Necromancer Games shutting down next year.(UPDATE post 93)

[CaptainChaos]

My question is if this EVE partnership is so lucrative why did they have to sever their ties with Necromancer?

From the comments of the Necro guys and other d20 publishers, it seems clear that sales on d20 stuff is down massively from where it used to be. WW probably figured this was a good time to trim away the stuff that wasn't selling well enough.

 

[jdrakeh]

My question is if this EVE partnership is so lucrative why did they have to sever their ties with Necromancer?

They've severed their ties with d20 in general, presumably because it was costing them more to publish for d20 than it was generating in profits. That is, they severed their ties with Necromancer, not because EVE, the NWoD, and Exalted fail to perform for them, but because d20 no longer performs for them.

They're doing what businesses do -- investing heavily in what earns them them a financial return and withdrawing their financial support from endeavors no longer earning them money (in this case, the publication of d20 products). Basically, it was just another day at the office, not the personal snub that some people are making it out to be.

This isn't to say that d20 doesn't still perform for other publishers, merely that it wasn't performing for White Wolf anymore. They were simply putting more into it than they were getting out of it, thus business sense demanded that they cut their losses (much as Atlas Games and AEG did).

 

[green slime]

Well then! A cautious "yippee!" is perhaps in order?

 

[Belen]

They've severed their ties with d20 in general, presumably because it was costing them more to publish for d20 than it was generating in profits. That is, they severed their ties with Necromancer, not because EVE, the NWoD, and Exalted fail to perform for them, but because d20 no longer performs for them.

They're doing what businesses do -- investing heavily in what earns them them a financial return and withdrawing their financial support from endeavors no longer earning them money (in this case, the publication of d20 products). Basically, it was just another day at the office, not the personal snub that some people are making it out to be.

This isn't to say that d20 doesn't still perform for other publishers, merely that it wasn't performing for White Wolf anymore. They were simply putting more into it than they were getting out of it, thus business sense demanded that they cut their losses (much as Atlas Games and AEG did).

Funny enough, the game stores in my area were willing to carry the d20 stuff, but refuse to order the WoD items. The new WoD is not popular around here.

 

[froggie]

Lulu . com

Whizbang...I'll look into it

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

White Wolf is still doing D20 material, unless World of Warcraft and Monte Cook's World of Darkness have suddenly been turned into Storyteller games.

 

[jdrakeh]

White Wolf is still doing D20 material, unless World of Warcraft and Monte Cook's World of Darkness have suddenly been turned into Storyteller games.

I didn't say that they'd quit entirely, only that they cut back significantly and were moving away from it in general Note also that Monte Cook's WoD is a d20 conversion of a non-d20 property -- I think that they're hedging their bets on that that one (hopefully it is better than their previous Storyteller to d20 conversions).

[Edit: I see where that (i.e., my intent to declare that WW was taking significant steps away from d20, not abandoning it completely) might not have been clearly conveyed in my cited post. As it stands, they currently have only two d20 products in their future releases queue -- the Tome of Artifacts and the WoD conversion.]

Regarding NWoD popularity, I believe that it's currently the #3 or #4 best-selling game line according to the polls of retailers conducted by Comics & Games Retailer (no, the polls aren't perfect, but they're far less skewed than an Amazon-only poll or an eBay search). Locally (here in the Springs), I think that it clocks in just behind D&D and Exalted in terms of popularity.

 

[cnath.rm]

I thought it was at a reasonable cost on DTR myself...

Btw thanks for the updates Tree.

Does DTR offer PoD hardcopy?

 

[Mystaros]

Wow, that's really a shame. I still enjoy reading their titanic Wilderlands of High Fantasy set. Does that mean the Judges' Guild will be gone as well?

Mechanurge,

Tegel Manor is scheduled to be the last Judges Guild product produced by Necromancer Games; I sincerely hope they can release it in the deluxe format they have planned, as it will be a seriously kick-ass product.

Goodman Games, through Eostros (the Geilman's company) will release updated, revised versions of classic Judges Guild adventure modules.

Adventure Games Publishing (my company) will release all-new products designed and licensed for use with Castles & Crusades, starting with the Free RPG Day 16-page booklet, Tell Qa: Northern Bastion of the Falling Empire in June. After that the plan is to release Ravaged Ruins of the Roglaras, followed by (I think) a general, broad gazetteer for the ENTIRE continent of the Wilderlands (an area the size 270 campaign maps, or 15 total Wilderlands). The plan will be to release further Wilderness books and new modules for the Wilderlands proper, and gazetteers covering nine campaign maps worth of each of the "other" sections of the world (i.e., each gazetteer would cover an area the size of nine campaign maps, with a 15-mile per hex map, with detail somewhere between that of the classic booklets and the current boxed set). The first of those gazetteers will probably cover the Kingdom of Karak and the Demon Empires. The Wilderness books will start with the Falling Empire of Viridistan, and each would have 18 to 24 hex maps like in the Mines of Custalcon, Shield Maidens of Sea Rune, and so forth. The first Wilderness book will probably cover the core of Smyrsis Province, to tie in with the Tell Qa booklet.

After that, I dunno. Also, somewhere in there, a Castles & Crusades book on Psychic powers, a monster book or two, and maybe a book or two on cultures and/or histories of the Wilderlands. Plus a couple of modules.

That is, when I can get to it all. I'm already way behind my planned schedule, but the day job comes first (gotta pay the bills; my landlord doesn't accept payments in unsold merchandise) Pray for me to win the lottery... boy, will I have a field day in this industry!

 

[Mystaros]

Regarding NWoD popularity, I believe that it's currently the #3 or #4 best-selling game line according to the polls of retailers conducted by Comics & Games Retailer (no, the polls aren't perfect, but they're far less skewed than an Amazon-only poll or an eBay search). Locally (here in the Springs), I think that it clocks in just behind D&D and Exalted in terms of popularity.

Yup, I have the State of the Gaming Industry article in the issue that should be hitting stores this week, and NWoD + Exalted (i.e., essentially everything WW did in 2006 that registered even a blip in sales) came in at the #2 position. Here's the general breakdown for 2006 RPG sales in market share (hobby stores only, not counting big box or mass market or PDF or direct to consumer):

#1: Wizards of the Coast: 58.37%
#2: White Wolf: 12.79%
#3: Palladium Books: 3.92%
#4: Goodman Games: 2.96%
#5: Troll Lord Games: 2.50%
#6: Mongoose: 2.34%
#7: Green Ronin: 2.04%
Less than 2% but greater than 1%: MWP, Privateer, Black Industries, FanPro, Hero Games, and Steve Jackson Games.

This measures sales by units, not by dollars. If it were by dollars, WotC and WW would ahve even bigger shares, as their products generally have higher MSRP's and can be sold for that price much more often at stores than second-tier products, which are more often discounted, especially backstock products.

Note that this measures what retailers sold to consumers; not what retailers bought from distributors, nor what distributors bought from publishers. A LOT of the sales of Palladium products in 2006 were backstock, based on the appeal to the fans made by Palladium. Of course, that only worked until everyone was satiated, and then sales dropped again, waiting for new product to release...

That's one of the problems with Necromancer, is that their fans have mostly already bought everything they released; they need to grow, but in order to grow, they need to generate new fans, and there's only so much you can do without having a big marketing budget...