Monday, September 22, 2014

I gave Sean K Reynolds $50 and ripped me a new one for it…

Apparently everything I hear about Sean K Reynolds was true. Highly skilled. Very professional. Someone you can learn from. I learnt this they hard way when I signed up for his RPG Design ClassesSimply put for $50 you could have a one on one class with SKR where he would critique you game design so you could get better if you were interested in submitting for Paizo’s RPG Superstar. Now I don’t plan on submitting to RPG Superstar but I know getting a direct critique of my design work from a person at SKR level could only be helpful to me. Better still, talking with SKR would give me a better understanding of what Paizo would be looking for in its submissions. So I paid the money; did what he told me to do and submitted my item. And waited to hear back from him. A few days later, I heard back from him with comments on my submitted items and when I finished reading I had to check to see if I was bleeding for a specific orifice. Because it felt like he used his whole arm on me with his review on my work. 

The two words that describe best what happened was: Painful and Insightful.

Maybe you didn't know but SKR is VERY good at is game design. I did know he is very good at it, but I did know he was THAT good at it. 

After I recovered from the initial shock and trauma of the email, I really sat down a looked at what he did say and he was right.  He explained it in great lengthy detail and he gave me a better understanding of what I was REALLY trying to make and what I did right and what I did very, VERY wrong. Just reading SKR’s email, I think I got a better insight on Paizo as a company and what they expected from game designers and developers. I must say what I learned it this once little interaction was WELL WORTH the money I spent. Better still, I can’t wait until we do the monster design. I have a monster that I think is simple and cool and I can’t wait to see what SKR does to it. 


So if you are thinking about doing Paizo RPG Superstar, you might want to spend $50 and get AMAZING insight from someone who understands what Paizo is looking for better than you EVER will. Now while I may never use this information on submitting to RPG Superstar, I will be using the knowledge to help advance LPJ Design as a 3PP to make my product EVEN better and make my company much, much stronger. Every first time publisher AND even long term 3PP should sign up for this class, because it is THAT important.  My $50 investment in SKR is going to make me A LOT of money in the long term and I call that a good investment for myself and LPJ Design. Talk to you later…

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