[Adamant Entertainment] THRILLING TALES - Pulp for D20 Modern

[GMSkarka]

Please don't take this personally...If the business model really had that much potential the big boys would be using it. The fact that it is only being used by the struggling small fryes is very telling.

One last point on this side-track that I meant to respond to earlier:

The above-quoted statement is greatly mistaken.

One of the earliest adopters (if not the creator--I'm not sure, actually) of the short PDF "a la carte" marketing model, and easily the publisher best known for it, is Ronin Arts, who is, hands-down the top publisher on RPGNow, and whose monthly sales are leagues beyond many print publishers that I know.

So, it's definitely NOT "only being used by the struggling small fryes."

I wouldn't categorize Ronin Arts as struggling in any sense of the word...Or Louis Porter Jr Designs, who is also a producer on this model, and another of RPGNow's top vendors. Hell, even my company, as "small fry" as it is, does well enough for it to be my primary source of income. So, no....you're quite mistaken.

 

[C. Baize]

Look, guys, I just wanted to ask people what they were interested in seeing, so I could try to come up with some stuff you might like.

I wasn't looking to be a punching bag for people who bizarrely insist that I'm out to "fleece" gamers, or who will even more bizarrely lecture me that my trying to consider your point is somehow a bad thing.

I apologize if my pricing model offends you.

Hey, man... I'm just telling you as a fan of pulp, what I'm interested in seeing. Competitively priced full sized books (PDF or Print, either way, or both).

As an aside, $2.00 for 4 pages of content (+1 page of cover, +1 page of OGL) is pretty offensive as a page for page pricing scheme, but really, that's secondary. It's a disturbing trend that people need to vote out by not buying them.
Because that's higher price per page than any print book I've ever seen that wasn't an antique or otherwise collectible edition.

 

[jaerdaph]

Getting back on topic:

I'd like to see something about the Ultimate Pulp Villains: Nazis

I hate those guys!

 

[GMSkarka]

Hey, man... I'm just telling you as a fan of pulp, what I'm interested in seeing. Competitively priced full sized books (PDF or Print, either way, or both).

As an aside, $2.00 for 4 pages of content (+1 page of cover, +1 page of OGL) is pretty offensive as a page for page pricing scheme, but really, that's secondary. It's a disturbing trend that people need to vote out by not buying them.
Because that's higher price per page than any print book I've ever seen that wasn't an antique or otherwise collectible edition.

So phrase it reasonably, as you attempted to do in this post.

Coming out of the gate with "gamer-fleecing" and "outrageously inflated" pretty much guarantees that you're going to get written off as yet another socially-maladjusted internet crank, rather than getting me (or any other publisher) to consider what you're saying. (Unless you're like jeszter6, who doesn't want me to consider his point...for reasons that still baffle me.)

 

[GMSkarka]

Getting back on topic:

I'd like to see something about the Ultimate Pulp Villains: Nazis

I hate those guys!

Good idea! Definitely worth considering. Tell you what---if we go with this one, you've just earned a free copy.

(And thanks for trying to get back to topic)

 

[jaerdaph]

Thanks, Gareth - much appreciated!

That's TWO prizes from PDF publishers in one day (John Bowden of Ancient Awakenings kindly gave me a copy of Modern Fantasy: Rangers and Druids)!

Anybody wanna go for three?

Seriously, I hope you found some other useful ideas on this thread as well - I thought the suggestions were all quite good.

 

[GMSkarka]

Seriously, I hope you found some other useful ideas on this thread as well - I thought the suggestions were all quite good.

Well, yeah--there were some good suggestions, even if I had to pick through the dagger-points to find them (and even if some seemed annoyed that I was trying to find them in the first place)!

 

[C. Baize]

So phrase it reasonably, as you attempted to do in this post.

Coming out of the gate with "gamer-fleecing" and "outrageously inflated" pretty much guarantees that you're going to get written off as yet another socially-maladjusted internet crank, rather than getting me (or any other publisher) to consider what you're saying. (Unless you're like jeszter6, who doesn't want me to consider his point...for reasons that still baffle me.)

Considering how I feel about this subject... it was quite reasonable.
As for Jez... he's got his own deal. I wouldn't have posted my opinion if I didn't want you to consider it.
Wanting you to consider it, and thinking that you will are two entirely different subjects, I'm sure.

As for content, however, you can't really have pulp without big wonky robots, or weird looking aliens (or big wonky alien robots), or brains in jars, secret societies, mysterious benefactors, lost areas of the planet where dinosaurs and humans co-exist, cave entrances that lead all the way to the center of the earth, voyages to previously unfathomed depths of the ocean, gumshoes, mummies, archealogists uncovering ancient curses ... well... you get the idea.

 

[GMSkarka]

As for content, however, you can't really have pulp without big wonky robots, or weird looking aliens (or big wonky alien robots), or brains in jars, secret societies, mysterious benefactors, lost areas of the planet where dinosaurs and humans co-exist, cave entrances that lead all the way to the center of the earth, voyages to previously unfathomed depths of the ocean, gumshoes, mummies, archealogists uncovering ancient curses ... well... you get the idea.

Do me a favor--drop me an email at gms@adamantentertainment.com

 

[jezter6]

I'm not annoyed by it at all.

I was suggesting that the business model, while looks great having your name at the top of the RPGNow sales list, is flawed at the expense of the consumer.

While I gave my suggestion, I had zero expectations of you or any other publisher getting a "EUREKA!" moment and changing your existing policy. Many people ask for feedback, and take little or none of it.

I was happy to say what I need to and leave, but I had to be called "pissy and confrontational." My ex wife is pissy and confrontational, I'm just confrontational. It's kind of REQUIRED to have confrontation when you are having a two sided discussion, or it just ends up as rabid fanboyism.

I'm sure as a publisher, you would love rabid fanboyism. I disagree with your model, and hope that by bringing it to light, others will see my post for what it is...one post from someone who liked a product, but will no longer support the publisher because they have chosen to appeal to a different demographic. I don't hate the short/expensive PDF format so much as think that realeasing a ton of really really short bits, that we as a community used to post in house rules for nothing, is unethical. If you're going to give us a book on the subject, give us a book on it. 3 or 4 of us chimed in to let you know that.

Instead, you choose to defend your current model, and potentially lose sales (you lost mine, I'm not sure about the rest) because you had to fight back instead of simply considering (or ignoring for that matter) our suggestions for how we want to see this particular product.

In short...you asked for suggestions. Mitultiple people gave them. Take them for what they're worth. I didn't see too many people come in and claim support for the 6 page PDF format. I did see consumers that were not happy with what you had to offer, and instead of including us in your demographic, you pretty much forced us out of it. There will always be dissenting opinions, and if you ask for them, be prepared for dagger points as well as fanboys.

That said, the BEST article I've ever read on running the Pulp genre can be found here:
http://www.fantasylibrary.com/lounge/pulpavengers.htm

It seems to be mirrored from a site no longer in service, so the links to the chapters don't work, you just have to scroll a lot. It's an EXCELLENT read and should provide you with a ton of ideas for the genre.