Crothian
First Post
As far as the rules being online well then you are consciously limiting your market to only those gamers who use the internet for gaming...and have even less availability for the new player whose looking through books in a store. Not really smart if you want to expand or grow your player base.
Your last idea might be good...except nice color hardbacks sell, plain and simple. They're more attractive, draw more attention, etc. Again if you actually want a fanbase and want it to grow... why skimp on production values.
It is not an either or list of ideas. You do them both together. You get people to use the on line rules for those people who like and want them. You advertise in your books that they are there for people that would use them if they knew about them. Even fans who don't normally use the net would at least see they are there and they might find a way to look at them and see them there.
Sure a nice 50$ full color book might sell well, but what about a simple to read 20$ book? Inexpensive books sell, too. Combine that with the on line rules and you have a simple way to keep the rules available for the customers.
The books that then are written to build off of these are the ones I would go to full color for.