Wolf Tracks (White Wolf Publishing), Live Journal Redub

Note: Our print-on-demand program is currently on hold, but at this point our goals with that program once we restart it haven't changed much, so a lot of this column is still valid. I've tried to revise it to be current.
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Way back in '90 or '91, White Wolf managed to make one heck of a name for itself in the industry with a pretty neat green book. There were a lot of things that went right with that book. For one, its cover was very compelling and evocative, standing out dramatically amidst all the other RPG books with dramatic Parkinson or Elmore or Caldwell covers. For another, it was interesting-looking on the inside, with neat touches like a serial story told in art along the bottom, and some notable Tim Bradstreet art.- Read more...

This isn't a double-post, and Ethan hasn't suddenly grown long curly hair. The idea behind this column has always been that other developers would "guest star" in Behind the Lines, and a LiveJournal question about how Mind's Eye Theatre players differ from tabletop players allowed me to pinch-hit this week.- Read more...

Roleplaying games, particularly those with an attached setting, are an interesting breed of entertainment. Like all entertainment properties, they are faced with an interesting choice: how often do you change, and how much do you change, in order to best serve the needs of your audience? - Read more...

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...

RPGs are a peculiar animal. They're designed to be used as is, and yet there are few creatures in the "things people make for purchase" field that can be so readily disassembled, ransacked or pillaged for spare ideas or mechanics that are then riveted into another work. Sure, an artist can steal a composition from another artist, or a musician can swipe a few chords from another song — but RPGs stand out.- Read more...

Eddy's Note: This was actually "Behind the Lines #8" on the LiveJournal, but the original #7 was promotional material for the Night Horrors series. From this point on, the RPG Life numbering will differ from the WW LJ numbering.- 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...

"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...