Ughh… just listening to this episode gave me a headache.

Luckily I don’t plan on ever publishing anything, too much work involved that has nothing to do with the creative process between LLCs, contracts, all the accounting, legal issues, etc…

Good episode for folks who do plan on it though

I see this series serving one of three purposes, depending on who you are…

1. If you’re starry eyed, they should bring you back to reality regarding the hard work and complexity of making a good product.

2. If you’re already well-grounded, hopefully you’ll find some good tips for moving forward.

3. If you have no interest in putting out a product of any kind, you might gain a new appreciation for the herculean task undertaken by those that do.

More like, “There can be only FUN.”

By the way, Dan, I still get a server error when trying to put my URL in the “Website” box. Did you ever get my email? I used the blog’s “Contact us” form, although perhaps I should have used you at feartheboot.com

Just found the problem!

It’s actually not an error on our website, per se. Your blog apparently allows for OpenID validation. So when you post, my server is trying to run the OpenID credentials past your blog. It’s failing, causing my server to choke on the post.

I’ve temporarily disabled OpenID integration on our side, so our site won’t even attempt it anymore. I did a test post using your info, and it went through just fine now.

As another thought, when you post, does the email address you provide to our site match the one your Blogspot site is registered under? That could also be causing the problem if Blogspot thinks you should be x@x.com, but you’re listing the post as coming from y@y.com.

Thanks Dan. Silly Google, not playing well with others.

The Blogspot account is definitely linked to the Gmail account (they were merged quite a while back). I couldn’t possibly tell you where the problem is, though.

I really enjoyed this episode. Listening to it while doing tedious lab work really helped me along.

One thing that struck me while listening to this was the similarities between the editing process that you recommend and the peer-review process that I am familiar with. I have been writing papers for publication in archaeology journals, and the comments that I get from peer-review are very similar to the sort of feedback that you suggest that would-be RPG writers look out for. I think that you are correct that someone who is working on getting something published does need to separate the grain from the chafe, but they also need to look for a third category of comments, one that I have been having to deal with: valid criticisms that it is impractical to incorporate into the finished product. They may ultimately be impractical because it would create a new problem, or because resources aren’t available to deal with them, or for some other reason, but these types of criticisms remain valid.

In my own work, I simply have to admit to these, and explain why they weren’t incorporated, but I would wonder how someone working on an RPG would deal with them.

Glad to hear you enjoyed the ep, Anthro! Your point about the third type of editing is a good one. Wish I’d have thought about that on the show. But that’s what the blog comments are for: you guys completing the story with the stuff we missed.

On a side note, as I was saying on the forums, this series was intended as a sort of fly-by on what goes into publication. Based on the feedback we get, we could take any of the eight major points and turn them into a series of their own. We’re already looking at doing that with at least point.

People have often asked me why I don’t publish my Savage Earth setting. This is why. I have no illusions about the work involved. It’s pretty much the same reason I have never done a webcomic.