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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Pramas" data-source="post: 1473265" data-attributes="member: 995">Let me give you scenario #2.Author submits a manuscript to a publisher. At its core it has some good ideas (so it isn't just rejected out of hand) but it suffers from ill-conceived mechanics, poor organization, less than stellar writing, and a general failure to understand common d20 design principles. The publisher hands the document off to a developer and then an editor (in some cases, the same person, often not) to polish it up. Through their efforts, something that was mediocre becomes good and maybe even great. The book is released, the 5 of 5 reviews start to roll in here on EN World. And who gets the credit? Is it the developer? Is it the editor? Hell no, it's the designer. Note that it's not that the developer and editor aren't credited. They are, just as the editor of the Dark Sun materials was credited. It's just that most gamers don't understand the process (and really, why should they?), so they assume all genius flows from the designers. This happens all the time. It is far more common than your scenario. That's why I call developers the unsung heroes of the RPG industry. By and large, they are the folks who make sure that material is up to snuff. If you could see the raw manuscripts of many of your favorite books, it'd be an eye-opening experience. It's not that there aren't great designers out there who turn over clean material that requires very little development (because there are), it's just that those folks are the minority. It's far more likely the guy whose name you associate with great design has benefited tremendously from good editors and developers. There are big name designers out there who can barely string two sentences together and wouldn't know how to do a stat block correctly to save their lives. That may sound like hyperbole; it's not.Creating RPGs is a group effort. Design talent does count for a lot, but editors, developers, artists, and graphic designers play crucial roles in making the final books you hold in your hands.</blockquote>

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