The Supplement Treadmill vs. The Alternatives

[JustinA]

What's the alternative to the supplement treadmill? Why, it seems to me that the real alternative is everything that people decry in the same breath as ongoing supplement releases: miniatures, maps and dungeon tiles, Wizards of the Coast's "digital initiative" . . .

Those are all supplements, actually. But I take your meaning.

Especially when it comes to D&D, it frankly disappoints me that people can't look beyond their own individual needs and consider what actually makes good business sense for the people producing the games they play. They have to make money somehow, and that means supplements, accessories, or a new edition.

When someone complains about the number of supplements available, the only thing I can hear is: "I have poor impulse control and I like to blame other people for it."

It's not like WotC is marching you down to the LGS with a gun pointed to your head. And your complaint basically boils down to, "I'd really love to own a red Corvette. But did you know that Corvette produces cars in colors other than red? That's ! They should cater to my tastes and no on else's!"

I also find the opposite approach personally bizarre: "This game isn't published any more, so I shall never play it again." Although this one is explicable if you do, in fact, rely on a steady supply of supplements and prepackaged adventures to run your games. (And there's nothing wrong with that, although some people will try to tell you otherwise.)

 

[mmadsen]

When someone complains about the number of supplements available, the only thing I can hear is: "I have poor impulse control and I like to blame other people for it."

RPGs are not a solo activity. It's not an issue of any one person buying or not buying a supplement but of a whole group coordinating which supplements are in and which are out.

 

[Raven Crowking]

Personally, I don't care if they make money or not; I care about having fun with the hobby. I already stepped off the treadmill, and I'm off the "new edition" carousel, too (that happened when 3.5 came out -- I never bought 3.5, but stuck with house-ruled 3.0). I'm going to stick with the systems I've got, run what I enjoy, and not worry about what's new on the release schedule. If something new catches my eye and I want it, then I'll buy it, but I'm not interested in buying new stuff because it's good business for WotC, or good for the hobby, or anything like that.

I know the "as goes Wizards, so goes the industry/hobby" argument. And the "where will you find players/modules/etc." And the "what about gaming for the next generation -- what if the hobby dies" argument. They don't sway me. I've never had a problem recruiting players, and most of them were non-gamers. I've got shelves full of systems and material -- enough to last me years, and I'm playing both in-print and out-of-print games right now, anyway, so a lack of new published material doesn't make me shudder or worry. As to the future of gaming, I guess I'm not worried about that, either. If the hobby has value and people enjoy it, it will continue at whatever level of popularity is sustainable.

All that said, I don't see anything wrong with WotC churning out lots of new material, new editions, et cetera. And I don't think there's any cause to complain about it, either. I'm just not interested.

:shrugs:

What he said.

 

[Ron]

Chaosium isn't a particularly good example of sound business strategy.

Chaosium's problems derive from bad management at the time of the CCG bubble and the Wizard's Attic fiasco. Anyway, I never said that a line formed by a single core book, very few rules supplements and many scenarios was the best strategy to the publisher. However, it is the best offering to a customer like me.

 

[T. Foster]

Chaosium's problems derive from bad management at the time of the CCG bubble and the Wizard's Attic fiasco. Anyway, I never said that a line formed by a single core book, very few rules supplements and many scenarios was the best strategy to the publisher. However, it is the best offering to a customer like me.

It's also perhaps worth pointing out that Chaosium has managed to remain both in business (if sometimes just barely) and under the same management, something that can't be said about many (any?) of the other game publishers from the 70s.

 

[buzz]

It's also perhaps worth pointing out that Chaosium has managed to remain both in business (if sometimes just barely) and under the same management, something that can't be said about many (any?) of the other game publishers from the 70s.

Well, not exactly the same management (though Charlie Krank has been with the company since the beginning), but you have a point. I still would not call them a model anyone should emulate.

 

[Raven Crowking]

Well, not exactly the same management (though Charlie Krank has been with the company since the beginning), but you have a point. I still would not call them a model anyone should emulate.

Doesn't that depend very much on what your priorities/goals are?

 

[Philotomy Jurament]

Doesn't that depend very much on what your priorities/goals are?

Yeah, I think so.

Chaosium may not be the model to follow if you want to become a megacorp (or even a stable business -- they've had some serious ups and downs), but I really like their approach to the new edition/supplement cycle. (Also, note that the most serious problems Chaosium had as a business were related to the CCG market, not the RPG market.)

They've released a lot of great RPG material over the years, and I can take their newest releases (e.g. Secrets of Kenya) and run it with the 1E Call of Cthulhu boxed set I bought back in the 80s. There're been some minor changes, but the rules still work, the tone still fits, et cetera. There's something to be said for that. (Personally, I wish the same were true of D&D.)

 

[RFisher]

RPGs are not a solo activity. It's not an issue of any one person buying or not buying a supplement but of a whole group coordinating which supplements are in and which are out.

For some reason, who buys what supplements & what stuff from the supplements makes it into the game have always been pretty independant things in my groups.

I don't know about the 3.5 supplements, but the 3.0 supplements had bits useful to a player beyond new mechanics the DM would have to OK.

 

[buzz]

Doesn't that depend very much on what your priorities/goals are?

Absolutely. If your goal is to spend decades barely clinging to life as your fanbase stagnates, cleverly avoiding any opportunities for profit and relying almost entirely on reprints for revenue, then, yes, they're the company to model.