What's the state of the RPG industry and where is it going?

[Bedrockgames]

I


In a modern setting don't assume easy access to guns. You can really play a standard game of Shadowrun, Cyberpunk, Conspiracy X, D20 Modern, All Flesh Must Be Eaten or the like in the UK without it radically effecting the combat resources the game assumes the players will have access to.

Although most UK players I know are use to setting things in the US rather than doing all the additional work to adapt stuff to the UK.

One of our games is a counter-terrorism RPG and folks in the UK seem to like it. In the game we offer up a bunch of guns and gadgets (most of the gadgets are in one of our supplements) but the rulebook assumes weapons are provided by your agency, not purchased at a store. We didn't really get into the accessibility of guns though.

A complaint I did hear from some people in the UK on that product is it only provided information and rules on American agencies. We released a supplement that included a bunch of agencies outside the US, but still as an American I did find it a challenge to work on that section.

I always wonder why shipping costs are so high, seems the $ dollar price is more often than not just changed to a £ sign. Even when the dollar was worth almost half as much... Still at least we aren't Australia.

i hear this complaint a lot (from the UK and continental Europe). Because I don't deal with shipping, selling, or distribution it isn't something I have a good answer for. But I have deinitely heard from people about high shipping rates. I do know that when I send review copies overseas it can be a bit pricey for the shipping.

 

[Leviatham]

As an American I was quite interested in the topic. It had never occurred to me before that British RPGs were making an effort to appeal to American audiences. The last British game i bought was cubicle 7's Dr. Who. One of the things I liked about it was it wasn't the standard American perspective (Though they did explain what cream tea is for American readers, which I found helpful). The game brings that Dr. Who sensibility (which I think of as very British) to the mechanics. I am curious what British posters have to say on this subject. What qualities do American RPGs tend to have that you feel a British publishers are appealing to? And what British design qualities are they sacrificing as they do so? By the same token, what might American publishers like myself do to appeal more to British gamers?

I must admit I don't care too much if the game feels "american" or not. For me is just the game's flavour.

I do like, though, when the setting is congruent. For example, if you're going to have a Victorian London based setting, don't make it sound like it's 1850's New York. If you have to describe an European farm, don't use American buildings.

When I backed Outlive Outdead, I had the chance to help design the adventure that came in the book by providing names of characters and locations of both locales and cities.

The adventure is terrific and very good fun to run (I like Zombies a lot, so it could hardly go wrong for me) but I found it hilarious to see my local "shopping centre" converted into a "shopping mall" not just by name, but also by organisation. The same goes for the cities... they were the right names, but nowhere near the right locations.

It was funny.

Other than that, I wouldn't want people to feel they have to change what they like and like to write about just to appease me, to be honest.

Would it be nice to have settings that include other parts of the world outside the USA? Sure.

Does it bother me? Nop!

 

[avalkauskas]

You mean short burst games like Dread, Fiasco, Tenra Bansho Zero, Montsegur 1244, and many others? (Well, long burst as in 5-6 hours for TBZ) Most story games IME are short burst.

I love having some 1-shot games when I'm short on time and I have some great games that fit that need on my bookshelf. As you mentioned Fiasco is great for that. But my thoughts on the subject are that most indie games (of late) position themselves for that spot because its an easy entry (small book, simple to design, simple to test, low editing costs and very accessible to new players), so players are left with 2 options: 1-shots go to indie, and long term go to established large franchise. That's where I'm trying to turn the tide and get some more indie long haul productions going. Time will tell if it's a successful approach, but my heart's in it right now (oh and sweat too).

I always wonder why shipping costs are so high

Having completed a KS recently, and doing all of the cost analysis, unfortunately it's a large factor in overall cost of a non-digital product. My workaround for this is working on setting up POD in various countries so I can lower the cost of Fate of the Norns for my customers.