(And if that sole creator happens to run their work through an LLC? My recommendation is to have a contract.)
More than HALF of all the issues ttRPG ask me for advice on would not have happened if the people in question had decided to HAVE a %*#$! CONTRACT!!
4/4, fini
#RealGameIndustry
In the ttRPG field, people can be great writers, and terrible developers. Or great editors, and terrible developers. But the normal path to being a developer is to do really well as an editor or writer, and get "hired up" to dev.
I don't have a realistic solution.
#RealGameIndustry
One of the important secrets to freelance tabletop success no one talks about?
Find a way to get to know multiple people who hire (publishers, editors, developers), well enough they know and use your first name in a friendly manner.
No, I don't know how. But it is a HUGE help.
#RealGameIndustry
When not enjoying a ttRPG, there are many things that could be contributing beyond game rules and setting. You might not like your character, or others' characters, or the people of group itself; or how that group plays that game; or just the GM; or the play environment.
#RealGameIndustry
The bigger the game company, the less likely it is creatives employed by it have any control over how it runs.
If a company screws up, be mad at the c-suite, and at people who publicly advocate in favor of the screw-up (if any). Don't take it out on designers, editors, and so on.
#RealGameIndustry
Writing a ttRPG adventure for a company may mean writing an outline to meet their parameters, writing a detailed outline from a rough outline, or writing an adventure from their detailed outline. Per-word rates are often (but not always) based on only final adventure wordcount.
#RealGameIndustry
Most ttRPG companies work as if they assume that all freelance adventure writers are equally skilled at writing adventures for which they must create map sketches and writing adventures for which they are given a map they must use.
Even though many devs know that's not true.
#RealGameIndustry
People not in a game company listing why the company should do things differently (use KS more, or less, charge more, or less, make different games, make OGL-style games, make JRPGS, print in the U.S., and so on) have no idea what they are talking about at >least< 98% of the time.
#RealGameIndustry
Professional game designers are much more likely to think they can make a popular Pulp ttRPG than the public is likely to buy it in significant numbers.
...
But I still want to make one...
#RealGameIndustry
I can't afford high-end ttRPG products on a ttRPG creator's income. If I don't get it as a comp or a gift I likely don't have it.
There's some awesome deluxe stuff out there with my name in it that I can't afford.
Among game artists, developers, and writers this is common.
#RealGameIndustry
It seems totally reasonable for ttRPG companies to want to hire people with proven credits and experience.
OTOH, that reinforces the advantages of non-marginalized people who had an easier time getting into the industry. And that becomes self-perpetuating.
#RealGameIndustry
The tabletop game industry does not run on fun, or motivation. It includes those, of course. But it RUNS on hard work. The people I see entering the industry who don’t grasp that, or who can’t accommodate it, don’t last.
#RealGameIndustry
To be a successful, full-time professional in the tabletop game industry, you have to do the work even when you are in no mood to do the work.
You don’t have to start there. But you do have to GET there, eventually, or you’ll hit a ceiling of success.
#RealGameIndustry
Anytime I feel like I haven't gotten anywhere in my 28-year game writing career, I remind myself I used to have to rely on 15 cent ramen packets...
And now I can afford the 50 cent ramen Styrofoam cups.
#RealGameIndustry
#GrumpyOldMan
The third-party D&D environment does not equal the D&D environment.
The Open ttRPG market does not equal the ttRPG market.
Kickstarter's ttRPG economy does not equal the Crowdfunding ttRPG economy.
Crowdfunding's ttRPG successes do not equal all ttRPG successes.
#RealGameIndustry
Another useful skill is the ability to self-edit well enough to make sure you don't end up publicly saying 'skills that help create for successful freelance tabletop game creator career '
Just proof you don't have to be perfect to make progress.
#RealGameIndustry
When a high-visibility ttRPG pro makes a statement about game design, economics of games, or politics, there's often a group who, with no evidence, begin claiming A: The pro is incompetent, B: the pro is lying to gain attention or sympathy, or C: all of the above.
It's tiresome.
#RealGameIndustry
I have, at multiple game companies, been part of conversations that boiled down to "At what point does the amount of rewriting a developer does mean they should add their name as an author?"
The tipping point varies, but it's a common enough phenomenon.
#RealGameIndustry
With many game companies, if you write work-for-hire on a ttRPG in the US, you can expected your work to be edited with no consultation or warning to you. You'll find out when the book is published.
This is true even for veteran writers.
#RealGameIndustry
Some ttRPG writers think overwriting an assignment by 50% is doing developers a favor. Most developers prefer turnovers be within 5-10%.
This could be fixed with instructions on working for a specific dev, which most devs don't have time to write and many freelancers wouldn't read.
#RealGameIndustry
I once discovered one of my favorite game designers didn't know how to determine the average result of a standard polyhedral die.
(Add highest & lowest number, divide by 2)
I couldn't do game design without knowing that, but THEY did great.
#RealGameIndustry
There are skills needed as a ttRPG freelancer that are invisible in the end product.
For example, writing a 110k word book of your ideas at your own pace is totally different from writing 110k words with a 120-day deadline while sticking to a publisher's project outline.
#RealGameIndustry
Creating a new ttRPG not built on pre-existing IP takes some very different skills than expanding an existing game or making one as a tie-in to existing IP.
There's overlap, of course. Some folks are good at all three. Lots aren't. It's hard for publishers to tell until you do it.
#RealGameIndustry
Who and what you publicly support can impact who will work with you. That's a reality, for good or ill.
I believe sex work is work, and I publicly repost some independent creators' links to OnlyFans et al. That means some major IP projects who considered me, decide to exclude me.
#RealGameIndustry
Though there absolutely ARE exceptions, I've noticed over my 28+ years in the ttRPG industry that extremely confident & haughty designers impressed by their own their talent, skill, and genius, often shouldn't be.
And many of the true geniuses are humble, generous, & quiet.
#RealGameIndustry
There's always someone else willing to try any paying job in the game industry. They may be worse at it than you, but if you're a big enough asshole they may get the job anyway.
Conversely there are creative assholes SO good, there's always some producer willing to hire them.
#RealGameIndustry
I hate seeing game communities use mockery and mean-spiritedness in response to criticism.
Even if I'm not the target, even if the criticism wasn't warranted, this behavior reduces my desire to make games..
I know from talking to creators much better than me, I'm not alone in this.
#RealGameIndustry
All my public writing--from #RealGameIndustry to blog posts to game content advice for new ttRPG writers and even storytime videos, is possible through support from my Patreon.
You can join for as little as the cost of a cup of coffee a week!
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1. The thing you hate most about any specific game is exactly the thing someone else loves most about it.
2. This absolutely does not mean all game rules are equally good.
3. Most game designers and editors know this.
4. Awareness is much lower among players.
#RealGameIndustry
The more content a game company puts out, the less likely it is any one human being at the company reads all of it at any time, much less before it goes to print.
#RealGameIndustry
