Comments on: Gary Gygax: 1938 – 2008

By: Elisha Feger

Elisha Feger — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 23:52:28 +0000

Re: Piracy, when BESM 3rd edition (or whatever it was that GoO was working on putting out when it went bottom up) came out, all the people that had bought it early got PDF copies - with their personal information in the header. I think it was name and credit card number? Definately something you wouldn't want other people seeing. Elisha Feger's last blog post..Returners FFRPG Beta Release is a Go!

By: JonD

JonD — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 19:57:23 +0000

Take a look at how Steve Jackson games is handling the book sales for a good idea of how to approach the cost issue. Currently, 2-3 months after the hardcover is published, SJGames starts to sell a pdf version of the book at warehouse23.com. So far, the model is working well.

Me, I’m sad to see Gygax pass, I never met him, but played with people who had known/met him. I’ve been Role Playing since I was 7 years old in 1978. I still run a game every Sat. And D&D seems to be the best standby ruleset when I’m dealing with new players or just want something less difficult to GM.

People complain about the rules bloat in D&D, but to be honest, if you use GM’s rule #3, rules are just guidelines, its one of the easier systems to modify for an enjoyable game that adheres to rules #1 (Everyone has fun in general), and #2 (Be consistent in the rules). Thats why its the standby/teaching game for me.

Gygax created and helped create much of what I enjoy most in life, and for that I thank him dearly.

By: Kevin D.

Kevin D. — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 19:52:44 +0000

I’m with you, Jesse. I have a friend that lives for PDFs and I just don’t get it. I like the tactile sensation of holding a book. And, in my opinion, a book is far more inviting than a file on a computer screen. But, then, that same friend also says, “Why waste money on a book when you can download a PDF?” So, there you go.

Which brings up an interesting problem for publishers that want to go PDF primarily: What to do about piracy? It’s far easier to give away a PDF than a book. The latter, while you may lend it out, you’ll want back. This’ll force someone that likes the content to purchase the book themselves. No such problem with a PDF.

By: Jesse

Jesse — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 19:46:52 +0000

Not a huge D&D fan, but without Gary I probably wouldn’t have some many RPG books to love. Farewell to him.

You know, I’ve never bought a PDF rpg book, and I don’t plan to. I really, really like the feel of something solid in my hand. Reading something on the screen hurts my eyes and just lacks… well… everything that makes books awesome.

By: Elisha Feger

Elisha Feger — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 18:50:03 +0000

I hear that, Kevin. I found a couple cases a while back where the .pdf edition of some novels were more expensive than the trade paperbacks. Publishers are insane sometimes. Elisha Feger's last blog post..Returners FFRPG Beta Release is a Go!

By: Kevin D.

Kevin D. — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 18:42:13 +0000

If PDFs is the way to go, and it might very well be, then I’d demand that prices drop. No way am I paying as much for a PDF than I would for a real book. That’s one of the reasons I stay away from PDF RPG books now. They’re simply too expensive. Cutting out the entire printing and distribution costs should have a larger impact on PDF prices than they currently do.

By: Elisha Feger

Elisha Feger — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 18:37:45 +0000

That probably sounds like the way to go. Though I do like hardcover for some of my books. They just tend to hold together a lot better through repeated paging and leafing. I'm sure my Hero System 5th Edition would have disintegrated now if it were soft-back. On the other hand, splats and a lot of setting books (that will be replaced in 2-3 years with a new edition) could stand to be made a lot of more cheaply. Maybe the holy grail will turn out to be pdf publishing? Elisha Feger's last blog post..Welcome to Academia, Leave Your Rights At the Door

By: Phelps

Phelps — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 18:32:29 +0000

WotC seems to simply handle acquired properties poorly. I was a big AEG fan (running groups in both L5R and 7thSea), both franchises were on the cusp of major, world-altering storylines and campaigns when they were bought out, and WotC has greatly disappointed on that front (since they decided to try to combine it with merging into the "WotC Uber-D20 system" thing.) Phelps's last blog post..Gary Gygax (1938 - 2008)

By: Kevin D.

Kevin D. — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 18:30:02 +0000

As you may have figured out, I like the “Star Wars” RPG. I own every book from the previous edition and I’ll probably get all the books for the SAGA edition – because I’m stupid.

But I think this situation could be improved if companies lowered the entry bar. Drop full-color. Drop hardcover. Palladium Games has been around forever (and I can’t stand them either but for different reasons than WOTC) and I can’t recall them publishing a single full-color hardcover book. While they’re in financial trouble its not because of books sales. It’s because someone embezzled a few million from them.

High production values are nice but if those production values keep potential customers away, they’ve got to go. I think the industry could benefit from a ‘back to basics’ mentality. Good writing, good mechanics, reasonable entry bar. They won’t be maximizing profits but they’ll keep their industry afloat.

By: Elisha Feger

Elisha Feger — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 18:18:49 +0000

First, I want to clarify my statement. I didn't mean West End died because of d6 Star Wars, I meant that the franchise as an RPG has been dead since WEG died. And yeah, I agree that RPG books are costing way too much in general, and moreso with WotC's case. I'm not sure how to solve that problem though: these books don't exactly have large markets, leading to larger per-item prices to make up the costs of smaller print runs, leading to lower sales, etc. Unlike the academic book market, there's no university with nigh-unlimited funds to pick up the excess cost. It doesn't help that books with low-production values (see Cheapass Games's line of non-RPG games like Kill Doctor Lucky) don't sell near as well as books with high-production values. The industry has gotten itself into a pretty bad situation in general. Elisha Feger's last blog post..Welcome to Academia, Leave Your Rights At the Door