EN World Members: D&D / D20 Bragging Rights

[Duncan Haldane]

well, I haven't actually been published, but...

I've written about 30 sessions of games for conventions over the last 12 years (although I've always written with a co-author).

This has included games for many systems, and a lot of comedy/parody stuff without a system.

Margaret Weis came to a convention I ran in '96, and I wrote a parody of Dragonlance for that, in which she made an appearance as Tasselhoff for one session. Anyway, she took a copy of my module, read it and asked if she could show it around at TSR. I never heard anything else about it.

Anyway, I guess with all the sessions of my games at conventions I've GMed a lot of people, and hopefully made a lot of people happy.

Duncan

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Well I think Enworld needs to take a lot of credit as well for spurring on the community to write, produce good works as well as brainstorming grounds. So EricNoah, when you look at the hordes of d20 publishers, think to yourself, "I'M TO BLAME! I'M TO BLAME!"

Truer words were never spoken.

I have this character--- a dwarf, see-- and I have a little Story Hour I write about him.

The character is fun. The story is popular.

Pretty soon I'm levelling up and looking to expand my dwarf with some new options, and all of the fighter books and all of the thief books that come out are utter crap.

Eventually I say, "Screw this, I'll write and publish my own book."

So, basically, the fun I've had with the Story Hour and the outpouring of support I get from the regular readers here convinced me to start my own company.

It was quite an expensive learning experience, but I wouldn't trade it in for anything. Anyone who wants advice or help getting into print should drop me a line sometime, either through the Bad Axe Games website or the publishers' forum here. I'll be happy to help.


Wulf

 

[Trevalon Moonleirion]

I'm just a nothing, really...

But I feel all special and stuff because I got listed in the credits of a d20 product! Mark was kind enough to put me on the list of people in the Creative Mountain Games Support Team along with such luminaries as Morrus and Eric. Every so often I have the distinct pleasure of gaming with this fine fellow as a playtester for one of his products. Speaking of his products...go check them out if you haven't--they're terriffic!

http://www.CreativeMountainGames.com

But other than that, I'm just like I said above: a nothing
edited to try and fix link

 

[ashockney]

Relics & Rituals 2

I know I've gotten spells that I submitted chosen for this upcoming product. In addition, I've had a letter published in Dragon (a while ago), and submitted two campaign settings to WOTC. Guess I'm still a noob to the publishing thing.

 

[Ashy]

Well, if you really want to know...

Here is a list of my current credits, bear in mind that some of these have yet to be released...

Lead Design
Danger in Deadwood, Bastion Press, January 31, 2002
Dark Welcomes, Introductory Adventure for the Oathbound: Domains of the Forge Campaign Setting, Bastion Press, September 2002
The Blighted Grove, in Adventure Pack I, Citizen Games, July 20, 2001.

Additional Design
Oathbound: Domains of the Forge Campaign Setting, Bastion Press, September 2002

Design Contributions
Arms and Armor, Bastion Press, February 4, 2002
Bestiary of Loerem, Sovereign Press, June 2002
Penumbra Bestiary, Atlas Games, December 2002
Waysides: The Book of Taverns, Eden Studios, 2002
Bard’s Gate, Necromancer Games, June 2002

Development Contributions
Campaign Construction Paper, SkeletonKey Games, August 4, 2002

Copywriting
Campaign Construction Paper, SkeletonKey Games, August 4, 2002

Editing/Proofreading
Minions, Bastion Press, December 2001
Arms and Armor, Bastion Press, February 4, 2002

Industry Awards
September 4th, 2001 – Selected as a winner of the Bastion Press (http://www.bastionpress.com) E-Adventure contest, for the entry Danger in Deadwood; awarded online publication (see above) and a cash prize as a result.

July 20th, 2001 - Selected as one of the Top Ten Adventures in the Citizen Games (http://www.citizengames.com) Writers Pro-Am Contest, for the entry The Blighted Grove – and published in online collection as such at said website.

May 22nd, 2002 – Selected as one of two winners of Sovereign Press’ Creature Design Contest for the Bestiary of Loerem; awarded Design Assistance credit in said product as a result. (http://forums.delphiforums.com/sovstone/messages/?msg=75)


Currently, I have several projects in the works with Bastion, Dark Portal Games, Natural 20 Press, SkeletonKey Games, and possibly some work with Thunderhead as well as some other folks...

It's been a busy year.

 

[I'm A Banana]

I'm fairly n00b, but I'm workin' hard.

I've had communications with Mongoose Publishing about a lot of ideas I've had that I haven't heard word from for quite a while...which is sad, 'cuz I was really excited, and hoped to at least be told that my ideas weren't wanted.

But that inspired me to go the extra mile and now I'm looking to be one of the first products out from a small pdf publisher, Silicon Phoenix Games, with my Philosophies and Falsehoods.

'cuz, let's face it, what someone thinks is very, very important.

I'm an old-skool PSer, and I've been helluh active on the ps3e website and on the upcoming products (the *official* 3e conversion!), though I'm still no Ken Marble or Brannon Hollingsworth. My first adventure did win an award over at the Planewalker site, so me is happy-skippie. And I'm kinda surprised Ashy didn't mention these things in his creds.

And I've got my own little pet-project, my deity-a-week thread, which has gotten the P-kitty stamp of approval, at least. That's gotta be worth something.

I hope Philosophies and Falsehoods will do good enough that I can expand into other areas, and my dream project would to have P&F get to print, and take SPG to being the next Malhavoc or the next Green Ronin or Bastion Press, because they're other project is a steampunk campaign setting and I'm slavering over it right now.

And these boards are the sole and solitary proprieters of this. If it wasn't for these, I probably wouldn't have even dreamt of being a published author for the game I enjoy so much. These have made the bigwigs of the industry something that they haven't been until now -- accessible.

And I try to support every ENworlder I recognize. Which is why Natural 20 press is fast becoming my unofficial love-child next to the official stuff.

You hear that, Eric? YOU'RE A LOVE-CHILD! Heh. I know have a certain tune running through my brain, but I'll deal.

 

[Maggan]

I get few opportunities like this...

It's not often someone asks about what I've done... so I thought I might as well chime in. And answer a question. BTW, I'm a newbie to the boards, but I came to ENWorld from Eric Noah's excellent site, when it closed down. So I've been in lurker mode for years.

1. What I did in my younger years

No d20-stuff. At all. Working on it, but haven't got enough time to complete anything.

Before d20 came along I co-wrote and co-designed the Mutant Chronicles RPG (did sort of all the writing except the combat system. It was a kick to be part of that design team). Rewrote and edited the second Swedish edition of Kult (which later was re-edited and turned into 2nd edition american Kult), wrote a short scenario for Kult called His Last Hope which ended up in White Wolf Magazine, wrote two scenarios for the EuroTour campaign for Talsorian's Cyberpunk 2020, wrote som stuff for the Gondor books from ICE, and about a million (or maybe just 10) different scenarios for some Swedish RPGs (Mutant, Drakar och Demoner and Kult), and some monsters for some monster books.

That's the paid stuff, although I might be forgetting something... ah, yeah there's a really rad Wild West RPG in Sweden, called Western, that I've written a bunch of scenarios and a campaign for (in swedish unfortunately). And a Viking Fantasy supplement for a now defunct Viking-RPG called... Viking. Apart from that I do what everyone else is doing, writing crap that's just used in my own D&D 3e campaigns.

2. What does it take and how did I get started?

Someone asked what people did to get started. There's only one answer to that, really.

You have to write. Write. Write.

Bull**** talks, writing walks. There are so many people talking about their next great thing... talking... talking... talking... talking.

So, if you want to get started, write something. Anything. Write, write, write.

Second step, learn to write good. Or at least acceptable. Remember that there are so many people out there submitting stuff, badly written stuff gets bombed immediately. Run a spell-checker. Then read the damn thing yourself. Then let someone else read it. Then run a spell checker again. And remember, never trust the spell checker! Read again. Playtest!

Third, learn to stop writing. A perfect text never released will not make you a published roleplaying writer. A good text that is actually released will. And even a bad text will make you a published writer if you manage to get someone to publish it. I can't enough stress the importance of this step. Learn to stop writing. Meet deadlines. Learn to deliver.

And then put it up for everyone to read, or send it to a company. And be prepared for a rejection slip. A rejection slip does not mean you're a bad writer, or that the idea was bad, or that the company decided to steal your idea. It just means they can't use your material. Sometimes you'll get feedback (from Dungeon for example, very professional feedback), and sometimes you won't. Learn to live with it.

And remember. Don't ever set out to write RPG stuff for the huge amounts of money involved. It might, if your lucky AND good, and fast and reliable, pay the rent, but that's about it.

There has never been a more easy time to get into RPG writing. The Internet ensures that anyone (well, almost anyone) can read your stuff. And if it's any good, people will read it.

And then there's d20. No longer do you have to write your own game to get into the... well... game... you just have to write good stuff that'll plug into the d20 system.

Put these two together, and hey presto, a potential target group of millions of gamers.

Well, any comments on that from any other people here?

Oh, how did I get started. Well, I wrote a rules compendium for Cyberpunk on my Mac Plus, sent a printout to R.Talsorian, and ended up on their playtest list for Cyberpunk 2020. Then I kept sending them ideas and propsals for a while and then they asked me to write two short scenarios for EuroTour. And that's how I got started... btw the way, thanks Derek Quintanar for giving me the opportunity way back.

Cheers

Maggan

 

[kingpaul]

I once got a story published in a local paper because I participated in a writing class over the summer.

Not gaming material, but I figured I'd boast anyway.

Well, on that vein, I've had one of my poems published in my high school's newspaper.

 

[Ashy]

KM,

The reason I did not mention any of my stuff at Planewalker/Ps3e is because everybody knows about all of that. Oh, and I am waiting to see a contract on our little secret project before I start claiming it - one bird in the hand, and all that jive...

 

[arwink]

I wrote the fighters school article in Asgard Five that RangerWickett illustrated (which I didn't realise until now), unless I'm having a serious brainblank and he's refering to something else.

I also did the sample locations in Tournaments, Fairs and Taverns, as well as some of the random stuff in the appendix at the back.

Currently in the process of badgering RW in the hope that he'll let me do more