angramainyu
Community Supporter
Thanks for the info, mearls, that was really informative!
-
NOW LIVE! Into the Woods--new character species, eerie monsters, and haunting villains to populate the woodlands of your D&D games.
EN World Members: D&D / D20 Bragging Rights
- Thread starter EricNoah
- Start date
Grazzt
Demon Lord
Things I have done or am working on or had a hand in (d20 only):
Necropolis d20
Tome of Horrors
Rappan Athuk III
Tomb of Abythsor
Vault of Larin Karr
Necromancy: Beyond the Grave
Seas of Blood
MotP Web Enhancement from WotC (Modrons)
What Evil Lurks
Seige of Durgam's Folley
Reapers of the Apocalypse
Some other "secret" Necromancer Games stuff
The Wurst of Grimtooth's Traps
Gaming Frontiers magazine
Lamentation of Thieves
Raise the Dead
Sword of Air
Vampires & Liches
Maze of Zayene III
Rainbow Mage
One or two other large "secret" projects (one due out this year and the other one due out early next year- not Necromancer Games products).
Necropolis d20
Tome of Horrors
Rappan Athuk III
Tomb of Abythsor
Vault of Larin Karr
Necromancy: Beyond the Grave
Seas of Blood
MotP Web Enhancement from WotC (Modrons)
What Evil Lurks
Seige of Durgam's Folley
Reapers of the Apocalypse
Some other "secret" Necromancer Games stuff
The Wurst of Grimtooth's Traps
Gaming Frontiers magazine
Lamentation of Thieves
Raise the Dead
Sword of Air
Vampires & Liches
Maze of Zayene III
Rainbow Mage
One or two other large "secret" projects (one due out this year and the other one due out early next year- not Necromancer Games products).
Last edited:
Well, I've got some good news/bad news for you. The good news: Yes indeed, Dragon #300 will have "The Ecology of the Mummy," and Jesse Decker has stated elsewhere that "Ecology" articles will be semi-regular features in the pages of Dragon. The bad news: These "Ecology" articles won't look like the "Ecology" articles of the past. For one thing, they won't be in the "footnotes in fiction" format (heh, try saying that three times fast!) that so many of us have come to love. Rather, they'll be more of like an expanded "Vs." article (remember those from when the magazine first went to 3E?).
I'm of two minds on this. I'm understandably disappointed that the fiction portion of the "Ecology" articles are being killed off (there go my Monster Hunters, sniff!
), but I'm still glad to see their return after over a year without any "Ecology" articles at all. And while I was disappointed to have had a stack of five "Ecology" articles that Dave Gross (the previous Dragon editor) had expressed interest in sent back to me as rejected (at the time, Jesse wasn't interested in running "Ecology" articles at all; he's since reconsidered and developed his new format), I'm glad to see that they'll continue to be an ongoing part of the magazine, even if the format is a little different. It was the "Ecology" articles that caught my interest when I first subscribed (this was around the "Ecology of the Satyr" and "Ecology of the Manticore" days) and eventually led to me having more "Ecology" articles published than anyone on the planet! (My one claim to fame. 
) So, I'll be converting the five "rejected due to fiction" articles and resubmitting them in the new format. With luck, you might see them in the near future!In the meantime, I look forward to reading "The Ecology of the Mummy" in the pages of Dragon #300. I've forgotten the name of the guy who wrote it, but I'm sure it will be good. (Plus, there haven't been too many "Ecology" articles featuring undead creatures; I can only think of the penanggalan, ghoul, and sheet phantom off the top of my head.)
Johnathan
LcKedovan
Explorer
Well....
I think one of the reasons you might not know who has been published etc. is due to the fact that I find most of the people here to be quite modest. ENWorld has a great bunch of people with talent and I think, mainly due to the community feeling, most people don't like to walk around saying "whoa look at me and what I published". Of course I am not talking about people saying "check out my latest adventure" or whatever... but I think you guys get my point
.
Since Ashy and Kamikaze Midget chimed in I might as well add some of the stuff I have been published in and some of my plans.
Design Contributions (With Rasmus Pechuel)
Minions, Bastion Press, December 2001
Arms and Armor, Bastion Press, February 4, 2002 (They forgot my name in the credits.. I suppose I should mention that to Jim some day
)
As for the future I have been in discussions with one of the "Old School" CofC authors who is an old friend for doing some work with him from the d20 side of things, so I am really hoping that comes to fruition. In addition my co-designer Ras and I are working on part 1 of an adventure series we are planning to publish. As for other stuff... it all comes down to time
-Will
I think one of the reasons you might not know who has been published etc. is due to the fact that I find most of the people here to be quite modest. ENWorld has a great bunch of people with talent and I think, mainly due to the community feeling, most people don't like to walk around saying "whoa look at me and what I published". Of course I am not talking about people saying "check out my latest adventure" or whatever... but I think you guys get my point
.Since Ashy and Kamikaze Midget chimed in I might as well add some of the stuff I have been published in and some of my plans.
Design Contributions (With Rasmus Pechuel)
Minions, Bastion Press, December 2001
Arms and Armor, Bastion Press, February 4, 2002 (They forgot my name in the credits.. I suppose I should mention that to Jim some day
)As for the future I have been in discussions with one of the "Old School" CofC authors who is an old friend for doing some work with him from the d20 side of things, so I am really hoping that comes to fruition. In addition my co-designer Ras and I are working on part 1 of an adventure series we are planning to publish. As for other stuff... it all comes down to time
-Will
Corran
Explorer
Richards said:I'm understandably disappointed that the fiction portion of the "Ecology" articles are being killed off (there go my Monster Hunters, sniff!
So am I!!
That part made them so good. The ecology idea it self is very good. But the Monster Hunters made it special. ;-)
I hope I (and others) will run into Buntleby, Ozzie, Dreelix, Willowquisp, Zantoullios and all the others somewhere at one time or another.
Ashy
First Post
Yes, mearls, actually I do.
I am currently following almost all of your rules, but I do wonder at what point do you recommend someone take the plunge and quit a 40 hour a week job with bennies and become a full time freelancer? I ache to do this, but I have several little ones about (not to mention the missus) and cannot leap as readily as I would if it were just me possibly going hungry.Any advice? Lord knows, I would kill to have a list of published works like yours!
Feel free to drop me an email if you'd like!P.S. Thanks, Hal!!! I am SOOOO looking forward to it!!!!
Ashy said:
Yes, mearls, actually I do.
It's tough making a go of it as a freelancer fulltime. The erratic pay schedules, flakey publishers, and other issues make it difficult to pull off. I only managed to do it because I had to leave my old job as a computer programmer in the wake of the Internet's complete implosion. Had that not happened, I probably would still be coding fulltime and writing on the side.
I had equal parts luck and perserverance. On one hand, AEG produces about 6 or so of those one word titles per year. I could bank on getting work on all of them, and AEG is good about paying writers on time. On the other, I was there for d20's initial surge. When there were only a dozen or so d20 modules out there and I had written one of them, there was a much better chance that people knew who I was when I approached them for work. Nowadays, that just isn't the case. But, with those two factors on my side I was in a good position to find lots of work fast.
With the state the economy is in at the moment, I'm not sure I can recommend going fulltime unless you have to. I'm not married and I have rock bottom living expenses (beer, miniatures, and the occasional RPG book) plus I live in New Hampshire, which is one of the cheapest places to live in the US. I'd suggest trying to establish a steady flow of work. I produce at least 4000 words a day and can live off that. If you can keep up a thousand words a day or so while working fulltime, then I'd start seriously considering going fulltime. It's not something to do lightly. Maybe transition to a part-time job while writing more for a bit to see how it works out. If you have a steady stream of work coming in, then you can transition all the way.
Also, build your savings to the point that you can get by for up to six months with 0 income from writing. That was a big help for me, since I had a sizable amount of cash squirreled away from my coding days.
Writing fulltime is fun, but there are drawbacks. There's no bennies, you can go a little nuts without an office full of co-workers to kibbitz with (I miss that probably the most) and you can lose a lot of hair worrying about filling up your writing schedule. It's not for everyone, and in some ways it makes writing even harder since you now have to rely on it as a business. OTOH, my entire GenCon trip was tax deductible.
Good luck!
Ashy
First Post
Mearls,
Thanks for the info, and just FYI, I have been managing about 1000 words per day for the past several months... However, it is the bennies that would kill me, as I also live in a very inexpensive place to live (can you say "Alabama"?) and I already work from home, so I don't have to worry about the social aspect (I really loathe that part of work anyways, so...). At any rate, with a wife and four kids (and a dog, good ol' border collie) to feed and (as you said) with the economy like it is, I really do not foresee going fulltime anytime soon. As sad as that might seem....
If you have any info on where a freelancer can find bennies, though, it would be most appreciated. Writing for a living is something that I've always dreamed of doing, and I've never been this close before; it's killing me that I cannot do it full time...
Thanks again for all the info, and any time you need to chat, feel free to email me.
Thanks for the info, and just FYI, I have been managing about 1000 words per day for the past several months... However, it is the bennies that would kill me, as I also live in a very inexpensive place to live (can you say "Alabama"?) and I already work from home, so I don't have to worry about the social aspect (I really loathe that part of work anyways, so...). At any rate, with a wife and four kids (and a dog, good ol' border collie) to feed and (as you said) with the economy like it is, I really do not foresee going fulltime anytime soon. As sad as that might seem....
If you have any info on where a freelancer can find bennies, though, it would be most appreciated. Writing for a living is something that I've always dreamed of doing, and I've never been this close before; it's killing me that I cannot do it full time...
Thanks again for all the info, and any time you need to chat, feel free to email me.
Ashy said:Mearls,
Thanks for the info, and just FYI, I have been managing about 1000 words per day for the past several months... However, it is the bennies that would kill me, as I also live in a very inexpensive place to live (can you say "Alabama"?) and I already work from home, so I don't have to worry about the social aspect (I really loathe that part of work anyways, so...). At any rate, with a wife and four kids (and a dog, good ol' border collie) to feed and (as you said) with the economy like it is, I really do not foresee going fulltime anytime soon. As sad as that might seem....
If you have any info on where a freelancer can find bennies, though, it would be most appreciated. Writing for a living is something that I've always dreamed of doing, and I've never been this close before; it's killing me that I cannot do it full time...
Thanks again for all the info, and any time you need to chat, feel free to email me.
You could always take the dark path and get a job as an editor.
Bennies, plenty of chances to write for the pubs you manage, and credentials with which to crack open the market on your freelance career.
-C
Ghostwind
First Post
I mostly lurked around on Eric's boards so I'm not as well known to the community as others but I've been fortunate enough to hook up with Bastion Press and get quite a bit published in a very short amount of time (my first book came out in late January with the latest being released right before Gen Con).
Like Ashy, I was also a winner of the adventure contest that Bastion sponsored which kicked things off for me. To date my credits include:
Bastion Press-
*Where Dark Elves Rule (pdf format) - (this was the adventure that was one of four winners in the contest)
*The Lore of the Gods Series (pdf format) -
*Greek Gods
*Norse Gods - (made honorable mention under the ENnie category of Best Free Product or Web Enhancement)
*Egyptian Gods
Currently under development for Bastion Press are:
*Pale Designs: A Poisoner's Handbook (my first print publication due out in January)
*Celtic Gods (the fourth book in the Gods series, probable pdf unless we can get enough folks to campaign for print)
I've also got a couple of things in the works with Dark Quest Games that are still under discussion.
As far as the question of how do you go about getting into the business? One avenue in is to get involved with playtesting for publishers. This gives you a bit of an inside edge on knowing exactly what it is they are looking for. This was one of the ways I was able to get in with Bastion Press. I've been involved with playtesting every one of their products right up to Oathbound (which is my last playtest credit). Another suggestion is to get involved with some of the newer companies and find out what it is they are looking for.
The key to writing is to develop the things that publishers are looking for. If you go blasting in carrying on about how great of an idea you have about a campaign world, odds are it will fall on deaf ears since 99% of all publishers aren't actively seeking this. However, if you contact the publisher and inquiry about the things they are specifically looking for, you will most likely get a lead for your next step. The other advice I would offer is to write to the publisher's specifications and meet your deadlines. If you can't do either of those, it will be hard to keep a foot in the door once it's there...
Like Ashy, I was also a winner of the adventure contest that Bastion sponsored which kicked things off for me. To date my credits include:
Bastion Press-
*Where Dark Elves Rule (pdf format) - (this was the adventure that was one of four winners in the contest)
*The Lore of the Gods Series (pdf format) -
*Greek Gods
*Norse Gods - (made honorable mention under the ENnie category of Best Free Product or Web Enhancement)
*Egyptian Gods
Currently under development for Bastion Press are:
*Pale Designs: A Poisoner's Handbook (my first print publication due out in January)
*Celtic Gods (the fourth book in the Gods series, probable pdf unless we can get enough folks to campaign for print)
I've also got a couple of things in the works with Dark Quest Games that are still under discussion.
As far as the question of how do you go about getting into the business? One avenue in is to get involved with playtesting for publishers. This gives you a bit of an inside edge on knowing exactly what it is they are looking for. This was one of the ways I was able to get in with Bastion Press. I've been involved with playtesting every one of their products right up to Oathbound (which is my last playtest credit). Another suggestion is to get involved with some of the newer companies and find out what it is they are looking for.
The key to writing is to develop the things that publishers are looking for. If you go blasting in carrying on about how great of an idea you have about a campaign world, odds are it will fall on deaf ears since 99% of all publishers aren't actively seeking this. However, if you contact the publisher and inquiry about the things they are specifically looking for, you will most likely get a lead for your next step. The other advice I would offer is to write to the publisher's specifications and meet your deadlines. If you can't do either of those, it will be hard to keep a foot in the door once it's there...
