Matt Colville discusses details of MCDM

darjr · 2026-03-11T14:57:35+0000

Matt Colville discusses details of MCDM and the TTRPG industry.

Matt shares details about the pay and benefits, as well as other topics regarding their approach to the company, staff, and how they choose future projects.

darjr · 2026-03-11T18:28:59+0000

Freelancers are 35c a word and $50 an hour during meetings.

Some other great things in here too.

Truename · 2026-03-11T19:48:00+0000

And they expect about 1200 words per day, and pay for revisions, which also comes to $50/hr.

overgeeked · 2026-03-11T21:05:11+0000

For some context on that pay rate...

The RPG freelancing I did back in the early 2000s paid about 4¢/word. And did not pay for revisions.

Asimov's, one of the most famous sci-fi magazines in the world, pays 8-10¢/word.

Fenris-77 · 2026-03-12T09:17:12+0000

If you want the best people to apply to write for you then paying them well is a good place to start.

sevenbastard · 2026-03-12T14:04:11+0000

I should add up the amount of words I type at work each day and see how my per word rate compares.

Morrus · 2026-03-12T18:04:20+0000

overgeeked said:
For some context on that pay rate...

The RPG freelancing I did back in the early 2000s paid about 4¢/word. And did not pay for revisions.

Pay rates are usually better than 4c these days but 35c is very high for this industry. But they’ve had multiple multi-million dollar crowdfunders so they’re in a rare position to be able to invest that money back into the business like this.

CommodoreKong · 2026-03-12T18:19:03+0000

Fenris-77 said:
If you want the best people to apply to write for you then paying them well is a good place to start.

Having played the first three levels of Draw Steel with The Delian Tomb I do think the quality they get from hiring the best people they can shows in the final product.

I’m excited to run both The Condemned and Crack the Sun when those release. One of my players has also looked over the Summoner and is very excited to try a Necromancer when we play Crack the Sun.

Fenris-77 · 2026-03-12T18:32:14+0000

CommodoreKong said:
Having played the first three levels of Draw Steel with The Delian Tomb I do think the quality they get from hiring the best people they can shows in the final product.

I’m excited to run both The Condemned and Crack the Sun when those release. One of my players has also looked over the Summoner and is very excited to try a Necromancer when we play Crack the Sun.

I'm envious. I'm a one-man design and publishing band and the idea of hiring great writers for their specific strengths seems so cool. I'm very happy for them. I also need to get Draw Steel.