Race .PDFs for a Buck?

[talien]

Hello all!

I'm currently collaborating on bringing the various races of RetroMUD (well, some) to the d20 system. There are over 60 races, so there's going to be plenty of material to work with. And I haven't even gotten to the classes yet.

As of right now, the plan is to produce a series of them at $1 each. Here's the question: What do you expect for one dollar?

Currently each race includes the following:

RACE STATS
For players, this is the equivalent to the info you would get from the PHB.
* Personality, Physical Description, Relations, Alignment, Lands, Religion, Language, Names, Adventurers, Racial Traits
* Equipment Slots (this is important, the Retroverse has many races that have less than the usual four limbs)
* Age, Height, and Weight

MONSTER STATS
For DMs, this is the entry as if it were a low-level monster.
* Combat, Treasure, Legends & Lore (including knowledge skill check DCs to learn about each race), and Hooks

All told, this comes out to three pages of text. There's one unique picture (drawn by our Retro artists), but that's it for artwork. Those three pages are all rules and do not include the OGL declaration or cover page.

Is this enough for one dollar? Should there be more? And if there should, what should it be?

Thanks for your feedback!

 

[Sledge]

As the poll is showing clearly, 5 or more pages are expected for every dollar. I know I've been disappointed by books that seem to have nothing to them. So looking at what you say you have, you are short about 2-3 pages. One of these should be the fluff. Bring the race to life. Other things to add would be an example character, and possibly a paragon class. How many pages do you think that would bring you too?

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Fantasy Flights' Mythic Races presents a PrC for each race. Now it may be daunting to present a new PrC for your project considering there are 60 races, however it would be cool to see some of the races have a PrC that is geared towards them.

 

[Nellisir]

As the poll is showing clearly, 5 or more pages are expected for every dollar. I know I've been disappointed by books that seem to have nothing to them. So looking at what you say you have, you are short about 2-3 pages. One of these should be the fluff. Bring the race to life. Other things to add would be an example character, and possibly a paragon class. How many pages do you think that would bring you too?

An "iconic" character suitable for NPC use would be a nice addition, like the elite opponents in Monster Manual 3. Gives the DM an easy-in to using the race in his campaign and illustrating what a stereotypical advanced member of the "X" race is.

5 pages. At least.

Cheers
Nell.

 

[Kanegrundar]

I wouldn't feel cheated by 4 pages, but I'd always like more. Granted, I would much rather buy a full edition of all the races in one e-tome.

Kane

 

[talien]

The feedback is definitely sending a strong message that at least five pages is necessary for a $1 race supplement. So to that end, we're adding in "iconic" NPCs of each race. The best part is, you can visit these characters on RetroMUD since they're on the game.

Aiming for a 5th, 10th, and 15th level set of stats along with how you can use the character in your game. That will add an additional two pages, bringing the supplement up to 5.

Anything else we should be adding?

 

[DMH]

Something iconic to the race. An object, tool, symbol, geographical feature, something that reminds everyone of that race.

 

[Napftor]

Something iconic to the race. An object, tool, symbol, geographical feature, something that reminds everyone of that race.

This is an excellent suggestion but would hopefully already be included in the race's writeup. Take this one step further and give each race a signature weapon, armor, spell, or whatever. Some type of crunch that the reader can remember.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

By the way Talien, I am seriously looking forward to seeing your Werewolf book thats being published by Goodman. One thing to include in racial writeups are a couple of paragraphs about any racial offshoots.

 

[Voadam]

Don't skimp on description. Good descriptions make monsters and races come alive. The 3e MM does a poor job on this. 2e was better and gave more for a DM to work with.