About The RPG Business

Cross-posted from Mark Gedak's blog.

FYI, the quote Mark attributes to "One of the people I volunteer with" was said by me.

I think my biggest problem with the new move by EN World, as a fan (as a publisher, it's completely different), is that it has broken down the boundary of what EN World had set itself to be: THE site for d20 news on the internet. This is not the case anymore, and I lament that. I see many people say that nothing has changed, that people are reading too much into things, but I think that this is being naive. Though there has always been a business aspect to EN World, one I fully understand since it needs to keep itself afloat, I could count on this site to inform me with a fair amount of impartiality. Yes I understand that no thing is 100% unbiased, but this was pretty close to it, and that's now gone. Though I will still frequent EN World, I can't help but now take everything with a healthy dose of salt.

One of the weirdest realities I had to face once I began Highmoon Media Productions was that, while this is my hobby, this is also a business now, and that means loosing some of the fun, some of the magic, though to what extent is up to me. As I told a potential partner a couple days ago, fun is very much a part of the equation to me. If I am not having fun with my business, then that's it. Money is not everything, and I live by that statement.

And to answer two specific concerns:

When I revise and develop material with Daniel am I a) working with Daniel or b) working for Daniel?

Though my first instinct is to say both, it's really (a). Even in the project you are developing for HMP, it's really a joint effort (though you are really doing 99.9% of the work). If I were paying you to develop the project for me and that's all, then you would be working for me, but the way we are working, we both have a vested interest in the project, from development until it goes on sale, so "with Daniel" is correct.

I shudder at the thought of my name appearing on a business plan as a resource or asset.

As far as this is concerned, at least with me, that will never be the case.