I tried to post this message a long time ago, but i was one of those lucky people blocked from the boards for the past many days. Anyway, here goes.
Well WotC's open call for campaign world designs certainly stirred up a lot of discussion and interest. It's also the single biggest freelance opportunity in gaming history. You can bet with a prize like that, the best of the best were submitting their own proposals. May the best man/woman/humanoid of any species win.
Based on what I read in these message boards, a lot of you who made submissions are not going to make the cut. I'm not trying to be mean, but for this kind of money, you can bet WotC's expectations are going to be pretty high. Here are my own musings as to what they are looking for, and why some of you, unfortunately, may not make it.
1.) What's with this weird submission format? I don't understand it. Why don’t they explain it better?
It looks to me like the folks at WotC are after two things with this proposal format. First off, they want to see your ideas. Second, and more importantly, they want to see if you can follow directions without a lot of hand-holding. To put it succinctly, if they hire you they want to make sure you can do the work without them having to direct you every step of the way.
Think of the one-page submission as a test. The editors want to see if you can give them what they want, clearly, and without their help. If you can't do that, they don't want you working for them no matter how good your idea is. The key to being an excellent freelancer is the ability to work independently. The editors at WotC don’t have the time to coax your idea out of you. You have to do that yourself.
2.) This format doesn't fit how I’d like to present my idea. Do I have to stick to it?
You damn well better!
First off, the staff will be seeing hundreds and HUNDREDS of proposals. They likely aren't even going to read all of them, because there are just too many, and it would take weeks. What they will probably do is sit down with the massive pile of proposals and look for reasons to throw as many as they can into the trash!
Harsh but true. At this initial screening they will likely toss into the garbage any proposal that doesn't follow their basic instructions: longer than one page, handwritten, does not have the author’s name in the lower left hand corner, does not follow the six point format. If you can't even bother to follow their most basic instructions, they won't want to work with you.
3.) How can I possibly explain my incredibly cool campaign world in just one page?
See #2 above. If you can't, you lack some of the fundamental writing skills that WotC usually demands and they won't want to work with you.
4.) What the heck is a core ethos sentence anyway?
Think of this as another test of your writing abilities. WotC usually wants writers who can express even the most complicated ideas in a single sentence. If you can't do that, once again you lack some of the fundamental writing skills they usually demand.
It's also what will likely get you past the second level of screening. Once the editors sit down to actually read proposals, they are still looking for reasons to reject them. What they will probably do is just skim over the remaining ones, starting with the core ethos sentence. If it doesn’t grab their attention, your proposal likely won't make it into the select pile that actually gets read from start to finish.
5.) Physical quality of submissions.
Your one page proposal is worth $120,000 if you win. Did it look like something worthy of $120,000? Do you put in $120,000 worth of effort? Was it on high quality bond paper? Was the spelling perfect? Was the spacing pleasing to look at? Was there generous white space on the page? Did you use borders, lines, or appealing font sizes?
Or did you use a 4 point font, single spacing, and virtually no margins so you could cram 2,000 words onto a single page? Were there grape juice stains on it? Did you end a sentence with a preposition?
I can't stress enough; the initial screening process is typically arbitrary and harsh. Anything that makes your proposal hard to read means it is destined for the trash bin. A single spelling or grammar error will irritate the crap out of an editor who has already read dozens of proposals before he got to yours.
6.) My ideas are worth more than a paltry $120k.
No they're not. In fact, unless you can sell them they aren't worth anything at all.
WotC is one of the higher paying RPG companies, and they usually pay 4 to 5 cents a word. That’s around $500 for your average Dungeon Magazine adventure. Smaller companies pay less (around 2 cents a word). This is an incredibly generous prize for a 100 page write-up. Any of you who think differently are delusional.
The Bottom Line
If you didn't do everything WotC was asking for, TO THE LETTER, you're out.
If you didn't submit a visually pleasing, grammatically perfect document, you're out.
The easier your proposal was to read, the better your chances.
Once again, best of luck to everyone who submitted ideas. If anything, it will be extremely exciting to see what happens next.
Well WotC's open call for campaign world designs certainly stirred up a lot of discussion and interest. It's also the single biggest freelance opportunity in gaming history. You can bet with a prize like that, the best of the best were submitting their own proposals. May the best man/woman/humanoid of any species win.
Based on what I read in these message boards, a lot of you who made submissions are not going to make the cut. I'm not trying to be mean, but for this kind of money, you can bet WotC's expectations are going to be pretty high. Here are my own musings as to what they are looking for, and why some of you, unfortunately, may not make it.
1.) What's with this weird submission format? I don't understand it. Why don’t they explain it better?
It looks to me like the folks at WotC are after two things with this proposal format. First off, they want to see your ideas. Second, and more importantly, they want to see if you can follow directions without a lot of hand-holding. To put it succinctly, if they hire you they want to make sure you can do the work without them having to direct you every step of the way.
Think of the one-page submission as a test. The editors want to see if you can give them what they want, clearly, and without their help. If you can't do that, they don't want you working for them no matter how good your idea is. The key to being an excellent freelancer is the ability to work independently. The editors at WotC don’t have the time to coax your idea out of you. You have to do that yourself.
2.) This format doesn't fit how I’d like to present my idea. Do I have to stick to it?
You damn well better!
First off, the staff will be seeing hundreds and HUNDREDS of proposals. They likely aren't even going to read all of them, because there are just too many, and it would take weeks. What they will probably do is sit down with the massive pile of proposals and look for reasons to throw as many as they can into the trash!
Harsh but true. At this initial screening they will likely toss into the garbage any proposal that doesn't follow their basic instructions: longer than one page, handwritten, does not have the author’s name in the lower left hand corner, does not follow the six point format. If you can't even bother to follow their most basic instructions, they won't want to work with you.
3.) How can I possibly explain my incredibly cool campaign world in just one page?
See #2 above. If you can't, you lack some of the fundamental writing skills that WotC usually demands and they won't want to work with you.
4.) What the heck is a core ethos sentence anyway?
Think of this as another test of your writing abilities. WotC usually wants writers who can express even the most complicated ideas in a single sentence. If you can't do that, once again you lack some of the fundamental writing skills they usually demand.
It's also what will likely get you past the second level of screening. Once the editors sit down to actually read proposals, they are still looking for reasons to reject them. What they will probably do is just skim over the remaining ones, starting with the core ethos sentence. If it doesn’t grab their attention, your proposal likely won't make it into the select pile that actually gets read from start to finish.
5.) Physical quality of submissions.
Your one page proposal is worth $120,000 if you win. Did it look like something worthy of $120,000? Do you put in $120,000 worth of effort? Was it on high quality bond paper? Was the spelling perfect? Was the spacing pleasing to look at? Was there generous white space on the page? Did you use borders, lines, or appealing font sizes?
Or did you use a 4 point font, single spacing, and virtually no margins so you could cram 2,000 words onto a single page? Were there grape juice stains on it? Did you end a sentence with a preposition?
I can't stress enough; the initial screening process is typically arbitrary and harsh. Anything that makes your proposal hard to read means it is destined for the trash bin. A single spelling or grammar error will irritate the crap out of an editor who has already read dozens of proposals before he got to yours.
6.) My ideas are worth more than a paltry $120k.
No they're not. In fact, unless you can sell them they aren't worth anything at all.
WotC is one of the higher paying RPG companies, and they usually pay 4 to 5 cents a word. That’s around $500 for your average Dungeon Magazine adventure. Smaller companies pay less (around 2 cents a word). This is an incredibly generous prize for a 100 page write-up. Any of you who think differently are delusional.
The Bottom Line
If you didn't do everything WotC was asking for, TO THE LETTER, you're out.
If you didn't submit a visually pleasing, grammatically perfect document, you're out.
The easier your proposal was to read, the better your chances.
Once again, best of luck to everyone who submitted ideas. If anything, it will be extremely exciting to see what happens next.
