Sell me on creating new d20 fantasy PDFs . . .

[Man-thing]

I'm concerned that if Phil leaves d20 fantasy we will never see the proposed and long-promised 2nd release for the Possessors, and I just know there is a notebook that has scribblings on the 2nd volume of the DM's Directory of Demiplanes.

 

[Aus_Snow]

Um, I have no idea what has sold in what numbers, but I can name a few things I particularly like from Ronin Arts...

The Campaign Planners
The Spell Components PDFs
Both of the 101 Mundane Treasures PDFs


I also don't know what *would* sell (other than 'not much', by the sounds of things in this industry atm). Wish I had something useful to contribute. Sorry. :\

edit --- ..unless of course there's a niche that hasn't been catered to. Hm. I'll scout around and see if anything looks likely on that front.

 

[danzig138]

Eh. Do what you gots ta do.

If the fantasy isn't pulling in the green, don't sweat it. If you have an overwhelming need to work on fantasy, do it in any free time you have for your own enjoyment. No schedule, no projected release date. Like what you may have done before going into business.

Best of luck whichever way you go.

 

[pogre]

DO you have any interest in doing stuff for the Runequest OGL? That seems like a niche where an established pdf company could make a dent.

 

[trancejeremy]

And for RPG.net, as much as I love that place, they are sticklers for vocalizing their distast of mainstream (i.e. WoTC d20) material so I'm surprised. Unless of course we're talking vs. Monsters then the indie nature of it might cause people to leap up and go , "Ah, the cool!".

But I'm grossly generalizing there.

Well, bear in mind, the people who post on their forums are not necessarily the people who read the reviews. While ENWorld doesn't put a counter on their reviews, other sites do, and RPG.net pretty much dwarfs all others when it comes to page views of reviews.

 

[WayneLigon]

So, if you can discuss such things, how is the market for the Superhero PDF stuff compared to the fantasy?

 

[JoeGKushner]

Well, bear in mind, the people who post on their forums are not necessarily the people who read the reviews. While ENWorld doesn't put a counter on their reviews, other sites do, and RPG.net pretty much dwarfs all others when it comes to page views of reviews.

But if En World doesn't count it's reviews, do we know that's true?

For example, if a product is put on both sites, d20 based, is it going to get read more on En World or RPG.net? You're saying RPG.net? Don't know about that. RPG.net does have a broader base reader ship but EN World is the #1 d20 spot on the net bar none.

 

[Vascant]

I don't think the fantasy setting is your problem, I think the problem is the small PDF fad is filled now with hundreds of publishers and in 12 pages it is hard to really be that amazing.

You can quit yes but perhaps it is time to rethink your approach to the Fantasy Setting and step out of the box you helped create. I deal pretty much exclusively with customers with the fantasy aspect of gaming and am not finding a shortage of them. It is probably mind blowing the amount of material you have in your catalog but have failed to really use that, who is going to sit down and look at every product to find the one they want?

To be blunt, I think you are selling the Fantasy Setting short. In the end though it is your company and your decision.

 

[Glyfair]

I'm not sure if reviews would help. From what I can tell reviews rarely have a measurable impact on sales. In fact, there's only one reviewer that I saw a definite spike in sales when his review posted. Additionally, the few other times I've seen a slight increase were from reviews posted at RPG.net.

Here is my POV, mostly specific to myself.

I don't buy something based on a review. If I'm interested in something, I'll check reviews and use that to determine whether I'll buy something.

I had some money to spend last week. I went to RPGNow & DriveThruRPG with the intent to buy something. I went away empty handed.

First, there are just too many products, and most look very amateurish. I keep seeing products that are far too narrow (I won't buy a book with 2 or 3 monsters, or discussing a single spell). Some seem to have no real focus (101 Feats? Feats about what? Just feats?) The rest have very questionable quality, and checking requires far too much work.

Reviews aren't very useful either. ENWorld stopped meeting my needs ages ago (probably because I find navigating the current pages time consuming and not as user friendly as it used to be). At least I can browse it though, unlike RPG.net. Reviews on the site aren't reliable (I've picked up products with solid 4* ratings that were horrible).

The few times I've bought something on "reviews" are when I've seen people crowing about them on ENWorld. I picked up some of the Avendu stuff because of that. I wasn't as impressed as the people crowing about it, but it was worth the value I paid (and at times more).

If you are committed, I'd say just produce enough to keep your foot in the door. Experiment to see what's working and what isn't. That way, when the signal to noise ratio improves (if it improves), you'll have a reputation as the signal and can then be there.

 

[Crothian]

Reviews aren't very useful either. ENWorld stopped meeting my needs ages ago (probably because I find navigating the current pages time consuming and not as user friendly as it used to be).

What about the navigation do you find difficult and or time consuming? And how else can the review side become more useful?