Chat Transcript: Steve Winter

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If you missed it (insert harsh admonishment here if you did), last night at 6:00 PM PDT Steve Winter stopped in chat and took our questions for an hour.  He even hung out a little bit afterwards with us.  We all had a lot of fun.  For those of you who weren’t there, what follows is the transcript of the event.

Thanks to DeusInnomen, Brent Newhall, Valthonis, and Sarah Darkmagic for running this. You guys did a great job!

Thanks to AsmodeusLore for kicking this off!

Chat with Steve Winter

[20:07] <@DeusInnomen> I’d like to thank all of you for taking time out tonight to join us for this next hour with Steve Winter.

[20:07] <@DeusInnomen> I know this is pretty late for a lot of you European folks (and beyond), so your presence here means a lot!
[20:08] <@DeusInnomen> First off, I’ll hand the mic over to Steve and let him introduce himself.
[20:09] <+WotC_Huscarl> Well, I’ll begin by stating that if you’re staying up past your bedtime in Europe for this, you’d probably be further ahead getting a good night’s sleep.
[20:09] <+WotC_Huscarl> I’m not sure what people know or don’t know …
[20:10] <+WotC_Huscarl> Started working at TSR in 1981 as an editor, and since then I’ve held just about every job there is related to publishing D&D.
[20:10] <+WotC_Huscarl> Most recently as eic of Dragon and Dungeon, and now as D&D community manager.
[20:11] <+WotC_Huscarl> That’s about all that’s worth knowing.

[20:12] <@DeusInnomen> twwombat asks: Since you’re a 30-year veteran in the RPG industry, can we get an overview of what your experience has been like? How was working for TSR different than Wizards different than Wizards-under-Hasbro?
[20:12] <+WotC_Huscarl> From the POV of working for a company, Wizards and TSR are completely different.
[20:13] <+WotC_Huscarl> In the early 80s, at TSR, we knew that we had a tiger by the tail …
[20:14] <+WotC_Huscarl> but it wasn’t perfectly clear just what sort of tiger it was.
[20:14] <+WotC_Huscarl> We were inventing everything as we went along. It was a brand new industry, and while I don’t want to imply that we didn’t take it seriously …
[20:15] <+WotC_Huscarl> we had a pretty light-hearted, “well, this can’t last forever” sort of attitude.
[20:15] <+WotC_Huscarl> 30 years later, it’s beginning to look like maybe it can last forever.
[20:16] <+WotC_Huscarl> D&D is a mature industry now, and the people who produce it are a lot more … again, serious is the wrong word …
[20:17] <+WotC_Huscarl> but we never had spreadsheets showing the mathematical breakdowns of all the game’s numbers hanging on the walls in Lake Geneva.
[20:18] <+WotC_Huscarl> The people in R&D these days are much better _game designers_.

[20:19] <@DeusInnomen> Moving on, mudbunny asks: What was the biggest challenge in changing the submission procedures for Dungeon/Dragon?
[20:20] <+WotC_Huscarl> It was spurred by two factors.
[20:21] <+WotC_Huscarl> The first is that it’s just easier to deal with all of that material when you can really set everything else aside and devote yourself to it.
[20:22] <+WotC_Huscarl> (errata — I’m going to mention three factors.)
[20:22] <+WotC_Huscarl> The second is that it’s sometimes hard to judge what’s best when you’re looking at submissions in a steady stream.
[20:23] <+WotC_Huscarl> For example, if I get a proposal for an article on super-intelligent flying dogs, I might think that’s the greatest idea ever and snap it up.
[20:24] <+WotC_Huscarl> But then, 3 weeks later, I get a very similar proposal, only this one’s on super-intelligent flying dogs with guns, and I like it even better.
[20:25] <+WotC_Huscarl> If we look at 5 months’ worth of proposals all at the same time, it’s much easier to sift through the similar ideas and pick the best one.
[20:26] <+WotC_Huscarl> Finally, Dragon and Dungeon are in an unprecedented position right now.
[20:26] <+WotC_Huscarl> They’ve never before been as closely wedded to the R&D department and the mainline product schedule as they are now, or are becoming.
[20:28] <+WotC_Huscarl> That means there’s a lot more planning going on,
[20:28] <+WotC_Huscarl> and there’s going to be more competition for top-level freelance writers as a result.
[20:29] <+WotC_Huscarl> Which, again, is a reason for needing a wider lens when selecting which articles to purchase.

[20:30] <@DeusInnomen> I’ve got a short question for you next. EricMPaq asks: For the Creature Competition, can those outside of the US submit their entry and participate even if they cannot win the prize?
[20:31] <+WotC_Huscarl> Bart Carroll is the guy who could really answer that. I suspect that the restriction is a legal thing. My best guess is no.

[20:31] <@DeusInnomen> Jeff Greiner asks: Do the changes to the submission process mean there will be fewer opportunities for new contributors since they can only submit twice a year but regulars have a “direct line” when they have an idea?
[20:32] <+WotC_Huscarl> Regulars always had a direct line, so nothing’s changed in that regard.
[20:33] <+WotC_Huscarl> What has changed is that, because of the closer ties between the magazines and R&D, fewer article slots are left open for over-the-transom submissions.
[20:33] <+WotC_Huscarl> It’s not a big change in the number, but it is a change.
[20:34] <+WotC_Huscarl> In the past, one of the best services that Dragon and Dungeon gave to R&D was finding new talent.
[20:36] <+WotC_Huscarl> That focus has now shifted slightly, to being another channel for official output, so yes, the window for unsolicited manuscripts has narrowed somewhat.
[20:37] <+WotC_Huscarl> The magazines always were ‘channels for official output’, of course, but the linkage is now closer.

[20:37] <@DeusInnomen> The next question comes from several folks, SarahDarkmagic and myself included, but we’ll go with twwombat’s wording: What’s the one piece of advice you would give a designer/writer submitting something to Dragon or Dungeon? Has that advice changed at all over your career?
[20:38] <+WotC_Huscarl> I suppose it’s changed a little bit, if only because the needs of D&D players and DMs have changed.
[20:39] <+WotC_Huscarl> But ultimately, the advice is the same as for any writer. If you want to get published, you must WRITE and you must SUBMIT.
[20:39] <+WotC_Huscarl> Here’s a secret:
[20:40] <+WotC_Huscarl> When I read an article proposal, the quality of the idea is the first thing I consider, but it’s not always the main thing.
[20:41] <+WotC_Huscarl> I’m also deconstructing your email, because we don’t just need idea-men.
[20:41] <+WotC_Huscarl> We need people who can write.
[20:41] <+WotC_Huscarl> The best idea ever runs the risk of getting scotched if it comes in a poorly-written letter.
[20:42] <+WotC_Huscarl> OTOH, a well-written letter might get a positive response even if we don’t especially care for the proposals it presents.
[20:43] <+WotC_Huscarl> Quite a few times, I’ve responded to submissions with a note stating something along the lines of, “I don’t like any of these, but I like the way you write, so send more.”
[20:44] <+WotC_Huscarl> So, in short, the advice is, edit and proofread your emails as if they were resumes and cover letters, because that’s what they are.

[20:44] <@DeusInnomen> Excellent. Our next question comes from JaredvonHindman. He asks: TSR did a lot of experimentation with other brands in the mid 1980′s and beyond. As someone who was there the whole time, when did a company like TSR decide something did or did not work? (Like the Color-Code battle graphs seen in the Marvel Game+Gamma World or Tom Wham’s Great Khan Game)
[20:46] <+WotC_Huscarl> Sometimes it’s obvious. When you have a warehouse full of something, it’s safe to assume that thing didn’t work.
[20:46] <+WotC_Huscarl> Basically, though, we did a lot of playtesting.
[20:47] <+WotC_Huscarl> Really, we were designing things mainly for ourselves.
[20:47] <+WotC_Huscarl> We figured that when we and our friends and playtesters loved it, then we’d gotten it right.
[20:48] <+WotC_Huscarl> There were very few instances of putting something into a product because someone in Marketing thought we should.
[20:48] <+WotC_Huscarl> TSR didn’t even have a Marketing department for a long time.
[20:49] <+WotC_Huscarl> It probably should have.

[20:49] <@DeusInnomen> Next up, mudbunny asks: Has the RPG industry as a whole embraced digital technologies as much as they should, or not enough?
[20:50] <+WotC_Huscarl> That’s a good question.
[20:51] <+WotC_Huscarl> I think that phrasing it in terms of “as much as” might be going in the wrong direction.
[20:51] <+WotC_Huscarl> A better approach would be to ask whether the RPG industry has embraced digital technology in a productive way.
[20:52] <+WotC_Huscarl> On one hand, PDF publishing has been tremendous for RPGs.
[20:53] <+WotC_Huscarl> Sites like DriveThru and IndieRPGs are some of my favorites. Paperless publishing has opened up the world to people with tons of creativity and not much startup cash.
[20:54] <+WotC_Huscarl> And roleplayers have taken to online forums like spaghetti sauce to a new white shirt.
[20:55] <+WotC_Huscarl> But when it comes to actually playing an RPG, there’s no substitute to sitting around the table with your friends.
[20:56] <+WotC_Huscarl> Virtual gaming tables are very cool — I love ‘em — but they’re still 2nd choice to F2F.
[20:57] <+WotC_Huscarl> Blogs are a great development for gaming. There are so many good RPG blogs out there that I can’t keep up with them, and keeping up with them is part of my job, sort of.
[20:58] <+WotC_Huscarl> But things like the D&D Character Builder and Compendium — I think we’re just scratching the surface of those.
[20:59] <+WotC_Huscarl> That’s a huge question for all of publishing, not just D&D. No one knows where that road leads.
[21:00] <+WotC_Huscarl> I think WotC is actually in the vanguard there, and plenty of eyes in the larger publishing world (not just RPGs) are on us to see how things develop.

[21:01] <@DeusInnomen> Okay, we’re getting near the end of our hour, so I’ll finish up this round with a question from EricMPaq. He asks: What is your favourite experience you’ve had for working in the industry?
[21:01] <+WotC_Huscarl> Oh, man.
[21:01] <+WotC_Huscarl> It’s been a great 30-year ride.
[21:01] <+WotC_Huscarl> Here’s one that just happened a couple of weekends ago, at the North Texas RPG Con in Dallas.
[21:02] <+WotC_Huscarl> My old mentor from TSR, Jim Ward, was there.
[21:02] <+WotC_Huscarl> A bunch of people went out to dinner, and of course, everyone was sitting around the table talking about D&D.
[21:02] <+WotC_Huscarl> The waiter asked if we were all D&D players.
[21:03] <+WotC_Huscarl> Everyone started telling him about the con and that he should show up.
[21:03] <+WotC_Huscarl> He said he was never much of a D&D player, but years ago he’d been nuts about a game called Metamorphosis Alpha.
[21:04] <+WotC_Huscarl> When everyone pointed out to him that a guy sitting right there in front of him had designed that game, he went nuts.
[21:04] <+WotC_Huscarl> Most of my favorite moments are like that — when we see how our little game has rippled through society and become a cultural touchstone for millions of people.

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