Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="mearls" data-source="post: 183983" data-attributes="member: 697">Writing "the name recognition is worthless" was a little extreme, but it highlights a lesson I've learned in the two years I've been designing RPG material.The game industry, in terms of publishers, designers, writers, and editors, is a completely different beast from the actual culture of gamers and game buyers. While gamers might recognize me from products where I was given cover credit, the vast majority of publishers have no idea who I am. If they have heard of me, I haven't seen any particular title come up more often than any other. If anything, those who have heard of me tend to have seen books I worked on for larger companies (AEG, White Wolf).It is cool to see my name on a cover. That's undeniable, and I'm grateful to the publishers who go that route. But on the other hand, many projects I've worked on have been the result of a group effort. I'm not comfortable receiving credit when others have worked just as hard to bring a project to market. Now, I don't think I've ever been in that situation, but I think there are a lot of people behind the scenes (editors, developers) who deserve a lot of credit and don't ever really get it.The other thing is that it's completely nuts to accept less money for cover credit. If a book is being sold in stores, someone is making money off it. A writer deserves a cut of that, and having your name on a cover isn't worth enough for people to allow publishers to get away with offering them a sub-standard wage.Now, as far as my own name recognition goes, it's pretty cool. It feels good to see that my work has an effect on people. But remember, it's a double edged sword. When people like your work enough to trust your name in the credits, you owe it to them to give them your best writing each and every time you set fingers to keyboard. There are people out there who trust that my name means a good product, and I owe it to them to deliver on that.Personally, I really like that challenge. It keeps me on my toes, and I think a creative person needs a constant challenge pushing him on to keep his work fresh and relevant. I think it's too easy in this biz for designers to sink into their own little world and shut off what's going on at gaming tables, conventions, and hobby stores across the world.</blockquote>

Verification