Blog (A5E) Meet Our ‘Level Up’ Team!

We’ve crossed the ‘t’s and dotted the ‘i’s, signed on the dotted lines, and we’re very excited to introduce our team of 5E designers to you! They’ve already started work on Level Up!

Hundreds of people applied when we advertised these positions. Whittling them down was a challenge, but we are very proud of the group we’ve brought together to work on this game. Some you may have heard of, while others we hope you’ll get to know over the coming months.

Check them out on our Team page!

If you are interested in working on Level Up, keep an eye on this website, as more opportunities will be available.

 

[jaynay27]

I don't know most of these people, so I trust they are the right ones for the job! (obv. you have way more experience in these things than me, but ENWORLD publishing has a pretty solid track record).

What I like best next is the number of people involved. I assume this will be a premium and large (page count wise) hardcover?
Count me in.

Also, still think Seer/5Eer/5th Edition Expert Rules has legs!!!

 

[Morrus]

Asking for a friend:
So I do not want critics to feel singled out over all this work experience talk, but let me riddle you this: (a) if some critics here say you should only employ people with relevant work experience and (b) you can only gain relevant work experience by working a job in the relevant industry then (c) how does anyone ever get that relevant work experience if every employer demands it as a prerequisite? It is like multi-classing, but one of the prerequisites is to already have a level in the class into which you wish to multi-class.

Write for EN5ider first. Several of the folks there started with EN5ider. In fact, there are a few people writing on official WotC books who started with EN5ider.

 

[Horwath]

I do care. I'm tired of playing games written by all white dudes.

if it is a good game, why care who wrote it?

 

[clearstream]

if it is a good game, why care who wrote it?

An unexplored element in your question is - what equals good?

Writing and designs are informed by culture. That can be very noticeable, as where one compares say Japanese or Chinese games with US or British. Or the overwhelming number of Western narratives featuring the heroic white man + supporting cast. It's not the sole factor. It's not a straitjacket. But it is palpably present. Diversity of background informs diversity of writing and design. And here to answer your question is to reflect on your definition of good. If I prefer a given kind of play, then I will count designers who deliver that kind of play good. The more open I am on the subject of good, the more diversity I might value: the more interested I might be in being presented with contrasting kinds of good.

If all I hear from is one culture, most likely I will hear less diverse narratives. If those match my idea of good, then I won't care who wrote it because I got what I wanted. But good can be defined at both the instance and the meta level. This design might be good, while laid over that these diversities of designs might be another kind of good. I am open to the latter.

 

[Horwath]

An unexplored element in your question is - what equals good?

Writing and designs are informed by culture. That can be very noticeable, as where one compares say Japanese or Chinese games with US or British. Or the overwhelming number of Western narratives featuring the heroic white man + supporting cast. It's not the sole factor. It's not a straitjacket. But it is palpably present. Diversity of background informs diversity of writing and design. And here to answer your question is to reflect on your definition of good. If I prefer a given kind of play, then I will count designers who deliver that kind of play good. The more open I am on the subject of good, the more diversity I might value: the more interested I might be in being presented with contrasting kinds of good.

If all I hear from is one culture, most likely I will hear less diverse narratives. If those match my idea of good, then I won't care who wrote it because I got what I wanted. But good can be defined at both the instance and the meta level. This design might be good, while laid over that these diversities of designs might be another kind of good. I am open to the latter.

If you are talking about setting design, implementing different "fantasy" cultures that are somewhat mirror of some cultures here, then I agree with you.
The diverse, the better.

But, if we are talking about someone who will be writting class design and mechanics of the game, I could care less where are they from and who they are. I just need something that works.

 

[Morrus]

If you are talking about setting design, implementing different "fantasy" cultures that are somewhat mirror of some cultures here, then I agree with you.
The diverse, the better.

But, if we are talking about someone who will be writting class design and mechanics of the game, I could care less where are they from and who they are. I just need something that works.

So you keep saying. We get it. You don’t care who writes it. Message clearly received.

So why are you posting in a thread about the writing team?

 

[Horwath]

So you keep saying. We get it. You don’t care who writes it. Message clearly received.

So why are you posting in a thread about the writing team?

I am not talking about this team specifically. But in general about recruitment for various projects, not just writting.

I said that I liked your team right away when I read their short bio on the site.
And I said that I belive that they will do a great job with "level-up" or whatever the final product name will be.

 

[Morrus]

I am not talking about this team specifically. But in general about recruitment for various projects, not just writting.

OK, well please take that to another thread (probably on a more suitable forum). Thanks.

 

[Schmoe]

If you are talking about setting design, implementing different "fantasy" cultures that are somewhat mirror of some cultures here, then I agree with you.
The diverse, the better.

But, if we are talking about someone who will be writting class design and mechanics of the game, I could care less where are they from and who they are. I just need something that works.

I think you're missing some nuance in how game design reflects culture. If all we had were "generic fighter" with "attack routine #1" in game design books, followed by numbers, your point might hold more true. But in fact the backgrounds of designers come out in how their designs are expressed. Even more, the perspectives of the team inform how the mechanics work together. Diverse perspectives will consider more angles.

I'm not saying it's always a thing. I'm not saying it's the overriding thing. But it's definitely a thing. Time and time again studies have proven that diverse teams put out better products. If you're interested, I encourage you to look up some of the research. In a vacuum, if I had to choose between two products and all I knew was that one was developed by a homogeneous team and another was developed by a much more diverse team, I would tend toward choosing the latter product.

 

[GMMichael]

One step closer to making RPG history!

Does the selection of designers mean that the Level Up forum is now moot?