3PP Release New 3PP Release: Legends of Strength!

[zombusey]

At the moment, I don't think I'm personally interested in trying to work with GPG, at least yet. I think personally I'd like to be more confident in my work before that.

Listen friend, if there ever was a person in this entire forum who had absolutely 0 confidence in their ability to design anything worthwhile before submitting their first pitches to the Gazette, it was me. I had just gotten out of a terrible work environment that constantly gaslit me on my talents as a writer, and it was only through the firm but gentle encouragement of my husband and my friends that I worked up the courage to pitch two ideas. Fast forward to almost a year later, where I have four published articles (two of which made the covers of their respective issues), two more articles upcoming, and I'm currently working on my first third-party release, largely due to the encouragement of this wonderful community of designers. Between Savannah's feedback and that which I've received from my fellows, my ability and confidence to design things that I would've previously thought outside of my wheelhouse has only grown and continues to grow. And I wouldn't have met the majority of them if I hadn't pitched my stuff to the Gazette in the first place. So, much like xiphumor, I will always strongly suggest that anyone who's interested in designing for this community tries their hand at the Gazette. Worst they can say is no.

 

[Waller]

I'd try not to take it personally. The forums here are a markedly different environment to other social media platforms.

I guess talking on a Discord with a handful of fellow designers is easier than engaging with customers.

But telling customers their opinions aren’t wanted, and they are only good for being advertised to isn’t exactly high level marketing.

 

[PJ Coffey]

Very relatable. You might wish to expand your pool of feedback to the A5e Discord and the EN world discord homebrew channels. Up to you of course but you might find your peers in the A5e design community are a bit more welcoming to your ideas in draft and may have helpful suggestions which can be communicated before you commit to public offerings.

Up to you of course

Tut how foolishness

I guess talking on a Discord with a handful of fellow designers is easier than engaging with customers.

But telling customers their opinions aren’t wanted, and they are only good for being advertised to isn’t exactly high level marketing.

That isn't what I said and isn't the case for the Discords. It's not a little clubhouse for A5e designers it's simply where the conversations about A5e are happening.

 

[Waller]

That isn't what I said and isn't the case for the Discords. It's not a little clubhouse for A5e designers it's simply where the conversations about A5e are happening.

No, it’s what the OP, in the post we were discussing, said.

 

[xiphumor]

No, it’s what the OP, in the post we were discussing, said.

As a designer in my own right, let me ask for my own sake: How would you prefer to be engaged?

 

[Waller]

As a designer in my own right, let me ask for my own sake: How would you prefer to be engaged?

Well the scope of customer relations isn’t exactly my wheelhouse, but I just felt dismissed. It felt like I was being told my money was good but my opinions weren’t. I don’t believe I’ve ever been rude to anybody but I do think it’s completely reasonable for a customer to comment on a product they’ve bought, and that that can include criticism of the product. And being told my feedback is unwelcome or unhelpful makes me feel that I’m not valued. When a second publisher, one which I've been attacked by before, pops in and says "It's you, not them", then it starts to feel really uncomfortable.

So I can’t describe how to interact with customers, but I can tell you how negative engagement from publishers makes me feel. I’ve felt attacked and berated more than once by a particular publisher (not the OP) both here and on Facebook and Discord. It’s not a pleasant experience.

I think when you get negative comments about your work, you should listen to those comments. They might not be valid. Maybe you ignore them, which is fine. Or say “thank you for your feedback” and quietly file it in the trashbin. But if you’re selling something, attacking your customers never looks good, and there are always lots of people looking on seeing it.

Whether they care about that is up to them.

 

[Shardstone]

Don’t I feel like a valued customer!

If you feel targeted by that comment, you should reflect on your behavior, since you're apparently making people feel uncomfortable here due to overt negativity.

 

[Shardstone]

To be frank, I don’t think that was wise. You’ve functionally given a 3rd level character a very rare +3 weapon, even if only for a brief time. If the Narrator is inexperienced and permits that kind of exploit, you have massively imbalanced the game. Assuming a fight against a CR 1 creature with AC 13 and 30 hit points and a berserker with a +5 to hit at level 3 using a greataxe for 1d12+3 damage (which should be a fair 1 on 1 fight), it should take the berserker about 4.8 turns to take the enemy down. With an extra +3 to attack and damage, that changes to 3 turns on average for the berserker to win. You’ve functionally given the berserker 1.8 extra turns, which means that any other enemies in the fight are also going to go down faster because now the berserker can team up with their party.

More importantly, if the Narrator does rule against it, and the player was hoping to use it, the relationship between the Narrator and player has soured because the Narrator “had to take away the player’s fun” rather than the designer anticipating that and making it a non-issue at the table.

If I may ask, who do you have to review your designs with? Aside from posts to announce new products, you don’t seem to be very active on the forums unless you also go by another name for non-publishing content, and I also don’t see you on Discord that much as far as I know. I ask because if you’re on your own, I want to invite you to take advantage of the extremely approachable and kind community of professional designers (and long-time enthusiasts with sharp noses for good design) around here who would be thrilled to go over drafts with you and help you put out the best products you can. More than that, they’re all just people who are worth having as friends.

Also, if you’re not on it already, you may want to ask Savannah to put you on the list for GPG Pitch calls so you can submit some designs for official inclusion. Having one or two official contributions to the game will strengthen your brand as a 3rd Party designer and also help you make more connections in the design community. You’re obviously very creative, and I’ve been really impressed with just how much content you’ve been able to put out in so short a time! I think that you have the potential to really make astounding contributions to this game, and I just want to make sure you’re in the best position to do so.

This is excusing really abusive behavior from players. If a player is mad I won't let them kill small rats for ultra-power, then that player shouldn't be at my table.

 

[Shardstone]

Well the scope of customer relations isn’t exactly my wheelhouse, but I just felt dismissed. It felt like I was being told my money was good but my opinions weren’t. I don’t believe I’ve ever been rude to anybody but I do think it’s completely reasonable for a customer to comment on a product they’ve bought, and that that can include criticism of the product. And being told my feedback is unwelcome or unhelpful makes me feel that I’m not valued. When a second publisher, one which I've been attacked by before, pops in and says "It's you, not them", then it starts to feel really uncomfortable.

So I can’t describe how to interact with customers, but I can tell you how negative engagement from publishers makes me feel. I’ve felt attacked and berated more than once by a particular publisher (not the OP) both here and on Facebook and Discord. It’s not a pleasant experience.

I think when you get negative comments about your work, you should listen to those comments. They might not be valid. Maybe you ignore them, which is fine. Or say “thank you for your feedback” and quietly file it in the trashbin. But if you’re selling something, attacking your customers never looks good, and there are always lots of people looking on seeing it.

Whether they care about that is up to them.

It's amazing you took this so personally. If you can't handle people thinking your feedback is too negative, don't post feedback. This has nothing to do with the publisher, and there was no attack in his post either.

 

[Waller]

If you feel targeted by that comment, you should reflect on your behavior, since you're apparently making people feel uncomfortable here due to overt negativity.

I’ve never interacted with the OP in my life before this thread, and I’m sure they weren’t even aware of my existence until I posted. I’ve barely even posted in this subforum.