Shawn

But I still remember at Winter Fantasy sitting down with Chris Tulek, who said, all right, you are one of three people who are going to be running this campaign. These are the rules we're implementing. And he started listing off the things. And I hated every single one of them. It was, we're going to allow people to replay adventures.

That was the opposite of what Living Greyhawk was. We're going to let DMs run them and then play. I was like, why are we even bothering? And it took me a while to realize that I am not the audience for everything. There are other audiences out there. Sometimes they are a vast majority and I am in the great minority.

That was the opposite of what Living Greyhawk was. We're going to let DMs run them and then play. I was like, why are we even bothering? And it took me a while to realize that I am not the audience for everything. There are other audiences out there. Sometimes they are a vast majority and I am in the great minority.

And that turned out to be the case in this case, because of the replayability, people were more willing to game master. They were more willing to DM because they didn't have to eat the adventure. Oh, I ran it, so now I can't play it. And every rule that Chris said I had an issue with, and every one for this campaign, The way they had decided to run it turned out to be exactly right.

And that turned out to be the case in this case, because of the replayability, people were more willing to game master. They were more willing to DM because they didn't have to eat the adventure. Oh, I ran it, so now I can't play it. And every rule that Chris said I had an issue with, and every one for this campaign, The way they had decided to run it turned out to be exactly right.

So along those lines, you then ran at the end or near the end of fourth edition, your own organized play campaign, Ashes of Athos. So what was it like ramping that up? And what was that like trying to bring Dark Sun to an organized play campaign with a larger campaign already in place? Yeah.

So along those lines, you then ran at the end or near the end of fourth edition, your own organized play campaign, Ashes of Athos. So what was it like ramping that up? And what was that like trying to bring Dark Sun to an organized play campaign with a larger campaign already in place? Yeah.

So fourth edition was your first foray into actual writing for pay in the D&D world, yeah?

So fourth edition was your first foray into actual writing for pay in the D&D world, yeah?

Sounds about right.

Sounds about right.

My fourth edition experience was strange in that I play tested the rule set. And because I had play tested the rules, they had a limited pool of freelancers to work on projects that they had to get in the pipeline before the books came out. which was essentially four different projects. One was Living Forgotten Realms.

My fourth edition experience was strange in that I play tested the rule set. And because I had play tested the rules, they had a limited pool of freelancers to work on projects that they had to get in the pipeline before the books came out. which was essentially four different projects. One was Living Forgotten Realms.

One was some articles for Dungeon and Dragon Magazine, which they had moved to digital. One was for a book called Dungeon Delve, which was the short sort of three encounter mini adventures that they put a book out of level one through 30. So I wrote like seven or eight of those.

One was some articles for Dungeon and Dragon Magazine, which they had moved to digital. One was for a book called Dungeon Delve, which was the short sort of three encounter mini adventures that they put a book out of level one through 30. So I wrote like seven or eight of those.

And then Rob Schwalb dropped out of an adventure writing project in their adventure path, so they asked me to fill in for him. So I got to see four different projects with four different directors at Wizards. Wow. with four different sort of formats, organized play, short-term articles or adventures, these mini adventures, and then a longer adventure. Wow.

And then Rob Schwalb dropped out of an adventure writing project in their adventure path, so they asked me to fill in for him. So I got to see four different projects with four different directors at Wizards. Wow. with four different sort of formats, organized play, short-term articles or adventures, these mini adventures, and then a longer adventure. Wow.

All while they were still sort of putting the rules together or getting their feet on the ground. And it taught me so much to be in that position, to see, to learn lessons from different people. But it also grounded me in the fact that Wizards of the Coast is like any organization.

All while they were still sort of putting the rules together or getting their feet on the ground. And it taught me so much to be in that position, to see, to learn lessons from different people. But it also grounded me in the fact that Wizards of the Coast is like any organization.

disorganized yeah yeah uh and and so it it grounded me when you first come especially back then when there isn't a lot of social media a lot of interaction you're like think these people are just right demigods right right you think they're perfect right just they're they're there they know their shit sorry uh they know their stuff