Would you pay to read your favorite storyhour?

[Mortepierre]

Imagine your favorite storyhour writer decided to hire artists to illustrate his storyhour, and promised weekly updates at least 40 weeks a year. Would you be willing to pay $10 every six months to ensure that writer could consistently provide you with a story you'd enjoy? Assuming each week's post is about the equivalent of ten pages, that's like two novels a year. Would that interest you?

Because I've got some artist friends, and a few spare bucks, and I'm really looking forward to another update in Piratecat's storyhour. I'm wondering if a few greenbacks would help him 'rearrange his schedule.'

There is something you seem to have forgotten. Nearly all the favorite stories across the board are tales of events that actually happened at a gaming table. Certainly, I am confident their authors could write worthy stories without any player to help but the fact remains most of us love those tales dearly because it allows us to witness how fellow players reacted to intriguing adventures. In effect, it's not a "one man's show".

In order for your proposal to work, all the authors would either have to "forge ahead" without further references to what their players did, or convince them to play often enough to gather new materials for the regular updates. Both possibilities seem difficult if not impossible.

Surely, some authors are months (if not years) behind in their respective tale, but I doubt you could find enough people willing to pay to make them quit their job and write full time.

And as much as I am in awe of Sep (and some others)'s stories, I am not willing to pay to read them on an online board. If they published it though, that's another story...

 

[Darklone]

I would pay for books about storyhours. Not for updates. Too much pressure to update a SH every week might decrease the quality (look at all those fantasy novel series out there... Wheel of Time anyone ? Either you take longer and longer or you lose your readers to boredom).

 

[Nifft]

No way! >:^(

Your question mildly offends me, because it presumes that the story hour author is the sole producer, and those who read story hours are strictly consumers. In reality, story hour authors get quite a lot of campaign help from the community. The example that stands out in my mind is WizarDru, whose player Zad has a popular story hour, and both have benefited from my input -- WizarDru gained some evil critters and planar prison effects, Zad has an improved prestige class.

Have I "paid" for my access to this story hour? What a petty way of injecting divisive labels into a vibrant, thriving community. Once people start to feel that they "deserve compensation" for what they were doing anyway, you introduce bitterness on both sides. Look at the shareware community vs. the free software / open-source software community -- which has more and better stuff? (If you're unfamiliar with either or both, check tucows.com and freshmeat.net -- both sites feature both types.)

If you want to get illustrated story hours, impress some artists with how awesome your story hour is -- I've noticed that there are artists just in the Art forum who seem to be looking for something to apply their talents to. Elfwood just might have a few more. Sure, the work will be amature -- but then, so's the story hour. Encourage artists to contribute by verbally "painting" scenes in your story hour, and praising artists who attempt to illustrate them. A notice in the Art forum -- "Artists Desired for Popular Story Hour!" -- couldn't hurt either.

Accept contributions -- just like Morrus does for the server -- but for the love of Pelor, don't require payment.

-- N

 

[tetsujin28]

No. I only read one story hour, and he doesn't update very frequently.

 

[BLACKDIRGE]

Your question mildly offends me, because it presumes that the story hour author is the sole producer, and those who read story hours are strictly consumers. In reality, story hour authors get quite a lot of campaign help from the community. The example that stands out in my mind is WizarDru, whose player Zad has a popular story hour, and both have benefited from my input -- WizarDru gained some evil critters and planar prison effects, Zad has an improved prestige class.

Have I "paid" for my access to this story hour? What a petty way of injecting divisive labels into a vibrant, thriving community. Once people start to feel that they "deserve compensation" for what they were doing anyway, you introduce bitterness on both sides. Look at the shareware community vs. the free software / open-source software community -- which has more and better stuff? (If you're unfamiliar with either or both, check tucows.com and freshmeat.net -- both sites feature both types.)

If you want to get illustrated story hours, impress some artists with how awesome your story hour is -- I've noticed that there are artists just in the Art forum who seem to be looking for something to apply their talents to. Elfwood just might have a few more. Sure, the work will be amature -- but then, so's the story hour. Encourage artists to contribute by verbally "painting" scenes in your story hour, and praising artists who attempt to illustrate them. A notice in the Art forum -- "Artists Desired for Popular Story Hour!" -- couldn't hurt either.

Accept contributions -- just like Morrus does for the server -- but for the love of Pelor, don't require payment.

-- N

Although the question itself doesn't offend me, I have to agree with Nifft here. I think it would be a really bad idea to pay story hour authors for their work, and this has nothing to do with the talent of the writer.

There are so many problems that could arise from such a venture, least of which is the tardiness of updates. Most story hours feature a lot of proprietary game info that could lead to ugly legal issues with WoTC. In addition, I personally would not feel right about charging someone to read my story hour, mainly due to the fact that it isn't a finished product. It hasn't had the proper editing and other touches a finished "market-ready" product should have.

But I will say this, the story hour forum is a great vehicle for authors to showcase their work, and possibly gain the attention of the many d20 publishers that cruise this website. So it is quite possible that you may see (or already have seen in the case of Piratecat) your favorite storyhour author in print on a D20 product, and personally, the chance to gain that kind of attention is all the compensation I need for writing my storyhour.

Dirge

 

[el-remmen]

I would pay for a bound hardcopy (with or without art), but not for updates on a website/messageboards.

 

[Piratecat]

I'm planning an update for tomorrow. For freeeeeee.

 

[silentspace]

Illustrated? You mean like a comic-book format?

 

[RangerWickett]

Well, honestly I was asking as a joke, because I was getting ansy that Pkitty hadn't updated in a while, and I wanted to show that I liked the story enough to bribe him to write faster. It was intended to be silly, not to offend.

I have considered doing a textual variant of the 'online comic' concept. Y'know, post a story week after week, then maybe release a compilation at the end of a year, or suggest donations if people want to help. I don't have any story yet that I'd be able to do, but I'm a big fan of webcomics, and I can't draw too well.