Another RPG company with financial difficulties

[Wulf Ratbane]

If the RPG indudtry is doing so poorly, there aren't many solutions. Is it a bad business model? Not enough customers? No demand? Nature of the industry?

Yes, yes, see previous, and yes.

 

[Thanee]

I don't think writers and publishers CAN do anymore.

I think he meant people should buy more books from their gaming companies of choice, tho.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Turjan]

Yes, yes, see previous, and yes.

I agree. How often do I have to buy a core rulebook? The rest is decoration. It's no wonder why companies like CCGs. It's hard to keep up a constant buying cycle with your customers without alienating them in tabletop RPGs. You can try to bring out a new edition every year, but I suppose that won't work too well, either. At least not with me .

 

[philreed]

I think Hero may come out better for this change, and I don't think that they'll be the last company to do so.

Agreed. As the distribution model becomes even less reliable, a lot of publishers are likely to start depending more and more on direct sales.

 

[Teflon Billy]

I don't think writers and publishers CAN do anymore. Writers are already paid so very little and many publishers aren't even paying them. The amount of money owed me by other publishers is ridiculous, but I also know that I will never see it now because the reality of the marketplace is that RPG sales are not improving. Oh, and to educate anyone who may feel like saying that writers are overpaid for what they do, many publishers are now only paying a flat sum or .01/word depending on the project and its size. Yeah, sad...

That's brutal. I used to make about 17-20 cents a word writing a weekly column about Professional Wrestling which, to my mind anyway, was considerably easier to just crank out than game material.

 

[der_kluge]

There needs to be more conventions. Years ago, there used to be a lot of conventions. Now there are very few. They are a great way to attract the general public into gaming, and a con can deliver CCGs, board games, and a whole host of other kinds of games. Lots of people were probably introduced to systems like HERO or RoleMaster, or anything else that was D&D through a convention.

 

[Belen]

And yet again, this is why people should support the companies they want to see stick around. Things are very bad right now.

Hey Phil, I bought a few of your starship books a few weeks ago to prep for my d20 Future gameday game. They rocked.

You can expect me to start buying some more of your stuff.

 

[Belen]

I would not discount FLGS. They tend to provide the books far more quickly than online dealers and the faster the book arrives the more you pay in shipping until the price approaches retail anyway.

And sales tax will not be absent the online arena forever.

In fact, the lack of tax has so far created an unfair competitive environment for online versus retail locations.

In any event, there are too many RPG publishers. More exist now than ever before. If sales are bad, we have the large number of publishers to hold partially responsible.

Also, I have said it before, and I will say it again. We need an RPG society. We need some organization outside of the publishing industry to help promote and support the hobby. heck, the medical society I work for has 5k members. The numbers of dedicated RPG people would dwarf them!

 

[philreed]

Hey Phil, I bought a few of your starship books a few weeks ago to prep for my d20 Future gameday game. They rocked.

You can expect me to start buying some more of your stuff.

That wasn't exactly what I meant but thanks! Our new starship is just about done -- just a day or two away -- and it's massive.

 

[Mercule]

many publishers are now only paying a flat sum or .01/word depending on the project and its size. Yeah, sad...

Yikes! At 250 words per page (quick estimate, probably including art), that's only $320 for a 128 page book. Even if a body could crank out one of those every week, that's only $16,000 a year.

As for Hero Games, I wouldn't count them out, yet. IIRC, they were forced to trim to a one man shop a few years back. They've survived before, and I hope they do it again.