Among the many sometimes cryptic
developments on this front last week, Wizards of the Coast announced
the three 320-page core rulebooks for D&D 5th edition
(sometimes called D&D Next)
would carry a price tag of $49.95 each. The news started me thinking
how we acquire new roleplaying games today. The “new normal”
seems to consist of thick rules tomes with high production values and
a correspondingly higher prices; but several technology driven
options buck that “normal” standard.
Back in the “Golden Age of
Roleplaying Games” of the early and mid 1980s (for me, anyway), I
bought my games at Branchville Hobby Shop, got my industry news from
print copies of Dragon Magazine, and could buy a new game,
rulebook, or adventure every month or so thanks to a modest
allowance. Those seeking to share their works or develop their own
games did so among their small circles of gaming friends unless they
somehow broke into the existing professional roleplaying game
publishing structure as a freelancer or staffer. Those publishing and
sales models remained well-entrenched until the emergence of the
Internet Age, which suddenly opened up creative and distribution
channels to the masses: fans with their homebrew games and campaigns,
undiscovered professionals, even established companies seeking a
wider reach.
Today gamers still have the purchasing
venues of yore – the venerable Friendly Local Game Store (FLGS),
though that, too, has been forced to evolve into a community hub
within a storefront – but the means of bringing games to
publication, all linked to the means consumers have of acquiring
them, have coalesced into three principle methods: powerhouse
publishers, online PDF sales, and crowd-funding. I realize this is a
broad generalization. As this blog’s “comments note” always
indicates, I propose this to encourage a civilized discussion of the
matter. I’m sure I’m missing some publication methods, but these
three seem to form the foundation for today’s game publishing and
distribution.
Powerhouse Publishers
Several powerhouse publishers exist who
can produce extremely high-quality product with massive popularity
among fans and brand recognition enough to get them into nearly every
brick-and-mortar FLGS and big-box bookstore. These factors enable
them to charge what many might consider today’s “new normal”
rates for core rulebooks, gorgeous, full-color, hardcover, thick
tomes with price tags pushing $50 and $60, sometimes even more.
Wizards of the Coast can charge $49.95 for each of the three D&D
core rulebooks because the brand remains so prominent that the
customer base – newcomers, in-store players, fans of prior
editions, and nostalgic old-timers seeking to complete their
collection – will pay those prices. It’s the same reason Fantasy
Flight Games can price its Star Wars roleplaying game lines so
high (and can actually charge for the “privilege” of playtesting
them...), not to mention a steady stream of new ships for its X-Wing
Miniatures Game hardcore fans and competitive tournament players
snatch up. Even D&D’s principle competitor, the
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, costs $49.99 for a whopping
576-page full-color, hardcover core rulebook.
I’m not going to debate whether these
products are worth the prices, whether these sums are or are not the
inflation-adjusted equivalent of what gamers paid to buy into
roleplaying games during the 1980s, whether the middle class still
has the same relative buying power after years of stagnant income
growth, or whether this pricing is going to kill the roleplaying game
industry. It’s simply the “new normal” for games coming from
traditional publishers.
I’m sure other prominent roleplaying
game brands exist with similarly expensive buy-in levels for the core
game, but they don’t possess the powerhouse qualities necessary to
promote them front-and-center in FLGS or big-box bookstore venues.
This isn’t to say other second- and third-tier publishers don’t
exist or aren’t successful; they just aren’t having as much of an
impact on the overall roleplaying game industry beyond a frequently
large and vociferous nucleus of dedicated fans and some occasional
newcomers. They don’t always have the influence and brand
recognition to get their products on the shelves of major bookstore
chains or in hobby stores that stock only the essential core
roleplaying games or the most popular and fleeting “flavor of the
month” with the local crowd.
I cannot say I’ve recently purchased a
roleplaying game core book from any of what I’d consider today’s
powerhouse publishers. I have little interest in buying into the
latest iteration of D&D – not at $50 for each of three
books, and not with a library full of other games that might satisfy
my needs in that genre – though I might just buy the starter set
since I have an interest in such approaches to introducing new
players into the adventure gaming hobby. I’m not a huge fan of
“tome” games anyway since I’m maintaining a preference for
short-and-sweet games given a lack of time and focus in my life right
now. I can hardly recall the last roleplaying game I purchased with a
price tag around $50; possibly Cubicle 7’s Doctor Who:
Adventures in Time and Space or the late Guardians of Order’s
Tekumel: The Empire of the Petal Throne, both purchased based
on the settings more than the rules and sadly used only for personal
reference and not actual play.
Crowd-Funding
The emergence of crowd-funding websites
like Kickstarter and Indiegogo have provided independent creators and
fledgling publishers with a new venue for bringing their roleplaying
games to production. The process essentially allows publishers to
promote and collect financial support for a game, raising funds to
produce it, and shipping it to backers upon completion (usually with
enough left over to form solid stock for later direct orders and
dissemination through the traditional distribution chain). Savvy
established publishers – particularly from the second- and
third-tier of roleplaying game companies – have also taken
advantage of crowd-funding’s benefits to gauge interest in new
ideas and pre-fund game production in a process some might call
pre-ordering.
Pricing for such roleplaying game
projects varies depending on the production values, with higher
buy-in levels for full-color, hardcover books (although most print
game include PDF rewards, either on their own or along with printed
books). The costs for such games remains commensurate with offerings
through the mainstream adventure gaming hobby, with the typical
high-quality core rules still coming in around $50.
This venue has brought to publication
many innovative, original roleplaying games from both newcomers and
established designers...concepts that might otherwise not reached
publication through the traditional channels. It still carries risks
– both from shortfalls of funding and from extreme excess of
funding (and promises of what’s delivered) – but it’s offered
an innovative way for people to “shop” for new roleplaying games.
The crowd-funding process also emphasizes community involvement and
interaction in a developing game; backers receive updates (some of
them exclusive) and can interact with creators through a public
comment forum. Savvy creators also aggressively use social media to
raise interest in their projects and offer further opportunities for
interaction.
The process for roleplaying games
shares some of the drawbacks inherent in the crowd-funding system.
Games that look great might not reach funding goals. Some deliver far
past the estimated completion date thanks to creative backlogs,
production delays, design time for extensive stretch goals, and other
unforeseen circumstances. The promised quality and content doesn’t
always meet backer expectations.
Although I’ve backed more board and
card games through Kickstarter, I’ve supported a few high-priced
roleplaying game projects: Monte Cook’s enormously popular and innovative Numenera; Jeff Dee’s Bethorm: Plane of Tekumel
(to continue my sad devotion to that early and ground-breaking campaign setting); and Wicked North Games’ Westward, to
which I contributed
as an author. (I’ve
discussed my involvement backing game-related Kickstarter projects
before.)
Online PDF Sales
The emergence of the Internet Age
quickly gave rise to online distribution of roleplaying game core
rules, initially through websites for ordering print copies from
established publishers and subsequently through purchasing PDF
rulebooks through sites like OneBookShelf’s popular
DriveThruRPG.com and RPGNow.com. Technology available through home
computers and internet connections has lowered the entry threshold
for creators, both fans seeking to share their ideas and independent
professionals without the conventional infrastructure of editorial
and art departments, printers, warehouses, and wholesale distributors
powerhouse and other traditional publishers rely upon.
Prices for PDF core rulebooks typically
come in far lower than the print equivalent, since buyers who want
physical copies can simply print them and “bind” them in whatever
method they please. Of course, print-on-demand options for PDF
purchases sometimes bring the costs closer to the $50 “new normal”
seen in other physically produced game. And some folks just reference
PDF rulebooks on their digital devices, completely avoiding the
analog component. The electronic fulfillment of PDF orders satisfies
the growing (and one might argue the now chronic) need for instant
gratification, putting new rules in the hands of gamers almost
immediately. Laptops, smart-phones, tablet devices, and seemingly
ubiquitous internet access all help perpetuate the continued creation
and sale of this electronic roleplaying game rules content.
This kind of access and distribution
combined with a new nostalgic movement – the so-called “old school renaissance retro-clones” that revels in recreating the
gaming experience of yore based in the earliest editions of D&D
and other games (and in some cases evolved with innovative mechanics
like Dungeon World and Old School Hack) – to increase
the already vast host of free or low-cost PDF roleplaying game rules
available, particularly to those seeking some form of the D&D
play experience. These core rules materials range from short missives
to massive electronic tomes; while they don’t always have the high
production values of the powerhouse publisher products, they
essentially offer a classic roleplaying game experiences to the
masses without the high financial investment.
Although I publish roleplaying game
projects in PDF myself (both free and paid), I don’t spend a lot of
money buying similar material myself; I download free material that
piques my interest, though I don’t print much of it and tend to
lose track of it after an initial perusal. I prefer my roleplaying
games in print format; I suspect those who share my old-fashioned
sentiments get more of their roleplaying games from powerhouse
publishers and crowd-funding than PDF venues.
Technology has certainly played a
central part in all three ways consumers acquire their core
roleplaying game rules. Powerhouse publishers rely on graphics and
layout programs to give their products the slick design and
illustrations that attract gamers. Crowd-funding wouldn’t’ be
possible without the promotional buzz generated by social networking
and online pledge collection. Electronic PDF content couldn’t be
created or distributed without computers and the internet. All three
venues continue bringing innovative, entertaining roleplaying game to
the market. How do you acquire your roleplaying game core rules?
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