Dragon/Dungeon Submissions?

[Scribe Ineti]

Bumping this thread up to find out if there were any new insights or suggestions provided at GenCon regarding submissions to Dragon and Dungeon.

I saw a couple things on the WOTC site about how the Living FR campaign is open to submissions, and a brief mention of what they're looking for re: Eberron articles.

Anything else? Any nuggets of info from GenCon worth sharing?

 

[Shemeska]

From what I was told at GenCon by a pair of fellow freelancers who directly asked them at one of the 4e seminars, the only answer was the same stock answer of 'really we truly want your queries' (despite the vast majority of the e-zines being produced entirely in-house or by a very small group of outside people with 4e hardcover credits).

 

[MichaelSomething]

Our very own Shroomy managed to get published in Dungeon. This is the thread where it is discussed.

That shows it's possible.

 

[Mr. Wilson]

During the 4E Eberron seminar, Mr. Wyatt and Mr. Slavicsek both were enthusiastic in their request for Eberron submissions.

 

[Scott_Rouse]

Here is a list of the people who are credited as writers for the articles (and how many they wrote). If there is no number, they just wrote 1 (not more or less).

NOTE: I didn't include previews, playtests, editorials, ampersand, design and development or RPGA articles here (as those certainly should/or even must be written by in house).

Also, if two people co-wrote an article, I gave them each 0.5 (or 0.3 for three people, and so on).

DRAGON features and columns:

[sblock]
Robert J. Schwalb 19
Shelly Mazzanoble 17
Bruce R. Cordell 10
Keith Baker 9
Chris Sims 8.5
Ari Marmell 8
Mathew Sernett 7
Brian R. James 7
Logan Bonner 4.3
Rich Baker 4
Bart Caroll 4
Mike Mearls 3.6
Rodney Thompson 3
Peter Schaefer 3
Steve Winter 3
David Noonan 2.3
Nicolas Logue 2.5
Greg Bilsland 2.5
Stephen Radney-MacFarland 2.3
Glenn McDonald 2
Chris Youngs 2
James Wyatt 2
Ed Greenwood 1.5
James Jacobs
Hal Maclean
Chris Tulach
Amber E. Scott
Stephen Schubert
Uri Kurtianchick
Eytan Bernstein
Jason H. Haley
Kolja Raven Liquette
Daniel Marthaler
Gary Astleford
Mike McNemy 0.5
Scott Fitzgerald Gray 0.5
James M. Ward 0.3


DUNGEON:
Dungeon features:

Greg Bilsland 1.3
Nicolas Logue 2
Peter Schaefer 1.3
Logan Bonner 2.5
Greg Marks 2
Robert J. Schwalb 5
Stephen Radney-MacFarland 1.3
Ari Marmell 3.3
David Noonan 3
Kolja Raven Liquette
Jennifer Clarke Wilkes
Bruce R. Cordell
Bill Slavicsek
Sean Molley
Eytan Bernstein
Shawn Merwin
Tim Hitchcock
Skip Williams
Matthew Sernett
Scott Fitzgerald Gray
Stephen J. Smith
B. Matthew Conklin III
Stephen S. Greer
Greg A. Vaughn
Ryan Smalley
Edward Albert
C.A. Sulemain 0.3
Chris Sims 0.5

Dungeon columns:

Stephen Radney-MacFarland 15
Robert Weise 14
James Wyatt 13
Skip and Penny Williams 10
Mike Mearls 6
Bart Carroll
Christopher West
[/sblock]


TOTALS

Robert J. Schwalb 24
Stephen Radney-MacFarland 18.6
Shelly Mazzanoble 17
James Wyatt 15
Robert Weise 14
Ari Marmell 11.3
Bruce R. Cordell 11
Skip and Penny Williams 10 (plus 1 solo Skip) 11
Mike Mearls 9.6
Chris Sims 9
Keith Baker 9
Mathew Sernett 8
Brian R. James 7
Logan Bonner 6.8
David Noonan 5.3
Bart Caroll 5
Nicolas Logue 4.5
Peter Schaefer 4.3
Rich Baker 4
Greg Bilsland 3.8
Rodney Thompson 3
Chris Youngs 2
Eytan Bernstein 2
Glenn McDonald 2
Greg Marks 2
Kolja Raven Liquette 2
Ed Greenwood 1.5
Scott Fitzgerald Gray 1.5

Amber E. Scott
B. Matthew Conklin III
Bill Slavicsek
Chris Tulach
Christopher West
Daniel Marthaler
Edward Albert
Gary Astleford
Greg A. Vaughn
Hal Maclean
James Jacobs
Jason H. Haley
Jennifer Clarke Wilkes
Ryan Smalley
Sean Molley
Shawn Merwin
Stephen J. Smith
Stephen S. Greer
Stephen Schubert
Steve Winter 3
Tim Hitchcock
Uri Kurtianchick
C.A. Sulemain 0.3
James M. Ward 0.3
Mike McNemy 0.5

I'll let you draw your own conclusions based on those numbers (which I tried to be accurate with to the best of my ability. Apologies if I am off on a number or two.)

Just highlighting in red those contributors who are not staff (although many of whom are industry insiders)

 

[Maldin]

Hi Scott... I trust GenCon went great for you.

Just highlighting in red those contributors who are not staff (although many of whom are industry insiders)

Its never been an issue of "only current staff" through this discussion, but rather industry insiders - yes, current staff, but also former staff (and there are quite a few!), and favored freelancers, most of those with hardcover creds. So, in the light of the real concerns of people in this thread (and countless other similar threads), and since you so graciously informed us who the current staff were (I'd have had no way of finding out many of those names), here is the updated list.

White = current staff according to Scott's previous post.
Yellow = former WotC/TSR staff, current staff at other RPG publishers, or freelancers with previous publishing creds (mostly WotC hardcovers, a couple first published during Paizo's Dragon and Dungeon era)
Red = writers for which I cannot locate any previous writing creds

TOTALS

Robert J. Schwalb 24
Stephen Radney-MacFarland 18.6
Shelly Mazzanoble 17
James Wyatt 15
Robert Weise 14
Ari Marmell 11.3
Bruce R. Cordell 11
Skip and Penny Williams 10 (plus 1 solo Skip) 11
Mike Mearls 9.6
Chris Sims 9
Keith Baker 9
Mathew Sernett 8
Brian R. James 7
Logan Bonner 6.8
David Noonan 5.3
Bart Caroll 5
Nicolas Logue 4.5
Peter Schaefer 4.3
Rich Baker 4
Greg Bilsland 3.8
Rodney Thompson 3
Chris Youngs 2
Eytan Bernstein 2
Glenn McDonald 2
Greg Marks 2
Kolja Raven Liquette 2
Ed Greenwood 1.5
Scott Fitzgerald Gray 1.5

Amber E. Scott
B. Matthew Conklin III
Bill Slavicsek
Chris Tulach
Christopher West
Daniel Marthaler
Edward Albert (has co-authored with insiders Ari Marmel and CA Sulemain)
Gary Astleford
Greg A. Vaughn
Hal Maclean
James Jacobs
Jason H. Haley
Jennifer Clarke Wilkes
Ryan Smalley
Sean Molley
Shawn Merwin
Stephen J. Smith
Stephen S. Greer
Stephen Schubert
Steve Winter 3
Tim Hitchcock
Uri Kurtianchick
C.A. Sulemain 0.3
James M. Ward 0.3
Mike McNemy 0.5


A pretty telling story, I think. Scary, actually. It even surprised me. Using Google, there are only TWO names that don't turn up previous (pre-DDI Dragon/Dungeon) publications. And one of those names is a co-author (his co-author would have had to be an insider, just by the math).

I think all of our fears and suspicions have just been soundly confirmed.

Denis, aka "Maldin"
Maldin's Greyhawk http://melkot.com
Loads of edition-independent Greyhawk goodness... maps, mysteries, magic, mechanics, and more!

 

[Klaus]

While "scary", "fear" and "suspicion" are rather dramatic words, the list gives the impression (wether it's true or not) that Dragon/Dungeon are no longer the "entry level" for aspirant writers/designers they have been in the past.

 

[Shemeska]

A pretty telling story, I think.

What I'd be most interested in seeing is a similar rundown covering the e-zine credits exclusively after the switch over to only 4e content, after the early, free issues that were still utilizing 3.x stuff (Demonomicon article on Grazzt comes to mind) and stuff from the Paizo slush pile were no longer present. I suspect the e-zine content after it went subscriber only is much more slender in number of contributors.

I've mentioned it before but never gotten a response about it, but when the e-zines were still using stuff from the slush pile, I was asked to submit a finished article I had, and was promised a response. Nothing ever happened, no response was received, and I also received no response to subsequent emails asking what was up with the submitted piece. Speaking to two other freelancers at GenCon, their own experiences mirrored that same situation. Feedback, communication, the querie process itself are a collective black box at best, and at worst give the appearance of a completely closed shop.

 

[Jack99]

I've mentioned it before but never gotten a response about it, but when the e-zines were still using stuff from the slush pile, I was asked to submit a finished article I had, and was promised a response. Nothing ever happened, no response was received, and I also received no response to subsequent emails asking what was up with the submitted piece. Speaking to two other freelancers at GenCon, their own experiences mirrored that same situation. Feedback, communication, the querie process itself are a collective black box at best, and at worst give the appearance of a completely closed shop.

Look, I agree that it sucks, assuming that is indeed what has happened. But did you consider for one second that WotC employees actually read these boards and know who you are? I mean, you can't really run around and post that almost whatever choice they have made regarding 4e is crap and then expect them to hire you afterwards.

I know I wouldn't, if I was in charge, despite the fact that I think you write well (I bought the Paizo planes book solely because you wrote it).

Just my 2 cp

 

[Scribble]

While "scary", "fear" and "suspicion" are rather dramatic words, the list gives the impression (wether it's true or not) that Dragon/Dungeon are no longer the "entry level" for aspirant writers/designers they have been in the past.

This wouldn't surprise me seeing how directly connected it is t the DDI.

I think with the way it's setup now, there is less room in the magazine for non polished ideas (especially with their guarantee about it all receiving the same level as their regular material.)

Dragon has been, for a while now, pretty much considered less of a "possibly crazy out there" source of new game ideas, and more of just a monthly expansion of game ideas.

I'm guessing Wizards realized if people were going to treat it as the go to source for monthly "official" content, they should probably treat it as such as well.