Book: HOF6 – RPG Writer’s Primer
Author: Frank Schmidt
HOF6 – RPG Writer’s Primer by Frank Schmidt is a short book published by Adventures in Filbar. Though it’s published by an RPG publisher, it’s about publishing, not am RPG or supplement. The supplement is available for free from DriveThruRPG and one page is the front cover and one the front matter.
The author decided to publish this after seven years being a TTRP publisher. They warn that this book only covers their own experiences. It will cover their path to publishing and will cover the major points of getting into the business, though in different levels of detail.
They start by explaining that they’ve been publishing since 2013, though they have no formal training at all in publishing and writing, and have been playing D&D since the 1980s, a different type of experience to the current one.
Different steps covered are getting started, what to publish – the author states that their adventures are of a type generally considered to be old school – what software to use – consistency of appearance is more important than software – and where to publish. They started on Dragonsfoot.org and moved to DriveThruRPG, back when RPGNow was still extant. Acquiring art, websites, other places to sell, promotion and social media, podcasts and conventions, including giving away free branded swag at them are included.
Finally, there is a warning that negative feedback will be encountered, and some of this will make little sense (like one complaining that they didn’t know an adventure would take place in a crypt, even though “crypt” was in the title). Some will, and that should be followed, but don’t get into arguments with customers because you will likely get personally attacked. Sometimes a short-term win might be important, but confrontation should be avoided.
The PDF lacks bookmarks and these would have been useful. The text maintains a single column format and some minor errors were noted. Though this isn’t a detailed book, it does cover the experiences of a long-term publisher who has been selling regularly, even though this isn’t their primary job. As such, it is a useful read for anyone in publishing. HOF6 – RPG Writer’s Primer can be downloaded for free by clicking here.
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