The Diversity of Publishers and Games

[Reynard]

I am currently listening to the audiobook edition of Shannon Applecline's Dungeons and Designers and I am almost shocked at how many different publishers and games there were even in the early days of the hobby, and how many of them survived into the 90s or even 00s. I am almost done with the 70s volume (the chapter on Chaosium actually inspired me to buy and run CoC for the first time) and will be following up with the 80s (which will have a lot of the companies I came into the hobby watching and playing their games).

I love D&D and it's huge installed player base is great to have on hand, but I sometimes forget how big the hobby really is and how many great games and companies are out there. I hope that the current trend of kickstarting 5E compatible books of every sort will do what the d20 boom did and create a few strong companies that eventually go their own way.

 

[aco175]

Some of the names you hear about and some never get off the ground. Like most new inventions, a lot of people jump on trying to create a buck. Some helps propel the original to be better or takes over since they are better.

I think lots of industries do this. How many computer companies tried to break out in the 80s, or car companies over the years? I hope the meat that is not a meat craze gets sorted out before I grow a 3rd ear or something.

 

[Marc_C]

In the early days many companies who already published wargames (hex games on boards mostly) tried their hand at rpgs. It was the new thing. Some rpgs were memorable others quickly forgotten.

 

[Yora]

I believe many of these RPGs companies were and are really just one or two guys with a day job who work from their home.
I believe Tim Kask has some stories how in the early days of TSR, their office was Gygax' living room before the success of D&D allowed them to rent offices.

 

[Morrus]

I believe many of these RPGs companies were and are really just one or two guys with a day job who work from their home.

And 40 years later, most RPG companies are still just one or two guys with a day job who work from their home.

 

[Sacrosanct]

I believe many of these RPGs companies were and are really just one or two guys with a day job who work from their home.
I believe Tim Kask has some stories how in the early days of TSR, their office was Gygax' living room before the success of D&D allowed them to rent offices.

And 40 years later, most RPG companies are still just one or two guys with a day job who work from their home.

I feel called out


In all seriousness, how else am I gonna fund my projects lol. I will not be one of those publishers who collect money from people on something I haven't come close to completion, making promises only to keep failing to deliver. My reputation matters to me. So I end up funding 99% of my work myself, then use profits to recoup those costs and hopefully help fund future ones. And more often than not, that funding comes from my day job.

 

[Yora]

Writing is not generally work that requires a large upfront investment in resources. Once you have a complete manuscript, then you can start asking people on an advance to commission illustrations.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Writing is not generally work that requires a large upfront investment in resources. Once you have a complete manuscript, then you can start asking people on an advance to commission illustrations.

It can be if you use editors (you should) and sensitivity readers (you should). Those costs can easily reach into the thousands $. Illustrations (and layout after that, and marketing after that) are just part of the total costs.

 

[Reynard]

I believe many of these RPGs companies were and are really just one or two guys with a day job who work from their home.
I believe Tim Kask has some stories how in the early days of TSR, their office was Gygax' living room before the success of D&D allowed them to rent offices.

That's actually more common now. According to Applecline, most of these people made real efforts at creating companies and many of them succeeded, for a while anyway.

 

[Thomas Shey]

It can be if you use editors (you should) and sensitivity readers (you should). Those costs can easily reach into the thousands $. Illustrations (and layout after that, and marketing after that) are just part of the total costs.

Absolutely true, but I think it can be legitimate to use Kickstarter to supply editing and art costs once you already have the rough of the MS done. You can still have issues where external problems (i.e. editors and artists flaking on you) slow things down, but that's just a question of making sure you leave yourself enough slack on estimated delivery times.