How to Build an Indie TTRPG Studio and Survive the Process II
One of the reasons for creating One Man [RPG] is to be useful to other DMs —or GMs. Obviously, let us not deceive ourselves: I am here for the business, of course. That is a fundamental part of it, since, like many others, I want to be able to make a living from one of my passions —from writing itself, that is not possible— without losing sight of quality, and while giving as much as I possibly can. But there is also something educational in all this.
I teach writing workshops because I love writing fiction, and I love being of help to others. I can guarantee that the money I make from these workshops is ridiculous, and sometimes it does not even cover the self-employed contribution in my country, Spain, where the fiscal mistreatment of entrepreneurs is completely aberrant. I have even taught workshops while losing money, for an entire year. So, is there any doubt that there is vocation and a desire to help in me?
As I was saying, one of the reasons for creating this project is to be useful. To share ideas and advice treasured over years —30 already— of reading, running, and playing role-playing games. And it is in this exhaustive labor, which I also hope will help me gain some visibility, that I am investing a disproportionately high number of hours.
I will not lie to you: I thought it would not take this long. But it is also true that, when I first thought about creating advice and free material, I was not planning to go into such depth. I thought that bringing out what I already had written, or what was already circling in my mind, would be faster, and I also thought the publication schedule would be more spaced out. But in the end, thanks to my obsessions with excess, excellence, and (hyperplanning), everything always stretches out, and I end up trying to encompass more than I am capable of.
In any case, I continue creating materials and sharing them because I enjoy it, and because I believe in collaborative work. But I will also have to pay attention to finally releasing Heroes and Foes —the Kickstarter page is approved and waiting— and to bringing out the rest of the VoidBorn books, for which much material is already written. Otherwise, the delay will mean that the number of projects will continue accumulating, threatening to devour me in the most tempestuous nightmares.
