To Collaborate or Not

 

Last week, we talked about taking the path from home brew to published material. How sometimes you create something you think the community would enjoy. Whether it is a custom monster or fantastical food you created for your setting, you may feel like it has the right potential to become something valuable. We talked about the steps to get through this process in the first post, and gave you an idea of how to walk that path. This week, I am telling you you do not have to walk this path alone. You can collaborate with one or more people in some capacity, and that will provide some extra potential to your product. 

This process took Baba Lysaga’s Nocturnes & Nightmares and made it into the amazing book you can see now. Since this post is all about collaborating, I had some members of the team give their thoughts on collaboration, in order to give a wider viewpoint.

Why Collaborate?

You may wonder what the point of collaborating is, when you can probably imagine making a project by yourself. While you can go solo, working together with one or more other TTRPG Creators has numerous benefits. Having extra people working together on a single project gives you some advantages, such as having more resources to create your product. 

Expanding Your Scope


When you have more people contributing to a project, you will have more total resources you can invest. This “increased budget”  can allow for you to expand your project scope, what you intend to create. This allows you to achieve elements that would have been difficult working solo. Having a variety of soft skills and skills specific to TTRPGs like Dungeons & Dragons, means that you will have a lot more potential. 

When making Nocturnes & Nightmares, having the extra skills and resources available allowed the product to become more than originally planned,  we expanded the scope on the original product, and could make it so much more than originally intended. One of the big additions was getting an artist on our team. Artist Maple had this to say regarding the opportunity.

“On top of the already amazing original artwork in the book, any chance to replace common stock images with my own art I reckon is a win.”

Originally, the Nocturnes team planned to use stock art provided by DMsGuild, as well as purchasing some pieces where we found a place. While this gave us art to enhance our book, it had a somewhat generic feel to it that comes from using stock art. We all had skills, but no one on the team considered themself an artist. That changed when Maple joined our team. With the addition of Maple, we suddenly had the ability to expand our scope by providing artwork made specifically for Nocturnes & Nightmares. This resulted in a much more visually appealing book.

Extra Eyes

Besides the added resources, you also end up with extra eyes and minds that can help you refine and polish your ideas. When you work on a project for a while, some of those areas for improvement might become obscured. You get something akin to GM BLINDNESS, since you focus on the product for so long. Having a group that can present critiques and suggestions to your ideas means you can make a more polished product overall. Danny mentioned.

“It made it so much more professional because of having lots of eyes on every part of it, checking the fine details that I would have missed on my own. Plus there were lots of elements of the D&D lore that I didn’t know, which other people could tell me about (eg I hadn’t even read Van Richten’s Guide)”

Being able to have multiple creators provide feedback means that you can smooth over any sections that require it. This can mean the difference between a book that feels polished, and something that looks more like your DMing notes. 

Keeping Energy High

Focus and excitement will wax and wane when working solo as your creativity and drive shift throughout the process. I know this firsthand as someone whose focus can easily be pulled into something that has nothing to do with what I want to be creating. While a natural part of the process, this can easily lead to a delay or even a stall out in finishing your project. Having a group together means that you have an entire group to bounce ideas off. Jackson had this to say:

“Having people work on the project made me excited to work on it as well, when my inspiration and drive might have otherwise flagged.”

Those extra team members can serve as both inspiration and morale boosting. Getting to work alongside the Nocturnes team and seeing the amazing concepts and ideas they had for the project helped me stay focused and inspired. In the long term, this helped keep me better focused on the project.

Challenges of Collaboration

Collaboration has its benefits, but you will also find some drawbacks to going this route. Any time you add more people to a task certain challenges will arise. Understanding the potential challenges can help you decide if collaboration would benefit you.

Coordinating Work

When you work alone, you work on your own time. You set the pace for your work and can adjust as you need. If you have to delay things because of life getting in the way or a lack of drive, you only affect yourself. In a group, it won’t always be this easy. Working in a team means others will rely on your work, sometimes expecting progress at certain points. Not being able to provide for someone can delay the next steps in a project and cause a rippling effect that slows others down. Anthony remarked:

“Time. I like spontaneous ideas and when working in a bubble, I can enact said spontaneous ideas without repercussion. This project forced me to throw ideas out into the void and often wait 4, 12, sometimes 24 hours before getting a response. It allowed me to re-evaluate what was important to the project (and even my own ideas) separate from the constraints of “I also want it to happen NOW.”

Moving to a process where you meet deadlines in order to provide your teammates with what they need when they need it takes time. This mindset is a learning curve when working collaboratively. If you do not work to make sure this happens, maintaining a smooth workflow will feel difficult. 

Additional Energy and Time

While more people collaborating means more resources, you will also have to devote a certain amount of time and energy to making sure everyone stays on the same page. This can be especially difficult if a team brings on new members in the middle of a project. The Nocturnes team had this happen when we added our artists. Maple had this to say:

“Being new onboard a project that’s near its release is a bit intimidating, like I wasn’t sure who anyone was, who wrote what, etc. It was chaos in my eyes, but looking back, there was order to the chaos now that I see how everyone sort of operates.”

We brought Maple on in the middle of the project. With her signing on, it provided us a great opportunity to add custom art to the project. However, we had to make sure Maple was aware of where we were in the project, how we intended to proceed, and where she could start working. This can feel daunting, especially to the person or persons joining. We needed to make sure Maple could join the project knowing where to contribute as well as an idea of the finished product, so that she could contribute her skills. .

Many Voices, One Product

While having so many individuals contributing provides a variety of ideas, you also find that different contributors will have their own styles. Some of these styles might be similar, but often you will find a distinction between how you present your creations compared to someone else. That assortment of different folks can be quite useful, but a polished supplement will have a somewhat uniform layout and style to it. Making all the material conform to a single style will make your TTRPG supplement feel less like a loose collection, and more like a finished book. Again, with focus, you can make this happen, but it takes time and energy. Danny agreed on this, saying,

“Fitting it into a coherent whole. You have to breaking the work up into pieces that can be worked on individually, and then find ways to make them fit back together so they feel like they belong. It helps if you have an overall editor who is able to do that, but that’s hard to do if it’s an equal partnership and you don’t want to tread on anyone’s toes.”

Making everyone’s ideas fit together can feel like putting a single puzzle together from multiple boxes. You know the result can work, but as it stands, certain pieces will not fit together. Some might need some adjusting to make it work, and an eye to make the whole thing feel cohesive. Unlike a mismatched puzzle, a uniformly edited TTRPG book will provide a variety of ideas while maintaining a consistent and polished feel. It is definitely doable, but can be a challenge.

Our Experiences


As mentioned in PART 1, most of these observations and thoughts come from our work on Baba Lysaga’s Nocturnes & Nightmares. This project was both my first published book, and first collaborative project in the tabletop gaming space. Our group found a lot of value in collaborating, and wants to continue this teamwork in the future. So we thought long and hard about what worked, and what was a challenge.

Useful

Our group found that some of the additional roles provided by working in a group helped enhance the creation process. Having individuals who, besides creating Dungeons & Dragons content, would help oversee the group kept the momentum moving forwards as well as maintaining a timeline. Anthony noted:

“…sometimes hard decisions have to be made. Sometimes decisions simply need to be made behind the scenes to keep things moving forward. And even sometimes hard conversations need to happen. In this particular instance, nearly every interaction was a good one. But it’s still vital for someone to have ownership of both the ups *and* downs and be willing to take one on the chin if necessary. It’s not fun, but it’s better than group morale taking a huge dip and the project falling apart.”

Having someone who kept the “big picture” in mind helps maintain perspective during the creative process. I know that when I create, I can fixate on some of the smaller details. That excitement at working out specifics can be useful, but it also can cause some problems. If I spend too much time hyper-focusing, I risk not finishing a project on time. Having a project manager (in our case Anthony) to handle these tasks was incredibly useful.

While creating the content is useful, making it look appealing is a task. As mentioned above, making sure that everyone’s contribution felt like it belonged helped make Nocturnes & Nightmares feel as polished as it did Maple noted:

“…Making everything coherent, aesthetically pleasing and ensuring the text and artwork complement each other. Definitely made me consider future pieces and how I should frame them in the future.”

One of my favorite parts about Nocturnes & Nightmares is how well the book looks. When you compare it to the other popular 3rd party content, and even the official D&D material, the appearance and style matches up. The layout is both attractive and easy to follow. We would have struggled to do this without a focus on editing and layout. We could achieve it, but the result would not have been nearly as polished..

Challenges

With the benefits, our collaboration had some challenges arise in it. While we all found working in a group very useful, some areas could definitely use some improving in the future in order to make collaboration run as smoothly as possible.. Jackson noted 

“Choosing an amount of work to do that makes me feel invested in the project without over committing. Being honest with yourself about your timeline and availability is the only real solution.”

When starting out, especially if you have not worked in a group before, it can be very tempting to take on as much as possible. You have excitement that gets amplified by being around other passionate creators, and that excitement can cause you to bite off more than you can chew. Since the rest of your group will rely on your regular output, It’s important to take on a reasonable amount of work. Balancing out drive with reasonable expectations takes time and practice.

Working in a team, you won’t always all see eye to eye. Having these other viewpoints will make a better project, but it does not come without potential pitfalls. Having different viewpoints means that while you will have a lot to work with, there will be disagreements. Anthony wrote:

“The toughest thing is knowing what to hold onto as hills to die on and what to hold much more loosely. There may be great conceptual bits you’ve come up with that just don’t work mechanically, or for flavor don’t fully fit the big picture of a project. Learning when to dig in your heels on an idea and when to relinquish it is difficult, but necessary.

One of the best ways to navigate through that is knowing why the project exists in the first place and then comparing that to why you personally have a die-hard grasp on the particular idea. If the two align, it’s probably for the best of the project. If they differ, you may find that your doggedness is ego-driven and that’s best left checked at the door.”

While everyone will provide excellent ideas, it’s difficult to decide what fits into your project and what does not. With Nocturnes & Nightmares, we knew we wanted to focus on building an all in one book of horror material for D&D. As we went on, we fine tuned that definition. That meant, however, that ideas had to be altered as we progressed. If we realized an idea did not fit, then removing it entirely would be something that would have to be discussed. Understanding that, and knowing when to let an idea go, can be very difficult.

End Verdict

Despite all the difficulties, our crew agreed: Collaboration is the way to go.

“Absolutely, N&N was wayyy more successful than I anticipated and I like the folks who worked on it.” - Jackson

“10/10 would recommend. People are always better in community. The loneliness aspect of content creation is gone. The uncertainty of “will people like it” goes out the window. The fear of missing something vital in editing, the pool of resources, network of friends, and insight into both real and fantasy people and cultures is something unmatched compared to flying solo. Sure, you get to call all the shots, but then there’s nobody to tell you when those shots miss the mark. The accountability sucks sometimes, but even that is absolutely vital.” - Anthony

“I definitely would. Already there’s a couple of projects on the go I want to offer my style for, and everyone is super easy to get along with.” - Maple


“Yes, as much as possible, although based on how things are going at the moment I’m not sure if it is a good fit for every project.” - Danny

I agree with everyone above, that I will lean towards collaboration in the future. Working together will often create a better work than working alone. I know for me, having fellow creators by my side helped keep my momentum and excitement high. In the future, I will definitely look to work with these fantastic creators on projects.

Where to find collaboration


So now you have read through our testimonies on working in a group. This seems like the best way for you to create something worth sharing with the community. That is great! If you do not know where to look, there are a few places to go.

First, try the online communities you engage in for all things tabletop gaming related. I use twitter, and that can be a great place to find wonderful creators out. I highly recommend engaging in the “Hashtag Days” that the community does, which allows small and large TTRPG Creators to introduce themselves to one another.

If you are looking for a place that is easier to talk with everyone, I recommend looking into Discord Servers. A stable in my Virtual DMing Toolbox, Discord is a great way to talk back and forth. There are many sites out there to use, but ultimately I recommend The Creator’s Cove, also called “The Cove”. This server strives to be the one stop spot for any TTRPG creator looking for help. You can get as little or as much help as you want there. A lot of the Nocturnes & Nightmares team met through this server. If you are interested, check the link at the end of this post!

Conclusion

Collaboration can be a mix of benefits and challenges. Having a larger group can give you more resources, which can allow for an expanded project scope. You also get to have more eyes and minds on everything you do, allowing for a swifter review and keeping energy high. There are some challenges that arise, however. Unifying a voice can be difficult to do as well as coordinating work with one another, and may take one person’s entire focus. Weighing the positives and negatives, I will definitely aim to collaborate in the future.

Do you collaborate with other creators? If so, let me know in the comments. I would love to hear about your experiences working in a group.

A special thanks to the Nocturnes team, you provided feedback on the project, giving a wider perspective of views.


My newsletter, Bjarke’s Dissonant Whispers, is now live! Find out what I am up to, what is coming up, and other miscellaneous things. If you are interested in signing up, check here. My most recent issue gave a sneak peek on Nocturnes & Nightmares, and can be found here

Have a question I have not covered and want my thoughts? Want to collaborate on some work in the future? Reach out to me on Twitter or here and let me know! I love getting new ideas and collaborating with other creators. Either way, I hope to hear from you!

Nocturnes & Nightmares is out now! Currently Silver Best Seller on DMsGuild, this book has everything you need to run horror in 5e. Buy now here.



 
Bryan CetroniComment