Comments on: The Night of the Long Wands https://www.forbeck.com/2008/12/03/the-night-of-the-long-wands/ Award-winning & New York Times-bestselling author and game designer Fri, 05 Dec 2008 06:35:50 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: Matt Forbeck https://www.forbeck.com/2008/12/03/the-night-of-the-long-wands/#comment-46052 Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:04:05 +0000 http://www.forbeck.com/2008/12/03/the-night-of-the-long-wands/#comment-46052 Stacy: Thanks for stopping by. It has been a hard year for Wizards, with many wonderful people—including you!—let go. As you say, it’s clear that Wizards isn’t alone in its troubles, since a number of large publisher began layoffs yesterday too.

As for freelance editing, I’ll be sure to let you know if I hear of anything. I’m doing a little myself on the side these days for articles for The Lord of the Rings Online, and it pays well. If you haven’t looked into offering your services to big, well-funded websites like that, I recommend checking it out.

Either way, good luck, and here’s to happy holidays for us all, whether we have a steady paycheck or not!

]]> By: Matt Forbeck https://www.forbeck.com/2008/12/03/the-night-of-the-long-wands/#comment-50014 Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:04:00 +0000 http://www.forbeck.com/2008/12/03/the-night-of-the-long-wands/#comment-50014 Stacy: Thanks for stopping by. It has been a hard year for Wizards, with many wonderful people—including you!—let go. As you say, it’s clear that Wizards isn’t alone in its troubles, since a number of large publisher began layoffs yesterday too.

As for freelance editing, I’ll be sure to let you know if I hear of anything. I’m doing a little myself on the side these days for articles for The Lord of the Rings Online, and it pays well. If you haven’t looked into offering your services to big, well-funded websites like that, I recommend checking it out.

Either way, good luck, and here’s to happy holidays for us all, whether we have a steady paycheck or not!

]]> By: Matt Forbeck https://www.forbeck.com/2008/12/03/the-night-of-the-long-wands/#comment-46051 Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:00:14 +0000 http://www.forbeck.com/2008/12/03/the-night-of-the-long-wands/#comment-46051 I agree with you. When I work on core game concepts/mechanics, I ask for a royalty on the game and any ancillary products. I don’t always get it, but it’s at least a good negotiating tool to leverage for higher flat fees. When I do get it, it means I participate in the property’s success, even if I don’t own it.

It’s only fair. Plus, the royalties incite me to continue to promote the property after it leaves my hands.

]]> By: Matt Forbeck https://www.forbeck.com/2008/12/03/the-night-of-the-long-wands/#comment-50013 Thu, 04 Dec 2008 16:00:00 +0000 http://www.forbeck.com/2008/12/03/the-night-of-the-long-wands/#comment-50013 I agree with you. When I work on core game concepts/mechanics, I ask for a royalty on the game and any ancillary products. I don’t always get it, but it’s at least a good negotiating tool to leverage for higher flat fees. When I do get it, it means I participate in the property’s success, even if I don’t own it.

It’s only fair. Plus, the royalties incite me to continue to promote the property after it leaves my hands.

]]> By: stacy https://www.forbeck.com/2008/12/03/the-night-of-the-long-wands/#comment-46049 Thu, 04 Dec 2008 12:05:39 +0000 http://www.forbeck.com/2008/12/03/the-night-of-the-long-wands/#comment-46049 I heard about it this morning through Ted Stark’s FB status. I’d have thought that given the layoffs earlier in the year (of which I was one of the laid-off), it would have been the end of layoffs for the year, but apparently not.

And it’s a hard time all around. If you’ve been following the publishing house news lately at all, yesterday was a horrible day for trade publishing houses.

I have hope that it will pick up again soon, but with all the doom and gloom we’re hearing, we’re probably in for a bumpy ride before it does. In the meantime, if you do have leads on freelance editing, you’re always welcome to toss them my direction. 🙂

]]> By: stacy https://www.forbeck.com/2008/12/03/the-night-of-the-long-wands/#comment-50012 Thu, 04 Dec 2008 12:05:00 +0000 http://www.forbeck.com/2008/12/03/the-night-of-the-long-wands/#comment-50012 I heard about it this morning through Ted Stark’s FB status. I’d have thought that given the layoffs earlier in the year (of which I was one of the laid-off), it would have been the end of layoffs for the year, but apparently not.

And it’s a hard time all around. If you’ve been following the publishing house news lately at all, yesterday was a horrible day for trade publishing houses.

I have hope that it will pick up again soon, but with all the doom and gloom we’re hearing, we’re probably in for a bumpy ride before it does. In the meantime, if you do have leads on freelance editing, you’re always welcome to toss them my direction. 🙂

]]> By: Christian Lindke https://www.forbeck.com/2008/12/03/the-night-of-the-long-wands/#comment-46048 Thu, 04 Dec 2008 07:21:49 +0000 http://www.forbeck.com/2008/12/03/the-night-of-the-long-wands/#comment-46048 I loved the Everway concept, and am a huge fan of Ars Magica. Tweet can be awesome, but he can be “over the edge” sometimes too.

Most people who know me know that I am an intellectual property stickler, but I am also a creator rights stickler. And I believe the way that most game company’s don’t give some portion of IP rights to creators is a small evil. I understand not granting rights to a module, or even mechanics of a game, but when someone like Wolfgang Baur owns no part of Dark*Matter there’s something wrong with the system. Certainly, core brands like D&D have corporate, rather than individual identity, but in the case of 4e I think the creators should get some system credit and ownership.

Not likely to happen, but it would be nice.

]]> By: Christian Lindke https://www.forbeck.com/2008/12/03/the-night-of-the-long-wands/#comment-50011 Thu, 04 Dec 2008 07:21:00 +0000 http://www.forbeck.com/2008/12/03/the-night-of-the-long-wands/#comment-50011 I loved the Everway concept, and am a huge fan of Ars Magica. Tweet can be awesome, but he can be “over the edge” sometimes too.

Most people who know me know that I am an intellectual property stickler, but I am also a creator rights stickler. And I believe the way that most game company’s don’t give some portion of IP rights to creators is a small evil. I understand not granting rights to a module, or even mechanics of a game, but when someone like Wolfgang Baur owns no part of Dark*Matter there’s something wrong with the system. Certainly, core brands like D&D have corporate, rather than individual identity, but in the case of 4e I think the creators should get some system credit and ownership.

Not likely to happen, but it would be nice.

]]> By: Matt Forbeck https://www.forbeck.com/2008/12/03/the-night-of-the-long-wands/#comment-46040 Thu, 04 Dec 2008 02:37:58 +0000 http://www.forbeck.com/2008/12/03/the-night-of-the-long-wands/#comment-46040 Stephen: That list mostly matches mine, with one addition: Pete Whitely.

I didn’t list the names at first because some had called for honoring the privacy of the laid-off employees. However, upon reflection, it seems only in their interest for it to be known they’re out of work. That way, others can offer them help.

And, yeah, letting go Dave Noonan and Jonathan Tweet makes for huge shocks. I can’t imagine they’ll be out of work for long, as they’re both huge talents—as are many of the other names on the list, like Julia Martin and David Finch. (I don’t know the others as well.) It makes me wonder who’s making these decisions and what they could have had in mind. Perhaps there are good reasons, but they’re opaque from my angle.

Christian: Good points about the reports. As for Jonathan, he’s been with Wizards since long before the TSR purchase. He led the design for the Everway game, and he’s labored over many of the company’s top releases over the past decade.

Because these people all work for Wizards, you may not hear of many of their accomplishments. Freelancers like Robin (or me) have to toot our own horns loudly to build an audience for our work, but that’s frowned upon in companies like Wizards in which the trademarks are king. If any of these people go freelance, you’ll probably hear a lot more about their talents, but many of them might wind up in the video game industry instead—or leave gaming altogether.

]]> By: Matt Forbeck https://www.forbeck.com/2008/12/03/the-night-of-the-long-wands/#comment-50010 Thu, 04 Dec 2008 02:37:00 +0000 http://www.forbeck.com/2008/12/03/the-night-of-the-long-wands/#comment-50010 Stephen: That list mostly matches mine, with one addition: Pete Whitely.

I didn’t list the names at first because some had called for honoring the privacy of the laid-off employees. However, upon reflection, it seems only in their interest for it to be known they’re out of work. That way, others can offer them help.

And, yeah, letting go Dave Noonan and Jonathan Tweet makes for huge shocks. I can’t imagine they’ll be out of work for long, as they’re both huge talents—as are many of the other names on the list, like Julia Martin and David Finch. (I don’t know the others as well.) It makes me wonder who’s making these decisions and what they could have had in mind. Perhaps there are good reasons, but they’re opaque from my angle.

Christian: Good points about the reports. As for Jonathan, he’s been with Wizards since long before the TSR purchase. He led the design for the Everway game, and he’s labored over many of the company’s top releases over the past decade.

Because these people all work for Wizards, you may not hear of many of their accomplishments. Freelancers like Robin (or me) have to toot our own horns loudly to build an audience for our work, but that’s frowned upon in companies like Wizards in which the trademarks are king. If any of these people go freelance, you’ll probably hear a lot more about their talents, but many of them might wind up in the video game industry instead—or leave gaming altogether.

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