's if people are really interested in getting something done in a timely manner though. If you're more interested in locking yourself away in a room and developing an entire campaign's worth of adventures yourself, farming out small bits like artwork or layout, your product will both be very slow in coming out (we might be on 4.0 by then), and of poorer quality (almost always, more eyes are better than fewer).
This looks like a pretty old thread. Is anyone really interested in doing something?
How can we do all that? Teamwork and a well-defined process. Think Monster Garage here, with a pirate ship pay system.
Each project starts as a concept. Concepts are given (or made by) a Project Leader. The Project Leader then forms a "concept team" (each of whom will receive a finished copy if greenlighted). The concept team write a proposal according to an outline that looks a bit like proposals for the movies. The company officers, the playtesters, and a public vote on the web then review this proposal. If all three parties vote positive, then the project is "greenlighted" and the Project Leader may proceed.
Then comes the writing stage. The Project Leader selects a team of writers, which should include at least one proofreading editor. Starting with the Project Leader, each writer will get turns in a round-robin fashion on the manuscript. No writer may have the manuscript over a week, anything may be re-written between drafts, each draft is copied to the Project Leader and Grand Poobah for documentation and guidance. This process continues until the draft is finished. The Grand Poobah establishes a set deadline for the project. If the deadline is not reached, then a new Project Leader may be assigned. Writers are encouraged to communicate with each other via a private messageboard.
Several issues here.
First is the Concept. The Concept is the most important part. It’s not something that’s just tossed out by a Project Leader. This requires brainstorming. For those who have not been part of a creative brainstorming session, it is, without a doubt, the most exciting, creative process you will ever be a part of. To reiterate, this is the most important part.
Second, the approval of the Concept. Forget the company officers, playtesters, and public web vote. That will get you nowhere. And it could get you nowhere fast. This is not a good process. A better process is brainstorming, as mentioned above. Then brainstorm again. And again. Until you get the Concept right.
Third, the round-robin writing. No no no! Are you trying to make one of those old-fashioned experimental internet stories, or a high-quality product? The only way to make a high-quality product is to do it collaboratively. That means constant communication. You can’t allow your project to disappear for a week. Who knows what will happen to it? The project will go down all sorts of dead-ends this way.
Fourth, too much power and responsibility in the Grand Poohbah. The Grand Poohbah should be doing many important things, but micromanaging the design and production process, and setting deadlines, are not among them. Those are the tasks of the Design Leader, or as BelenUmeria called it, ‘the Jester’
Linear Mode
