Mercurius
Legend
"Renaissance" is a tricky term because it, as many have said, alludes back to the historical Renaissance which has particular connotations, some of which have been spoken about. One that hasn't been mentioned is that as a cultural movement there were only a thousand or so participants that were actively involved. Everyone else was just continuing on with the high Middle Ages. So the term "Renaissance" implies that a small group within a larger mass is midwifing a new cultural development into form.
Which may be so now, namely through the fact of self-publishing. Take someone like Greg Stolze, for example, who seems to mainly work for himself, generate sales based upon his reputation, sell books through Lulu, etc. Or the fact that pretty much anyone and their grandma can say "I want to start a game company, write products, and publish PDFs, all from the comfort of my own home." It doesn't mean that there are hundreds or thousands of game designers making a living off publishing PDFs, but that there are hundreds or thousands publishing, even if it is "just PDFs." An analogue in another creative field, music, is how you can use software to write your own music and put it up on line, with your own website. This all seems technology based: the freedom that the internet and other info tech allows for. It also dovetails with a marked trait of Gen X and later generations: everyone is an artist, writer, musician, or creative in some way. Even if it is only 'wannabe status.'
I would put forth that rather than "Renaissance", there have been three (or four) main "Revolutions" within RPG history, each with a key year or years: The first being the founding and early growth years in the early to mid 70s (1974 with OD&D's publication); the second being the AD&D boom of the early 80s (1983ish, which represents the peak of AD&D and the publication of Dragonlance, and before AD&D "jumped the shark" with Unearthed Arcana); the third being the White Wolf/"narrativist" boom of the early to mid 90s (1992ish); and the fourth being 3ed and, in particular, the OGL (2000, with 3ed; or you could say 2003 with 3.5 and the highpoint of OGLism). If there is a fifth I would think it would have to do with an even greater capacity for self-publishing which the current PDF marketplace may just represent the early years of (Right after writing this I read Mark's great historical analogy that I think relates to this).
As for PDFs, I agree with Umbran that their market value is a bit over-rated; I see their significance being more for the "everyone and their grandma" effect. As far as I can tell I could polish up my homebrew notes and put it up on RPGNow with little difficulty. But how many copies would I sell? It depends, but probably anywhere from a handful to a couple hundred. If I was really professional and had terrific support (a website, advertising, etc), maybe a thousand, but even that is questionable.
Similar to what Erik Mona spoke of as the second group of PDF buyers, I personally think PDFs would work well if they were much cheaper--maybe 20% the cost of the equivalent print book--and acted like a kind of "electronic taster" of the print book so that the goal would be to get most customers to buy the hardcopy. For example, you could sell your PDF for $10 and your Lulu version for $40; at $10 more folks would be willing to buy the PDF and, if they liked what they saw, a good chunk would buy the hardcopy (maybe half or all of the PDF purchase would be redeemable).
Or you could go further and offer the PDF for free, as a lure to convince folks to buy the hardcopy (as with Eclipse Phase).
PDFs, as they are, are to books similar to how electronic synthesizers are to live instruments. For some things that is fine, but if you want to hear classical violin you want the real thing. If you want to hear improvised jazz a programmed improv just isn't the same thing as a rule human being. Maybe electronic media will develop to the point that they will be able to replace books--and I've never seen or used a Kindle so I don't know if they are as good as their advocates say they are--but I have a hard time believing it. A violin is a classic human creation; I would argue that a book is. Maybe violins and books will be less prevalent in the future, but I think their classic status will keep them alive for as long as humans are.
Maybe we can hope for the same with tabletop RPGs?
Which may be so now, namely through the fact of self-publishing. Take someone like Greg Stolze, for example, who seems to mainly work for himself, generate sales based upon his reputation, sell books through Lulu, etc. Or the fact that pretty much anyone and their grandma can say "I want to start a game company, write products, and publish PDFs, all from the comfort of my own home." It doesn't mean that there are hundreds or thousands of game designers making a living off publishing PDFs, but that there are hundreds or thousands publishing, even if it is "just PDFs." An analogue in another creative field, music, is how you can use software to write your own music and put it up on line, with your own website. This all seems technology based: the freedom that the internet and other info tech allows for. It also dovetails with a marked trait of Gen X and later generations: everyone is an artist, writer, musician, or creative in some way. Even if it is only 'wannabe status.'
I would put forth that rather than "Renaissance", there have been three (or four) main "Revolutions" within RPG history, each with a key year or years: The first being the founding and early growth years in the early to mid 70s (1974 with OD&D's publication); the second being the AD&D boom of the early 80s (1983ish, which represents the peak of AD&D and the publication of Dragonlance, and before AD&D "jumped the shark" with Unearthed Arcana); the third being the White Wolf/"narrativist" boom of the early to mid 90s (1992ish); and the fourth being 3ed and, in particular, the OGL (2000, with 3ed; or you could say 2003 with 3.5 and the highpoint of OGLism). If there is a fifth I would think it would have to do with an even greater capacity for self-publishing which the current PDF marketplace may just represent the early years of (Right after writing this I read Mark's great historical analogy that I think relates to this).
As for PDFs, I agree with Umbran that their market value is a bit over-rated; I see their significance being more for the "everyone and their grandma" effect. As far as I can tell I could polish up my homebrew notes and put it up on RPGNow with little difficulty. But how many copies would I sell? It depends, but probably anywhere from a handful to a couple hundred. If I was really professional and had terrific support (a website, advertising, etc), maybe a thousand, but even that is questionable.
Similar to what Erik Mona spoke of as the second group of PDF buyers, I personally think PDFs would work well if they were much cheaper--maybe 20% the cost of the equivalent print book--and acted like a kind of "electronic taster" of the print book so that the goal would be to get most customers to buy the hardcopy. For example, you could sell your PDF for $10 and your Lulu version for $40; at $10 more folks would be willing to buy the PDF and, if they liked what they saw, a good chunk would buy the hardcopy (maybe half or all of the PDF purchase would be redeemable).
Or you could go further and offer the PDF for free, as a lure to convince folks to buy the hardcopy (as with Eclipse Phase).
PDFs, as they are, are to books similar to how electronic synthesizers are to live instruments. For some things that is fine, but if you want to hear classical violin you want the real thing. If you want to hear improvised jazz a programmed improv just isn't the same thing as a rule human being. Maybe electronic media will develop to the point that they will be able to replace books--and I've never seen or used a Kindle so I don't know if they are as good as their advocates say they are--but I have a hard time believing it. A violin is a classic human creation; I would argue that a book is. Maybe violins and books will be less prevalent in the future, but I think their classic status will keep them alive for as long as humans are.
Maybe we can hope for the same with tabletop RPGs?
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