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Tag: Open Gaming Store
PRESS RELEASE – Update Your Favorite SRD for Fun & Profit!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
UPDATE YOUR FAVORITE SRDs FOR FUN & PROFIT!
Transcribe OGL Content for the Open Gaming Network
Interested in being paid to add Open Game License (OGL) content to the Open Gaming Network’s SRD sites? The Open Gaming Network is looking for transcribers to copy OGL content onto our SRD (System Reference Documents) sites. You’ll pick your favorite OGL system, such as 5e, Pathfinder, Traveller, and many more, then select from a list of products that need to be uploaded. In exchange for updating these tabletop RPG community resources you’ll receive:
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- A PDF copy of the book that you selected from the Open Gaming Store
- Open Gaming Store credit equal to the value of the book the content came from, upon completion of adding said content
Owen KC Stephens [Starfinder Design Lead at Paizo Inc. and Founder, Lead Developer at Rogue Genius Games] shared these thoughts about this job, “I think it’s a fine idea.” He continued, “I once had the temporary job of entering phone book names and address and numbers. It was spectacularly boring–but I could do it from my home, at my pace, on my schedule. So yeah, you can pay reliable people to do this kind of work. And it’s possible there’s a way to leverage connections to 3PP and freelancers who want exposure to get the reliable people, while also paying those folks.”
Sound good? Then go to http://account.opengamingnetwork.com/manage/editrequest, register to get a username (log in using the password “xyzzy”), then message John Reyst via the Fans of d20pfsrd.com Facebook group, or email him at help@opengamingstore.com, and he’ll work with you to choose which site and book you can add content for.
The 100% FREE reference websites making up the Open Gaming Network’s SRD sites are d20PFSRD, Starjammer SRD, 3.5e SRD, 5th Edition SRD, Swords and Wizardry SRD, Black Hack SRD, 13th Age SRD, d20HeroSRD, The Modern Path SRD, Dungeon World SRD, Traveller SRD, GumshoeSRD, FateCoreSRD, FudgeSRD as well as the Open Gaming Network, and Open Gaming Store
Additional requirements: Some HTML knowledge is useful but not required. The sites are all hosted on WordPress. We have some tools that may speed up these assignments.
What is an Open Game License (OGL)? “A royalty free copyright license [originally] developed by Wizards of the Coast.” [Taken from “Open Game License: Frequently Asked Questions Version 2.0 — January 26, 2004“] Unique OGLs have been developed by other companies to cover their original game mechanics.
What is a System Reference Documents (SRD)? “A comprehensive toolbox consisting of rules, races, classes, feats, skills, various systems, spells, magic items and monsters compatible with the d20 System version of Dungeons & Dragons and various other roleplaying games from Wizards of the Coast.” [Taken from “System Reference Document: Frequently Asked Questions“] Additional unique SRDs have been developed by other companies to cover their original game mechanics.
What is the Open Gaming Network? A family of websites owned by John Reyst that cover tabletop roleplaying game information, news, publication, and distribution/sales. Learn more here.
OPEN GAMING NEWSLETTER – Free Sandstalker (Starfinder Monster), Free Starjammer PDF, End of Year Sale, and RPG KSs You Should Back!
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Why Kickstarter RPG Vanity Press Rewards? Why Not Self-Publish?
Why am I dead set on buying role-playing game writing credits via Kickstarter? Why build a resume through paying to work for other creators? Why not, you know, self-publish my own RPG content? There are a number of options to sell third-party RPG publications: OpenGamingStore.com, DMsGuild.com, RPGNow.com, DriveThruRPG.com, Kickstarter.com (of course) and more. So why not be my own boss and dive in?
I’ve touched on my major obstacle to doing more, time. I lack it so it makes more sense, for now, to do small parts of larger, collaborative projects.
Another major concern I have is being seen. I want what I write to be read. Would I develop a following out of the stone blue?
Then there’s the one my creditors care about the most – Profitability. Would I make more publishing than I hope to make as a freelancer?
Some of the answers to those questions appear in One Year on DM’s Guild, an entry by Jacob Driscoll on his blog The Wonder Waffles. In the article, he discusses his RPG sales in 2016 on the DMsGuild.com. Well worth a full read.
Without reprinting all of Jacob’s research, here are the *edited* parts of his article that are pertinent to what I do (see his article for a fuller picture):
“Productivity (Supply)
- I’ve made a total of 16 Products […] Prices ranged from Pay What You Want (potentially free!) to $5.
- These products have had about 340 Total Sales, in all, or a raw average of about 21 sales per product.
Profitability (Demand)
- I’ve made about $250 profit for myself in royalties …
- That profit works out for me to about $2.06 per page, or, hourly, $0.50/hour. Or, by word, about three-tenths of a cent per word.
- On a per-product basis, I’m looking at an average of $16.19 profit per product. That breaks down to about $0.70 per unit …”
From the perspective of my vanity press experiment, there are some worthwhile pieces of information to be assumed from this. After buying two of Jacob’s products – People of the Eternal: Races of the Astral Plane and Hereos of the Eternal: Classes of the Astral Plane – and some Googling, Jacob has more experience in freelance RPG creation than I do. Because of his position ahead of me, his results are worth referencing as a roadmap for the road not taken.
For this comparison, the most important difference between Jacob’s path and mine is our methods. I’m hoping to buy writing assignments, do a solid job and move from being a wanna-lancer that pays to write to a freelancer that gets paid to write. Jacob is jumping right into production and profit and contacting RPG fandom without working for a third-party publisher.
That deserves emphasis. He’s making money while I’m spending it. Jacob’s generated profits ($250) equal to what I spent on my first RPG Kickstarter vanity press reward ($250). He’s WAY smarter than me.
That said, I’m experimenting and that’s worth something. Testing a hypothesis has value… right? Right? I mean, what’s, ah, what’s money?
…
I mean, other than everything… hmm… uh, <sniffle>… back to topic…
Jacob points out that, to-date, his per word pay rate (the normal measure for a RPG freelance writer) is $.003 (3/10ths of a cent) per word. While I have not jumped to paid writing gigs, many RPG publishers advertise freelancer rates of $.01 and $.02 per word and $.03 per word and $.05 per word, between three and sixteen times higher than Jacob’s current take. That said, I believe (and clearly Jacob does as well since this is the direction he’s moving) that he will grow a fanbase over the years and in the long game see more money.
In measuring his first year’s accomplishments, Jacob notes his total units sold in 2016 are 340. While that does not represent 340 individual fans, he’s been seen by a number of fans. In the article, he talks about the pricing methods he’s using to attract customers and get a greater amount of sampling. I am lockstep with him on the need for fans to see your work. It’s part of why I chose to buy onto Kickstarter projects. Because they funded, I know they were successful and that any work I do will get eyes on it. As an example, my short (few hundred words) location seed in Sasquatch Game Studio’s Primeval Thule for 5e was seen by at least 850 RPG fans. No one bought it because of what I wrote they bought it for the genius of what Sasquatch Games created. In that amazing campaign setting, the fans got to see what I added and, I hope, will look favorably on trying my future freelancer work because of it.
If Jacob is bringing in a check and building a fanbase and establishing himself, why don’t I? Why am I not going Jacob’s route?
It’s still time. He’s putting in an estimated 10 hours a week. I have difficulty being certain I’ll have that week after week. But also there’s the exposure. I believe that saying I worked on X projects is more likely to turn heads and generate interest in future works. Then there’s the money. In the near-term, freelancer work has the potential to pay more. In the end, there’s my experiment. I think that there is value in a story. Saying you bought your way into your job, well, that’s a story worth telling.
Thanks to Jacob Driscoll for writing his article and John McGuire for pointing it out to me.
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Egg Embry, Wanna-lancer
Egg Embry wrote comic book short stories, edited comic book series, wrote and drew a webcomic, and contributed to comic book journalism across the 2000s. Now, he buys the opportunity to write for a variety of tabletop role-playing games in the tradition of vanity press. His purchases have been published by:
- Sasquatch Game Studio’s Primeval Thule for 5e (2015) available at DriveThruRPG.com
- Ember Design Studios’ Yrisa’s Nightmare for 5e and Pathfinder available at DriveThurRPG.com
- Ember Design Studios’ Rats in the Street for 5e and Pathfinder available at DriveThurRPG.com