CW's Guide to RPG Reviewing
Welcome to C.W. Richeson's Guide to RPG Reviewing, a single article where I attempt to address product reviewing. I have reviewed quite a few products for many different publishers and hope that my insights will help those considering writing RPG reviews.
Why Write Reviews?
The most obvious question to begin with is "Why should I write reviews?" It's a good question, and there are several different answers. Many people choose to write reviews because they want to give back to a community they love – whether it's a specific website or the gaming community generally. Taking the time to add to the reviews database is going to help someone make a product decision, educate them about a game, or just entertain them with the reviewer's wit and charm.
Other reviewers desire community recognition. With just a single review you become one of those great people who helps the rest of us out, lending your insight into a product to the community. While the community may not notice the first few reviews you send it, as you continue to review games you'll be appreciated. At RPGnet we even have an easy way for people to see what reviews you’ve written thanks to the "XP" system.
Many people are drawn because they want free books and other product. Here there is good and bad news. The good news is that you'll get all kinds of free product, possibly even books from your favorite publisher before they’ve even been released! The bad news is that you'll have to earn it, and even if you're an efficient reviewer you’re unlikely to make more than $2 an hour or so on reviewing RPGs.
By and large, RPG reviewers do it for all of these things. They get community recognition, a sense of contributing to sites they love and helping others, and new books to add to their collection. It's a fun hobby. You'll find yourself making contacts in the industry, building friendships, and spending less and less money on actually buying books.
What Else Do I Need To Know?
You need to recognize that review writing is often a time intensive hobby. Some reviewers will write short, to the point reviews and avoid using formatting in order to get it done quickly. Most dedicated reviewers, however, provide comprehensive reviews that include formatting and editing to make the review easy to read. It's not unusual for this to take several hours, even approaching 6 to 10 hours of writing and editing for lengthy, in-depth reviews. Your own style may vary, but recognize that it does take time in addition to thoroughly reading a product.
Be aware that you will receive criticism during the course of writing reviews. Gamers are an opinionated lot, and more than a few folk will criticize the award you assign the product, your reasoning, taste, and just about anything else you care to write down. This is a good thing, as it means your review is generating discussion of the product.
How Do I Write A Review?
Everyone has their own unique voice and style that works well for them, so please consider this (and the rest of this article) to simply be a series of suggestions on what has worked well for me and what I recommend.
You need to begin by identifying your goal in product reviews. While all product reviews contain subjective elements, it's easy to imagine them on a continuum from entirely subjective at one end to the fabled entirely objective at the other. If your goal is to write pieces to entertain, without a strong interest in long term reviewing for profit, then I recommend coloring your reviews more towards the subjective side. Snarky language, off beat humor, and other elements will win you fans while also helping people decide on a product.
If your goal is to write pieces solely to inform, perhaps with an eye towards acquiring free product, then I recommend coloring your reviews more towards the objective side. Clear, pleasant description will make it easier for readers to size up a product. The best reviews incorporate elements of both of these styles. They're fun to read and present the reviewer's opinions, but make sure to include a thorough analysis of the product for readers who don’t necessarily agree with their tastes.
Dan Davenport, a well respected reviewer, had this to say on the topic: "[A]lways keep in mind that 'I don't like it' does not mean 'the product is bad'.
Do your best to establish what the product seeks to accomplish and attempt to judge it on that basis. It may well be that someone with your particular tastes is not in the game's target market. Try to figure out what sort of gamer is the intended target and whether s/he would like the product."
Unless you're writing purely for fun, I recommend trying to remain positive. This doesn't mean not being critical, you want to be critical. If a part of a product is bad, let your audience know, but refrain from insulting the author. You're praising or trashing someone's pride and joy, so try to have a little sympathy for that person. Many authors enjoy reading critical reviews of their works, because it helps them improve. No author enjoys reading a rant, no matter how accurate it is.
Always remember that you have a lot of examples right there in front of you. Read reviews and ask yourself what worked for you and what didn't. Look at the comments other users have left for those reviews. Do the criticisms make sense to you? Is there something you can do that that reviewer didn't?
Be sure to write your review in a text editor and then copy it to the website. This makes it easier to stop writing a review and come back to it later. Consider creating a form or template to work from when writing a review in order to save time and create your own signature style. Some readers may notice that a bunch of reviews they like look the same before they notice they were written by the same author, so this can be very helpful in establishing an identity as a reviewer.
Finally, try to make your work readable. Be sure to use simple formatting where you can, adding in topic headers, bolding, italics, and anything else that makes your review easy to work with. Be sure to explain any special terms you're using. Some authors love to add special words to their products, so you need to either clearly define these up front or ignore them and instead use plain language. A lot of your audience may not speak English as their first language, so strive for clear communication over complex wordplay when you can.
What Should I Review? Do People Read Reviews Of Older Games?
You should review whatever you think would be fun to review! People do indeed read reviews of older games, and thanks to online merchants there is still a thriving business in buying and selling games now out of print. One thing to consider when reviewing an older game is whether you'll be applying contemporary standards to that product. On the one hand, customers are presumably buying older games to play them today and will want to know how they compare to similar fare on the market now. On the other, many readers may be interested in the historical aspect of the game and how it performed at the time it was released.
Even if a product already has several reviews, I encourage you to submit another. Many consumers read as many reviews as they can before picking up a new product, and some people just read reviews because they enjoy thinking about games. Publishers are always happy to have another game review posted.
Capsule Reviews And Playtest Reviews
Capsule Reviews don't take any actual play experiences into account. The reader has either only read the RPG, or has chosen not to discuss how the game handled in play. Playtest reviews are reviews of games the person has played. It differs from person to person how much play is sufficient for a playtest review. Some people believe that a single session is enough for a playtest review while others expect 5 sessions, 10 sessions, or even an entire campaign.
If you choose to write a Playtest review, please be sure to discuss how the game handled in play. Many readers want to hear snippets from games, discussions of mechanics that really helped or hindered the game, and other information that can only be gleaned from these reviews.
How Does Free Product Work?
So you're in it for the free stuff, eh? There's nothing wrong with that, we all enjoy the complimentary review copies authors and publishers grace us with. You probably don't quite know how to go about getting the goods though, so let me help.
First, you need to establish an online presence sufficient that the publisher will trust you enough to send you a review copy. Many publishers have been burned by "reviewers" who never delivered on their promises, and others are simply skeptical and want to make sure they're supporting someone who will hold up their end of the bargain. While every publisher is different, here are a few tips to getting your foot in the door.
Do: write some reviews of products on your own before looking for free copies. You'll want to have something to show the publisher to reassure them that you're a reviewer, can communicate clearly, and are really interested in reviewing their product. There is no set number of reviews you need to have before asking. I waited until I had over 25, some other reviewers have told me they started receiving review copies after 10 reviews. For PDF copies the bar may even be lower.
Do: be polite when sending your email. Introduce yourself, provide links to your best reviews, and otherwise try to sell yourself. I recommend providing a time table for the review, telling the publisher when you think you'll be able to submit the review. Many publishers will ask for an estimate anyway, so this just makes you look more organized. Promise to provide a link to the review when it goes up for the same reason, most publishers will ask for it and it looks good.
Do: follow up with the publisher after submitting the review. Be sure to thank them for the review copy.
Do: listen to feedback on your reviews. Review writing is as much a craft as anything else, and it can be improved with practice.
Do: recognize that reputation is very important for reviewers. If you maintain a good relationship you'll have publishers coming to you for reviews, and that's a lot of fun. Word of mouth, especially in the small press community, will lead to many more opportunities for you to do comped reviews.
Do: note the number of reviews you have written and the companies you have done comped reviews for in the past. It suggests reliability and may result in someone reading your pitch when they otherwise would have deleted the email. You really just need an approximate number and a few example companies, but I think it's a worthwhile addition.
Do Not: assume that PDF publishers care less about your pitch just because you're receiving a PDF. Treat them the same as a print publisher and treat the PDF review copy as being as valuable as a print product.
Do Not: assume that a publisher who has not responded to an email is ignoring you or giving you the cold shoulder. Sometimes they are, but often there are other reasons they aren't responding. The two big ones are: 1. You didn't contact the right person. 2. The person you contacted is very busy, or just bad at returning emails. It's possible you’ll receive an enthusiastic "Yes!" one or two months after sending in a request. Be patient.
Do Not: get into a nasty argument over your review in a public forum. State your views clearly, argue with folk if you must, but try to be friendly if you can. You're not helping yourself or the publisher by coming across as aggressive or mean while defending a product. You want to have a positive reputation as a reviewer, so keep that in mind.
Note: "comped" means a complementary copy, also known as a review copy. When requesting comped copies I recommend saying "review copy" for the sake of clarity. If you do not want a PDF version then I recommend saying “print review copy.”
Who Do I Talk To?
It's all well and good to talk about getting complimentary copies, but who should you talk with? Generally you want to contact either the author or the publisher of a book you want to review. If the publisher is particularly large I recommend contacting them first. You may be able to develop a relationship with someone there over time, demonstrating your dependability, and get a lot more review work than you would have from contacting the author.
While it's usually not too hard to contact an author, finding the right person working for a publisher can be difficult. Sometimes an email you send may even be received by someone who has no authority to deal with it, doesn't think the correct person would want it, or just doesn't care about it. Because of this, it's important to identify the right party from the start. Usually, you want to contact whoever is in charge of marketing, as getting reviews of an RPG is a marketing effort. Where that's unclear I recommend contacting the highest level person you think is reasonable (often the President for small companies).
Finally, keep in mind that you have a group of helpful friends you don’t even know about – other reviewers. Find a reviewer who has reviewed complimentary products for the company you want to contact and drop them an email. I have had very positive results doing this, quite possibly because other reviewers realize how difficult it can be to just find out who you need to talk to.
Problems Reviewers Face
You will eventually write a review that a publisher hates. Don't panic! Many publishers are happy to have good and negative reviews, as both types bring attention to their product and result in sales. Publishers are especially likely to accept a negative review as long as you're fair about it.
Nevertheless, there are some publishers that won't be happy with you no matter how reasonable the review is. When this happens remember to be polite but to stand your group. Don't let someone intimidate you if you think your review is well founded – the worst that can happen is that one publisher won't send you any more books. That's a much better outcome than undermining your own integrity, which will result in much more serious problems for you over time.
You may find yourself with so many review copies that you're not sure you’ll be able to get them all done. Congratulations, this is a great problem to have! If you really have bitten off more than you can chew, be sure to individually contact the people who have sent you review copies and let them know. Assuring them that you're reviewing the products as quickly as you can, and will get around to theirs eventually, makes you look good and removes any concerns they may have had. I recommend only doing this when it's obvious you can't meet a deadline (or if you don't provide general deadlines, when a significant time has passed).
You may find that you simply don't want to review a product after having requested it, whether it's due to loss of time or just unhappiness with the product. In that case, you need to contact the person who sent you the book. Just sending the book back may be sufficient, but this is something you'll have to work out on an individual basis.
Establishment – How To Build A Reputation
The unfortunate fact of the matter is that even after you've reviewed a hundred products, very few people will be aware you exist. This is a problem for any reviewer, as it means you have to keep approaching publishers as an unknown. Fortunately, you can take a few steps to help alleviate this and build a reputation.
First of all, respond to comments on your reviews. Be active, encourage people to talk about the game in your product review, and try to respond to any praise or criticism appropriately. Many forum goers (which includes publishers) will notice you more when you’re participating in a review thread.
Be vocal about reviewing RPGs. If someone's uncertain on buying a game, offer them a helpful link to your review of that game. Put a link to your reviews, or even your most recent reviews, in your signature at the forums you enjoy. I have even emailed authors and thanked them for linking my reviews and including my name, as it helps me as much as it does them.
Finally, if you really want to build reputation then consider reviewing games that folk have a lot of interest in. More popular games will simply result in more exposure for you, especially if you provide a detailed review shortly after the game's release. I have had great experiences reviewing smaller supplements and the like, and I recommend reviewing a variety of products, but if you really want to grow a reputation then this is one way to do it.
Hey, will you review my book?
I have really enjoyed reviewing books and look forward to continuing to develop my skills. I've made friends, been exposed to a much broader variety of RPGs, and gotten a lot of fun out of this hobby. I just can't recommend it enough. Whether you want to write a single review or establish yourself as a skilled RPG reviewer in the community, know that your efforts will be appreciated by all the people your reviews help over the years.
