Want to get into game design? Work-shopping is key.

Want to be a RPG Superstar? How about get into Wayfinder, or freelance as a game designer? It's the competition's worst kept secret that most of the best get there by practice and work-shopping. This however isn't going to be an advice article on how to get the most out of work-shopping this is going to be an article about being good at helping others through work-shopping.

The thing some people don't seem to get is that to get better you have to give  more.



When giving feedback the first and most important key is that it is specific. Telling someone something as general as "I like it" might be good for their ego but it doesn't help them identify what makes their work good that they can take to their next piece. Just slamming something in a general sense and saying you do not like it without being specific as to why is equally useless in helping them improve.

I used the good, bad, and ugly format with a summary for feedback for awhile because it forces em to look at something positive, something that isn't majorly bad but worth noting, my biggest issue, then a summation of my overall impression. Generally that turns into 4-5 talking points which is about right for a pass at something. Going more in-depth then that can be helpful but only if you're asked to do so, otherwise you might be overwhelming the author by giving them too much to focus on. which leads me into my next point.

Know your role as a pit crew person. What kind of feedback is the designer looking for from you. Grammar and format editing? Where they looking for focus group feedback (like this, dislike that and so on?) Are they looking to bounce and build which is to day they suggest something you expand on it or suggest a direction they run with that suggestion and develop it further into a new idea and so on... For the record I'm the king of bounce and build sessions or focus group style feedback and shit at grammar and format editing as I have a tendency to auto correct as I read. Knowing your strengths helps you build others and it also informs on what you need from them when they return the favor.

Detach from who they are. It is natural for you to want go go easier on your friends or perhaps be a little less respectful to someone you do not know or like. It is important to be around people that challenge you and it is important that you are that person even to people you really like.

Being honest isn't brutal. I tersely informed one contestant this year that his inherent concept would be an immediate must have for every power gamer. He toned it down but kept the concept going because the phrase every blaster would want one was in there and he held onto that. He made top 100.

Except for a pair of DQs I missed (sorry again Jeff and Andrew details aren't my thing) of the 16 items I pitted for 8 made top 36 along side my own item and the remaining 6 made top 100. The range is my best friend to people I've never met outside the boards. This doesn't mean I want to do 100 items next year this is me telling you as a community find people you trust and work off of one another. Practice, learn and come back stronger next year... because I know I will.

To the top 8, you know where to find me.

Don't be that Contestent.

Hi gang,

This is an open letter for those that participate in the RPG Superstar contest. Not just for those that have made it into the competition, but to those on the sidelines that entered an item into round one but fell short of the top 36 entries.

The TL:DR version of this article is some advice I heard a lot when I was looking to join up in the military... They's say, "don't be that guy." They's say don't be that lady to the women but we're past excluding those that don't fit into gender binary perceptions so; Don't be that contestant.




What they mean by this is don't do something stupid to eliminate yourself from your opportunities like get drunk and drive, or get arrested for drug use, or fail out because of the physical requirements. For me the end of the road was that my feet are a little too flat for the DOD but that isn't relevant here because the advice is still sound advice for this competition.

Even if you missed the mark this year, your words and reputation can carry forward into future years and if particularly ill advised cost you other opportunities. I'm far from the only publisher that pays attention to and hires off the Superstar design boards.

Here's my pitch for new designers: We're a great place to cut your teeth and develop as a designer, but we pay like good bbq it's low and slow. I basically tell people we're slow to publish, turn a profit and pay and I still get no shortage of takers. Oh and I factor in people's reputation on the boards and professional demeanour nearly as much as I do their design talent regarding who I invite to work with my team.

The truth is there's a lot of talented folks that want to design. It's a publisher's market and we typically cannot afford to bring in designers that are a liability so here's a list of deal breakers for most publishers.

Don't be that Contestant that...

1) Reacts poorly to feedback - We're willing to take on and train writers we see some mojo in. Running a 3PP is a risk, publishers are risk takers. Defending your choices professionally is fine, flaming out or reacting badly to feedback makes us question your maturity and your ability to handle criticism from an editor or a harsh reviewer. There is no bigger red flag than a thin skinned and fragile ego designer.

2) Lives in a puddle - I'm not taking about being shy, I'm talking about being unaware of opinions that differ from your own. I'm talking about living in a puddle and fighting any rival beta fish that enters your tiny puddle. You can always tell who these people are by how they react when they are called out for their behaviour. If your go to defensive move is to talk about how things work in your home game or within the confines of your limited experience then this is you, get out of you puddle and reach out and experience other game styles.

3) Casually offends people - This typically goes hand and hand with living in a puddle. I've seen some tone deaf statements about how 90% of the items this year suck... good luck selling your work to those 550+ people you just offended. There's a difference between snark and being a total a-hole and usually the line is this, would you say that statement after it was revealed you were in the top 32 and you need people to vote for you? If the answer is no, don't be that contestant.

4) Breaks the gag order - While I was happy to compete I'd rather have not done so on the grounds that my competitors DQ'ed themselves by not following the gag order. I'll wear my top 32 tag with pride but it wasn't my desire to get it because the competition hamstrung themselves. It happens every year, resolve yourself next year that if you get the opportunity it will not be you. I'd still hire the person that makes this type of mistake but a lot of publishers are a lot less lose with the concept of NDAs then I am.

5) Bores us - Look at the end of the day you can be a lot of things and succeed but don't be boring. I'll hire someone that took a risk and whiffed a little on execution over someone who did something plain and safe like gloves that give a skill bonus...

6) Forgets the prize is a job - You win, you get a job. Want a job in game design? You have other tools to reach that goal even with Paizo. That also means don't argue with your potential future co-workers in a way that is going to make them not want to work with you which can literally be anyone you're competing with. Don't piss off the possible winner of Superstar Season 12 then have to work with them because you won Superstar season 16 and they got an editing job... It's too small an industry to create enemies.

It’s a Long way to the top if you want to Game Design…

By Frank Gori

I’m going to focus on the writing game design side but my advice should apply to art and layout as well.

So you want to Freelance… Something inside of you has clicked. Maybe it was the forums, maybe it was a nice compliment from a player at your gaming table, or maybe you just realized you’ve been playing tabletop rpgs for most of your life and have figured out you have logged that 10,000 hours it takes to be an expert on something.

Listen to this song it’s relevant to the article.

Now what? Write. It’s harder than it sounds but you need to start producing material immediately, even if it isn’t immediately useful the habit of writing is. Write character stories, start doing character builds, alter storylines in your favorite APs, and maybe get on some forums and share your work.

I say share you work because…

You need feedback. Writing is all about taking feedback and making your work better.  Not every idea baby that forms in your skull deserves to be put in front of someone and you’ll learn that when you start by putting them all in front of someone.

Writing takes practice. You might know the game better than most but that doesn’t translate to writing for it. You also need to be gracious about feedback even negative feedback. That doesn’t mean be a doormat for abuse, which can and will happen on the internet, it means learn to handle even shitty feedback because you need a thick skin.

You might be wondering…

How hard can it be? I can only speak for myself but I’m getting what one might call moderate success after about 10 months of working at it. I have a blog, I’m a partner in 2 start ups and scored a publishing agreement for both, I have stuff on a prominent publisher’s blog, I have publishing credits in 2 fanzines, and contribution credits in 3 established publisher’s printed lines (some of which are not yet released.)

I’ve been paid for my work on 6 occasions, not counting contributer copies. You need to put yourself out there allot to get anywhere, you need to put together an approach.

Once you have that you can…

Start submitting to publishers. Look for open calls, be prepared for allot of No thank yous and even more non replies. Publishers are busy and allot of them suck at communicating rejection because of it. Good thing you developed that thick skin right?

It you get some bite great, work it out but do not get cocky. Publishers hate cocky authors. The reality is…

Accept you will be writing allot for free. Try Wayfinder, Blogs, and fanzines. Get yourself contributer copies and start building yourself a resume. If you can handle the pace and insanity of constant deadlines try your own blog or more reasonably get a regular slot on an established one. Reviews are a great way to break in, as are GM advice content, or even something simple like item or monster design.

Save links and pdfs of your stuff, this will be useful later. Next you should look at…

Research Publishers. Buy their products if you can afford it, if not consume everything they let out for free, and read reviews summarizing their content. You need to know your publishers if you want to pitch them.

For that matter…

Social Media is really important. You need to be assessable and you need to be able to communicate to the audience you are building. For a writer twitter, facebook, pretty much everything google, reddit, pintrest, skype, and dropbox are all important tools in your kit. Being savy with communication technology is a huge upside in a designer.

For that matter so is…

You’re a salesperson as a writer. You’re selling yourself to publishers, and your ideas to your audience. That means being nice, that means keeping your ego in check, and that means when someone does publish something of yours you need to be willing to promote it.

If they make money off you you’ll get more work from them. There’s something in it for you and them so don’t be arrogant of course you’re going to promote products you’ve contributed to. That reminds me, you should buy this, its very good and deserves lots of sales. Don’t take my word read this review.

You might be a salesperson but don’t expect…

Game design doesn’t pay the bills. I’m not saying I don’t get paid, but I will say getting paid within 6 months of starting was an accomplishment. You’re not going to get paid anything near minimum wage for the time you put in for a long time.

The first payment I got I refused to use paypal so I could scan and print myself a color copy of the check. It also had a nice sticky note from the publisher saying nice things, they are in a scrapbook now. I’ve gotten paid more and more frequently by other publishers but I cherish that little piece of paper more than it was worth ($25) because getting it meant my words had value to someone.

One cent per word is an industry standard for small publishers. They don’t really make much and their profit margins are small. They have to pay for art to sell their work and art is way more expensive then written work, accept this as fact and deal with it.

This is ok because…

Write or Game design because you love it. If you don’t, it will show in your work and your attitude. If you want to make money as a writer approach ad agencies and write commercials. This will be a low paying part time job unless you really strike it somewhere but you need to pay your dues in the industry first.

This will eat time. Time your significant other might resent. Carve it out of time that doesn’t normally belong to them, maybe out something else aside. Communicate. If someone love’s you and this is your dream let them know and they should understand and make allowances for that. If not then its not a healthy relationship or you need to examine what time you do give to that person.

I have been paid a few times but I’m well aware that…

No one knows who the frak you are. Listen, people don’t read the credits on allot of game books. You probably do but that’s because you’re a writer, you aren’t a casual consumer at this point. Maybe you haven’t dealt with much rejection yet and got paid early. Maybe your started in a fury and got paid quickly a few times and maybe did some huge numbers on a blog, enjoy it but understand something very simple- you aren’t Kanye West. Don’t be an ass, you aren’t big enough to get away with it yet or really ever in this industry.

Don’t start lording your paltry publishing creds over your gaming friends. Don’t demand things form your publishers because you’ve had some success. Build good will and be a solid cotozen, the world has enough writers that let themselves turn into a-holes don’t be that guy or gal.

If you’re still interested in freelancing, read our open call and contact me. I’m partnering with d20pfsrd and we’ll be publishing under that name in conjunction with some of my other partners by the end of 2013.