Bite Me! The Gaming Guide to Lycanthropes PFRPG

[The Giamarga]

check out the kickstarter here

[Mangrum]

It's a little awkward, actually; I just finished my own set of revised lycanthrope rules.

[The Giamarga]

Well then maybe you want to contribute to it? Some pledge levels have contribution possibilities and you'd get to work with many 3pp publishers/designers old and new.. A foot in the door asf.

I believe it's the first PF product to tackle this and with that allstar cast it could become the lycanthropy reference for PF.

[Jester of the FoS]

Sounds cool but I also know Paizo is poking away at a Player Companion book called Blood of the Moon. Of course, this PDF looks significantly larger...

[Jimsolo]

As a writer, I don't know how to take this. On one hand, I recognize that Kickstarter is a great way to get feedback on a product before it's released in order to gauge interest. On the other hand, I think that getting aspiring writers to pay hundreds of dollars for the privilege of maybe getting to contribute content to the finished product is a little sick. It reminds me of those sociopathic teenagers who offer to give a bag of groceries to whichever hobo beats his friend to death. Am I way off base here?

[Gonzoron of the FoS]

On the other hand, I think that getting aspiring writers to pay hundreds of dollars for the privilege of maybe getting to contribute content to the finished product is a little sick. It reminds me of those sociopathic teenagers who offer to give a bag of groceries to whichever hobo beats his friend to death. Am I way off base here?

Well, it's a bit of stretch from paying to put your text in a RPG PDF to contracting for a violent murder, but I see what you're getting at. It reminds me more of the scammy "vanity press" publishers that milk wannabe authors to get their books "published" in limited print runs that will end up collecting dust in a garage.

[The Giamarga]

Contribution at different pledge levels has been done since the early days of Open Design. (And where a lot more expensive then but Wolfgang Baur also is a veteran professional designer). Think of it as a smalltime tutoring programme. Many of the currently established designers started out on these.

Also I think that the prices are mostly fitting for the books you get at the levels. (Small print runs are costly)
Ability to contribute is just an extra...

[Jimsolo]

Well, it's a bit of stretch from paying to put your text in a RPG PDF to contracting for a violent murder, but I see what you're getting at. It reminds me more of the scammy "vanity press" publishers that milk wannabe authors to get their books "published" in limited print runs that will end up collecting dust in a garage.

Lol, alright, I'll give you that.

As a struggling writer, this really irks me. I'm trying not to over-react, but I had no idea that Paizo did this. It's enough that I'm considering not supporting them financially anymore. Breaking into writing, especially when the market is more limited (like it is in, for example, game design) is difficult enough already without one of the larger and more reputable publishers making the writers pay the publisher for the privilege of just considering their work.

Giamarga - I don't really follow you on the "smalltime tutoring programme." I don't know any tutoring programme like this. But I'm willing to bet one of my limbs that every single one of these backers who have pledged $35 or more either A) has skin in the game already, or is B) gambling on the possibility of being able to contribute, rather than for any copy of the book they may be receiving.

If this was some back-alley game company that really needed the money just to be able to get the project off the ground, it would be one thing. But Paizo already has the money to do this project. The only reason to run this Kickstarter program is to be certain of a reasonable amount of success. Taking advantage of aspiring writers on top of that is not only unnecessary, it's wrong.

[Mangrum]

Paizo isn't doing Bite Me! They have an entirely separate sourcebook (likely titled Blood of the Moon) in the works.

[Jimsolo]

Ah. My bad. You are indeed correct. (The Pathfinder logo confused me, sorry.) Very well, I will continue to support Paizo. (Good! I like their products!)

Nevertheless, still seems like a shysty business practice.

[MichaelTumey]

Well consider that many of the current base of freelancers working for Rite Publishing for example started as contributors to inhouse patronage projects like Kickstarter. It's not a goal to acquire freelance writers who pay for the priveledge, rather those fans that are both enthusiastically supporting a game project they want, as well as the opportunity to get to write some of the content. Proving to a publisher that a given freelancer can create good work, on time, while within the constraints of a paid for patronage publication is a good way to get your foot into the door as a recognized writer.

Consider that Matt Banach who is slotted to write a novel set in the Dreamscape of Coleseum Morpheuon, a current Rite Publishing Kickstarter project, who began his career as a participant in the inhouse patronage that paid for Coleseum Morpheuon in the first place. He had proven to be such an excellent and creative author, that now Rite Publishing is using Kickstarter to publish a novel by the same person.

It might not be the ideal method for every freelancer to get work in the industry, but it is an opportunity for some.