Troll Lord Games looking foe a few good men

[Troll Lord]

to write modules!

Well, our new year is about to begin. The troll year starts in August. We need some writers. We here at Troll Lord Games are looking for some writers to concoct some good adventure modules.

We are paying .03 a word. Pay per word should increase over time should sales indicate it worthwhile.

What we are looking for are Castles and Crusades adventures @12,000 words.

Adventures can be overland or underground.
Level range can be anywhere from 1-12 but we would prefer the 4-8 range'
They should be generic in nature.
Only 2 unique monsters.
Introductory material must be under 1000 words.
No sandbox setting material.
No extra planar adventures.
Not setting specific but can be tied to Airhde as default.
Very limited "to be read" material.
No new classes, spells or what not.
We also want only completed adventures, not ideas. I can not stress this enough. Complete modules. We will take multi-part adventures but the entire series should be complete before submission. Each portion of the adventure should be @ 12000 words.
Use our monster books and rules.
Email completed manuscript to troll[MENTION=1415]Troll[/MENTION]lord.com and title MSG "module submission." Include contact info in body of the text. This is a work for hire meaning we will own it.

Davis

 

[Piratecat]

So it's clear: you are asking authors to work without contract and then submit a complete adventure? What happens if you don't like the adventure? I assume they're out of luck?

If so, this is an incredibly poor deal for an author. There's no safety net if you happen to not like their work, and you can't provide guidance because you won't see it until it's complete.

 

[Loonook]

So it's clear: you are asking authors to work without contract and then submit a complete adventure? What happens if you don't like the adventure? I assume they're out of luck?

If so, this is an incredibly poor deal for an author. There's no safety net if you happen to not like their work, and you can't provide guidance because you won't see it until it's complete.

Have to agree with Piratecat. If someone decided to ask me to do a writeup in my normal work with no actual idea beyond an extremely rough idea... And offer no guarantee of payment on submission for a major project?

It seems like a way to get a lot of data dump that can then be used for making adventures after 'honing' them a bit (and giving nothing in return).

Slainte,

-Loonook.

 

[Troll Lord]

So it's clear: you are asking authors to work without contract and then submit a complete adventure? What happens if you don't like the adventure? I assume they're out of luck?

If so, this is an incredibly poor deal for an author. There's no safety net if you happen to not like their work, and you can't provide guidance because you won't see it until it's complete.

Piratecat,

Hey dadeo. Right now we are looking for completed manuscripts. If you have an adventure you wrote for other editions of the game (that was not published) or just have one laying around, send it out our way. We'll read it over and say yay or nay. If we like it and it fits the C&C mold, we'll sign a contract, we'll ask you to convert it to C&C and off we go.

The hope is we can then set up a relationship where we can hire you to do adventures/etc. Like we have with Casey Christofferson.

As for writing a virigin ms and submitting it, sure you can do that too. But you're right, it is a bit of risk. But right now we don't want to spend a great deal of time discussing technique/content/etc.

Thanks man,
Steve

Davis here. Just to add a bit, this is what stirred me on to this. I peruse enworld, rpgnet and a few other forums on a fairly constant basis. I see a metric ton of good ideas floating around, people who can write really well and in an engaging style etc. I also not that some people seem to write 10,000 words a day posting!!!!

My thinking was just to open up the submission process and let the community at large know that if you want a stab at getting something published, we are actively going to accept modules submissions for the next few months or more. Its basically a chance to get in print, hone some writing skills, get your name out and for us to perhaps find a steady writer.

Its no different than most publishing houses. You complete a manuscript, send it in, let the reviewers read it and they say yes or no. Then if reliable they hire you to do more.

Davis

 

[Insight]

This seems like a good opportunity for people with little to no game design credentials to get their name on a product.

But I'd have to echo the other sentiments. If this is a "work for hire", that implies a contract of some kind. Anything I write on my own (which is essentially what this is since I have no contract) is copyrighted by me. This is automatic according to current copyright law. The only exception to this is when a work has been contracted as work for hire. Otherwise, if I were to submit a 12k word manuscript, according to the above, you could just steal it and pay me nothing.

This is from the Copyright Law, Chapter 2:
(a) Initial Ownership.—Copyright in a work protected under this title vests initially in the author or authors of the work. The authors of a joint work are coowners of copyright in the work.
(b) Works Made for Hire.—In the case of a work made for hire, the employer or other person for whom the work was prepared is considered the author for purposes of this title, and, unless the parties have expressly agreed otherwise in a written instrument signed by them, owns all of the rights comprised in the copyright.

I think you'd be far better served to get a synopsis or something from a prospective author and then send them a contract once you approve their idea. It's much more fair to the author.

 

[Insight]

Its no different than most publishing houses. You complete a manuscript, send it in, let the reviewers read it and they say yes or no. Then if reliable they hire you to do more.

Davis

Unfortunately, this is absolutely untrue. I don't know of a single reputable publisher that takes unsolicited manuscripts from authors. They require lots of initial communication, including a synopsis (and often other matter as well). Established writers - who are almost certainly under contract - can submit full manuscripts, but this again would not be unsolicited in that sense.

I don't want to derail this discussion with a bunch of legalese and publishing industry nonsense. I actually like the idea, but there are concerns. Authors have to protect themselves (and so do publishers).

 

[Piratecat]

Right. Don't get me wrong, I really love Troll Lord games and C&C. They're a good company with good people. But contracts protect both the publisher and the author -- and in my experience, it's the author who flakes out far more than the publisher. I'm sure these terms are acceptable for other folks who may happen to have finished modules lying around or who work very fast. Writing such a specialized work with no guarantee of purchase makes me queasy, though.

Either way, Troll Lord doesn't assume copyright until they actually buy the adventure. Thus, authors retain their copyright until then. No harm or risk there.

 

[Piratecat]

This seems like a good opportunity for people with little to no game design credentials to get their name on a product.

Absolutely. $360 isn't much money, but your first paid writing credit can be a thing of beauty.

 

[Argyle King]

I'm a bit vague on C&C. It's related to D&D?

 

[Loonook]

If there was a short submission process followed by a generation of an adventure for 5% upon receipt I think you would have more takers. You get 10 adventures out of which you may take 3, and have 7 mostly-built adventures that may need a bit of polishing... And the group doesn't feel horrible about it. 18$ for 12k words is nothing to sneeze at, as I can produce 25-30k a day from way too long in academia .

It provides you with a three step process, prevents you from being caught up with the kinds of issues we're discussing, and at worst you're going to have a brilliant idea (according to your own validation of the idea) that you can use in its original 'idea' form, or rebuild with minimal work from the submission.

Slainte,

-Loonook.