WotC Names 10 "Adepts" On Their DMs Guild Store

LordEntrails · Aug 9, 2017

doctorhook said:
Huh, no kidding. Jester David replied to me first, but I legit thought "it's her stripper/porn name" was a joke until this conversation turned decidedly unfunny. Not sure what I expected, but it wasn't that.

I too just thought it was a passing put-down. But doesn't matter to me as IMO it has nothing to do with her credentials as an RPGer.

Eminence_Grise said:
I don't understand the intent behind this or how it benefits either Wizards or the Community. I would probably prefer some kind of spotlight on new talents.

The stated intent is to (1) provide collaboration between DMsG authors and (2) to spotlight new talent. 1) Which this doesn't do except for among the Adepts themselves. 2) Which since these Adepts are already known to some can be argued that they are not new talent, but does serve the purpose of providing a spotlight not just withing the DMsG community, but among the communities that these Adepts belong to. Which for the start of the program might be more important.

Actually, the more I think about it, the more I can see this being a very well done move. Time will tell if it develops well, but it seems to have been well thought out and a good first step.

Charles Rampant · Aug 9, 2017

The idea that new adventures will launch with DMsGuild support already present is interesting. So we might be able to buy Tomb of Annihilation and straight away find some extra side quests on the Guild. I wouldn't say that it falls into the Day One DLC trap so hated by the computer game community, simply because the books will continue to be 256 pages; we get the exact same content as before, but now with optional extras found elsewhere. It also makes a lot of sense when you remember the Adventures as Settings policy this edition - ToA will be the Chult sourcebook, effectively, so more content on the Guild launching with it will presumably mean more Source.

I cannot be the only person who finds the Guild intimidating to look at - I mainly just stick to buying old 2e/3e FR books, currently - so having a Star Cast to browse the latest efforts of does make things simpler.

Jester David · Aug 9, 2017

doctorhook said:
Huh, no kidding. Jester David replied to me first, but I legit thought "it's her stripper/porn name" was a joke until this conversation turned decidedly unfunny. Not sure what I expected, but it wasn't that.

LordEntrails said:
I too just thought it was a passing put-down. But doesn't matter to me as IMO it has nothing to do with her credentials as an RPGer.

Passing put-downs like that aren't my style. Neither is mocking sex workers, who catch enough heat as it is.

LordEntrails said:
The stated intent is to (1) provide collaboration between DMsG authors and (2) to spotlight new talent. 1) Which this doesn't do except for among the Adepts themselves. 2) Which since these Adepts are already known to some can be argued that they are not new talent, but does serve the purpose of providing a spotlight not just withing the DMsG community, but among the communities that these Adepts belong to. Which for the start of the program might be more important.

If they're working together on a project or two, that might bring in the collaborative aspects. Pair two people together and let them create,

skerritthegreen · Aug 9, 2017

Addressing the earlier comment about having authors post for some amount of money besides for free or PWYW, there are some really good reasons for that.

1) Free or PWYW really messes up all the tracking metrics and makes it hard what to make of a product. Either its AMAZING since it has 100,000 downloads, or its crap cause only 25 paid for it. It does a disservice to the author and makes it hard to filter them as the number of authors on the DMsGuild gets bigger and bigger. It also makes the star system statistically sketchy. You have a 4.3 rating! Gratz, but you only have four people who ranked out of the 100,000 that downloaded. People seem more likely to rank when they pay something.

2) Having a price puts a value the work. If its free, its too easy to post something that's not great (as an author) or not care when it sucks when you didn't pay anything (as a consumer). If it costs something, even a quarter, the consumer is more likely to make a comment and the author is more likely respond with an update (or even spend a little more time on it at the start). That is something we definitely watch.

3) WOTC (and lots of people in the industry) really want the author and the audience to value the work of our authors. Right now the industry generally pays very low on average. It makes it pretty much impossible for it to be your job unless you like near poverty. As someone who freelances for a lot of companies (in addition to a "normal" full-time job), WOTC actually pays the best I've seen (there are some others who are decent as well) and I think that having people getting used to paying something for quality is a step in the right direction to helping authors out. It only works of course if the work is good, but that is something else this program should help promote as it draws attention to some of the talented folks on the DMsGuild.

Zarithar · Aug 9, 2017

Charles Rampant said:
I cannot be the only person who finds the Guild intimidating to look at - I mainly just stick to buying old 2e/3e FR books, currently - so having a Star Cast to browse the latest efforts of does make things simpler.

You're definitely not... there is at least one other person (yours truly) that finds it intimidating! I like the IDEA of the Guild, but the implementation, not as much. I've used it a handful of times but find it difficult and daunting to sort through all of the material (much less separating wheat from chaff).

As to the "all-star" program... I recognize many of those names from podcasts, streams, etc that I watch and/or am aware of. I love what Twitch, YouTube, and podcasting are doing to draw more exposure to our hobby and appreciate what Satine and others are doing to promote the game that they clearly love.

As an aside, I met Satine briefly at Emerald City Comicon as she was getting ready for an Eberron panel. Cool, approachable, and a completely non-egotistical person who genuinely loves D&D (and Eberron in particular). I can tell you from my own limited experience that she is very much the real deal and likely has more experience with the game than many of us posting here.

schnee · Aug 9, 2017

Eminence_Grise said:
I don't understand the intent behind this or how it benefits either Wizards or the Community. I would probably prefer some kind of spotlight on new talents.

IMO you want the first expression of any idea to be an example worth following.

If you bring in absolutely new people, it's risky. You want to say 'ah, THAT is what we want to inspire people to do', then it gets executed on smoothly, and this first pass sets the standards for the rest.

The new talent will follow soon enough.

timbannock · Aug 9, 2017

doctorhook said:
Just popped by the DMs Guild and discovered something cool that I'm considering purchasing, when I recognized the author's name from this very thread. [MENTION=17913]neuronphaser[/MENTION], are you the same one behind Old School Hacks?

True story!

Since my internet handle has like a bazillion posts across ENWorld and RPGnet, as well as a blog at neuronphaser.com, I figured it best to just name my publishing company the same thing ;-)

I hope you enjoy the Old School Hacks series! I'm already gathering material to improve the handouts and stuff in Player Roles, and Hexcrawling is undergoing a major rewrite/expansion. Both products will be updated with these things, not invalidated or whatever. So buy now, get the updates for free later!

Mallus · Aug 9, 2017

JeffB said:
Maybe she should stick to that instead of the DMs Guild.

You're not doing the community any favors with snark like this.

discosoc · Aug 9, 2017

Kite474 said:
So this is all really cool!

Thought is it slightly odd to anyone else that for most of the adepts their bodies of work are surprisingly small? I know that Quality comes first but it still feels like they dont have much to show for their work.

Though from what I am getting they are very big community members, not just publishers so that might have something to do with that.

Most of these people are already "marketable." WotC's strategy here isn't that they make the best adventures or anything, despite what they claim. There's even an unusual gender split which I seriously doubt reflects most player's experiences in the real world.

timbannock · Aug 9, 2017

Zarithar said:
You're definitely not... there is at least one other person (yours truly) that finds it intimidating! I like the IDEA of the Guild, but the implementation, not as much. I've used it a handful of times but find it difficult and daunting to sort through all of the material (much less separating wheat from chaff).

A huge problem that Guild creators are facing is getting a reasonable volume of reviews, and IMHO, halfway intelligible ones.

I've got products that have sold upper hundreds, and one or two even thousands of units. I don't have anything with more than 3 or 4 reviews, tops, and most of them haven't even be rated, much less reviewed. I see other authors' works that I know have TONS of downloads and have even less than that.

I know I'm part of the problem, to a degree, because I buy and don't review until I've read the thing fully, which...doesn't happen quickly, or all at once. But I do make efforts to leave reviews when I get to it.

TL;DR: More ratings & reviews will help people judge content better.