We Started Like You. [Monday Meeting Notes]

Monday Meeting

One of the things we talked about today during the Monday Meetings was something brought up in discussing last week’s MMN blog and also in Eddy’s AMA last week, IIRC. That is, how do folks get their work noticed and published and become part of these RPG writing teams? Basically, how do you go from fan to game creator?

And when I say fan, I’m using it in the same way that I’d use it for myself, not as something with the negative “fanatic” connotations Justin Achilli so despises. I am a fan of Justified, Game of Thrones (both book and HBO versions), and Sherlock, in the sense that I enjoy watching/reading them and then looking further into how they are made, or into other folks’ analyses of the material. I might buy material connected to those worlds, or download their opening credits (that’s actually true) so I can replay them because they’re so cool and they remind me of the original thing I enjoyed.

I was a fan of J.R.R. Tolkien and Michael Moorcock, and so when I began playing D&D back before there were inside toilets, I naturally was drawn to those elements and included them in my own D&D setting I made to DM in. Because that’s the thing with tabletop RPGs, not only can you write fan-fic, or buy music that is like the game you like, you can actually choose to create adventures and stories for your gaming friends set in that world you all enjoy. In fact, that’s the whole point of our hobby! Tabletop RPGs are designed to enable a fan consumer to become a fan creator; what other entertainment sources encourage that kind of engagement?

As a fan of Marvel Comics , I “wrote” and “illustrated” new comics with Spiderman or Daredevil when I was a kid. I could maybe have shared them with my buddies, but that’s about it. My “comics” weren’t real comics, my friends couldn’t buy them in the local 7/11 like real comics, and I surely was not Stan Lee or Jack Kirby. And we all knew that. But later, when I ran my first group of friends through my first dungeon, we knew that was what one of us was supposed to do in order to have fun. I had to create something new, in order for the game to work. That’s some powerful magic right there, and it explains why we get abso-friggin’-lutely obsessed with our favorite RPG. We have put so much effort in and are immersed in it. It also explains why the natural progression for most tabletop RPG creators is from fan to fan creator to professional creator.

I could do a whole different post about self-publishing as a creator of your own stuff, but this blog today is about making the jump from fan to a professional who wants to work on the very games that they fell in love with as gamers. In general, follow the usual advice of studying your craft, submitting according to the company you are applying to’s guidelines, etc. But also, consider that somewhat more fluid progression we just mentioned that is part of tabletop RPGs. There are so many ways to engage with the current professionals over the company’s social media that allow you to build up an awareness in their minds of what you have to offer beyond a writing (or art) sample. Developers and art directors get so many submissions, standing out in any good way is a huge increase in the chance you’ll be remembered.

As you post, think about what you are saying and how you say it. Not only are there people from the company reading, there is every chance that they are judging your post on content, including how well you write, and attitude. If your posts are the kind that build up the game and the community, you are already showing that you value the same things that this company does. If your critical posts are well thought out, well written, and don’t insult the current creators (you know, the ones you want to talk with further?), your points will be given a chance even if you are talking about something that doesn’t work as currently written. I hired Rose Bailey into White Wolf based in part on the fact that I remembered her forum postings. I didn’t always agree with her points, and still don’t, but those posts demonstrated that she was someone who I could discuss things with. That was a big boost for her when we finally had an official interview.

And Rose submitted because she was a White Wolf fan. As were Eddy Webb, Stew Wilson, John Morke, Holden Shearer and David Hill, to name a few of our current developers.

So let us know who you are and what you can do, and let us know that you’re someone we’d actually like to try working with and we’re far more likely to give you a shot.

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And now, the BLURBS!

Just as the Deluxe V20 Lore of the Clans Kickstarter winds down, Fast Eddy Webb will interviewed by Dan Davenport and chatting at the RPGNet chat on Thursday at 8pm EDT. If you missed Eddy’s AMA (ask me anything) on the White Wolf subreddit, here’s your chance to get those last minute V20 Lore of the Clans questions out to him, or really anything you want to chat about, V20, Pugmire, Sherlock Holmes, or anything else Eddy-related!

The link to the chat is: http://tinyurl.com/rpgnetchat

Huge congratulations to C.A. Sulieman and his fantastic writing team on Mummy: the Curse‘s Book of the Deceived which has been nominated for an Origins Award! Mummy has been blessed, not cursed, with some great writing as this second nomination for the line in two years certainly proves!

Last chance to grab a few, and only a few, extra copies from some of our Kickstarters, so please email lisat.onyxpath@gmail.com and our lovely office manager Lisa will help you. We have Prestige Edition Mummy: the Curse, and the Mummy Screen. Deluxe V20 Children of the Revolution, and the Deluxe Hunters Hunted 2, and the V20 Screen. We’ll have to do this on a first come, first serve basis, so let us know asap. Lisa has been working away through your emails and getting back to everyone with costs and shipping prices.

The Deluxe V20 Lore of the Clans Kickstarter is in its last week and starting to heat up, passing goals that will add Appendixes to the book itself and Bloodlines to a separate extra book called, logically enough, Lore of the Bloodlines. But the Stretch Goals are just one part of the fun, as backers have been sending in selfies and liking our Facebook page in order to boost the Achievements counters and get some extra rewards! If you want to see how the V20 Clans and Bloodlines are given more depth and expanded on to the present day, check it out at: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/200664283/deluxe-v20-lore-of-the-clans

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And now, new project status updates!:

DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM ROLLICKING ROSE (Projects in bold have changed listings)

First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep)

W20 Pentex Employee Indoctrination Handbook (Werewolf: the Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition) (In open development for backers.)

M20 Book of Secrets (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Secrets of the Covenants (Vampire: The Requiem 2nd Edition) – In Open Development

Exalted 3rd Novel by Matt Forbeck (Exalted 3rd Edition)

M20 Anthology (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Pugmire Gen con Materials (Be a Good Dog.)

CtL anthology (Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition)

WoD nWoD 2e core (World of Darkness 2nd Edition)

The Realm (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Dragon-Blooded (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Scarred Lands Player’s Guide: Ghelspad

Redlines

Mummy Fiction Anthology (Mummy: the Curse)

Wraith: the Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition

W20 Changing Ways (Werewolf: the Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition)

Cursed Necropolis: Rio (Mummy: the Curse)

Demon Storytellers’ Guide (Demon: the Descent)

Beckett’s Jyhad Diary (Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition)

Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition, featuring the Huntsmen Chronicle (Changeling: the Lost 2nd Edition)

nWoD Hurt Locker (World of Darkness 2nd Edition)

Second Draft

W20 Shattered Dreams (Werewolf: the Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition)

Arms of the Chosen (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Mage: the Awakening 2nd Edition, featuring the Fallen World Chronicle (Mage: the Awakening) – In Open Development

Demon Translation Guide (Demon: the Fallen and Demon: the Descent)

Development

Promethean: the Created 2nd Edition, featuring the Firestorm Chronicle (Promethean: the Created) Being playtested.

“Sardonyx” System Rules (Base rules set for Scion and the Trinity Continuum)

V20 Black Hand: Guide to the Tal’Mahe’Ra (Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition)

Editing

M20 How do you DO that? (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

MtC Dreams of Avarice

V20 Red List (Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition)

V20 Ghouls (Vampire: the Masquerade 20th Anniversary Edition)

Beast: the Primordial core book (Beast: The Primordial)

W20 Novel by Mike Lee (Werewolf: the Apocalypse 20th Anniversary Edition)

Development (post-editing)

ART DIRECTION FROM MIRTHFUL MIKE

In Art Direction