So what has been going on?
In short: stuff.
The long version:
A couple of years ago (it seems strange to call it that, but there we are) I was
asked to write a column for the on-line version of Red Rahm's Space
Gamer/Fantasy Gamer magazine. Those of you who may have followed me over and
read some of my columns must understand that it didn't take up a huge amount of
time. I can only hope the longer, better written articles I posted were worth
Red's effort and your time and money. It was a fun gig, and I more than
appreciate the opportunity but as they say, "all good things must come to an
end". After a few months, Red moved on to other projects. I don't begrudge him
at all, and I'll thank him to the end of my days for the opportunity to write
for pay. Red, if you're reading this, don't kid yourself: there were months when
what you paid me made the difference between groceries and no groceries.
That wasn't the only writing opportunity that came along, unfortunately. Yes, I
said unfortunately. The next part of this tale is one of frustration, both
personally and for the first edition AD&D hobby as a whole. It was brought to my
attention that a certain publisher (who will remain nameless - but it wasn't
Wizards of the Coast, I can tell you) was actually considering publishing
material for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, first edition. I was really interested
when I heard this, for a couple of reasons. Firstly, and most importantly, I was
interested because I wanted to see the hobby grow again. I wanted to be able to
point people to a resource other than the various e-stores selling .PDF files
for AD&D material. I was also interested in getting in on the ground floor and
getting some of my work published.
I contacted the parties who had made the announcement and offered, as my
"portfolio", the two (at the time) modules I had posted on-line. The response
was positive but guarded: they liked what they saw, but the word count was low.
That was understandable; if someone's going to spend ten to twelve bucks on a
gaming product they'll want as much as they can get for their money. I asked the
prospective publisher if I could send him a fifteen-thousand word manuscript I
needed to do a little polishing on. The response was positive, so I had my task
before me. I spent most of the weekend working on the notes and text, and got
them to the erstwhile publisher.
The feedback was good. They liked what I'd shown them, and wanted to press
ahead. So there was some back and forth about how the module was to be
published, what percentage I would be paid and so on. The dialogue went back and
forth from late August of '03 until December of '03. Then I had the bomb dropped
on me: while specifics could not be given, due to legal concerns with Wizards of
the Coast, no 1st edition products could be considered. I asked about an Open
Gaming License version, all 1st edition up front with a conversion sheet in the
back, but was rebuffed. What could and could not be done with this project was
on a need to know basis and I did not "need" to know. The offer was extended,
however, that if I liked I could do some editing work that had been farmed out
to them by another RPG company for 3e products.
I thought about it long and hard. It was 3rd edition (or 3.5e or whatever the
sheep who play that game call it), yes, but it was a paycheck. And there's a
difference between selling out and cashing in. So I took the offer and waited.
And waited, and waited and waited. Finally, I emailed my "contact" to find out
what, if anything, had come of this "project". I was told that nothing official
regarding my involvement had been decided by anyone, but if I wanted, my
"contact" would put in a good word for me with the company doing the "farming
out".
I was pretty disappointed in this, and quietly acrimonious. A "do you want a
job" had become "we'll put in a good word for you". But that's the way the world
works, right?
Dear reader, if you're still with me, press on. It gets better.
Some unrelated highs and lows in my own personal gaming had put me in a funk. I
spoke at length to a friend who by coincidence had friends in the "third party"
who had (allegedly) looking for editorial work. When I spoke about the
opportunity that had been wrecked by Wizards of the Coast and how the
contracting third party had never contacted me, I received a rude awakening.
It seems that the original company I'd solicited my work to had been trying to
make an end-run against this "third party" by beating them to the punch
regarding the release of a new 1st edition product. I had unknowingly been
dragged in as a proxy, my work mentioned to this "third party" as a "new author"
who was going to be writing 1st edition AD&D modules, and generally used as a
foil against some pretty good people. If I'd known, or even suspected, I'd have
dropped the matter entirely and never given it a second thought.
But people are what they are, and the RPG business world (where you, too, can
make hundreds of dollars a year as an author) is no different from any other; it
is often cut-throat where you keep your friends close and your enemies closer
still. All these events put me in a blue funk. I had no real desire to write for
a while. I took the manuscript I'd created and turned it into WGH2 Temple of the
Sun which I ran a portion of at RECON '04. I began a little preliminary work on
WGH3 (leaving that great mystery "What happened to WGH1?" persisting to this
day) and kicked around the idea for an epic-length Against the Giants-like
trilogy or quartet of modules.
In between not updating the web-page and spending way, way too much time on
dragonsfoot.org, I struck up correspondence with Lance Hawvermale, from
Necromancer Games. Lance lives in a 1e world and commutes to write in a 3e world
because it pays the bills. Again, see cashing in versus selling out. He's got
published titles to his name, and fine titles at that. Without launching in to
the how's and why's, Lance pushed and pulled and goaded me in to trying my hand
at writing 3e again. My chief problem was that I didn't know how to write 3e. I
don't know how to balance things so that power gamers don't get their toes
stepped on, or how to min/max the bad guys so some "challenge rating" is
computed properly.
I drop monsters into a scenario, look at their hit dice and various attacks, and
turn players loose against them. Along the way there are mysteries, traps, and
puzzles laid in with the overall plot. That's how I write a module. None of this
namby-pamby catering to amateur thespians crap. Lance assured me that I should
forge ahead just like that: if the module was S1 kind of dangerous, so be it. If
it was B2 sort of chaotic, then it was. Just so long as it had a hook that would
fit it with the other adventures it was being published with and (at Lance's
suggestion) something "mystical" in it.
So I wrote. I took an idea I'd been holding on to for a while and I wrote it
just as I would an AD&D adventure. There were more than a few false starts,
places I had to go back and change (not for 3e's sake, rest assured), things I
had to do. I wasn't writing for myself any more. I had to "show my work" so to
speak. So I wrote, rewrote, revised and so on over the summer of last year.
Summer went in to Autumn. My father's ill health kept me distracted (and by no
means am I suggesting that it was a distraction in the merest sense - my dad's
illness had been mounting for a while, which was another thing that kept me from
the site), along with the duties of being the stay-home parent and trying to
work with a business partner on an in-home computer repair company. We were,
over six weeks of late summer, smashed by no less than three hurricanes
(although we personally got off very light compared to the thousands of
unfortunate folks elsewhere in the state).
But finally, on December 31st, I emailed the final manuscript to Lance. How will
such a beastly thing as a non-coddling, honest-to-god deathtrap-containing
module with merciless creatures hell bent on utterly annihilating the characters
do in a 3e marketplace? Only time will tell. Lance has coached me through this
process and assured me that I have the writing skills necessary to make a good
impression, so we'll see. Just in case, though, the work is under a pen name.
Of course, the latter part of this tale would be remiss if it didn't contain
mention of the support I've gotten from my friends and family through the whole
project. Thank you all and special thanks to Colleen (a.k.a. "Mrs. Delver") for
believing. Now as to whether or not this thing gets past the publisher...well,
let's see what the next few months hold.
FINALLY...
That brings us to the Delver's Dungeon. This web-site you're reading right now.
Now that I have my obligation to Necromancer Press fufilled, I intend to get
back on track here at the 'Dungeon. That's right, back to updates. My moratorium
on monsters (at least anything I'd invent) is still in place, but as always,
please feel free to send in any critters you'd like to see thrown in. This year
I'd like to compile the whole list into a Monster Manual-like .PDF. I've posted
both WGH2 and WGH3 in beta form; I plan on finishing those (it's just maps and
illustrations now) but of course you can grab 'em over in the e-modules section
right away if you want. WGH4 is writing as of this column, but I won't release
it until after it is played at RECON '05. WGH5 will follow in September under
the same moratorium.
The big news is that in March this site will, by the grace of the parent site of
dragonsfoot.org, gain it's own forum(s)! The biggest reason for this is that it
will force me to focus on delversdungeon rather than wasting my time surfing the
web at random and making a pest out of myself in the dragonsfoot.org forums. But
there will be more information on the forums as we draw closer to their
inception.
If you've read this far, thank you for your time and interest! Now go look at
the cool stuff elsewhere on this 'site!