I’m a hair’s breadth away from being done with the TTRPG Industry.

I read an article that I can’t link to or even quote because I’m not trying to start a major argument with this person. I can’t refer to the author because they work for “Company Y,” a major TTRPG producer. (not Wizards of the Coast. I’d bust WotC’s asses in a heartbeat on this one.) There’s a miniscule chance my work could potentially end up in front of this person someday. I’d rather not have the stench of my own personal vitriol hanging over my work stacking the odds even further against me.

We’ll be lucky if this article doesn’t contain a metric crapload of four and five letter words. I’m on that redline between depression and anger. I feel so absolutely sickened and disgusted by what this person wrote as “advice” on how to “break into the TTRPG industry with Company Y.” The author of this article wrote it for their blog and not the official Company Y blog.

The content and context of the article seems well-meaning enough, but there’s a catch. It’s the exact same gatekeeping thinly veiled as “advice” that we’ve been seeing since Gygax was in charge of Dungeons & Dragons. I think I still have an actual printed letter around here somewhere with the same wording (almost word-for-word) that I saw in the article that has me triggered.

Disclaimer: Statements expressed in this article are strictly my opinion. If you disagree or have a different opinion, that’s okay. I’m not an expert on everything. I’m not always right. I’m just writing from my experience as I know it. Your mileage may vary.

I think the article I read was well-meaning in its intent.

Probably? I guess? I may never know although I intend to speak with the author of said article and either come to terms with it or have one Hell of a knockdown drag-out argument off of social medial. I’m a nice guy. I’m not going to turn this into a public spectacle and burn my bridge with a large number of people and Company Y on social media.

The article starts out innocently giving a lot of first year writing advice. The standard spiel about writing about your game of choice, write lots, write some more. Polish it, edit it, make it into a portfolio. It’s the same advice I’ve given people about TTRPGs and writing in general myself. I’ve heard it for years, too.

Then there’s the bit about writing for the game you want to work for. Okay, again it’s nothing new or shocking. Learn the style and format of the company you want to work for. Nothing new there, besides starting to sound mighty familiar. Like if I wanted to write for Dragon magazine back in the day…

Then the article turns into straight-up gatekeeping.

I’m paraphrasing when I quote the article, “You’ll almost never get hired by your company of choice. You should try working with a Third Party Company doing similar work instead.”

Yeah. Sounds a lot like a professional editor telling me, “Sorry kid. Try getting published in a smaller magazine first. If you’re good, maybe we’ll take another look once you have some professional writing credits under your belt.”

Here’s the problem- the article that triggered me goes into showing this other potential employer your interests, resume, and portfolio. That’s all writing 101 again. But what sets me off is the part about, (Paraphrasing again,) “Otherwise you might be rejected. If you’re rejected rudely enough maybe you’re probably not a good fit for them.”

Okay, great. Who am I a good fit for at that point? If I’m getting rejected harshly by a third party, what hope in Hell do I have with Company Y who I did want to work for? As a Company Y editor, it might be worthy not to give that advice. Just a thought.

Then it gets even worse. This is my case in point about the damn gatekeeping. Basically, (Paraphrasing again) “If you do a good job for the third party company on two or three assignments, then you might be good enough to pitch for Company Y.” It’s like a a condescending pat on the head.

I know I’ve heard that before. Just replace Company Y with T$R. As far as I am concerned, that whole article invalidated itself right there toward the end. I won’t touch Company Y. It’s not even about money at this point.

Food for thought: Honesty.

Look, if Company Y, who the author of the article clearly works for, doesn’t want to ever hire new talent, then just say that. It sounds better to say, “We only want industry veterans” or “We’re really only looking for BIPOC and/or LGBTQIA+ design staff.” I might not love it, but at least I’d know not to waste my time trying to impress some m🦆🦆🦆🦆 🦆🦆🦆rs who clearly don’t want my old, white, balding, fat ass working for them. I would gladly accept staying away from where I’m not welcome.

It’s way better than telling people, “If you work really, really hard and get really lucky, maybe you could work for someone (for little to no payment or writing credit) who might be able to pass your name onto our big game company.”

I’m sorry. Cut the bullshit. I might have been born at night, but I wasn’t born last night. Don’t use the same bullshit speech they were handing out 40+ years ago passed off as new “advice.” You’re only impressing kids that have come along in the last five to ten years who think they might have a chance.

You forgot to mention it might be easier to start your own company publishing PDFs. You forgot to mention that the “big” companies are only really interested in hiring the Logan Bonners and Monte Cooks of the world. You should have mentioned that the deck is always stacked against new talent to the point where we all have to wonder how in the Hell anyone ever became old talent.

While I’m in Rant Mode…

You want to know how some of these guys became old talent? They knew someone at T$R back in the day. Or they started their own company before moving onto T$R. Some of them slugged it out in the industry to this day and are still just getting by from one product to the next.

Half of these guys that are going to retire as game industry veterans got where they are because of the tried and true system of who-you-know-or-who-you-blow. Sometimes it’s not even about talent. Meanwhile writers that have tried to catch a break for years have given up because they don’t know anyone already in the industry.

Blind pitches to game companies DO NOT WORK! It’s a massive waste of time in my opinion. Most of them are a very small staff trying to keep food on their own tables. The big companies operate in much the same way going with the only way they think they can maximize profit.

Then there’s the fact that we have so much rotten, stinking, old talent in the industry. The author of this very triggering article even admitted to being around for over a decade. The editors and other decision makers keep hiring the same batches of people (sometimes back and forth between the same two companies- WotC and Paizo,) for over a f🦆🦆🦆ng decade.

You know what one of the absolutely biggest problems in the TTRPG industry is today? A serious lack of new ideas, new game systems, new settings, new worlds to explore, and fresh eyes open to avoid the mistakes of prior decades! We have the same old farts making the same old mistakes that some of them have been making for the last three or four decades. Nobody calls them out on their shit because they control the industry from the top down. It’s ridiculous.

Part of the reason why WotC keeps rehashing the same old crappy D&D content that wasn’t so spectacular the first time (trademarks aside) is because no one comes up with anything new. The higher ups at WotC actually went so far as to try to shut down the OGL earlier this year as a means to gatekeep new talent. So much for working for a Third Party if they’re all shut down, right?

Parting shots.

This brings us back to the notion of “start your own company.” Screw WotC. Screw Paizo. To Hell with Kobold. Sorry Troll Lord/Frog God/Necromancer. Not even Goodman at this point. Renegade Studios could even be avoided with indifference. Don’t even waste your time on an OGL product or writing for another company. Do your own thing. That’s my best advice.

Don’t listen to big name creative director types regurgitating decades old advice ad nauseum. You can do your own thing. You don’t need a big label. If you want to work for one sometime down the road, great. I’m so sick of the two-faced mocking tone of these industry veterans trying to encourage new writers when they know full well it ain’t gonna happen because the old farts hold the keys to the kingdom!

To the author of that “advice” article: stop spewing the same bullshit ad vomitum. Quit lying to us. Stop holding back fresh talent. If you really cared, which you clearly don’t, you’d put up a new product pitch publicly and have an open call for submissions. That’ll never happen because they’re not close industry friends, are they? New writers need not apply.

I needed to get this off my chest. I’m so done with getting rejected, treated like dirt, and discouraged by the TTRPG industry. I’m tired of fighting it. I’ve bitten my tongue so much since RPG Superstar ended badly for me. I’m so tired of industry veterans who are so happy to slam the door in people’s faces. It’s bullshit.

I’ve never felt so hated, discouraged, or inadequate as I do right now. I have some very stern words for the author of said bullshit article. I have a whole library full of TTRPG books that I can’t even bring myself to look at currently. That’s the kind of thing that usually cheers me up.

My creative spark presently looks like rage. I’ve got negativity for days. I could energetically punch a guru in the face at the moment.

If you have issues with anything I’ve said here, I’m easy enough to find on social media. Message me. I’m not looking to slug it out with anyone on a public forum, so don’t try it. This ain’t my first rodeo. Maybe more tomorrow or possibly cat pictures.