Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="JLowder" data-source="post: 4468304" data-attributes="member: 28003">Let's be clear here: Margaret and Tracy were allowed to write Soth back into Krynn. If Wizards did not want it to happen and the authors would not cooperate by changing the text, the editors in the book department would have simply changed it for them. The owner of the intellectual property has final say here, not the writers. That's part of the standard WotC work-for-hire contract.A smart publisher/IP owner works with the creators rather than dictating to them, allows for creative latitude rather than micromanaging content, but the contract sets up a specific balance of power that does not favor the writers.As I understand it, Margaret and Tracy said they wanted to use the character of Soth again in their books. I was not part of that discussion, so I don't know how that conversation played out. What I can relate from firsthand experience is what happened next: Wizards mulled over the decision and brought in other people to discuss the matter, from both the Dragonlance and Ravenloft teams, both games and fiction. The move was only approved for the Dragonlance books after both teams were satisfied. Margaret and Tracy got what they wanted, but only because Wizards allowed that to happen.I was not working for Wizards at the time; they asked me if I wanted to write the Ravenloft novel that explained Soth's move back to Krynn. I was enthusiastic about the idea, since I had built the escape route into the first book and was hoping Soth would make it back to Krynn when Margaret and Tracy wanted to use him. But I had some conditions about participating--I wanted the plot, overall, to play out a certain way. Wizards liked what I wanted to do, so that was allowed to go forward in Spectre of the Black Rose.Authors writing novels for TSR and Wizards have had more or less power in determining the direction and content of their books, depending upon the company philosophy at the time, as well as the work style of the people running the book department, the different lines, even editing the individual books. (Right now, with the Realms and Ravenloft and the other settings, we're seeing a top-down approach in action, where the company role in determining content is open and obvious; that may have a different direct impact from project to project, but the overall metaplot is being driven by people inside WotC.) And some authors have more clout than others. But at the end of the day, unless their contracts specifically deviate from the standard work-for-hire agreement, authors do not make decisions without someone inhouse authorizing them to do so.Cheers,Jim Lowder</blockquote>

Verification