Yesterday I got a check from Chaosium. It’s been deposited and I expect it to be good. I may have heard a lot of complaints about the company recently but bouncing checks doesn’t seem to be one of them. I’d gotten an email from Charlie on Friday saying that the check was in the mail but I wanted give the check time to arrive before I posted anything here.
I’ve also heard from other contributors to Strange Aeons 2 and they seem to be getting paid as well. Folks outside the US probably won’t get their checks for a few days yet but hopefully their payment are on their way. I’ve asked them to let me know what happens.
I’ve added a link to this post to my previous posts but left them otherwise untouched. In this age of online news and social networking it seems like bad manners not to share my experience, positive and otherwise. I thinks it’s important for creative people to look out for each other. That this situation is resolved should be noted but I can’t promise that there’s no further quicksand ahead.
One question I asked of others was, given their frustrations, would they work with Chaosium again? Some would. There are apparently worse RPG companies out there to deal with. Others seem to take the … negotiation … process in stride.
Would I work with them again? That’s tricky. I have no real animosity toward Charlie or anyone at Chaosium. I don’t think I’ve held a grudge for anyone since I was a teenager. (I save my hatred for people who are actively horrible to others.) In previous years I’ve worked with other folks because the work was enjoyable and they communicated regularly. I had the Day Job so I could think about building up a body of work without needing to pay as much attention to whether the work would pay my bills. With the Day Job gone and having established at least a tiny reputation for my work I’m much more focused on what I put on my plate.
There are now enough companies who have a CoC license that if I want to do Call of Cthulhu illustrations I can work them instead of Chaosium. Chaosium has some books in the works for their BRP system that would be fun to illustrate and, previous to this experience, I’d planned to lobby for the jobs. I’d love it if I could still get those jobs.
This experience has made me be more rigorous in how I work with clients. I’ve put in place a process to make sure that both of us are in agreement before I get too far into a project. I think I’m better at managing expectations. If Chaosium wanted to work with me again I’m certainly open to discuss the possibility. If payment and communication issues could be worked out, I’d be happy to do more illustrations for the company.
Stay tuned.