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I loved it, despite the enormous workload as a DM. I was never a fan of Gygaxian design (the non sequitur principle), so building a game with actual logic appealed to my aspie nature. Now I have 4E so I don't think I will be going back despite my shelves groaning under the weight of 3.xE...

This is where I remember the wisdom of Eric Noah for having the Eric's Grandmother rule: No religion or politics. I am genuinely worried that this will soon turn into RPG.net.

The only answer is increasing the size of the pie. You have to create wealth in order to be able to share that wealth. The most successful government we had in Oz over the past 50-odd years was a centre left government led by Bob Hawke and Paul Keating. (And I say this as someone from the...

A real job is one that allows you to live a real life. (And, yes, I know how unpopular that statement will be.) And, again, school teachers and nurses are well paid in the countries in which I have lived; the USA is abnormal in many ways. As for a vocation, I'm 51. I discovered certain...

17K for a starting teacher? Are you in the Third World? If not, emigrate to Australia (or Singapore or Scandinavia).

The only "solution" is for tabletop RPGs to sell way more than they do. The "industry" is way too small financially to support the number of those who want to make game design/RPG writing into their career. And, quite evidently, that is not a solution but it is the reality of the situation -...

Well said. That's the wisest response to the reality of the game design market. Personally, I would be happy to a return to the 2E era of B&W interiors with pencil art by Arnie Swekel and Glen Angus. I like, for example, the current use of B&W maps by Dyson Logos in the WotC products...

I'm glad you are doing it. Others have over the years but maybe your more blunt outline of the consequences of choosing to work in game design will help more people realise that this is not a wise career choice. As for things improving, until sales multiply at the wholesale level, there simply...

That's a positively Umbranesque conclusion that has nothing to do with what I wrote. Price is a function of supply and demand. Demand for RPG writers is lower than the supply so the price has fallen. That's not unfair: That's a natural consequence of market forces. Until those market forces...

Two straw men in a row, Umbran. The article under discussion is about the consequences of a poor career choice. Cause. Effect. There's some logic at work there. So even if you say that many humans are not driven by logic, logic is also unavoidable in the sense that choices have consequences...

Teachers might get paid dirt in your country but that's not true in many other countries - certainly not my home country (Australia) and the other country where I have spent most of my expat life (Singapore). I'm not even sure it's true in most other countries - the USA is an outlier in so many...

It simply has to be accepted that the "industry" is neither large enough nor profitable enough to support a large number of properly-paid employees. That's not going to change unless, overnight, the size of the industry suddenly explodes. That said, there seems to be money being made in turning...

Yes, but how often does that happen? As with the acting game, those who succeed in music are few and far between. Life is about making choices and those choices have consequences. If you make bad choices, correct those bad choices, and one of the bad choices you can make is your vocation and...

No doubt. And, if you do that, then you don't complain about the lack of financial rewards. (That said, being a teacher or a nurse, using your two examples, can be financially rewarding in many countries. They offer solid career paths which is something quite rare in most industries.)

You don't really do logic very well, do you? No, I am not being hypocritical. (Will you be calling me racist next?) What a fatuous statement. The "industry" clearly only supports a very small number of people on incomes that allow them to live. A normal person - not the sort of person who reads...

Or any other sort of professional or skilled worker. If there is no money in RPGs - plus fan abuse - then why persist with the job? At some point it needs to be accepted that a wiser choice of employment needs to be made. Enduring decades of low income and internet insults does not rational...

Neverending looks really interesting. I was wondering how long before something like this would hit the market.

These were (are) wonderful. I still have the original six books; I think more were made in the later online renaissance? My first solid fantasy heartbreaker system that actually worked was heavily inspired by the system used in these books.

As of today, we can meet with up to 20 people in our houses. F2F is back.

I haven't read Curse of Strahd as I was planning on playing it. Thanks for clearing that up.