Mercurius
Legend
A thought came to me a couple days ago that I was planning on posting about, but got distracted by Snowpocalypse. A common question and ongoing point of debate is why 4E hasn't been as popular as it should/could have been, what the root causes are, etc. I don't want to re-hash this endless debate except to bring forth a possibility that I have not seen discussed. To put it another way, this is another factor among a few core ones that I think has crippled 4E from early on.
4E doesn't have an ongoing, supported setting. It has the default Nentir Vale setting that is touched upon in various products; it has three settings that have received minor support in the form of three books each; it also has a kind of default vibe or atmosphere, a "meta-setting" that includes the new planar structure and the mythology that's been presented in the "theme" books (e.g. Underdark, Plane Above, etc). But it doesn't have a setting that is supported in an ongoing way, that is being explored and developed through supplements.
I know, I know, this has been proven to be financially lacking - setting books are just too specific; you have a diehard core that will buy most of everything for a given setting (setting junkies and DMs using that setting), but the vast majority of players don't buy anything. But I was thinking about how businesses often have products on huge sales that they don't make a profit on but serve the purpose of bringing customers in. Think of the Best Buy "Black Friday" sales - they always have a few items on sale for dirt cheap that you know they aren't making anything on, but what they are doing is bringing people in, softening them up with a good deal, and potentially selling them other items that aren't on sale. Obviously settings don't work quite that way, but my point is that every product that a game company produces doesn't have to generate the same profit margin to serve a larger purpose.
It is my opinion--or rather more like a hypothesis--that a setting that is provided with ongoing support generates secondary and tertiary sales that aren't easy to track. It brings the game alive and provides a kind of exemplar of what the game looks like from those that produce it. 4E has the Nentir Vale but it doesn't go far enough. IMO, they should have produced a short gazetteer in 2008 that gives the bare bones of the setting, then come out with a hardcover (or box set) the following year, with ongoing supplements and adventures equating to as many as roughly one product per month.
I would argue that part of the success of Pathfinder is its support of Golarion. I have no idea how many copies the Chronicles books sell, and they are probably much less than, say, the Advanced Player's Guide or the Bestiary I or II. But it isn't about raw sales, it is about bringing the game world alive and keeping it alive. I also think that Paizo has proven the old adage wrong, that producing setting material and adventures is not profitable. They have struck gold with their subscription model and backed it up with quality products, and quality - if it is marketed well - always does well.
Wizards of the Coast has teased us with Nentir Vale, most recently with the vanishing of the Nentir Vale Gazetteer. I don't even think Nentir Vale is that great of a setting - I like it, it is fine, but for one we simply don't have enough to go on to compare it to Golarion or Greyhawk or the Forgotten Realms or Dark Sun. It hasn't really come alive yet.
The Neverwinter Campaign Guide may be a step in the right direction. Why? Because one of the biggest mistakes WotC made with their 4E treatment of the Forgotten Realms, imo, was not to explicate it much. They came out with a few books and had some ongoing Dragon articles, but they didn't really show us why this new Realms was a good idea, what potential it had as a D&D setting. They have us a brief sketch with some crunch, and essentially said, "Here's the new Realms, like it or not this is what we're giving you this time around, no more or less." My sense is that if they had been willing to develop it a bit, maybe even just a supplement once a quarter, it would have done better and potentially generated more secondary and tertiary sales.
Maybe it isn't too late. Maybe Neverwinter can bring the new Realms alive, and maybe WotC pulled the Nentir Vale Gazetteer because they've got something larger planned for later this year or next (can we hope for a box set?). As with most things WotC these days, I'm not counting on it but one can hope...
4E doesn't have an ongoing, supported setting. It has the default Nentir Vale setting that is touched upon in various products; it has three settings that have received minor support in the form of three books each; it also has a kind of default vibe or atmosphere, a "meta-setting" that includes the new planar structure and the mythology that's been presented in the "theme" books (e.g. Underdark, Plane Above, etc). But it doesn't have a setting that is supported in an ongoing way, that is being explored and developed through supplements.
I know, I know, this has been proven to be financially lacking - setting books are just too specific; you have a diehard core that will buy most of everything for a given setting (setting junkies and DMs using that setting), but the vast majority of players don't buy anything. But I was thinking about how businesses often have products on huge sales that they don't make a profit on but serve the purpose of bringing customers in. Think of the Best Buy "Black Friday" sales - they always have a few items on sale for dirt cheap that you know they aren't making anything on, but what they are doing is bringing people in, softening them up with a good deal, and potentially selling them other items that aren't on sale. Obviously settings don't work quite that way, but my point is that every product that a game company produces doesn't have to generate the same profit margin to serve a larger purpose.
It is my opinion--or rather more like a hypothesis--that a setting that is provided with ongoing support generates secondary and tertiary sales that aren't easy to track. It brings the game alive and provides a kind of exemplar of what the game looks like from those that produce it. 4E has the Nentir Vale but it doesn't go far enough. IMO, they should have produced a short gazetteer in 2008 that gives the bare bones of the setting, then come out with a hardcover (or box set) the following year, with ongoing supplements and adventures equating to as many as roughly one product per month.
I would argue that part of the success of Pathfinder is its support of Golarion. I have no idea how many copies the Chronicles books sell, and they are probably much less than, say, the Advanced Player's Guide or the Bestiary I or II. But it isn't about raw sales, it is about bringing the game world alive and keeping it alive. I also think that Paizo has proven the old adage wrong, that producing setting material and adventures is not profitable. They have struck gold with their subscription model and backed it up with quality products, and quality - if it is marketed well - always does well.
Wizards of the Coast has teased us with Nentir Vale, most recently with the vanishing of the Nentir Vale Gazetteer. I don't even think Nentir Vale is that great of a setting - I like it, it is fine, but for one we simply don't have enough to go on to compare it to Golarion or Greyhawk or the Forgotten Realms or Dark Sun. It hasn't really come alive yet.
The Neverwinter Campaign Guide may be a step in the right direction. Why? Because one of the biggest mistakes WotC made with their 4E treatment of the Forgotten Realms, imo, was not to explicate it much. They came out with a few books and had some ongoing Dragon articles, but they didn't really show us why this new Realms was a good idea, what potential it had as a D&D setting. They have us a brief sketch with some crunch, and essentially said, "Here's the new Realms, like it or not this is what we're giving you this time around, no more or less." My sense is that if they had been willing to develop it a bit, maybe even just a supplement once a quarter, it would have done better and potentially generated more secondary and tertiary sales.
Maybe it isn't too late. Maybe Neverwinter can bring the new Realms alive, and maybe WotC pulled the Nentir Vale Gazetteer because they've got something larger planned for later this year or next (can we hope for a box set?). As with most things WotC these days, I'm not counting on it but one can hope...
