The market dying?

[tetsujin28]

Opinions?

Remember, Joe: people will always be able to find something to whine about

 

[Jack of Shadows]

Before I comment I want to preface this by saying that I've been in Marketing for a dozen odd years. However this is just my own perception and I do not have any direct experience in the gaming industry. (In fact a large chunk of my knowledge is in the "other" gaming industry).

Now, almost every producer of gaming products has said that modules/adventures are not profitable. This makes sense as only a single person in a group of players is likely to purchase the adventure. However, it has been my experience in the last 25 years I've been gaming, that RPG's which are regularly accompanied by adventures last MUCH longer than their initial release. It has always been my opinion that this was why D&D succeeded so well. Shadowrun did the same thing when it first came out. Regular adventures were produced for it and the product lasted longer, and hence sold more, than a lot of similiar products at the time. Other examples I can think of are Villians & Vigilantes, WEG's Star Wars, Twilight 2000...

Now, take the recent advent (thanks to Paizo and Necromancer in particular I think) of the single book campaign. This give's a GM an entire series of adventures to play out while giving the publisher a profitable product. Especially when you consider that had you sold the adventures seperately you would loose out on sales from people who never finish the entire series.

I hope that these will prove an effective catalyst to keep the market going and widen the product cycle between the market "re-start" effect of new editions. What I'd really like to see is an adventure campaign book done for something other than D&D and see how successful that particlar game becomes.

Jack

 

[Turjan]

Consider also if your miniatures or other accessories purchases have increased as your D&D (or d20 System) purchases have tailed off?

What are you spending your money on?

I noticed that I spend slightly more for books on non-d20 games.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Remember, Joe: people will always be able to find something to whine about

True but it's an open ended question this time.

 

[Prince Atom]

For a while, I was buying a lot of GURPS books -- they were cheap, and fascinating.

Now, I've glutted out on GURPS. I think it's the fact that I have all the G4 stuff I want (the Magic book I've pretty much already got in Magic and Grimoire).

And, in general, I've started spending less as my income has changed and my constant expenses have increased (mostly, gas so I can go to work and earn my income).

My last d20 purchase was the Iron Kingdoms World Guide, although I do have a subscription to Dragon.

Otherwise, I look for discounted and used copies of books.

TWK

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

It seems that adventure moduals (single adventures) are best suited for second hand market and for the growing PDF market. The pdf market allows them to be cheaper and it allows for as many or as few to sell. Frankly, I love going to RPGNow and downloading some moduals from time to time for a variety of reasons (maps, stat blocks, etc.)

 

[Arnwyn]

Consider this: people will spend most on the hobbies that they spend the most time on.

Consider also if your miniatures or other accessories purchases have increased as your D&D (or d20 System) purchases have tailed off?

What are you spending your money on?

Has the proportion of time you spend role-playing changed?

Interesting. My responses:

- Other accessory purchasing has not increased as my rules-book purchases have tailed off.
- Most of my disposable/"fun" income is spent on things like golfing and video games.
- No, the proportion of time spent role-playing has stayed constant.

 

[Thorin Stoutfoot]

Now, almost every producer of gaming products has said that modules/adventures are not profitable. This makes sense as only a single person in a group of players is likely to purchase the adventure. However, it has been my experience in the last 25 years I've been gaming, that RPG's which are regularly accompanied by adventures last MUCH longer than their initial release. It has always been my opinion that this was why D&D succeeded so well.
Jack

I agree. The games I DM for the group have to have pre-written adventures, or I won't run them. I ran a game of Grimm because FFG published a free adventure on the site --- thereby selling 4 more copies of Grimm d20. I ran a game of DC Heroes, going as far as to buy 5 copies of DC Heroes 3rd Ed. I sold 2 copies of those books to players.

I bought a copy of Nobilis due to the fantastic reviews. Great book, probably good game, no prewritten adventure --- sorry, no game for me, no additional sales to my players.

Ultimately, I think that's why I'll be playing D&D forever, in whatever edition, over any other RPGs. Having pre-written adventures gives D&D legs that no other RPGs have.

 

[Turjan]

However, it has been my experience in the last 25 years I've been gaming, that RPG's which are regularly accompanied by adventures last MUCH longer than their initial release. It has always been my opinion that this was why D&D succeeded so well. Shadowrun did the same thing when it first came out. Regular adventures were produced for it and the product lasted longer, and hence sold more, than a lot of similiar products at the time.

What I'd really like to see is an adventure campaign book done for something other than D&D and see how successful that particlar game becomes.

I agree . This other example might be DSA (The Dark Eye), the most popular RPG in Germany. It has seen more than 100 published adventures since 1984, and this still keeps it on the number one spot ahead of D&D up to this day (Shadowrun might even come second). A game without support often simply dies, or at least it will fall back in popularity.

 

[caudor]

My buying habits have changed simply because my situation has changed. Two years ago, I bought everything I could find. And I had a budget that could handle it.

During a crisis period last year, I sold off nearly all of my collection. My passion for gaming has not faded though.

Now, I'm in the process of re-buying some of the books I sold on a reduced budget. I'm also being more selective (buying only 3.5 stuff that interests me). In fact, I'm behind on Wotc purchases by many months. For example, I just recently bought the Complete books which all seem new to me. To make even this possible, I tend to shop exclusively from vendors that offer a discount on these items.