What's the best part of an RPG to sell?

[Jhaelen]

I'd offer a stripped-down version of the rules and a starting adventure online for free. Everything else must be payed for:
- online access to full copies of books
- pdf copies of books
- access to tools, e.g. character builders
- hardcopies of books

 

[Sword of Spirit]

I really don't like the current DDI model as a player/DM and I don't think it's the most profitable in the long run. This is because the model is quite greedy. If you have stopped subscribing, you loose all access to the game and there is little chance of you ever subscribing again.

I briefly subscribed back in 2009. Just fired up the Character Builder a few weeks ago to see if it would delete all my stuff. Apparently, the software was so old, it told me it just couldn't update it, but feel free to keep using it. So I have 4e material going past PHB 2 but not yet to PHB3. Of course, I don't know if I ever intend to use it again, but it's funny that I still have it because I stopped subscribing, while those who kept subscribing get no such courtesy.

 

[Blackbrrd]

I briefly subscribed back in 2009. Just fired up the Character Builder a few weeks ago to see if it would delete all my stuff. Apparently, the software was so old, it told me it just couldn't update it, but feel free to keep using it. So I have 4e material going past PHB 2 but not yet to PHB3. Of course, I don't know if I ever intend to use it again, but it's funny that I still have it because I stopped subscribing, while those who kept subscribing get no such courtesy.

If you start subscribing now, everything is online and not reachable as soon as you unsubscribe. I can understand why they would want to have it online (to avoid people copying it without paying), but you should be able to "buy" the features, not just "rent" them like now.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

If you start subscribing now, everything is online and not reachable as soon as you unsubscribe. I can understand why they would want to have it online (to avoid people copying it without paying), but you should be able to "buy" the features, not just "rent" them like now.

Yep, that's how I understand it. Not a very goodwill-generating marketing practice.

 

[WayneLigon]

In my experience, it's better if every player has free and open access to the rulebook. Things get very awkward if people are passing a singular copy of the book around the table, especially but not only during character creation. Do people really shell out hard cash for copies of the book when they can access all of the content online for free?

Of course they do. For my groups, at least: most of us don't own laptops. Laptops are clumsy and cumbersome at the table, and trying to power the darn things is a nightmare. One person I know owns a tablet but she doesn't have any gaming apps on it. So, almost all of us buy a copy of the main book for whatever we're playing (we don't change games all that often). Sometimes, especially if we're really taken with a new system, the GM will buy everyone a copy for Christmas, or something.

 

[SteamCraft]

There are a variety of strategies that maximize your profits. It is a multifaceted approach and your options do not seem to be the best ones. What you want to do is sell products at a level where you make a profit. This usually precludes any items for free. You want to charge for most things, outside of QSR or a small supplement.

For an RPG, the two most common models are:

You can go for less profit per unit and sell more units model. This means having a very low price set. (Or doing a pay what you want.)
You can go for the more profit per unit model and sell less units. This means setting a higher price.

I think you should think about the company and not the RPG.

I do not think it is worth anyone's time to write and release an RPG, especially for money, unless you are thinking of a business strategy beyond your initial RPG. That really affects things. Take Evil Hat as a model.

Evil Hat reworked FUDGE into FATE. This was released for free. As such, it starter to garner an audience. Then games were released that were not free. This made them money. Then, they got a license for Dresden Files which made them a lot of money and brought in a huge audience for their system. This in turn allowed them to release other FATE games which have done well.

I am not saying you should do what they did. I am saying you need to think about building an overall strategy for the company and then have your products released to fulfill that strategy.

 

[gamerprinter]

Do people really shell out hard cash for copies of the book when they can access all of the content online for free?

Yeah, I buy all my RPGs as books, and since I play Pathfinder, I have access to the prd and d20pfsrd.com, yet. Another thing to consider, despite your internet capability, not everybody has access to high speed, or even any internet at all. One of the houses we game at, only 15 miles away (a rural blindspot) only dialup internet is available there - no companies including AT&T even serve their area. It takes 10 minutes to load the home page of d20pfsrd.com. Not everyone has high speed internet, so not everyone can easily access free online sources. I'm only 90 miles from Chicago, its not like I live in complete isolation, but not everyone in my area has anything better than dialup internet. So no, there's a lot of people who cannot get access to free content, so they buy the books.