Forked Thread: Monte Cook's new Dungeonaday.com?

[lmpjr007]

Forked from: Monte Cook's new Dungeonaday.com?

Anybody in particular?

I did a new business strategy and financial breakdown of Monte Cook's DungeonADay.com at my blog that those in the RPG business or planning to get into the business might find very interesting. Read about it here!!! I am open to anyone comments on this topic.

 

[Merlin's Shadow]

You ask, "when are you going to do Dungeonaday.com?" but I would say that the reason Monte can do it is name recognition. The average person doesn't have the street cred to pull off something like this. Monte and a handful of other designers probably could, but I don't see most people being able to pull in any subscribers.

 

[Shroomy]

I think the real question is "When will x company start up their own online RPG subscription service?"

 

[lmpjr007]

I think the real question is "When will x company start up their own online RPG subscription service?"

The only people I know that have something like this is Paizo. The biggest hurdle to doing this is making sure you can come out with material on a regular basis. I think this is the real issue with the whole idea.

 

[DaveMage]

Monte was also one of the .pdf pioneers, so he has more than just design cred, he likely also knows how to best use the strengths of the electronic medium. In addition, he has experiece doing a giant project (Ptolus).

There are very few others, IMO, who could pull this off.

Also, now that it exists, someone else doing this would have to give a *really* good reason why I should shell out the $$ for two such projects. (I'm sure there are such reasons, but there won't be many of them that would entice me.)

Finally, this is new. Once the shiny wears off (after the 1 year subscription ends, perhaps), will people still be willing to participate? Heck, will Monte even have the desire to continue doing it?

There's no doubt that a subscription model can be very lucrative, but it's only sustainable if the content quality matches the cost.

 

[Cergorach]

I am open to anyone comments on this topic.

I think your forgetting a couple of things.
1.) An editor, you need an editor. Now I belief he's married to one, but that doesn't mean she works for free.
2.) Art assets aren't produced for free, he needs to pay his artists, there is non-stock art on the site.
3.) Hosting costs money.
4.) The writing also needs to be placed on the site, it needs to be organized, formatted, etc. As Monte has already mentioned, he needed to learn a whole new set of computer skills. This time invested needs also to be calculated into the hourly wage.
5.) There are photos on the website of the dungeon with dwarven forge material, this also takes time to set up and photograph, manipulate, and upload.

On the other hand, I think the estimate of 'only' 200 subscribers for the first year is relatively low. Especially with the charter member subscription of $84...

 

[lmpjr007]

Monte was also one of the .pdf pioneers, so he has more than just design cred, he likely also knows how to best use the strengths of the electronic medium. In addition, he has experiece doing a giant project (Ptolus).

There are very few others, IMO, who could pull this off.

That is very true.

Also, now that it exists, someone else doing this would have to give a *really* good reason why I should shell out the $$ for two such projects. (I'm sure there are such reasons, but there won't be many of them that would entice me.)

This could be a starting point for a large company to try, like Paizo for example. Paizo, like Monte, could attempt to something like this with Pathfinder. Or even better, a smaller or start up RPG company could do this and have a great way to draw interest to themselves.

Finally, this is new. Once the shiny wears off (after the 1 year subscription ends, perhaps), will people still be willing to participate? Heck, will Monte even have the desire to continue doing it?

Look at Paizo's Pathfinder Adventure Paths. They kind of fall in the same area as this and them seem to be doing OK.

There's no doubt that a subscription model can be very lucrative, but it's only sustainable if the content quality matches the cost.

I am going to say yes and no on this. Sometime people purchase things out of habit and loyality over quatiy. I know a lot of comic book fans who read comic books just because they have been collecting a specific book for years, even though the quality of the book has gone down noticably. Hell, look at New Yor Giants Football or Chicago Cubs fans and tell me quality is why they follow those teams for decades.

Thanks for your comments.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Heck, will Monte even have the desire to continue doing it?

Especiallyt considering he's already left the RPG field once.

One of the reasons I'm 99.9% certain that he'll wind up publishing some type of compilation through Paizo.

 

[DaveMage]

Look at Paizo's Pathfinder Adventure Paths. They kind of fall in the same area as this and them seem to be doing OK.

I'm not really seeing that, but that may be because the delivery method is so different. True, both are (or at least can be) subscriptions, but the APs are 6 products, while DaD is not really as measurable in a similar way. I mean, yes, you can break it down into a word count, but DaD is probably best used in conjunction with a laptop, while the APs are "no technology required."

 

[Scribble]

I'm glad at least from his accounts the site is doing well. Monte is one of those designers that has done so much for the game, that he deserves to do well.

Sometimes I think someone should start like a Retired Game Designer pension fund or something. Those that have done enough to move the hobby forward can eventually retire and collect from the fund.