When I was in Highschool the dream job for gamers was to be a designer at TSR. Later it was WOTC. But now I wonder if It could possibly be worth all the scrutiny and pressure from the gaming community. Every word Cook writes gets dissected. Before him they did the same thing with mearls. As far as I know these guys aren't making bucket loads either (but making a living designing games is probably reward enough). Would you take a job on the D&D design team knowing it opens you up almost daily scrutiny and criticism? Personally I have a pretty thick skin but trying to be creative with that amount of attention seems a bit stifling.

No, and not for the "Well of course you wouldn't" reasons most people might assign to me.

Writing RPG material for other people (that is, for a hierarchy above you) is shit.  You talk about "every word Mearls says gets dissected"?  Brother I have seen arguments - and I mean angry, namecalling, I am leaving this project forever arguments - over the width of a hall, the weight of a bale of hay, and other assorted stupid things.  I've worked with primadonnas (in RPG writing and in writing in general) who thought their stuff was too good to be edited, ever.  Conversely I've seen teams carry people whose entire output was 75 words, a bad outline and some notes and seen those people go on to get full credit with the rest of the team.

RPGs are murder right now, and writers are on the supply-side of things.  You'd never get to do the adventure or supplement you really wanted (until your office/division/program was closed, exactly one day after you were told "Yes, your 'Shark-Lords of Golgafrincham' has been greenlit!"), and all of your really cool ideas would be watered down so badly you could barely recognize them at the end of the day - the ones that weren't vulched by other staffers.

I have had three or four good experiences writing RPG stuff for other people.  The rest of them...not so much.  One good one with Lance Hawvermale, writing half of Elemental Moon under a pseudonym, the other three were three of the five things I wrote for Gary prior to his passing.

Everything I've written for myself - DD1, DD2, even something for Knockspell and another for Footprints, the whole WGH series (including the ongoing writing of WGH1) - has been tons of fun.  Having to turn those ideas over to a team of "managers" and "co-authors" and so on and then write through them would leave me in tears.

So no, I wouldn't like to write for WotC.  I can only imagine it would be the most spirit-destroying exercise I'd ever engaged in.  Even more than when I worked computer support for Glengarry Glenn Ross (aka Re-Max Central Florida, owned by pretty much the Worst Guy, Don Hachenberger...but that, as Akiro the Wizard once said, is another story).

Thanks for sharing. Sounds like you have some real experience in the industry.

The annual lay offs would deter me more than the scrutiny. I'd do it on contract, though.

Only if hookers and blow are part of the benefits package.

Heck yeah, a "geek cred" job with an RPG company that actually pays their employees. I don't care if I have no interest in their gamelines, I could fake that, and it's not like I've been interested in most of the products I sold when I worked retail when I was younger.

Plus, I was born with and retain the mutant ability to not care one iota about other people's opinions of me. I'd probably write blogs just to piss off the whiners.

"My own opinion is enough for me, and I claim the right to have it defended against any consensus, any majority, anywhere, any place, any time. And anyone who disagrees with this can pick a number, get in line and kiss my ass." -Christopher Hitchens

Only if I'd bought the company for cash up front, at which point I'd be the sole stake holder.

I'd divest Pokemon and Magic in a big hurry and re-name the company TSR.  Then I'd redesign and release Boot Hill, Gangbusters, Dawn Patrol, Top Secret, Star Frontiers, Knight Hawks, and Gamma World in editions that would be mostly compatible and supported with unpainted plastic miniatures sets.  In particular I'd want Gangbusters and Dawn Patrol compatible but a modern air power game for Top Secret would rock too.  I'd have D&D lie fallow until all that's done and then release a compatible evergreen D&D.

Anything less than total editorial and fiscal control and I'm not interested.  If I ever win a billion in the lottery the gaming industry will fear me.

Nobody would ask me.

-clash

Quote from: BedrockBrendan;495806Thanks for sharing. Sounds like you have some real experience in the industry.

No I have a little bit, and not over a broad number of places.  I've written freelance for Space Gamer/Fantasy Gamer (when it was a for-pay website in the early 2000s), TLG (for Gary) and one thing as mentioned for Necromancer (as Andy Luke Crossness - long, boring joke story behind that pseudonym).  I've done a lot of writing for a couple of IT magazines and ultimately the machines underneath behave the same irrespective of content.

I think Rob Kuntz said it best : "You, too, can make hundreds of dollars a year in the lucrative field of RPG writing."

Nope, I couldn't take the pay cut.

I've written two games myself. About 500 pages in all. I've never put them online and no one has ran them but me and two other people. It's a fun hobby, but what's the point. I would make about 200 selling them and have to read a 5 page thread about how they suck.

I can't fucking imagine making a solid 14000 for full time work and have to listen to a quarter of what Cook gets. Fuck that.

Nope.  Not interested.

Quote from: Cranewings;495821I've written two games myself. About 500 pages in all. I've never put them online and no one has ran them but me and two other people. It's a fun hobby, but what's the point. I would make about 200 selling them and have to read a 5 page thread about how they suck.

All you have to do is design an awful retro website, claim that they are the best thing that ever happened to gaming and all other RPGs before them suck, and steal some art for the cover.

You'd get a 100-page thread on Big Purple talking about how awful they are and sell 250, 000 copies!

Profit!

if I took a job at WoTC, who would write games about baseball and submarines? It would never work out!

-clash

Love to give it a go....as with any job,can just walk away if it becomes to painful!