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In the "real world" of freelancing, one of the methods of maximizing your
productive work time is to ensure you get the greatest result from your
research time. Say you research an article on the ecological damage caused
by the building of the Three Gorges Dam in China. The good freelancer can
use part of that research to write a second article on how dams affect
different ecologies around the world, write another article about the social
ramifications of the Three Gorges Dam, and yet another article concerning
the loss of the archeological sites covered by the lake the dam creates.
Writing four articles from the same research is a huge benefit. Let's say
that you spent 40 hours of research for that first article and then spent 10
hours in the writing, market research and other needs. If you sell that
article to Onearth Magazine for $1,500, you've earned $30 an hour. If you
begin your research over again each time you write an article, your rate
stays the same. If, on the other hand, you write additional articles from
the same research, you earn another $1,500 from only 10 hours of work, thus
earning $150 an hour. For the four articles in toto you increase your
hourly wage over the first article alone by 150%.
Writing for a single game system allows you to maximize your research
results in a similar way. While the dollar amounts are obviously smaller in
the role-playing game market than in consumer magazines, the lesson is still
the same--less research equals more productive time. In this case, however,
the research applies to time spent learning game rules well enough to write
material on a professional level. You can't do that in three or four hours.
To learn a game system, you'll read the core rulebook, make up a character
or two, and play or run at least one session. Even if you have a
spectacular ability to learn the rules, that's not enough. You have to know
what is on the market already to avoid duplicating or contradicting existing
material.
Ideally, if you're writing for a game, you've played or run at least a short
campaign--say, 6 gaming sessions of at least 4 hours' time, plus taking some
notes or doing some planning outside of the game session. It's a fair
assumption that learning a new game well enough to write gaming material
takes at least as much research as the Three Gorges Dam article--40 hours or
more, depending on how much existing material you need to learn.
All of which supports the learning fewer game systems but doesn't suggest
which game system you should learn.
D20 is ubiquitous. A quick and informal check of the last 60 or so open
calls on various RPG forums indicates that at least half of the open calls
ask for D20 writers. Distribution receiving lists similarly indicate that a
commensurate percentage of products being released use the D20 system or one
of its variations (the most common being D20 Future). By writing for the
D20 system, you extend your reach to a commanding percentage of the
role-playing game market with a minimum of effort.
Furthermore, multiple publishers use the D20 system. If one publisher
doesn't like your work, you can try elsewhere. On the other hand, if Steve
Jackson doesn't like your GURPS material, you're out of luck. If Steve
Jackson Games approves a proposal but rejects a full book manuscript, you
lose months of work.
If you had written that work as a D20 project you might be able to sell it
as is to another market, or at least salvage it by revising it for a
different setting. Spending a week or two in revision is far preferable to
letting your work languish unpublished in a drawer. Thus, writing for the
D20 system limits your risk.
D20 might not be your favorite game system in which to play, but it's the
best business choice for freelancers.
Lloyd Brown
www.lloydwrites.com |
