Chris Pramas (Green Ronin) on the future of D&D

[johnnype]

For those who are interested Chris Pramas, from Green Ronin, did an interview last week on the 2d6 Feet in a Random Direction podcast (episode 16). He has some interesting and insightful things to say about what he thinks might be the future of D&D or at least some of the hurdles facing the game. Everything from his thoughts on the cancellation of Dragon and Dungeon magazines to the WotC's 2007 D&D catalogue and the advent of 4th edition.

He does not work for WotC so he's obviously just giving us his opinion but it's very interesting to listen to regardless.

I believe it wan Chris Hanrahan, one of the hosts of the podcasts, who said something interesting about how at his store (Endgame in Oakland, CA) the Forgotten Realms and Eberron books don't sell at all. Earlier this week the manager of Gamescape in San Francisco asked me if Eberron was at all popular (he has other hobbies and doesn't follow RPG's all that closely). Both comments took me by surprise but then again I buy 95% of my books online so perhaps it shouldn't have surprised me.

Episode 15 was also interesting to listen to in that both hosts give us a few minutes on their opinion of 4th edition. Is it needed, what will it look like and such. Again, they don't work for Wizards either so it's just an opinion much like many others on this and other message boards.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I wonder if Pramas ever gets tired of being asked about D&D instead of Green Ronin stuff.

 

[johnnype]

Don't kid yourself, he does talk about Green Ronin and it's upcoming catalogue of products. He also hints at a big announcement that they were going to release at the Gama Trade Show this week. Anyone know what that's all about?

 

[MarkAHart]

...He also hints at a big announcement that they were going to release at the Gama Trade Show this week. Anyone know what that's all about?

Isn't this the acquisition of George R.R. Martin's "Song of Fire & Ice" property for a new role-playing game, to be released by Green Ronin?

 

[buzz]

How's the negativity:insightful ratio in Pramas' interview?

 

[CaptainChaos]

How's the negativity:insightful ratio in Pramas' interview?

I didn't find it negative at all.

 

[buzz]

I didn't find it negative at all.

Cool. Some recent commentary on the industry from Pramas seemed sort of grim to me, ergo why I asked.

 

[Mark Hope]

It was a very good interview, and largely composed of interesting insights into rpg business models, the effect of mmorpgs on tabletop gaming and WotC's changing approach to their release schedule over the years. As for 4e itself, Chris Pramas freely admits that it is pretty hard to come up with any solid, definitive projections. He does broadly say that 4e will either be radically different or largely the same as 3.5, with little chance of a middle ground. I'd find it hard to argue with that ...

 

[johnnype]

Chris works in the industry and therefore has a vested interest in seeing it do well. Even though some of his comments may seem negative it only makes me pay that much more attention to what he says. He doesn't provide any new revelations but he does reiterate points that need repeating such as:

RPG's make the most money with the core rulebooks. Demand for supplements drops rather precipitously from there.

Adventures don't make a lot of money.

Freeport went "systemless" because of fear of a possible 4th edition around the corner.

Stuff like that. Great interview and well worth listening to.

 

[Desdichado]

For those of us who don't have audio at work, can anyone summarize what some of the highlights were?