Recent content by Owen K.C. Stephens

There are a of of factors about who is doing how well. For example, anyone in the US has concerns paying for health insurance and heath care that are far from universal, and that can make the difference between "pretty happy with how things are going" and "three sicks days in a row and we'll get...

I can! The "classic" three-tiered tabletop game distribution model works like this. A game company makes a product. They sell it to distributors at a discount. This may be as much as a 65% discount. The distributor then sells it to retailers, and a lesser discount (perhaps 45% off). The...

I certainly did not mean to imply this trend is universal. I completely accept your experience.

I gave my US-focused thoughts on that at my blog last month. https://owenkcstephens.com/2020/06/26/the-game-industryin-these-uncertain-times/

I'm one of the people who got laid off in the oughts by WotC. But the culture has seemed different for a number of years now. Even having left Seattle and moved back to OK, I'd happily consider the right job at WotC nowadays.

I am not burned out. I am also not free to take a sabbatical. I am sharing knowledge common within the industry, that isn't much discussed publicly.

It's even more than that. IF I was making 100k a year, it would mean the Game Companies, large and small, had more money to throw at problems. Archiving art assets takes time. Training people to be managers takes time and money. having staff that can handle more than the creation of products...

It's worth noting that I wasn't avoiding it intentionally. I just didn't know how effective it was, didn't drink, and got tired easily. In many ways, I have reached a level where it has less impact on me. because I get invited to private events, and if I sit in a lobby of a hotel where convetion...

Several, depending on your definition of "major." Mongoose and Pelgrane leap immediately to mind. But even if I had direct knowledge of their situations, I wouldn't call out a specific company without their approval.

More than any other TTRPG person in the same position in the world. Less than anyone with the same skills doing the same job for a video game or movie company of the same profile or size.

I am not a Paizo employee. Haven't been for a year. I am a freelance writer, developer, and consultant. I am the Publisher for Rogue Genius Games. If you want to ask a game company to respond, the one I run is really the only reasonable option. I am not discussing the business practices of any...

My Patreon backs the writing of my blog articles, as the description notes. That's five posts a week. And higher backers get a collected pdf of all my monthly free content (blog posts, facebook posts, twitter, and so on, which runs between 10-25,000 words each month. I'm quite satisfied with...

You'll note I never said showing skin on a woman was sexualizing. I said to to prevent artists from sending me art that DID sexualize woman, I had to tell them to show no skin. Telling them not to sexualize the women, or to make them serious, or fierce, or realistic, never prevented the art I...

The point of this particular hashtag is to inform people just getting started. As for why i am still here? Among other things, I think there is still hope things can improve. And one of the things needed for that improvement is a clear and open conversation about some of the problems.

As a result of the world exploding, I am a few weeks behind. I also had to move this week, from Indiana back to my hometown of Norman, OK. Moving does not make it easy to catch up. My expectation is I'll still get 52 products (well, 208, since it's 52 titles each for 4 game systems) out in 52...