Personalized Prizes

[Roman]

I just had a look at the prizes offered for donating for the new ENWorld server. The publishers concerned deserve much credit for the fantastic prizes offered - the list is truly impressive.

Three of the prizes offered, however, are rather unusual. One author offers to write a PDF for (with?) the winner, one company offers to name a character after the winner in one of their products and firm offers to create a character portrait for the winner. I just think these personalized prizes are a very cool concept! Anybody feels the same?

 

[philreed]

I just had a look at the prizes offered for donating for the new ENWorld server. The publishers concerned deserve much credit for the fantastic prizes offered - the list is truly impressive.

Three of the prizes offered, however, are rather unusual. One author offers to write a PDF for (with?) the winner, one company offers to name a character after the winner in one of their products and firm offers to create a character portrait for the winner. I just think these personalized prizes are a very cool concept! Anybody feels the same?

For/with is a good way to describe the custom PDF. I want to be sure to write something the winner needs for his campaign but I'm not at all opposed to working directly with the winner.

Hell, maybe I should offer the idea as a service. For a set fee I'll write and produce a custom PDF that fits your current needs.

EDIT: Actually, that's a neat idea. Players could give it to DMs as a gift.

Hmmmm. Think. Think. Think.

 

[Roman]

For/with is a good way to describe the custom PDF. I want to be sure to write something the winner needs for his campaign but I'm not at all opposed to working directly with the winner.

Hell, maybe I should offer the idea as a service. For a set fee I'll write and produce a custom PDF that fits your current needs.

EDIT: Actually, that's a neat idea. Players could give it to DMs as a gift.

Hmmmm. Think. Think. Think.

Great idea for a prize BTW (though undoubtedly very laborious for you)!

As to offering a personalized RPG PDF service - it could perhaps have some commercial potential - I do not know enough about the RPG market to tell for certain.

 

[philreed]

Great idea for a prize BTW (though undoubtedly very laborious for you)!

As to offering a personalized RPG PDF service - it could perhaps have some commercial potential - I do not know enough about the RPG market to tell for certain.

I think there are a few different ways to handle the idea. The best I can think of so far is as a partial patron/design service. For a set fee you get a custom PDF created that I then release for sale. The "patron/customer" receives 50% of the income brought in by that one PDF.

 

[Roman]

I think there are a few different ways to handle the idea. The best I can think of so far is as a partial patron/design service. For a set fee you get a custom PDF created that I then release for sale. The "patron/customer" receives 50% of the income brought in by that one PDF.

Yes, that seems like a good way of handling it in most situations. What if, however, the patron/customer commissions something specific to his or her home campaign world that although portable to other campaign worlds in principle is unlikely to be used in such manner by most other customers. This could severely restrict the further customer base for the said product.

 

[philreed]

Yes, that seems like a good way of handling it in most situations. What if, however, the patron/customer commissions something specific to his or her home campaign world that although portable to other campaign worlds in principle is unlikely to be used in such manner by most other customers. This could severely restrict the further customer base for the said product.

True. But the prices on the short PDFs are so low that people are willing to try them to get new ideas. I suspect that specialized PDFs, while likely slow sellers, would still be decent sellers. One current problem, though, is that fantasy sales are very slow. I have no idea why and I know it's not just Ronin Arts -- watching the charts I can see that fantasy sales overall have slowed. You get the occasional breakout product but, for the most part, most new fantasy PDFs at RPGNow are moving slowly.

 

[Roman]

True. But the prices on the short PDFs are so low that people are willing to try them to get new ideas. I suspect that specialized PDFs, while likely slow sellers, would still be decent sellers.

That does indeed make sense with short low priced PDFs. I guess the success of the scheme would depend on the type of content, the quality of content, the size of the PDF, the market, the price of the PDF for the 'patron-customer' and the price of the PDF for the other customers. In my uneducated opinion with the right balance between the above factors it could work.

One current problem, though, is that fantasy sales are very slow. I have no idea why and I know it's not just Ronin Arts -- watching the charts I can see that fantasy sales overall have slowed. You get the occasional breakout product but, for the most part, most new fantasy PDFs at RPGNow are moving slowly.

Hmm... that seems rather unfortunate. Who knows, personalized/custom PDFs might be a way to break the patter though.

 

[philreed]

Hmm... that seems rather unfortunate. Who knows, personalized/custom PDFs might be a way to break the patter though.

It may. Would anyone be interested in something like this and, if so, what would you be willing to pay?

 

[Man-thing]

What I would like...

Personal product to build my adventure for the week...

I would send you description of characters, etc. Let you known what resources I have available (what books I own).

You'd plot out a decent number of encounter for my session and include a couple new things (spells, feats, treasure, DM pipeline type stuff). An boom my planning is significantly reduced. Price depending on length $5-8 per (adventure kit) slightly more if it include a map I can build with my adventure tiles for SKG.

That's what I's be interested in at least.

 

[philreed]

Personal product to build my adventure for the week...

I would send you description of characters, etc. Let you known what resources I have available (what books I own).

You'd plot out a decent number of encounter for my session and include a couple new things (spells, feats, treasure, DM pipeline type stuff). An boom my planning is significantly reduced. Price depending on length $5-8 per (adventure kit) slightly more if it include a map I can build with my adventure tiles for SKG.

That's what I's be interested in at least.

That is a neat idea.