Why you should be part of the Games Industry
Making games is great.
It may come across as a bit smug for us to be posting this fact on our blog, but it’s true.
In fact, you already know we’re right.
If you’ve ever run a Game where the planets just aligned right and the session went better that you could have ever imagined- then you know what we mean.
If you’ve ever spent a summer playing in a campaign where you got to know your character so well you practically lived a double life- well then, you also know exactly what we’re on about.
If you’ve ever snorted beer/milk/Mountain Dew/drink of choice out of your nose because you were laughing so hard at what happened in your Game Session, then you’ve been there.
If you’ve ever looked up from a tense session to realise that three hours have passed in the blink of an eye and you feel like you’ve lived a lifetime- then you also know what we mean.
At the end of the day, making Roleplaying games is about creating those moments for people. What a job to have.
It’s easy to get weighed down by the annoying minutiae of this Industry- snarky reviews, printing errors, containers of your books being washed off a ship mid Atlantic (don’t ask), forum flame wars, missed deadlines, weekend convention work, oh… and all the other stuff.
On the other hand, when you log onto a forum like RPGnet and see posts from complete strangers saying ‘I just got this game and it’s the best thing ever’-it’s great.
When folk come up to you at a convention and tell you how they’ve started up their RPG group again, just because of your game- you do get a little glow.
When you meet folk at parties and you discover they’re an accountant*, whilst you make Goblins for a living- well, that’s kind of cool.
When you talk to a writer or artist about some work they’re doing and they say how excited they are about what they’re creating- you do end up smiling.
We had a great example yesterday. A playtest report for a certain dark science fantasy game we’re developing turned up. The team- KIA Special Ops as they’re known- were just starting a new session with the latest rules. They’d gone to a spooky lunar mining complex and opened the door leading down into the earth. Shadows crowd the corridor and an unnatural wind sighs up out of the darkness. The Pskyer decides to use her powers to light the way. She promptly botches the roll, gets a really horrid result on a table and explodes into a ball of fire. And this is the first roll of the first game session. Talk about gaming moment.
Ok, so we’re probably going to adjust that rule, but it was amusing.
And of course, at the end of the day, what is roleplaying about if not fun?
What a field to work in…
*Black Industries recognises that accountants perform a valuable service in our society, and no accountants were harmed in the making of this post. We didn't really point and laugh at a party saying 'ha! adding things up and writing numbers in tiny boxes is for loosers, us roleplay types are way cooler!'**
**This of course, is irony. Just in case you were wondering.
It may come across as a bit smug for us to be posting this fact on our blog, but it’s true.
In fact, you already know we’re right.
If you’ve ever run a Game where the planets just aligned right and the session went better that you could have ever imagined- then you know what we mean.
If you’ve ever spent a summer playing in a campaign where you got to know your character so well you practically lived a double life- well then, you also know exactly what we’re on about.
If you’ve ever snorted beer/milk/Mountain Dew/drink of choice out of your nose because you were laughing so hard at what happened in your Game Session, then you’ve been there.
If you’ve ever looked up from a tense session to realise that three hours have passed in the blink of an eye and you feel like you’ve lived a lifetime- then you also know what we mean.
At the end of the day, making Roleplaying games is about creating those moments for people. What a job to have.
It’s easy to get weighed down by the annoying minutiae of this Industry- snarky reviews, printing errors, containers of your books being washed off a ship mid Atlantic (don’t ask), forum flame wars, missed deadlines, weekend convention work, oh… and all the other stuff.
On the other hand, when you log onto a forum like RPGnet and see posts from complete strangers saying ‘I just got this game and it’s the best thing ever’-it’s great.
When folk come up to you at a convention and tell you how they’ve started up their RPG group again, just because of your game- you do get a little glow.
When you meet folk at parties and you discover they’re an accountant*, whilst you make Goblins for a living- well, that’s kind of cool.
When you talk to a writer or artist about some work they’re doing and they say how excited they are about what they’re creating- you do end up smiling.
We had a great example yesterday. A playtest report for a certain dark science fantasy game we’re developing turned up. The team- KIA Special Ops as they’re known- were just starting a new session with the latest rules. They’d gone to a spooky lunar mining complex and opened the door leading down into the earth. Shadows crowd the corridor and an unnatural wind sighs up out of the darkness. The Pskyer decides to use her powers to light the way. She promptly botches the roll, gets a really horrid result on a table and explodes into a ball of fire. And this is the first roll of the first game session. Talk about gaming moment.
Ok, so we’re probably going to adjust that rule, but it was amusing.
And of course, at the end of the day, what is roleplaying about if not fun?
What a field to work in…
*Black Industries recognises that accountants perform a valuable service in our society, and no accountants were harmed in the making of this post. We didn't really point and laugh at a party saying 'ha! adding things up and writing numbers in tiny boxes is for loosers, us roleplay types are way cooler!'**
**This of course, is irony. Just in case you were wondering.
posted by BI Dev Team at 11:00 am
5 Comments:
Oh I don't know, I imaging you could play a lot of amusing gags on your co-workers...
Hi.. I know this is a bit off topic, but speaking about developing RPGS.. is there any chance you guys might just give us the smallest little update about a DCU RPG? (DC Comics, superheroes..?)
There seems to be a communication blackout about this.
It doesn't have to be much. Even telling us that it wasn't a dream would be helpful. :)
Make it a Christmas present to an anonymous poster, there is going to be one isn't there?
Never mind. Word on the street is that you hold the license to do a DCU game, but you've got nothing schedule or in production. The fields lie fallow, or something like that.
That's a shame. I'm sure your Warhammer stuff is cool, but you're not making any product that I'd be interested in. The market is fat with fantasy games. Sorry. Green Ronin's M&M is good enough for me, I just wanted to see the DC license in a solid RPG.
If I've got some misinformation here, I'd welcome BI to blog about it. I'd love to know what the deal is, if I'm wrong.
Yes, that's off topic. The fact that there's no news probably means... there's no news. ;-)
I for one I'm glad BI doesn't split their attention more than they've already done: after all DC has absolutely nothing in common with Warhammer. The 40K game have already meant some of BIs precious few resources have been taken away from WFRP development, which is bad enough.
If/when BI does decide to go ahead with DC, I sincerely hope they subcontract the entire production, leaving Marc, Kate, Dave & Co to concentrate on what they know best: Warhammer. :-)
I wish I was an part of it… might be one day, but being an student of illustration is quite nice for the moment, means I just doodle all day and drink tea whilst listing to radio 4, some time I just go back to bed to draw! ok not as rewarding, but its nice way to be livening at the moment
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