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Message: <blockquote data-quote="sigfried" data-source="post: 9266427" data-attributes="member: 1798">Something I wanted to add to the conversation from a personal viewpoint.I think people might wonder, (and I've seen some speculation), why would someone keep working at a place that seems so awful?The answer is kind of complex for me, and I think there are plenty of reasons (good and bad) beyond my own. Here's where I stand on it.Preface: There are real issues at the company. My collages suffered real pain and left for good reasons. They were unhappy and suffering and no one should have to experience that. I stand by them choosing to leave, and I stand by my colleagues who chose to stay. Being somewhere in the middle is often my personal MO, for better or worse.Reason 1:  While I've been frustrated with my boss, Dave, plenty of times, he has treated me decently overall. I have gotten paid, sometimes needing to remind/insist it happen in a timely fashion, but it's always happened. I've volunteered to have deferred pay when the company was in rough shape, but I was always made good.  (Not everyone has, but I personally poke Dave to pay people any time I hear someone hasn't been and I've told people I will put my job on the line to make sure they get what they are owed if I know about it.)Reason 2: I've not been abused or mistreated in the time I've worked at EGG. I have felt slighted occasionally in various ways from careless words, and I've seen others get the same. I have a thick skin and I never felt it was malicious. But milage varies here and its very personal. I have a big ego and a thick skin and every privilege but being rich. Were it not for the following reasons, I might feel differently.Reason 3: I'm really dedicated to "my game" and its fans. (I put that in quotes because I don't own it legally and I'm far from the only creative that put their passion into it.) None the less, I am dedicated to it. There are fans who put down their money on our second Kickstarter (the Legendary Bundle) and those products are not out yet. I want to work to make sure they get the games they paid for. If everyone leaves, that's not going to happen. There are other games we have talked about (but not yet sold) that fans really want and I want to make those for them very much. Continuing to work is how I can serve the fans and keep my game alive.Reason 4: My colleagues who remain feel abandoned and critiqued. They are good people who have not had the same experiences as those who left. They are facing a ton of challenges trying to serve fans. I want to help them and offer them all the support I can give. I also want to be there to help and protect them in whatever limited way I can.Reason 5: I started at EGG by luck. I just recovered from Leukemia, my friend Jeff Grubb was offered a job but declined. He pointed Dave my way and I was given a chance, as a life long gamer and part time writer, to make a new RPG, one that could see international distribution, as the lead game designer and writer. I had no idea if Dave was for real or not. He had these ideas about movie licenses etc...  Seems crazy but I took that chance. I did my part and made a quality game along with a ton of help from Goober (my co-designer) and the art team and our editor at the time. Together we produced 10 books, fulfilling a crazily ambitions Kickstarter with 8 different licensed properties. We delivered on nearly all the promises (we ran into big issues with Roll20 implementation we haven't been able to solve. We got almost universally good reviews from critics and fans. I spent two years full time writing and designing games. That's a dream come true so I'm grateful for it. That's not how it is for everyone, that's my personal story at EGG.So, perhaps you can imagine how having worked through the many decisions that worked out badly, and the heartache and stress that comes with trying to make money in tabletop, why I'd stick it out and try to make thing work until it's just not possible or until a hard moral line has been crossed. Others have their own reasons, those are mine. It's fine if you disagree with my choices but I hope you can understand them.</blockquote>

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