Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Sean K. Reynolds talks RPG salaries, puts his on record.
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="pickin_grinnin" data-source="post: 8417957" data-attributes="member: 6697674"><p>"What the market will bear" is, ultimately, the only real answer to that question. You can spend all day debating what an rpg designer "should" make, or what is "fair," but in the end it is limited by market forces. </p><p></p><p>I don't know if many people realize that a pretty significant percentage of professional fiction writers also have regular day jobs. That includes authors who have multiple books put out by well known publishers and who are fairly well known within their genres. There was a time when a fiction author could put out one or two books a year and make a living off it without a second income, but these days you usually only see that with writers who have reached predictable bestseller status. For example, The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America consider 8 cents a word to be a "professional rate." That is 8 cents a word for the final published work, too. They don't get paid for all the research, planning, re-writing, and re-rewriting that preceded that.</p><p></p><p>The rpg industry is still very small, and is REALLY small once you get outside of the realm of official D&D stuff. Most rpg products are put out by tiny companies with only a couple of employees, or by individuals. Most of them don't make enough money from their products to keep writers on staff, or even to pay more than the bare minimum to freelancers. It isn't that they don't want to. The money just isn't there.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Yep, that varies a LOT from place to place. The average 2 bedroom, 1 bath apartment where I live (suburbs) is $1,000 a month, on average. Go 30 minutes south, and it is $1,500 a month, minimum. Go 30 minutes north, and it is closer to $700 a month. There are areas that are even cheaper, even within an hour of where I live.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="pickin_grinnin, post: 8417957, member: 6697674"] "What the market will bear" is, ultimately, the only real answer to that question. You can spend all day debating what an rpg designer "should" make, or what is "fair," but in the end it is limited by market forces. I don't know if many people realize that a pretty significant percentage of professional fiction writers also have regular day jobs. That includes authors who have multiple books put out by well known publishers and who are fairly well known within their genres. There was a time when a fiction author could put out one or two books a year and make a living off it without a second income, but these days you usually only see that with writers who have reached predictable bestseller status. For example, The Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America consider 8 cents a word to be a "professional rate." That is 8 cents a word for the final published work, too. They don't get paid for all the research, planning, re-writing, and re-rewriting that preceded that. The rpg industry is still very small, and is REALLY small once you get outside of the realm of official D&D stuff. Most rpg products are put out by tiny companies with only a couple of employees, or by individuals. Most of them don't make enough money from their products to keep writers on staff, or even to pay more than the bare minimum to freelancers. It isn't that they don't want to. The money just isn't there. Yep, that varies a LOT from place to place. The average 2 bedroom, 1 bath apartment where I live (suburbs) is $1,000 a month, on average. Go 30 minutes south, and it is $1,500 a month, minimum. Go 30 minutes north, and it is closer to $700 a month. There are areas that are even cheaper, even within an hour of where I live. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Sean K. Reynolds talks RPG salaries, puts his on record.
Top