Charles Ryan on Adventures

[James Heard]

Nah. Go ahead, spit on each other for having different opinions.

 

[Maggan]

Again, not really. It's partly just who happens to work there. After all, several of WotC's brightest ended up elsewhere, and doing very well at those places, no?

I don't get it. Charles Ryan is saying that they have great guys and gals working there, and that they have a lot of them, more than anyone else. He didn't say "all great designers work here".

What has the fate of people who are no longer with WotC to do with that? Unless these brightest stars ended up in the same place, which they didn't.

I'm not sure what you're trying to refute, actually.

/M

 

[Aus_Snow]

Try contesting the "largest" again, please. I want to laugh a bit more.

No, I was in fact only contesting the other part, as you might or might not already have been aware.

Either way, it was of course my mistake, and if that provided some amusement for you, then cool! The part I was contesting though? No, my response to that stands quite well, methinks.

I think there might be two to four ex-Wizards designers that you could say are doing well in the d20 System business. "Getting by" would describe most of the rest, if that.

It's well worth looking at the names of the freelancers who work for Wizards these days.

I do agree with Psion: the exodus of design staff did hurt Wizards (stupid Pokemon managers), but their recent rebuilding (three or four new hires?) and selection of freelancers is very promising.

I think 'several' is usually acceptable for encompassing that kind of range, yeah? *shrug*

The rest? I agree.

Look, however a couple of my posts might have been interpreted by some, I wasn't (and I'm still not) 'out to get' anyone, whatsoever. I took issue with a single statement, and later with a 'clarification' of that one and others from the same quoted text.

I honestly wish WotC (and their 'competitors'!) all the best in their endeavours. It's not some bizarre fanatical hate thing, at least not where I'm coming from.

I don't get it. Charles Ryan is saying that they have great guys and gals working there, and that they have a lot of them, more than anyone else. He didn't say "all great designers work here".

What has the fate of people who are no longer with WotC to do with that? Unless these brightest stars ended up in the same place, which they didn't.

I'm not sure what you're trying to refute, actually.

Well, what he actually said was this:

we have the largest, most experienced collection of game-design minds assembled on this planet.

- which I challenged. However, I did the same as with the other thing earlier in this post - poor cut'n'pasting, I s'pose. Should've been more cut, less paste. In other words, I only had a problem with the part I've now added emphasis to. Hope that's a bit clearer.

 

[Belen]

True, but Ryan is suggesting that not making adventures is the reason why many d20 publishers are struggling these days, a rather ludicrous proposition. Yes, the drop in module publishing is correlated with drops in d20 company profits, just like murder rates are correlated with ice cream sales.

And I would agree with Mr. Ryan. d20 companies are horrible at supporting the products that they sell. D&D gets support from free adventures and Dungeon magazine. The 3rd party publishers could care less. They throw out a hardcover and then never reference it again. When was the last time we got an original Freeport adventure? Black sails?

Adventures support the core material produced. 3rd party publishers do not support their own stuff.

It's sad and I get more angry about it as time goes on.

 

[JoeGKushner]

I don't get it. Charles Ryan is saying that they have great guys and gals working there, and that they have a lot of them, more than anyone else. He didn't say "all great designers work here".

What has the fate of people who are no longer with WotC to do with that? Unless these brightest stars ended up in the same place, which they didn't.

I'm not sure what you're trying to refute, actually.

/M

And in many cases, it's not like WoTC has an exclusive contract or that the employees can't work there again. Bruce Cordel has done stuff for Malhavoc, but hey, he's got a WoTC book coming out soon right?

And look at Mike Mearls, the one man industry. He's now at WoTC, but for a long time, worked with everyone just about.

 

[Belen]

That post is funny on so many levels.

Please elaborate. I love GR, but I would not call them a DM-friendly company. There is just not enough support, although it looks like that may be changing with Thieves' World. We'll have to see.

 

[IronWolf]

Given the relatively small number of people working professionally in the field, Charles was dismissing the work of former WotC employees, freelancers and future WotC employees.

This is not a_generic_industry, this is an industry with well under 1,000 creative professionals working on a regular basis. Talking crap about the guy who turned in a manuscript to you last week and you've just asked to submit ideas for a book due next year by saying his work that's not bound between WotC covers is both unprofessional and unwise. It's also a pretty crappy way to treat your friends and I have to assume Charles has at least a few of them in the industry.

I fail to see how proclaiming yourself the best is completely dismissing the work of former WotC employees, freelancers and future WotC employees. There can be room for quality products from many different sources and when one proclaims themselves the best it does not make all other products suddenly non-quality products.

Generic or small the RPG industry is still a business. Do the people that are in it love what they do? Most likely. But that does not change the fact it is a business. Proclamations of being the best is part of being a business. Not proclamations of "hey we do okay". That is hardly "talking crap".

Also note that I do not necessarily say I agree with the statement that WotC is the best, but I certainly can't fault them for trying to say they are.

 

[MerricB]

I think 'several' is usually acceptable for encompassing that kind of range, yeah? *shrug*

"A few", I think.

One thing that is well worth us all remembering is that there have been quite a lot more people involved in d20 System publications than the companies who have a presence here. Thankfully, most have disappeared, but I guess we'll see them pop up from time to time.

I've got a sneaking suspicion that Wizards have in their library a copy of every d20 System (and related) product. When Charles is speaking - as he implied - he's got a much different view from us. (You mean there are companies apart from Wizards, Necromancer Games and Malhavoc?!? )

Cheers!

 

[Psion]

When was the last time we got an original Freeport adventure?

Monday 13 June, 2005
http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=4950&

or would it be Saturday 27 August, 2005
http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=5375&

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Freeport adventures... They definitely show that Charles might be wrong on one point: You need to be an experienced designer with a good grasp of the rules to make a adventure - at least if you desperetely need to create your own monsters.
Though, on second thought, actually, no, you don't need that, just some common sense and a tiny little bit of experience :/ . (Otherwise, the adventures seem to be good.)