I haven't seen this thread in a while. Hello old friend. Err... and hello OtherworldRPG, welcome to EnWorld.
These Slaad write ups are great...
Thanks. I happen to think so too, but in the context of your question it is important to remember that the Slaad aren't actually my intellectual property. The original concept is by Charles Stross, and the property is owned by WotC I would imagine in full.
...along with some of your other posts.
Also thanks.
I was curious if you have created your own worlds or if you have written professionally.
Err... yes (though, haven't we all), and no.
So much of what I do is geared to running my own table. As such, I freely 'steal' any intellectual property that I admire and incorporate it (often after some transformation) into my own ideas. Nothing I have done has really been geared to publishing and so nothing I have is publishable. I'd have to work out what I'm plagiarizing and what I came up with on my own and honestly, I don't remember in a lot of cases.
To the extent that I do have my own ideas and I know what they are, they aren't for sale even if someone would want to buy them. I wouldn't want to see them outside of the larger setting that I consider my own. I considering self-publishing some Pdfs for a while, but realized that the actual realized value of turning my ideas into professional products was highly negative - pennies per hour most likely.
I have never written professionally, although I imagine that I could if I really wanted to. My actual job is a software development consultant and contractor. So I just write software for money, not fiction. In the context of that, if I ever wanted to jump off the deep end and actually publish something just to show I could, it would only be for an established gaming company and only in relationship with someone whose work I admire - say Eric Mona, Ari Marmel, Jonathan Tweet, Kevin Kulp, etc. In that context I'd only be willing to help expand, fill out, and elaborate on their intellectual property - write an adventure for example. My ideas as you typically see them presented at EnWorld aren't really relevant.
The reason for that is simple - I'm arrogant. I want to keep my current job and it would really only be worth taking a second likely not very profitable job if it could really be something I was proud of having done. That seems unlikely to happen. Working my way up through the ranks of people they can trust is a lot of work to be doing on the side, and I've never really given much thought to doing it or how to do it.
I'm an art director looking for good RPG writers.
I hope you find them. Unfortunately, I think that there are probably only 12-15 actually good RPG writers in the business, and they are already busy. So I feel for your situation. But, if you are really interested because you know that most of what is out there is junk and the people who don't right junk already have jobs, pitch me in private exactly what you want me to write in terms of page count, subject matter, setting bible and so forth. Chances are I'll say 'No', which is more of a reflection on me than you. Good luck with your game.
