Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Whizbang Dustyboots" data-source="post: 9678561" data-attributes="member: 11760">Yeah, the long product lines of yesteryear, especially with TSR and White Wolf, relied on returnable books being sold to book chains. Without that model, which TSR abused by cranking out books that at least some staff members knew weren't actually selling to consumers, I don't think we would have seen those deep catalogs of supplements and adventures in the 1990s.And, honestly, I feel like it's a lot healthier to have essential books crowdfunded by an audience that explicitly wants them and, if there's a demand for follow-ups, they'll fund those as well.So many games, even great games, don't really need the kind of support that Vampire or 2E AD&amp;D received. A great corebook and maybe a handful of great supplements and you're good to go.And the world of open licenses means that, for instance, the Arcane Library doesn't need to crank out dozens of adventures and supplements -- as much as many Shadowdark fans might like them -- because everyone can sell their own compatible stuff by taking some minimal steps to do so.And that's even more true in the wider OSR space, where things are widely compatible and GMs are fine with converting say, Into the Wyrd &amp; Wild to Shadowdark, Old School Essentials, 2E AD&amp;D, or whatever. Once consumers make that step, they're suddenly faced with more available material for OSR games especially than TSR ever imagined.Every year, more 1E/OSRIC material is released to the public than TSR ever produced for the line. And when you look at B/X material, a huge mountain of material -- some of it the best roleplaying gaming material produced today -- is released annually.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Whizbang Dustyboots, post: 9678561, member: 11760"] Yeah, the long product lines of yesteryear, especially with TSR and White Wolf, relied on returnable books being sold to book chains. Without that model, which TSR abused by cranking out books that at least some staff members knew weren't actually selling to consumers, I don't think we would have seen those deep catalogs of supplements and adventures in the 1990s. And, honestly, I feel like it's a lot healthier to have essential books crowdfunded by an audience that explicitly wants them and, if there's a demand for follow-ups, they'll fund those as well. So many games, even great games, don't really need the kind of support that Vampire or 2E AD&D received. A great corebook and maybe a handful of great supplements and you're good to go. And the world of open licenses means that, for instance, the Arcane Library doesn't need to crank out dozens of adventures and supplements -- as much as many Shadowdark fans might like them -- because everyone can sell their own compatible stuff by taking some minimal steps to do so. And that's even more true in the wider OSR space, where things are widely compatible and GMs are fine with converting say, Into the Wyrd & Wild to Shadowdark, Old School Essentials, 2E AD&D, or whatever. Once consumers make that step, they're suddenly faced with more available material for OSR games especially than TSR ever imagined. Every year, more 1E/OSRIC material is released to the public than TSR ever produced for the line. And when you look at B/X material, a huge mountain of material -- some of it the best roleplaying gaming material produced today -- is released annually. [/QUOTE]

Verification