>On the content side, competition can flourish. The market won't
>have to settle for a half-baked D&D adventure from WotC because
>there is now the opportunity for someone else to produce one
>that's very nearly D&D ....
>The main advantage WotC has are the rulebooks and its
>distribution network. ORC games won't mind that WotC is the #1
>gaming rules company. Heck, they'll probably appreciate it
>because it means more potential gamers for their own settings/
>products based on those same rules.
>I see mid-sized companies that are tied down to their own
>rulesystems feeling the crunch.
So, do you actually have any sales or publishing experience
in the RPG industry? This is something that's been bugging me for
a while, but I haven't really had the time or inclination to post
it on the list yet.
The major sales drivers for RPG companies are the core
books of a system and the supplements that add rules to the
system. GURPS isn't a series of adventures, it's a series of
RULEBOOKS that give world info. The WW splatbooks aren't adventures
at their core, they're information and RULES about new splats. The
high-ticket, high-sales units of RPG's are the rules. It's long
been a rule of thumb in the industry that adventures don't sell,
it's the rules that sell.
So the cynic in me wonders if WotC's perfectly happy keeping
rights to the D20 rules (and the REAL money) while letting the
small guys fight over the scraps that are adventures and rules-
light settings. I doubt this is the case, from Ryan's attitude,
but I do have a cynic deep inside me. :)
OGL is a slightly different case, but I'm still doubtful
as to its sales potential, especially in the short term. I just
don't see gamers suddenly buying adventure settings in number
when they haven't done so before.
>They've invested resources and time into these systems and it
>won't be easy for most to simply give them up because the largest
>one is now essentially free. The mid-sized companies will have to
>completely change their business model to compete on that level.
>That's not an easy thing to do. A smaller company is better suited
>for that kind of manuevering.
But they'll also be giving up the revenues that the rules-
heavy books generate, which is another pinch that affects midrange
companies. A smaller company will be happier with smaller revenues
per unit that D20 would generate.
--
Joseph Cochran
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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