I'm a writer, what do I need to do to get into writing for RPG?

[LordWarGod]

I'm writing an universe of my own and I've found that the RPG avenue might be the best place for my writing to excel after it was recommended by some writers I met. The problem is that I have little to no knowledge of what writing in RPG consists of, I have an understanding of what RPG is and what it entails but I don't understand what my role is as a writer.

How does it work? Do you pitch an idea and work with a game designer while you write the story?

Thank you for reading and anything you decide to post will be appreciated.

[War_lord]

I'm not in the industry, but as far as I know, it's a matter of writing a lot of stuff for RPGs. Writing stuff that's good enough to get published and then using the reputation gained from putting out good work to get better work. But it's an odd career path for a professional writer to suggest to you. Quite simply, the industry is so small that very few people are capable of paying their bills through it, it's usually contract work and the pay isn't very good.

Your best bet is to find out which companies take submissions from the public (I know GURPS/Steve Jackson Games does, but you have to follow a specific style guide and you sign the rights to all your work over) and try to get them to accept something you produce. It's very very unlikely that any half way professional outfit is going to give a novice writer the level of creative control you're asking about. Most people in the creative side of TRPG writing, much like the creative side of video game writing, started off doing something mechanical. Mike Mearls was a game designer on the mechanics end before he was promoted to the head of the creative part of 5e's design

[Unoriginal]

I'm writing an universe of my own and I've found that the RPG avenue might be the best place for my writing to excel after it was recommended by some writers I met. The problem is that I have little to no knowledge of what writing in RPG consists of, I have an understanding of what RPG is and what it entails but I don't understand what my role is as a writer.

How does it work? Do you pitch an idea and work with a game designer while you write the story?

Thank you for reading and anything you decide to post will be appreciated.

Are you talking about writing RPGs, RPG campaigns, or writing books that happen in RPG settings?


Also, you probably should ask the general RPG forum about it. Here it's the subforum specifically for D&D 5e, so far less people will see and answer your post.

[LordWarGod]

I'm not in the industry, but as far as I know, it's a matter of writing a lot of stuff for RPGs. Writing stuff that's good enough to get published and then using the reputation gained from putting out good work to get better work. But it's an odd career path for a professional writer to suggest to you. Quite simply, the industry is so small that very few people are capable of paying their bills through it, it's usually contract work and the pay isn't very good.

Your best bet is to find out which companies take submissions from the public (I know GURPS/Steve Jackson Games does, but you have to follow a specific style guide and you sign the rights to all your work over) and try to get them to accept something you produce. It's very very unlikely that any half way professional outfit is going to give a novice writer the level of creative control you're asking about. Most people in the creative side of TRPG writing, much like the creative side of video game writing, started off doing something mechanical. Mike Mearls was a game designer on the mechanics end before he was promoted to the head of the creative part of 5e's design

I see, it sounds like fierce competition with a lack of freedom concerning creative control. I wasn't really thinking about companies but more about independent groups that like to design these things for others to play with.

[LordWarGod]

Are you talking about writing RPGs, RPG campaigns, or writing books that happen in RPG settings?


Also, you probably should ask the general RPG forum about it. Here it's the subforum specifically for D&D 5e, so far less people will see and answer your post.

I'm talking about writing a fantasy history book centered around the universe I created and everything there is to know about it. It will feature classified top secret documents/audio transcripts, journals, diaries, biographies on important characters, scientific studies on demons/aliens which will be separated into categories and so on.

That's why I was recommended to the RPG world, because it sounds like an area where my kind of writing might excel. I have posted this on the general RPG forum as you recommended so thank you for that!

[Sigreid]

I would think that you would first need a fair understanding of the system you were going to write for so your writings would be consistent with the system.

[lordarkness]

If you're creating your own world you might want to write stories for that first since that is what you already know. Build an audience to gauge demand and interest an then consider converting to rpg from there.

If you write with an rpg in mind you may inspire people to seek it out but you should get familiar with rpgs to know what appeals to people and why.