Which RPG designers don't play RPGs? Are they evil?

[dead]

I was just wondering which RPG designers don't play RPGs; just design 'em. Monte had a rant about this a while ago here

I want names named!

Are these people evil?

Can you really notice a difference in the quality of product? (I guess we need to know who these people are to make that judgement).

If you're a game designer, write in and tell me that you most certainly play RPGs as well as write them. (And no, we're not talking about the corporate play-test; we're talking about playing RPGs for leisure and enjoyment.)

Are you in the Hall of Shame or the Hall of Fame?

 

[HellHound]

Goodness, I couldn't imagine writing material if I didn't play the game!

I love gaming. I play World of Darkness, Savage Worlds, CyberPunk 2020 and d20 currently, but also have experience in a hundred other systems.

 

[dead]

Goodness, I couldn't imagine writing material if I didn't play the game!

Good. You're in the Hall of Fame and the lynch mob ain't comin' for ya.

 

[rkanodia]

Good. You're in the Hall of Fame and the lynch mob ain't comin' for ya.

...yet.

 

[dead]

...yet.

Ya, if we ever catch you saying . . .

"I'm a professional. I don't need to play the game in order to create products for it."
OR
"I've been doing this for years. It's all the same. I don't need to keep playing."
OR
"Hey, I have a life now,"

then we're coming for ya

Bring out the list and black ban 'em!

 

[Darrin Drader]

Why, there are a surprisingly large number of people just down the street from me at Wizards of the Coast who -- aside from the occasional mandated in-house playtest -- never play the game. And these Wizards people are, as I type this, working on D&D and d20 products.

Honestly, I don't know of a single in-house designer at Wizards who doesn't have at least one weekly game going on. Monte may be referring to the people doing the editing, layout, typesetting, or art, but every designer that I know who works at WotC, full time or freelance, plays as often as possible. Is it possible that there's one or two designers I don't know so well? Sure, one or two, and I don't know for certain whether or not they play in their spare time, but the ones I do know I can say for certain do play.

 

[Dragonblade]

Kevin Siembieda of Palladium Books no longer games. And it shows when you look at the mess that is the Palladium rules system. Palladium badly needs a rules overhaul. And a d20 version of Rifts!

 

[Akrasia]

I know of at least one writer who produces adventures for a major d20 publisher, but loathes d20. He plays an earlier edition of DnD. His material is "translated" into 3.5 by editors.

That is the only case I know of, but I am not "connected" to the industry.

As for Monte's claim that the problem he identifies is more common in non-d20 games, I wonder how he could possibly know that! :\

 

[dead]

I know of at least one writer who produces adventures for a major d20 publisher, but loathes d20. He plays an earlier edition of DnD. His material is "translated" into 3.5 by editors.

Well, maybe if he writes the fluff and then it gets "translated" into crunch then that's OK . . .

naw . . . lynch 'im anyway!

 

[dead]

Kevin Siembieda of Palladium Books no longer games. And it shows when you look at the mess that is the Palladium rules system. Palladium badly needs a rules overhaul. And a d20 version of Rifts!

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Kevin Siembieda