Why I don't write FRP articles any more

[DaveMage]

There are too many derogatory generalities in that article for me to give it much respect.

And if there's anything I've learned from organizing surplus sales, it's that one person's "crap" is another person's treasure.

 

[The Shaman]

If the industry is on its way out (I don't think it is, but that's besides the point) it is because the economic base -- us -- for it is shrinking, or at least not growing with production costs.

While the herd of smaller publishers was culled, the big guys seem to be moving product.

We really only have ourselves to blame: not for being willing to pay more, or even for not buying more than we can afford.

:\

I don't buy a lot of product because so much of it is pure steaming sh...uh, doesn't meet my needs as a gamer. I'm long past the days of buying a product because it "supports the line" - I'd like the line to make my games better, please and thank you, and that hasn't been happening.

I think we can blame WotC a little, too.

Good. I like blaming WotC for things. If I could get paid for it, I'd launch a start-up.

There needs to be more gateway products. While the D&D basic game is all well and good, how about a board game, a D&D themed deck of cards for War, hell, a CCG with D&D splashed across every card?

I saw a D&D-themed edition of Clue the other day.

While stuff like this reinforces the brand* I'm not sure that it turns people on to RPGs - I think that mostly comes from personal contact, which Reynard goes on to descibe in detail.

*And makes certain industry types believe that their revised rules are what drive sales, instead of cashing in on 30 years of name recognition, but I digress...

 

[Mark Chance]

http://pulsiphergames.com/Articles/WritingFRP.htm

By Lewis Pulsipher, who designed Britannia, Dragon Rage, Valley of the Four Winds, Diplomacy variants and other RPG material.

Cool. I used to game with Lew is North Carolina. Good to know he's still alive.

 

[TheGM]

I saw a D&D-themed edition of Clue the other day.

While stuff like this reinforces the brand* I'm not sure that it turns people on to RPGs - I think that mostly comes from personal contact, which Reynard goes on to descibe in detail.

Heheh. I won a D&D-themed edition of Clue at the GenCon where 3.0 was released. Never opened it, thought the whole concept was silly. I'm not even certain where I put it at this point.

 

[Nikosandros]

Well, I did play second edition, and I know that - at the level of the core rulebooks - it was almost the same as first edition. So he seems to have got that one pretty much right.

Yes, of course 2nd edition later added tons of stuff, but at its core it was extremely similar to OAD&D and it has always been extremely easy to convert back and forth between them.

 

[Nikosandros]

An old timer that obviously never will bother to spend enough time to really learn what 3rd edition is really about and that's just sad.

Why it is sad? I like and play 3rd edition, but it's a different beast form its predecessors and I respect the fact some people dislike it as a game...

 

[Desdichado]

Some guy whines about how things were better back in the day. *yawn*

Y'know what I hate about the Internet? That things like message boards and blogs make people think the rest of us care about their petty problems. If you don't want to write for d20 publishers, then don't. We don't care. So stop whining.

No kidding. And just a little too precious for my taste. "Oh, no, my writing is too good to be turned over to this standard procedure that all other submitting authors endure. Look, I was published twenty five years ago in these magazines here!"

Gimme a break.

 

[GMSkarka]

I think Lew is 100% correct regarding royalties and ownership. Writers of fantasy novels retain full ownership of all characters and worlds they create in their books. They are also paid a royalty for each book sold. That is a million times fairer than the RPG market. I believe it would be to everyone's benefit for the RPG industry to more closely emulate the fantasy fiction market in these aspects at least.

Hate to break this to you, Bones, but the average writer working in the fantasy fiction market makes less than a full-time freelancer in the RPG industry.


Recently, a study was done asking SF/Fantasy fiction writers about their financials. The results are available here.

The Summary:

"The typical advance for a first novel is $5000. The typical advance for later novels, after a typical number of 5-7 years and 5-7 books is $12,500."

So, you're looking (considering a book a year) at making 5K in the fantasy fiction market, raising to 12.5K after 5 to 7 years.

That's less than many full-time freelancers make in the RPG industry, and after 5-7 years, you're still making less than a lot of full-time PDF publisher who have been working for less time.

 

[S'mon]

No kidding. And just a little too precious for my taste. "Oh, no, my writing is too good to be turned over to this standard procedure that all other submitting authors endure. Look, I was published twenty five years ago in these magazines here!"

Gimme a break.

Personally I'm old enough to remember 15 years ago, when magazine & comics publishers generally _did not_ try to force authors to hand over all rights to a work. I remember reading an editorial in I think a Marvel comic (Savage Sword of Conan) ca 1990 explaining how writers could sell their copyright (& make more money), or keep the copyright and get royalties, and the publisher was happy either way. White Dwarf never demanded copyright, back in the day (which is one reason there's no Best of White Dwarf 1-99 CD). I was horriified to discover that "all rights" contracts were now standard and publishers seem to see them as non-negotiable. It's a problem in my own field, academia - traditionally academics in UK don't get paid for journal articles, but we retain all rights. But in USA I was gobsmacked to learn that while US academics don't get paid either, they're expected to sign away their copyright!!

 

[Izerath]

If you're that good, PROVE IT. Do it yourself.

I too write for a living - unfortunately in the technical field, as a researcher. There its the norm that the company owns your writings. So I dont understand what the writer is whining about. 95% percent of all people dont own their work. Why should the artiste be any different?

If your work is that exceptional, you'll get to own your work

As for his points about 3e: yadda yadda yadda. Go play cops and robbers.

Yeah it's called Intellectual Property rights in the real world. You sign a waiver that basically says "if any idea I have is in the realm of relevant business space for the company I work for, and I create some work of intellectual nature while employed by said company, that company owns the rights to that intellectual property."

Every engineer on the planet knows this clause as do others in technical fields. Oddly, the arts seem to be the only ones NOT getting hit upside the head with this clause, basically because of traditional practices dating back centuries.