I've always enjoyed books that expand your vocabulary as you read them. Even as an adolescent, I liked Alan Dean Foster's Spellsinger series not because of the chintzy musical references (most of which I didn't get), but because he tended to use words I hadn't run across before.- Read more...

There's a running joke in White Wolf that goes something like this: "You know how everyone has that little voice inside your head that tells you when not to say something? Mike (Chaney) is missing his." There was a list of "Things Chaney Is Not Allowed To Say Any More" posted outside his office, and some of the words on there were innovative and exceptionally crude neologisms that are better off stillborn.- Read more...

At White Wolf (and in fact at CCP NA in general), we do things a bit differently than many other places.- Read more...

I've already talked about writing under the gun and having to do some speed-work on a book. So let's talk about the thing that makes you want to go and create RPG material in the first place and then deserts you when you need it most. That fickle mistress of any creative — inspiration.- Read more...

If I may, let's shift the scenery a bit, where valiant men and women ply their trade for coin and glory. It's harder work than it may seem at first, and your employers are terrible cruel taskmasters, but prove your skill here, and they'll remember your words until the day they die. These are the tales of the Free Lances!- Read more...

This one's going to be a little metaphysical, maybe. I'm probably fooling myself when I say that, as I'm hardly qualified to talk intelligently about what is truly metaphysical, but anyway! Today we'll talk not about the nitty-gritty of rules or the systematic process of development, but rather about the aspect of creating, editing and sometimes rewriting content for a shared world.

Yeah. This is also going to involve talking about cannon. - Read more...

One of the biggest issues in pretty much any industry is that magical balance of being able to do products quickly and not having to do products quickly. It's a pretty basic idea, really. You want to set yourself up so that you can respond quickly to a recently perceived demand or user feedback, while still getting a schedule laid out far enough in advance that you actually have given yourselves time to meet all your deadlines.- Read more...

This week's topic is somewhat near and dear to my heart, but as anyone who read the Black Dog section of Subsidiaries knows, I did marry my art director.- Read more...

I remember promising that I'd make the spinner up to select either "the pitch process" or "the math" to determine a column's subject. Let's give it a spin! Round and round it goes...

"The math." Oh, nuts. Don't mind me, I'm just going to unplug my computer and pretend I never promised anything. Math! Eeek!- Read more...

Today we have an even more detailed look at one of the first and most basic phases of development: the outline. There should be some meat here, particularly if you are interested in the take-home reading. - Read more...

Okay, so let's ease into talking about development with some context.- Read more...

THE VIEW FROM BEHIND THE COUNTER

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"Behind the Lines" is a weekly column that started on the White Wolf LiveJournal in the beginning of 2008 to talk about the thoughts and theories behind development work at White Wolf. It is primarily written by Ethan Skemp, although other developers have contributed over the past several months (mostly) every Wednesday.- Read more...

Trying to give your starting steps from fan and for-friends writer, even occasional freelancing, to full scale author, owner of your own editorial business, not necessarily alone but with a very selected company of one or two more peers, makes those the most straining steps- Read more...