Gygax's views on OGL

[Emiricol]

I actually agree with Joshua on this one As to WW getting less shelf space that is not something I've seen myself, but I imagine that if you are seeing it, it has more to do with the fact that they are revising the WoD system from the ground up, so it makes little sense to stock a bunch of WoD stuff that will be out of date in weeks or months. (I could be wrong - that's just a guess).

 

[seankreynolds]

Sorry sir, I won't settle for dodging the base question (# of employees directly related to RPG development). I will concede some of your points against the ideas I was trying to form. You can rip apart my faulty logic until the cows come home, but I'd like, in your estimation, how many are primarily working on RPG development.

Well, I wasn't dodging your question, it just isn't relevant to the costs.
But I will answer it, given you clarify: do you mean now, or when I left WotC in 2002? Do you mean just the R&D staff, or do you mean the typesetters, graphic designers, and marketing and sales people who exclusively work on RPGs? Do you also want me to include people in those departments who work on RPGs _and_ other kinds of games?

{Using layman's knowledge: Hasbro bough WOTC for one thing: Pokemon. Since that's gone, Magic is the emphasis of the parent company's bottom line regarding it's subsidiary. So long as the RPG line remains profitable at a certain level above it's variable expenses (printing costs), it should not be touched.}

In an ideal world, yes, but Hasbro is far from ideal. And the truth about most companies is that very few of them say, "We're making enough money at this rate" ... most of them are saying, "How can we make more money than we are now?" And that causes them to look at the less profitable part of the business and say, "Your section is at 20% profitability, while others are at 60% ... what can we change to make you more profitable?"

 

[francisca]

In an ideal world, yes, but Hasbro is far from ideal. And the truth about most companies is that very few of them say, "We're making enough money at this rate" ... most of them are saying, "How can we make more money than we are now?" And that causes them to look at the less profitable part of the business and say, "Your section is at 20% profitability, while others are at 60% ... what can we change to make you more profitable?"

Yep. And often the answer the bean counters come up with is "reduce payroll, up productivity".

 

[Maggan]

The small press

meaning there's a lot more small publishers getting space at the game stores than there used to be, due to OGL and d20.

That's a very interesting observation. I have bought products from.. hang on a sec, I'll go count them... 29 companies producing d20 material, in addition to WotC. These include Green Ronin and Alderac, but also Eden, Sovereign Stone, Malhavoc, Mystic Eye, Mongoose, Fast Forward, Privateer Press, Sword&Sorcery and a lot more. So the number of publishers represented in my shelf has increased by at least 100% since the OGL. And most of the publishers are small... well, not in the "short" sense, of course... erm...

Cheers!

Maggan

PS If someone knows who the tallest game designer in the world is, it'd be kinda neat to know. DS

 

[viscounteric]

But I will answer it, given you clarify: do you mean now, or when I left WotC in 2002? Do you mean just the R&D staff, or do you mean the typesetters, graphic designers, and marketing and sales people who exclusively work on RPGs?

I'll take rough 2002 numbers, please And if you could break it down developers vs. immediate support, that would be great.

Of course, I'll assume the numbers are lower today, due to the cutbacks and other such things.

--vis

 

[seankreynolds]

OK, for R&D:
30 designers, editors, and creative directors, plus one manager for all of R&D

Support staff (some of the workloads here are just estimates)
1 admin
2-3 typesetters
2 art directors, each working about 50% on RPGs and 50% other
2 graphic designers
2-3 sales/marketing types

I think that's about right.
Note that the 30 number doesn't include about 5-6 people laid off about six months to a year before in previous rounds of layoffs.

 

[sword-dancer]

And that is the Crime to RPG players everywhere that is the d20 system. Nobody makes their own system anymore. People that do are pushed out of the market. Look at 7th Sea. That was a TERRIFIC game, and now it is dead, because they tried to d20ize it, and nobody liked it that way.

Now you only have a choice of buying d20, Gurps, Palladium, or Whitewolf. Those are the only 3 non-d20 systems that you see in stores, and even those are far rarer than d20. !

Sorry but you are wrong.

In Germany i`ve seen in the last years more new and innovative RPGs come out than in the years before, and depemning on which F(N)LGS i go, i could see Midgard, Rolemaster, Arcane Codex(Winner of the German RPG Award 2003, GURPS, Shadowrun, Space Gothic and naturally DSA/TDE.
It isbn`t possible for an Gamestore to have every(or even one) of such small games like Arcane Codex, Sorcerer or TROS in his shop, under tzis scircumstances you must order it over your Gamestore, as long as the distributor isn`t Pegasus.

 

[dean.]

Is it just me, or is Gary totally out of touch here?

From Adobe Portfolio

d20 is sh*t.
CR is sh*t
pathfinder is sh*t

OGL was an attempt to capitalize on the mindset of the ‘00s that updated or created concept ms like open source and creative commons.

But open source companies pay back to the core to keep their innovative strea, even if that helps their competitors.

OGL companies see WotC as a competitor, not as an innovator or even helpful. Based on the latest barrage these companies want all official D&D to die (boycott?).

While this interview is one cliche attached to another… perhaps that is the future GG saw, a bunch of greedy companies reprinting old gold and new BS to destroy D&D.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

d20 is sh*t.
CR is sh*t
pathfinder is sh*t

OGL was an attempt to capitalize on the mindset of the ‘00s that updated or created concept ms like open source and creative commons.

But open source companies pay back to the core to keep their innovative strea, even if that helps their competitors.

OGL companies see WotC as a competitor, not as an innovator or even helpful. Based on the latest barrage these companies want all official D&D to die (boycott?).

While this interview is one cliche attached to another… perhaps that is the future GG saw, a bunch of greedy companies reprinting old gold and new BS to destroy D&D.

Wow this is even more out of touch than Gary was in that interview.

 

[Jahydin]

@dean.

Gary Jackson, is that you?

Seriously though, I appreciate the passion needed to resurrect an almost 20 year old thread to rant about a company's decision that probably doesn't affect you in any way.

What prompted all this rage, haha?