So when should a publisher ditch d20 and develop their own system?

[Psion]

D&D Players Handbook 4,448
Serenity RPG 25,186

Incidentally, I did a sales comparison also using Amazon's numbers back in December. That number's actually slipped quite a bit. It was like 4000 (but at the time, D&D PHB was still better, like 2900), but still, it was beating every major line I could think of but D&D, with M&M taking a tidy third.

 

[buzz]

The key with Amazon.com's numbers is to look at trends over time. I check the Gaming Top 100 roughly every week, and Serenity has been in the upper half of the list pretty much every single week since it was released. I don't think there can really be any doubt that, for a non-D&D RPG, it's selling extremely well. On average, it's been placing better than any other non-WotC publisher's product.

 

[CaptainChaos]

Yeah but a shadow of the D20 market is still bigger than most 'new' RPGs.

Since most new RPGs are electronic or done in very small runs that's not really saying too much.

It seems like a lot of posters in this thread think it's still five years ago. Go to a store and look at the new d20 offerings. There is very little coming out any more and many d20 companies have gone out of business, cut down on their d20 releases drastically, or moved almost entirely to supporting other games. I'm just not seeing the environment that'd make you guys think a company was stupid for trying something new instead.

 

[buzz]

I'm just not seeing the environment that'd make you guys think a company was stupid for trying something new instead.

I don't think it's stupid to try something new at all. However, burst d20 bubble or not, d20 still allows a publisher to tap into a very sizable, established fanbase. E.g., ENWorld is possibly one of, if not the, largest tabletop gaming community on the Web. Ergo, it's something to consider, especially if d20 already does what you need your game to do.

 

[AdmundfortGeographer]

So Serenity is currently outselling every other SF game I could think of, including three other licensed games (Babylon 5, Star Wars, and Star Trek) which one might expect to sell to fans who are not normally gamers.

Maybe I'm terribly cynical, but I can't help but to account for that ranking because of Browncoats. Also, Star Wars is on the cusp of a new version being released. In computer terms, I believe it is called the Osborne Effect. Pre-announce a replacement for your current product long before it is ready and purchases for the current product take a dive while everyone who wants your product waits for the new version. It's not that fact that it was an early announcement, but that it is a replacement announced long before it was ready. I'd expect the Saga edition of the Star Wars RPG to be back in the top three.

 

[MerricB]

Maybe I'm terribly cynical, but I can't help but to account for that ranking because of Browncoats. Also, Star Wars is on the cusp of a new version being released. In computer terms, I believe it is called the Osborne Effect. Pre-announce a replacement for your current product long before it is ready and purchases for the current product take a dive while everyone who wants your product waits for the new version. It's not that fact that it was an early announcement, but that it is a replacement announced long before it was ready. I'd expect the Saga edition of the Star Wars RPG to be back in the top three.

I've just learnt that Wizards have hired Rodney "Moridin" Thompson to work as a full-time designer for the Star Wars RPG (with some SWM duties).

I think the SW RPG is about to become more important...

Rodney's announcement is here:
http://www.swrpgnetwork.com/

Cheers!

 

[Turjan]

I've just learnt that Wizards have hired Rodney "Moridin" Thompson to work as a full-time designer for the Star Wars RPG (with some SWM duties).

I think the SW RPG is about to become more important...

I've seen that announcement. I think that those ridiculous prices OOP d20 Star Wars titles went for on ebay were not only noticed by potential buyers .

 

[RyanD]

I cannot really believe that. The numbers fluctuate too much to suggest that. Now, the rank is #35,420. When I wrote my post, it was at roughly #19,000.

You may find this interesting:

http://www.rampant-books.com/mgt_amazon_sales_rank.htm

Amazon is in the Long Tail business. Sales rank outside of the top 1,000 items or so tells you little or nothing about sales by unit volume in other channels.

In fairness, I'll react to this data and raise my sales estimate to 10 copies a week.

Ryan

 

[buzz]

You may find this interesting:

http://www.studentprintz.com/home/i...Story_id=c7794f20-dfb1-4494-892d-b529895da103

"Scientists cure cancer, but no one takes notice"

Huh?

 

[diaglo]

Hmmm. MegaTraveller was out the same year, though admittedly, the target numbers weren't "naked". I seem to remember some older titles... MSPE and after a fashion, Tunnels & Trolls, also using target numbers of a sort.

i seem to recall other systems doing the same too. they all blur together now. 25+ years later