It’s August and that means that the annual #RPGaDAY ‘question a day’ is here to celebrate “everything cool, memorable and amazing about our hobby.” This year we’ve decided to join in the fun and will be canvassing answers from the ENWorld crew, columnists and friends in the industry to bring you some of our answers. We hope you’ll join in, in the comments section, and share your thoughts with us too… So, without further ado, here’s Day 24 of #RPGaDAY 2017!
#RPGaDAY Question 24: Share a PWYW publisher who should be charging more?
Angus Abranson: I’m sadly not really up on the PWYW games. I’ve certainly seen some, and have brought some, but haven’t really had a chance to explore, or read, them properly. I know Evil Hat do a bunch – and given the quality of their other books it’s testament to them as a company wanting to support (and grow) their fan base that they offer such professional quality books as PWYW. I m, however, going to go with the most recent PWYW book that I brought – and the print version was also available on PWYW – and that was Convicts & Cthulhu – a third party Call of Cthulhu supplement exploring the British Empires Australian penal colonies between 1795 to 1810.
Ken Spencer (Rocket Age; Why Not Games): Evil Hat does a lot of settings as PWYW and they are worth a lot more.
Simon Burley (Golden Heroes, The Super Hack): Polar Blues. Creator of BOUNTY HUNTERS OF THE ATOMIC WASTELAND (et al.) This isn't an accurate response to the request because - go to a search engine, type in the above title and BANG - you've got a free PDF of the game. Not PWYW. Free. And it's not some scrappy "pocket mod". No. This is a fully playable book equivalent to the Cakebread and Walton "One Dice" books and far more substantial than all the "Hacks" we're currently selling. I've had my issues with FATE, but BHOTAW makes FATE make sense. It's simple, playable and thoroughly charming. Set in a gonzo post apocalyptic setting which is a mash up of Judge Dredd's "Cursed Earth", Mad Max and Westerns with a touch of Monty Python thrown in. Illustrated by the author himself. At first the pictures might seem unprofessional but they produce a consistency similar to the artwork in the aforementioned One Dice books, ICONS and other similar products. They add to the charm of the product. If this was published by one of the big publishing houses it'd be very successful. I think - and I've expressed this to the author - that giving it away for free creates a false impression of its true value. I haven't read his other games (Mutant Bikers of the Atomic Wasteland, Cyber Blues City) but I'm sure they're equally as worthy of sale. I do hope he isn't upset by me drawing attention to his work like this.
Martin Greening (Azure Keep, Ruma: Dawn of Empire): Levi Kornelsen makes some really awesome, and concise, roleplaying products that are worth way more than the PWYW he charges. His Situations for Tabletop Roleplaying and Mechanisms for Tabletop Roleplaying are great for presenting ideas for GMs to mine.
Simon Brake (Stygian Fox): Not really sure. Evil Hat seem to have a great range of FATE settings, and it seems to be an elegant enough system and, although I don’t use it myself, I know a lot of people who do.
Garry Harper (Modiphius Entertainment; The Role Play Haven): All of them, we don't get paid much in this industry and can only be done for love and support from the community.
Eran Aviram (Up to Four Players; City of Mist): Evil Hat! Everyone else wrote Evil Hat as well, right?
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Originally created by Dave Chapman (Doctor Who: Adventures in Time & Space; Conspiracy X) #RPGaDAY os now being caretakered by the crew over at RPGBrigade. We hope you’ll join in, in the comments section, and share your thoughts with us too!
#RPGaDAY Question 24: Share a PWYW publisher who should be charging more?
Angus Abranson: I’m sadly not really up on the PWYW games. I’ve certainly seen some, and have brought some, but haven’t really had a chance to explore, or read, them properly. I know Evil Hat do a bunch – and given the quality of their other books it’s testament to them as a company wanting to support (and grow) their fan base that they offer such professional quality books as PWYW. I m, however, going to go with the most recent PWYW book that I brought – and the print version was also available on PWYW – and that was Convicts & Cthulhu – a third party Call of Cthulhu supplement exploring the British Empires Australian penal colonies between 1795 to 1810.
Ken Spencer (Rocket Age; Why Not Games): Evil Hat does a lot of settings as PWYW and they are worth a lot more.
Simon Burley (Golden Heroes, The Super Hack): Polar Blues. Creator of BOUNTY HUNTERS OF THE ATOMIC WASTELAND (et al.) This isn't an accurate response to the request because - go to a search engine, type in the above title and BANG - you've got a free PDF of the game. Not PWYW. Free. And it's not some scrappy "pocket mod". No. This is a fully playable book equivalent to the Cakebread and Walton "One Dice" books and far more substantial than all the "Hacks" we're currently selling. I've had my issues with FATE, but BHOTAW makes FATE make sense. It's simple, playable and thoroughly charming. Set in a gonzo post apocalyptic setting which is a mash up of Judge Dredd's "Cursed Earth", Mad Max and Westerns with a touch of Monty Python thrown in. Illustrated by the author himself. At first the pictures might seem unprofessional but they produce a consistency similar to the artwork in the aforementioned One Dice books, ICONS and other similar products. They add to the charm of the product. If this was published by one of the big publishing houses it'd be very successful. I think - and I've expressed this to the author - that giving it away for free creates a false impression of its true value. I haven't read his other games (Mutant Bikers of the Atomic Wasteland, Cyber Blues City) but I'm sure they're equally as worthy of sale. I do hope he isn't upset by me drawing attention to his work like this.
Martin Greening (Azure Keep, Ruma: Dawn of Empire): Levi Kornelsen makes some really awesome, and concise, roleplaying products that are worth way more than the PWYW he charges. His Situations for Tabletop Roleplaying and Mechanisms for Tabletop Roleplaying are great for presenting ideas for GMs to mine.
Simon Brake (Stygian Fox): Not really sure. Evil Hat seem to have a great range of FATE settings, and it seems to be an elegant enough system and, although I don’t use it myself, I know a lot of people who do.
Garry Harper (Modiphius Entertainment; The Role Play Haven): All of them, we don't get paid much in this industry and can only be done for love and support from the community.
Eran Aviram (Up to Four Players; City of Mist): Evil Hat! Everyone else wrote Evil Hat as well, right?
****
Originally created by Dave Chapman (Doctor Who: Adventures in Time & Space; Conspiracy X) #RPGaDAY os now being caretakered by the crew over at RPGBrigade. We hope you’ll join in, in the comments section, and share your thoughts with us too!
