With Pyramid going away, now what for my game writing?
I honestly haven't been writing for Pyramid that much. I have 2-3 half-finished Pyramid articles in the works that will now never be finished. what's the point? They aren't book-worthy topics. I could post them here, but they're potentially valuable somewhere down the line.
I haven't been writing that much for SJG much, either. I'm just flat-out busy right now, and especially focused on broadening my knowledge base for the diverse clients I train at one of my day jobs ("You lazy boy, you only got tree jobs!" - My friend's grandma, account to my friend). I just haven't been able to commit to a deadline when my main focus isn't writing for SJG.
So it seems like my best option is writing books. But like I said, I'm not exactly able to bind to a deadline.
Plus, SJG isn't normally willing to commit to books in a series until the previous one has done well enough. So I can't just keep handing in books of monsters and magic items, as much as I have books worth on my drive ready to go.
So it's a bit of a quandary. Not as much as for others, who depend on that revenue stream, or who hoped to finally get some first-time author credit. I've got a lot of credit built up, I can write what I like. It's just now a question of time and topic.
Where else can I get paid to publish my not-fully-book-ready GURPS stuff now?
Whistles loudly.
ReplyDeleteStuff I write as articles that are too small to be GURPS books are likely to be too small to be 3rd party GURPS books, aren't they?
DeleteI would certainly be interested in 'GB the TKD DF Collection'
DeleteThanks. I'm open to that idea, broadly.
DeleteSomething we can explore. "How to be a DF/DFRPG GM" or some broad theme of connected thoughts wouldn't be horrible.
DeleteHell, a chapter on "GURPS is as complicated as you make it" would have good applicability, and you're in a great place to give a "how to..."
Can't you update any DF style articles that you wrote pre 2008 for compilations?
ReplyDeleteUpdating might include somewhat expanding to include some new things.
I have to take some time and look and see what I wrote. That was 10 years ago, and I didn't write a lot of material that wasn't fairly generic.
DeletePyramid has been the back door for monsters for about two years. Marsh almost begged for them in the Pyramid DF Collection book.
ReplyDeleteIf SJ Games really wants monsters then they will make books for them.
DeleteIf DF Monsters 1,2 and 3 aren't selling well enough to justify another book then obviously neither would monster issues of Pyramid.
DFM1-3 have a lot more overhead costs than monster articles for Pyramid. They don't make more DFM books until the previous ones sell enough, but that doesn't apply to art-light Pyramid articles. I never had an issue getting monsters published in Pyramid, but I mostly horde them for books because of better long-term profit from doing so.
DeleteI question though if a Pyramid issue with monsters was even making enough to justify its lower cost. Or rather I mean if a monster book requires a bigger setup cost, but eventually results in more revenue that needs to be balanced against lower setup cost and lower revenue.
DeleteAnd then there may even be customers waiting for a DF themed Pyramid compilation just to get those monsters. So why not just make a DF Compilation of material in the first place? Why not just drip a monster a week to subscribers for $1. Or there are any number of other ways to get that content into the hands of customers that aren't an issue of Pyramid.
Those are questions I can't answer because I don't know the numbers behind it. I don't generally speculate on such, either.
DeleteI guess with the sucess of Hall of Judgement, an independent zine is in order, although the seal of approval by SJG might be feasible. They would eliminate most of the costs that bogged Pyramid, but still keep the community alive and interested.
ReplyDeleteWith the good work of GURPS day along with the array of GURPS material and the less good work of the SJ Games forums, content for GURPS 4E is not the issue.
DeleteI doubt that the costs would be that much lower, other than the fact that you're not paying for the facilities and other salaried costs. But even still, when I produce my books it costs $100-150 per page, though admittedly 60% of that is art.
DeleteCosts that bogged Pyramid include having an editor who made sure that articles weren't garbage. That's a cost I can do with
DeleteThat sounds excellent!
DeleteDidn't you write two Pyramid articles for things for high skill fighters and things for high strength fighters to do in 4E?
ReplyDeleteI would have thought that could be spun into one article for things for fighters to do in DF.
Especially given there are new abilities.
I will have to find my "Martial Arts Case Studies" drafts and see what I wrote. That's half the problem right there . . . I don't really recall everything I wrote.
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