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Message: <blockquote data-quote="barsoomcore" data-source="post: 1460762" data-attributes="member: 812">Well, surely an instable market is preferably to a stably-declining market? I mean, if last year you were starving to death and this year your diet changes every day, you're still better off, right? Or at least if you're going to complain about that, don't expect much sympathy.Boo frickin hoo. So things are tougher. The market's gotten more competitive. This is a GOOD thing. Why should RPG publishers be getting a free ride? It's a tough industry and only smart companies that build a reputation for good products, manage their businesses intelligently, market their products agressively and learn to finangle the distribution end of things are going to survive. Good. I'm glad of that.And yeah, WotC has a huge advantage because of its deep pockets and its ownership of the only trademark in the industry that matters. I repeat, boo frickin hoo. At least they made it clear and easy (and free) for anyone else to go into business trying to ride the wave of their success. Of course they did it because they thought it would make it easier for them to make money. Good for them.Your data for this is? Let's consider Privateer Press -- surely you're not going to suggest that they are ramping up their production schedules; how far behind is the IK Campaign Guide now? Two years? So that's two data points (assuming yours IS a data point; do you have a source for that information?) which directly contradict one another.I suggest the trick for succeeding in a competitive market is the same in RPGs as it is in any industry: Make good stuff cheap and get it loudly to purchasers quick. You can vary the goodness, the cheapness, the loudness and the quickness, but that's the trick. It's hard. Most will fail. This is true in all industries -- most startups fail.What we're seeing in RPGs IS as a result of d20, sure, but it's by no means evidence that d20 is bad for the industry. It's a normal "bubble" reaction to sudden market expansion. It's now settling out and post-bubble times are always hard for people who were making money without actually being very good. Or people who didn't structure their business with an eye for the rainy day. d20 brought a big influx of cash into the RPG market and for a while just about anyone could grab a piece of it. Not so easy now. And of course, D&D being the center of the industry, anything that effects it effects everything else to some degree. Oh well. You don't want to deal with Dungeons and Dragons, don't publish RPGs.The economic argument against d20 is bogus.The innovation argument is different. I don't think it holds up but I haven't been able to put much thought into it. Perhaps I will later.And I was way wrong on the combat actions thing. Never mind. Too much coffee. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /></blockquote>

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