Martin [Laurie] to Stephen [Martin]:
>MOB has done a hell of a lot, and good on him for it but even he got well and
>truly knacked with Elmal and Yelmalio which took all sorts of horrible twisty
>turney efforts from various folk, including yourself, to explain.
Thanks for the pat on the back, and you're right, I might have put a brave face on at the time, but I was *gutted* (not to mention perplexed, confused and perhaps even pissed off) by all this Elmal business when it came about, not long after Sun County hit the shelves.
>Would MOB have written Sun County the same way if he'd known that Elmal
>was round the corner?
Let me put the question another way: do you think Sun County would have been published *at all*, if I had submitted it six months later?
>Don't you see what I'm getting at? Is this a good environment in which to
>write? No it isn't, there are not even the remotest guidelines around as to
>_what_ to write.
I pushed AH very hard long ago to get Writers Guidelines going as a means of tapping into the incredible fan resource that was out there, itching to contribute. I think I recall helping brainstorm ideas for such a document during Rune Czar Ken's brief tenure, but after he left it came to naught.
A plan to revive RQ's flagging fortunes was published in Tales in... wait for it, issue #5, *seven years ago*, before Ken Rolston, before Sun County. This included sensible suggestions like having a Writers Submissions Guidlines to encourage new talent and so on.
Although I have never stated this before, I can tell you now that this document was initially a report *commissioned by AH* and, I presume, read by them. The original report was written by an award-winning game designer, and with his permission, was edited and updated for publication in Tales.
I don't know whether AH did actually read the report they asked for, but bear in mind that not long after receiving it they went on to hire the utterly clueless Mr Atlas and then produced such artistic abominations as the Dobyski artwork in Elder Secrets and Troll Gods, and the abysmal supplements Daughters of Darkness and Lost City of Eldarad...
C'est la vie!
Cheers
MOB
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