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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Viktyr Gehrig" data-source="post: 2554639" data-attributes="member: 9249">I don't know-- I look at my bookshelf, and see that I've got a pile of game fiction novels blocking my access to my game books. (I really ought to fix that.) I know people who read Forgotten Realms novels that have never picked up a d20-- never played, much less DMed.I know that I enjoy fiction from worlds I can't stand playing in-- Star Wars and Dragonlance come to mind-- and people are more likely to want their own copy of a novel than a game book. Surely, this could be a powerful market.If you want to look at another angle of game fiction, look at sales figures for Devil's Due Publishing's D&D comics lines. Other companies might not have such readily exploitable properties, but it's an angle worth exploring. Even Spelljammer had its own comic for awhile, but with its short run, I don't imagine it did too well. (On the other hand, it lasted longer than the first arc.)I don't know how well miniatures sell, though obviously Wizards is making their nut on both of their minis lines. GW is still in business, and they don't even have collectible pre-painted minis. There's a half-dozen other companies in the field; whether this means it's viable or means it's too crowded for newcomers, I do not know.One thing I suspect is that "prestige books", while viable in and of themselves, probably couldn't sustain the market-- I know I'd never drop $80 or $100 on a game book. I'll drop $30 or $40 a month on one or two new books, though, pretty easily. I prefer more of a variety, and I'm sure there are others who do as well.I think expanding into fiction is probably a good idea for any company whose properties can support it; whether comics or novels, there's fertile ground there, and any successful game line has to have a number of talented fiction authors working on it. Other merchandise-- T-shirts, hats, coffee mugs, and things like that-- is probably solid. With the kind of devotion some of the niche-within-a-niche products generate, you could probably make as much money off of these things as off the original lines themselves. For more established lines, this would be (I'm guessing) a small, but steady side business that requires a relatively small investment to get into; look at Cafepress and similar sites where people sell merchandise to support their websites.Other branching opportunities I've seen, I'm rather unsure of. Not sure it'd be a good move for any of the smaller players, and the larger players... well, they can take care of themselves.</blockquote>

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