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I love Quitelys stuff with Morrison, you ever get into Paul Chadwicks art on Concrete or Geoff Darrows stuff?
As far as Liefelds art goes, I fell into it when Image formed. I was onto it from Deadpool in the New Mutants/XForce. (Yes I own 5 copies of XForce #1 with different trading cards polybagged in with the books...sigh). I was their perfect customer. Bought Valentinos Shadowhawk, Portacios Wetworks, Larsons Savage Dragon, all that stuff. Loved Keowns Pitt and other spinoffs and subsets of the Image canon. Till Boof and the Bruise Crew that was the first time I really started noticing the blatant rips the group was pulling. McFarlanes weird numbering of and releasing of Spawn books definitely hurt them too. I think Giffens parody XFarce came out then and I counted how many pouches Cable had attached to his body. WAY TOO MANY!
I liked Darrow--Hardboiled, right? That was tight.
I think I was reading Bizley's Slaine The Horned God at that time...
Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4
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I was a bartender. Now I write for money.
My pay is much higher now.
Well, in my defense, I am a very, VERY good bartender.
*grin*
But you are 111% correct - the more projects I turn in, the more I'm going to get paid. As it stands, I haven't yet received a check for some of the work that has already been published (especially the two things that came out a week ago, today), and I've got plenty more in the hands of wonderful companies like Paizo & KQ that, once published, will net me more than I make, on average, during a weekend at the bar.
My point is only this: if you want to get rich, do something (ANYTHING!) besides write. With the exceptions of Steven King, J.K. Rowling and a few other luminaries, it's a BAD way to make a living that involves solid-gold yachts.
In my case, it's just the perfect way to channel my over-abundant imagination in a way that simultaneously feeds my overwhelming narcissism.
The money is a perk.
Yeah, but did you dress like this for tips? (NSFW-Language, and, oh, let's say ... nipples)
A-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
I forgot how funny that video was!
Thank you!
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As far as Liefelds art goes, I fell into it when Image formed.
I bought the first six to twelve issues of Youngblood just because I prayed that Rob would be successful at Image, so that he'd never darken the doors of my beloved New Mutants again!
I bought Cyberforce, WildCATS, Stormwatch, Wetworks, Gen 13, Backlash/Wildcore, etc. quite willingly, as I enjoyed all of those books. Spawn, Shadowhawk, Savage Dragon, etc. not so much...
Leifield's a fine example of an artist who could benefit from some basic anatomy lessons and use of perspective and shading. He's got the talent, he just seems to completely lack the training.
My point is only this: if you want to get rich, do something (ANYTHING!) besides write. With the exceptions of Steven King, J.K. Rowling and a few other luminaries, it's a BAD way to make a living that involves solid-gold yachts.
Especially writing for the game industry. A quote from Ryan Dancey:
"How do you make a small fortune in the game industry? Start with a large fortune." ;)
I do this because I love it, not because I expect to get rich. Today I had talks with Wes and James about demiplanes, the structure of the Inner Sphere, and where the Great Old Ones live. I work with cool people at a fun job. Sometimes it's a stressful job, sometimes it's a REALLY stressful job, but when I start to gripe about it I remind myself to step back and realize, "Boo hoo, you work on the next generation of D&D, boo hoo!" :)
Well, in my defense, I am a very, VERY good bartender.I was a bartender. Now I write for money.
My pay is much higher now.
I'm sure you are - personality makes the job. And I'd never cut it, I had a great time.
My point is only this: if you want to get rich, do something (ANYTHING!) besides write. With the exceptions of Steven King, J.K. Rowling and a few other luminaries, it's a BAD way to make a living that involves solid-gold yachts.
A lot of people don't consider supply and demand when contemplating a writing career. Fiction I guess is sexier than non-fiction, and if you hit it big with novels you can really hit it big. But anyone who wants to make a living writing would do well to realize that the overwhelming bulk of everything written for pay is non-fiction. I would estimate over 90%, maybe more than 95% of all writing anyone gets paid for is non-fiction.
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Marathon Voter Season 6
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My point is only this: if you want to get rich, do something (ANYTHING!) besides write. With the exceptions of Steven King, J.K. Rowling and a few other luminaries, it's a BAD way to make a living that involves solid-gold yachts.
I think the key thing is 'have a day job'. Write on your time off as a hobby and try to get it published without concern for the money. Then if you take off, awesome you can quit the day job. Otherwise you aren't living in the gutter.
I always laughed at people who majored in Creative Writing.
I always laughed at people who majored in Creative Writing.
...but a minor on the other hand is certainly well worth the investment. :-)
--Neil
My point is only this: if you want to get rich, do something (ANYTHING!) besides write. With the exceptions of Steven King, J.K. Rowling and a few other luminaries, it's a BAD way to make a living that involves solid-gold yachts.I think the key thing is 'have a day job'. Write on your time off as a hobby and try to get it published without concern for the money. Then if you take off, awesome you can quit the day job. Otherwise you aren't living in the gutter.
I always laughed at people who majored in Creative Writing.
I've always tended to notice that a bunch of folks who write within the game industry start off with a degree other than creative writing or english. Outside of the game indistry, every writer I know (personally rather just than know of) had some major completely outside of the humanities.
I suspect that people with science/engineering/business type degrees that have very specific job prospects after college allow folks to get financially grounded and allow them the time to write for pleasure, which then translates into a novel, or short fiction writing, rpg design and writing, etc.
Of course, I don't have a list or anything of what for instance the Paizo guys majored in, or the WotC design team, or a bunch of the guys who were at TSR, etc. I'd be fascinated to know actually.
FWIW, I was BS Chemistry, BS Biology, MS Biology (and whenever I can force myself to embrace years of voluntary poverty, eventually a PhD)
Yeah, but did you dress like this for tips? (NSFW-Language, and, oh, let's say ... nipples)
Someone feed him. Protein shake, pot roast, sashimi, sedatives and a feeding tube maybe.
But at the same time, I give style points for having the guts to show up online dressed like that :)
FWIW, I was BS Chemistry, BS Biology, MS Biology (and whenever I can force myself to embrace years of voluntary poverty, eventually a PhD)
Me: BS chemistry
Bruce Cordell: BS biochemistryThat's all I can recall of the top of my head, I know a lot of other TSR people had easy majors that didn't require any lab work. ;)
CEO
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FWIW, I was BS Chemistry, BS Biology, MS Biology (and whenever I can force myself to embrace years of voluntary poverty, eventually a PhD)Me: BS chemistry
Bruce Cordell: BS biochemistryThat's all I can recall of the top of my head, I know a lot of other TSR people had easy majors that didn't require any lab work. ;)
BS in Biology
-Lisa
FWIW, I was BS Chemistry, BS Biology, MS Biology (and whenever I can force myself to embrace years of voluntary poverty, eventually a PhD)Me: BS chemistry
Bruce Cordell: BS biochemistryThat's all I can recall of the top of my head, I know a lot of other TSR people had easy majors that didn't require any lab work. ;)
BS in Biology
-Lisa
*blink* Well that's just cool :)
Heck, my major right now is Anthropology, even if my main dream is to get into game design >_>
Quit dreaming and do it.
Seriously. Start a publishing company. Start an ezine. Contact Wolfgang. Submit something.
I dont know that there is an easier thing to get into than game design. It is a small community and it is pretty open. Its up to you.
I did it. You can. You have the exact same qualifications I did when I started--you love D&D and you have a computer with an internet connection.
Now quit dreaming and do it!
Let me tell you a story. I also happen to play guitar. I'm good, but not great. I was in a band between college and law school. One night after our set was done opening for a more popular local band, some guy came up to me and said "I am a way better guitarist than you." I said "you probably are. But the difference between me and you is that you are sitting on the edge of your bed playing to nobody and I was just up there on that stage." It isnt all about skill. Sometimes you just have to go do it. Believe in yourself and go do it. Quit watching and do it. I dont want to sound like a Nike commercial. But that is the difference between those who dream and those who do. Its the doing.
Ask yourself, what is the first step I have to take. Then take it. Check Wolfgang's KQ site. See if they are accepting submissions. Email Paizo or download their submission guidelines. Then do it. Or go reserve a domain name. Whatever it is. Do it. Literally, that is the only difference between me and you. I did it. You can to.
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Wow, thanks. I have to say, that's some really inspiring stuff. I admit, I've dragged my heels a bit in the past, but I've kicked myself in the pants, which is why I entered the RPG Superstar contest this year. But even without that, I have my own plans *cue maniacal laughter here*. Some of my close friends that I game with and I are planning on starting our own gaming company, and I've already started working on things for that at the same time that I've been trying to get things submitted to other places. But again, thanks so much, and I've definitely stopped dragging my heels and daydreaming about it.
I always laughed at people who majored in Creative Writing.
Laugh away.
I went for the lucrative double majors of History and Creative Writing.
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FWIW, I was BS Chemistry, BS Biology, MS Biology (and whenever I can force myself to embrace years of voluntary poverty, eventually a PhD)Me: BS chemistry
Bruce Cordell: BS biochemistry
BS in Biology
-Lisa
Biology for the Win! (From a BS in biology, almost-PhD in infectious diseases :-)
In all sincerity, I think it makes sense that people who were drawn to science also find themselves drawn to RPG design. Personally, I've always loved the fact that when I write for science there's a MAXIMUM word limit. In every creative writing class I've taken, there was a MINIMUM, which just doesn't make any sense to me. If you can get the same idea across in fewer words, why come up with a bunch of baloney to fill in the gaps? It violates my innate fondness for efficiency.
On a side note, with all of the biology-mojo in RPGs, WHY oh WHY aren't there better rules for diseases? I think that's one of the least developed and, consequently, least interesting areas of the game.
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Creative Director
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As it turns out, we're doing a huge playtest of a new version of the game, and that playtest includes diseases! I'd love to hear some feedback on how they're handled and how they could be changed! But at the same time, the main reason diseases are the way they are now is, I suspect, to make them both simple and impactful in game play.
And as for a career in game design or freelance game design, Clark's right. The first step is to do it. Go to conventions, make a name for yourself on gaming company messageboards, contact publishers for their guidelines and all that. All of these steps, though, have the same basic goal at the start: That's to get your foot in the door and to get your targeted publishers to recognize you. Let them learn who you are, and what your interests and skills are at. One of the things I always look for in freelancers is their skills beyond writing. It's best, in ANY form of writing, to write about what you know. A lot of game designers know a lot about the game, and about medieval europe and all that. But that's only a tiny part. A game designer who's also an archeologist and has studied Mayan culture for a decade is more likely to win the job of a Mayan Supplement assignment, for example. Someone who is a good writer but is also a veternarian would be a compelling person to get to write a druid book. So even if your field of study isn't writing, that by all means doesn't count you out of the industry... it could be a huge benefit, in fact! (Just don't forget that you DO still need to be a good writer!)
Of course... in closing, there's one more thing you probably need to be a game designer: Passion for games. Not just the game you like best. And what I mean by passion, to a certain extent, is the knowledge that it's Very VERY unlikely you'll become rich working as a game designer.
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As it turns out, we're doing a huge playtest of a new version of the game, and that playtest includes diseases! I'd love to hear some feedback on how they're handled and how they could be changed! But at the same time, the main reason diseases are the way they are now is, I suspect, to make them both simple and impactful in game play.
I was wondering if diseases had seen a makeover in Pathfinder, but hadn't taken the opportunity to see what you had done in that area. I will definitely find the time to do that in the near future. (Although I hope I will be too busy designing a villain concept this week!)
Of course... in closing, there's one more thing you probably need to be a game designer: Passion for games.
I fervently believe that you should have a deep passion for whatever you're doing for a living. Sure, sometimes you have to do something else in the meantime to keep the lights on, but you can always be doing SOMETHING to turn what you love into your job. (Along those lines, I heartily recommend the book "48 Days to the Work You Love", by Dan Miller).
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Contributor, RPG Superstar 2008 Top 4
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You show 'em Boomer!!!
Cheers,
Zux
Tom Cruise from Cocktail?
Bah. Peasant magic. Us really good bartenders can a make a drink in HALF that time.
*grin*
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There is one, and ONLY one, reason to write: because if you didn't do it, you would have to jam your thumbs into your eye-sockets until you could touch your brain, and then rip it out of your skull through the front of your face.
Exactly, I always refer to it as the emotional pay check, more so since I'm not, by any stretch of the imagination, a prolific writer. I've close to have half dozen blogs that I blather on from (some of which a few people here have seen, read, commented upon, and so forth), but I've not made bank from it. Heck, I made a lot more money in the career that I'm in the process of moving away from (Info Tech) that I will from most anything else I plan on doing, with maybe some exceptions.
It's about enjoying what you do, period, and I think you're quite right in what you just said.
I wonder how many good career people is lost to the RPG industry every year :D
With all that high level of Sciences I would expect to see a few more 'ecology of articles' floating around. Or more insane rules for poison.
Yeah, I've never written anything about crossbreeds, or variant rules for poison, or the bad science of 2nd edition infravision, or the physics of invisibility, or the physics of D&D energy types, or gravity, the internal structure of iron golems, or underwater spellcasting, or wing physiology, or symbiotic relationships with parasites in an infected wound....
Silly useless science background. ;)
With all that high level of Sciences I would expect to see a few more 'ecology of articles' floating around. Or more insane rules for poison.Yeah, I've never written anything about crossbreeds, or variant rules for poison, or the bad science of 2nd edition infravision, or the physics of invisibility, or the physics of D&D energy types, or gravity, the internal structure of iron golems, or underwater spellcasting, or wing physiology, or symbiotic relationships with parasites in an infected wound....
Silly useless science background. ;)
~laughter~ Yes it is silly!
As it turns out, we're doing a huge playtest of a new version of the game, and that playtest includes diseases! I'd love to hear some feedback on how they're handled and how they could be changed! But at the same time, the main reason diseases are the way they are now is, I suspect, to make them both simple and impactful in game play.
Being one of the supporters of more detailed disease rules in these boards (and submitting a disease-related item in last year's RPG superstar), allow me to say Yay!
I agree with you on "simple", but not on "impactful", they haven't been that in the previous rules...
A game designer who's also an archeologist and has studied Mayan culture for a decade is more likely to win the job of a Mayan Supplement assignment, for example. Someone who is a good writer but is also a veternarian would be a compelling person to get to write a druid book.
Sooo... Any plans for a Japanese culture supplement? :D
Yeah, I've never written anything about crossbreeds, or variant rules for poison, or the bad science of 2nd edition infravision, or the physics of invisibility, or the physics of D&D energy types, or gravity, the internal structure of iron golems, or underwater spellcasting, or wing physiology, or symbiotic relationships with parasites in an infected wound....
Silly useless science background. ;)
Really?! Because I'm somewhat familiar with a few things you've written, and I could've sworn... ;-)
--Neil
Oh, and for the record, I have no biology/chemistry degree (though my wife does). Instead, I opted for computer science and a lucrative career in information services. But at least I also picked up a minor in English (mostly creative writing classes) to cover my outside interests.
I've got a batchelor's in psychology and my wife(who is sitting right next to me) will shoot me if I don't get a master's and then a PHD. I love you honey. Please dont' shoot me. Wait. What are you doing with that flail...no...please..DON'T-
*sigh* If only I were he....
Oh I don't think that Sean thinks he's an artist. He does call them "doodles," not "art." He probably leaves all the real art-making to his brother, Wayne.
Wayne's middle name is "K"????
Oh I don't think that Sean thinks he's an artist. He does call them "doodles," not "art." He probably leaves all the real art-making to his brother, Wayne.
Are you serious?!?! or just messing with our frail fan minds?
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 8
aka Tarren Dei
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Oh I don't think that Sean thinks he's an artist. He does call them "doodles," not "art." He probably leaves all the real art-making to his brother, Wayne.Are you serious?!?! or just messing with our frail fan minds?
I'm hoping they are just messing with us. That would be just too much, wouldn't it?
Oh I don't think that Sean thinks he's an artist. He does call them "doodles," not "art." He probably leaves all the real art-making to his brother, Wayne.Do you mean *the* Wayne K Reynolds?
Question, have you ever seen Wayne Reynalds and Sean K Reynolds in the same room at the same time? :P