Fuck. For all the other Ref Book backers, looks like if we don't want our $33,338 loan to never get repaid nor yield a Ref Book, we'd better buy some shit from LOTFP. Link below to what Erik is talking about in his Podcast. Read it, especially the end part.
https://lotfp.blogspot.com/2020/07/new-releases-tomorrow-monday-july-13.html
Also, Erik Tenkar's podcast about it here:
https://anchor.fm/tavernchat/episodes/E772---LotFP-is-Over-100k-in-Debt---Doors-May-Close-by-End-of-Summer-egmr32/a-a3grn3
How fucked up is it that you find yourself in the position to have to buy crap from Raggi in order to help ensure he produces the shit you paid for 8 year ago, with no guarantee that your purchase will even get you what you're already owed?
Here's Raggi talking about his financial realities.
TL;DR = give Raggi lots of your money or LotFP goes tits up.
THE CURRENT SITUATION
This one is for all the marbles. As you're probably aware, LotFP has gone through a rough patch the past year and a half.
The tldr is we're about 90,000€ in debt, 60,000€ of which is due in about a month or we're done. And we have so much more to do.
So if you want LotFP to continue, you need to buy something, preferably a lot of somethings, and very soon, when the new books go on sale. If you don't want LotFP to continue, you don't have to do anything. You're good.
A more thorough explanation for those who will surely ask:
After a record 2018, webstore sales hit a wall in January 2019 (I assume because of increased Finnish postal costs; November and December 2018 were strong and then *bam*), but we were supposed to have a new US-based webstore opening in the early summer. So I was confident that I was in for a fifth straight year of growth and prosperity, and made plans to take care of that.
The exact same week the Zak allegations hit in February 2019, I received the last of series of business loans totaling just about 70,000€. These would cover a number of reprints (which sell slowly and thus take more time to recoup their costs, making them very difficult to finance from normal cashflow), and convention expenses for the year. I secured these loans based on the fact that I'd grossed over 250,000€ the previous year, had two new Zak books set to come out in 2019 (not to mention Red & Pleasant Land as one of the reprints), with a few other new books on the schedule as well.
The fallout from the Zak situation was that his upcoming work, and the Red and Pleasant Land reprint, were canceled. Everything else went into disarray and only one full-fledged (not limited edition) release happened all year, and that was a low-price short adventure. The US fulfillment center fell through and didn't get going until over half a year later than scheduled.
Even so, convention sales in 2019 were greater than 2018 (and we did one less convention in 2019!), retail distribution sales was about even year-to-year, PDF sales were down a bit... but direct webstore sales were down 80% for the year. And direct sales are where we traditionally make most of our money. Webstore sales plummeting has almost killed the business: Gross sales were in total 40% down, and the profits (AKA my personal income) went from (rough numbers) 45,000€ in 2018 to 3,500€ in 2019. That's not a typo.
By last fall, I started falling behind in loan payments. By spring this year, just as the world at large was beginning to fall apart due to the pandemic, I started falling behind on royalty payments to the talent. There's only so long I can shuffle money and beg for patience...
And now with the pandemic, conventions for the entire year are gone (conventions accounted for 25% of last year's gross income). Distribution/retail sales (by far the biggest income source last year) were wiped out completely for a time due to shutdowns and at best will be weak for some time to come due to the pandemic.
And so here we are. Pretty much all of these new items were financed on credit, sparing no expense to make these the best books we could, and it's time for what just might be the last stand. It is my hope that not only can we clear this debt, but we can get a bit of a cash stockpile so we can make sure the next batch of books (and the next, and the next...) are up to LotFP standards of quality and deliver significant royalty payments to their authors.
It's up to you now.
Posted by JimLotFP at 12:28 AM
That is very sad to hear. There have been many creative works on the horizon that have piqued my interest from a distance, and LotFP was surely one of them. I wish I could jump off into all of these systems, but alas I can't.
I wish Raggi the very best in his efforts, though. I fear this is just the beginning of hard times for the RPG print industry.
Green Ronin seems to be on the ropes, and some 'friends' were begging for people to buy their products over on FB.
What surprises me though is that so far, neither seems to have been doing any sales or special bundles or the like. I know this just came up today with LotFP, but I find this all a bit surprising that they haven't tried to at least pull eyes with a few deals. Or are their margins so low to begin with that they really cannot afford to do that?
Quote from: Lynn;1139594Green Ronin seems to be on the ropes, and some 'friends' were begging for people to buy their products over on FB.
What surprises me though is that so far, neither seems to have been doing any sales or special bundles or the like. I know this just came up today with LotFP, but I find this all a bit surprising that they haven't tried to at least pull eyes with a few deals. Or are their margins so low to begin with that they really cannot afford to do that?
I am shocked, shocked I tell you, that Blue Rose is not carrying the company.
Edit: I probably would have backed their latest Demon kickstarter if it was for anything but 5e so dodged that bullet.
Quote from: Joethelawyer;1139556How fucked up is it that you find yourself in the position to have to buy crap...SNIP...with no guarantee that your purchase will even get you what you're already owed?
I've heard they've built up this thing called Kickstarter that uses this as a business model...and many people seem to love it.
Taking out loans to finance RPG books and cancelling your only major release for the year because of internet outrage are both terrible business decisions. Not surprising that it led to this.
Quote from: hedgehobbit;1139599Taking out loans to finance RPG books and cancelling your only release for the year because of internet outrage are both terrible business decisions. Not surprising that it led to this.
Especially since, like what always happens, he didn't kotow enough to the Outrage Brigade, so non-Zak authors like Patrick Stuart and Rafael Chandler, who Raggi put on the map for RPGs, threw him under the bus and are doing their own thing now that they have a resume.
He just should have stayed with Zak. If he'd kept Zak's stuff out of the memoryhole, he'd be in the black.
I hear the stuff is selling quickly though, so the threat of never being able to get it again probably got a lot of people to get off the fence and pull the trigger on stuff they were kinda ambivalent about.
This is why I've never run a kickstarter to fund publishing my games. It looks like phat lewt in the short term but in the long term it's a trap.
Quote from: David Johansen;1139608This is why I've never run a kickstarter to fund publishing my games. It looks like phat lewt in the short term but in the long term it's a trap.
That depends entirely on how you're doing it. The people that want 100% funding for something barely past the idea stage are begging for trouble. The ones that are basically done and need some cash for layout and printing aren't nearly as bad.
Plus, Fred Hicks has some good advice for Kickstarters that everyone should listen to -- plan for your worst case success. There are a lot of projects that go haywire when creators promise more and more and don't really think about what they're signing themselves up for.
Good advice. See a lot of stuff on Kickstarter that looks great, but without some solid background successes and update posts showing definitive physical and textual material happening, best to avoid.
Backed the KS for all the Old School Essentials stuff and thankfully it turned out great.
The shipping costs are a killer though if you're outside the US. Even with it coming from Europe, the costs to Canada were nuts.
Why on earth in this age of companies using Kickstarter for virtually every thing they make (see SJG) would he take on loans and go into debt to publish stuff? Why not just raise the cash with KS? Seems really dumb.
Quote from: Hakdov;1139626Why on earth in this age of companies using Kickstarter for virtually every thing they make (see SJG) would he take on loans and go into debt to publish stuff? Why not just raise the cash with KS? Seems really dumb.
He's always had a very archaic business model, with physical print runs (not Kickstarted). Maybe something to do with how Finland supports small businesses. It is great for getting product onto FLGS shelves - but terrible for the Age of Corona.
Virus related store closings and cancelled conventions took a serious toll on a number of small game companies... not just on LotFP, but he had the added fun of being a pinata for certain self-righteous mobs.
I strongly hope he's able to make it through this.
I grabbed all the new stuff. Big Puppet looks particularly intruiging.
Quote from: HappyDaze;1139598I've heard they've built up this thing called Kickstarter that uses this as a business model...and many people seem to love it.
Yes, we call them suckers.
I have given to only one Kickstarter ever. I regarded it as a gift, not a loan or investment. It was charity on the basis that the best charity you can give is to give someone a job - "Here's some money... to do so-and-so." It's like when a friend asks to borrow money, you're about to lose a friend - so never lend money, give if you can afford it and want to, but don't lend.
1. produce something
2.
then sell it
That is the ancient way the free market works. Don't try to do it backwards.
If you like Raggi's stuff, buy it. If you don't, don't.
As was noted above. He caved to the outrage mob and threw someone under the buss. Then got it done to him and now he has alot less people to support him. Theres a bit of karma there.
I suspect had the plague not hit gaming so hard with conventions and game shops closed that he'd have made it through. Not as strong as before. But probably not imminent to crash and burn.
Meanwhile, I'm doing great! The Old School Companion (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/293292/RPGPundit-Presents-The-Old-School-Companion-1) and Star Adventurer (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/308685/RPGPundit-Presents-100-Star-Adventurer) are both doing great, and my new adventure "Tamlane (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/318344/RPGPundit-Presents-101-Tamlane)" is doing really well too!
Raggi ought to have teamed up with me instead of Zak. Oh well.
Digital is the way forward pdfs first.
Swanky hardback books are expensive to produce and then to post them out costs even more.
Quote from: RPGPundit;1139678Raggi ought to have teamed up with me instead of Zak. Oh well.
Zak has talent.
Quote from: The Exploited.;1139683Digital is the way forward pdfs first.
Swanky hardback books are expensive to produce and then to post them out costs even more.
I've bought quite a few rulebooks lately.
None of them are made of paper.
You can't ctrl+f paper, that's mostly the reason, really. PDFs are simply more time-efficient.
The only physical products I still buy (gaming-related, I mean) are those that have some higher value for me, either looking incredibly good on a shelf, some sentimental value, etc.
And I feel that's what most people are doing nowadays, which is why an overreliance on selling physical variants of rulebooks always baffles me a bit.
In this specific case, everything points to bad business decisions.
I don't think you should ever go into debt if you don't have an airtight plan to make some immediate cash from the debt.
KS is a good alternative, but only if you are in an advanced state with your project anyway and have all the costs down - anything before that is just highly naive.
I mean, I've been saving up money for almost 5 years now and will start putting that to use by the end of next year.
Not gonna go into debt just because I really want to do X, and even KS will only be an option much later on when I got something presentable and working already, not just an idea in my head.
Things will either work out, or they won't, but I find it unacceptable to end up in a worse position in case they don't.
Quote from: RPGPundit;1139678Raggi ought to have teamed up with me instead of Zak. Oh well.
You're not edgy enough. I bet there's not a single vagina monster on the cover of ANY of your books!
Quote from: TheSHEEEP;1139689I've bought quite a few rulebooks lately.
None of them are made of paper.
You can't ctrl+f paper, that's mostly the reason, really. PDFs are simply more time-efficient.
If I can't get a hard copy of it then I don't even bother giving it a try. I need a physical book in hand to read the rules and retain them.
Quote from: RPGPundit;1139678Meanwhile, I'm doing great! The Old School Companion (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/293292/RPGPundit-Presents-The-Old-School-Companion-1) and Star Adventurer (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/308685/RPGPundit-Presents-100-Star-Adventurer) are both doing great, and my new adventure "Tamlane (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/318344/RPGPundit-Presents-101-Tamlane)" is doing really well too!
Raggi ought to have teamed up with me instead of Zak. Oh well.
I have actually seen this before, Not that part where he teamed up with Zak and ended up in an SJW trainwreck when sexual politics interfered with the growth of his gaming company, but the part where he goes into debt to finance business growth. This last part is pretty much a no-no in any business, and has been historically especially lethal for small to mid-sized gaming companies. In fact I have seen large gaming companies collapse because of debt financing practices, companies like Iron Crown Enterprises in the 90's (financed by the Tolkien Estate then licenses and financial support yanked after Tolkien Enterprises went after new suitors like say for example Peter Jackson, with his franchisees ),
GDW (Game Designers Workshop) that opted to close before going too deeply in debt in order to continue their business operations. This was the original publisher of the Traveller RPG by the way.
Chaosium, the original publisher of Runequest and Call of Cthulu, who folded in the early 90's after faltering sales with their original product lines. I was happy with Runequest as long as Avalon Hill was publishing the game under license from Chaoisum, but they yanked the license, and then went off investing in trying to gain a foothold in the Collectible Card Game market back in 96. When their Doom card game failed to materialize and their Mythos card game failed in the marketplace (competing against Magic ...of course), The founders of Chaosium split up and went their separate ways for a time, effectively neutralizing the company for more than a decade.
Then of course, there is TSR, where the Blume Brothers and Lorraine Williams financed the expansion, and then overspent on credit until 1996... Despite total sales of $40 million, TSR ended 1996 with few cash reserves. When Random House returned an unexpectedly high percentage of unsold stock, including the year's inventory of unsold novels and sets of Dragon Dice, and charged a fee of several million dollars, TSR found itself in a cash crunch. With no cash, TSR was unable to pay their printing and shipping bills, and the logistics company that handled TSR's pre-press, printing, warehousing, and shipping refused to do any more work. Since the logistics company had the production plates for key products such as core D&D books, there was no means of printing or shipping core products to generate income or secure short-term financing. Despite high sales, the company was deep in debt and not profitable in large part due to returns. Thirty staff members were laid off in December 1996, and other staff left over disagreements about how the crisis was handled, including James M. Ward. In large part due to the need to refund Random House, TSR entered 1997 over $30 million in debt and was shortly thereafter acquired by WOTC in what amounted to a fire sale.
Judges Guild. When they lost the original D&D license they had in 1978 they were no longer authorized to produce new material for D&D, or even AD&D. The new license offered was much more expensive, and covered much less than the original License Judges Guild had received from TSR. Bob had already gone into debt with his printer, and found himself in trouble after losing the TSR license. I think the original Judges Guild went bankrupt in 1984-85 and it's confiscated inventory was sold by the printers in a fire sale. It would be fourteen years before Bob restarted Judges Guild again in 1999. The printer I think also destroyed the original photolithic masters and plates for the Wilderlands Campaign maps, as well as the First Fantasy Campaign Blackmoor Map master. Unless Bob Jr. has them.
Gamescience. Lou Zocchi didn't go into debt. He did keep his inventory in a warehouse in Baton Rouge though, and that warehouse had the roof come off during a hurricane, which wiped out a lot of Lou's paid for inventory. This really hurt Gamescience for many years, but Lou is a tough old cookie, and he rebuilt Gamescience by licensing out rights to manufacture his precision high-impact dice. He has not reach back to the high point he was at in the late 80's early nineties though. he had published many tabletop games as well as Tekumel for awhile.
I'd be remiss here if I didn't also mention
Kevin Siembieda and
Palladium books. His ability to comeback from the brink of bankruptcy is nothing short of legendary. His money problems weren't due to debt financing so much as employees running off with the bank bag. He managed to recover by crowdfunding some new publications (Which he delivered on, by the way), and then produced extra copies which he then sold. have to say though that he crowdfunded Siembieda's Robotech RPG Tactics Kickstarter, and it is one of the largest failures in table-top Kickstarter history. The project failed to deliver on its goals and raised over $1.4 Million Dollars. Despite not making its goal and unable to deliver Wave 2 of the Kickstarter, Palladium did not refund money given to the project. So... not entirely broke, but did manage to finally alienate his customer base.
I think the LotFP fire sale is a good idea, however I don't believe that will help James with the tidal wave of debt that will shortly engulf him. I'll be very interested to see if he remains in game publishing, and eventually recovers. He should be making plans for that now, because his fickle SJW sycophants will not be there for him.
Don't worry about being edgy. Keep making good gaming books, privately funding the publishing, then enjoy the profits by continuing to sell copies until you sell out your print runs.
Quote from: TheSHEEEP;1139689I've bought quite a few rulebooks lately.
None of them are made of paper.
You can't ctrl+f paper, that's mostly the reason, really. PDFs are simply more time-efficient.
Not gonna go into debt just because I really want to do X, and even KS will only be an option much later on when I got something presentable and working already, not just an idea in my head.
Things will either work out, or they won't, but I find it unacceptable to end up in a worse position in case they don't.
I've a huge RPG dead tree collection. But since I've moved house they are all stuffed in boxes. In all honesty, I don't buy physical books any more. I just love the speed and fact I can carry my whole rpg collection around. :)
Like yourself, if I ever did release something... I'd never go into debt over it. It's an amateurs mistake.
I bought almost all of his earlier stuff, but then he seems to heavily focus on vagina monsters and some sort of psycho-sexual terror, which doesn't fit with my table at all. Which is a shame because the production values on his products have been amazing, especially his printing of Carcosa. To be sure most (all?) of what LOTFP published had at least some elements that were somewhat edgy, but those were parts of a greater whole. I hope he's able to recover from his current troubles, and I hope he's able to find a more sustainable way of doing business than depending on sales to outpace the debt repayments.
Quote from: lordmalachdrim;1139693If I can't get a hard copy of it then I don't even bother giving it a try. I need a physical book in hand to read the rules and retain them.
You are hampering you own efficiency that way, I can guarantee you, the information presented in either form is the same. But obviously everyone is free to do whatever. For me, it is also a matter of space, I prefer to have very few things, because that means I value those that I do have physically a lot more and care for them better.
A large shelf with a million books that were read once and never touched again to me is just a big waste of space (outside of libraries).
My GF prefers to read paper books, because they "smell better".
Can't really argue with that, they really do. It's just something that is irrelevant to me as it doesn't pertain to the information presented.
The point is more that fewer and fewer people rely on the paper and it is therefore not a sound business decision to focus on that route.
What I don't understand is that Raggi recently mentioned that to this day the sale of LotFP Zak PDF offerings is what pays his rent and are his best sellers. This is despite all the drama.
James seems like a smart guy, I'm not sure why he doesn't just resign Zak and go the kickstarter route (where he can also sell his older titles with new books). I'm sure he is worried about getting banned from DTRPG due to SJW mob pressure, but these people are not buying his products. And Kickstarter will break the supply chains the mob seems to have an influence over.
Last week livestream video of James Raggi and Jeff Rients talking about LotFP and cultural politics, also in response to Kiel Chenier disavowing (Chenier's statement (https://dungeonsdonuts.tumblr.com/post/622455367339835392/i-am-sorry-for-blood-in-the-chocolate-and-what-it)) his previous work with Raggi:
3h 42m video of Raggi and Rients (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEB1pOg3Whk)
BTW, you have it the wrong way around. Raggi has never thrown anyone under the bus, HE was the one thrown under the bus at various times by various people (including Zak) for various "offenses" (in Zak's case, it was because Raggi dared to post a photo of himself alongside Jordan Peterson, never mind the context was not even political but Raggi fangirling over Peterson due to his book on self help, of all things).
The only thing you might hold against him is that he cut his ties with Zak when the shit hit the fan, but it's painfully obvious he did that not because he believed in it but because he was essentially forced by outside pressure, with the biggest factor probably being DriveThru preemptive banning on the digital sales of every new Zak work.
Quote from: Simlasa;1139688Zak has talent.
He's so overrated it's not even funny.
Self promotion is a talent.
Quote from: Luca;1139714BTW, you have it the wrong way around. Raggi has never thrown anyone under the bus, HE was the one thrown under the bus at various times by various people (including Zak) for various "offenses" (in Zak's case, it was because Raggi dared to post a photo of himself alongside Jordan Peterson, never mind the context was not even political but Raggi fangirling over Peterson due to his book on self help, of all things).
Exactly this. The SJW threw him under the bus quite awhile ago for continuing to hang out with us politically incorrect OSR people.
Quote from: S'mon;1139665He's always had a very archaic business model, with physical print runs (not Kickstarted). Maybe something to do with how Finland supports small businesses. It is great for getting product onto FLGS shelves - but terrible for the Age of Corona.
I would imagine they'd have to. Stock management, especially when government treats your inventory as something taxable, is a real pain.
"Dark Age of China" isn't doing POD much good either. DriveThruRPG has been quoting printing times of 23 or so days after the order arrives at the printing facility.
I feel sad for him. :( Times are tough for everybody and we each do as we can. I hope we can do what we can for each other as well. :) /hugs, but very metal, masculine hugs :p
Raggi is the walking penis monster and homosexual orgy guy, right?
Classy. Middle school?
Can't believe he's not making bank on that avant-garde brilliancy.
That's exactly what I want to run at my table.
Guy obviously has problems. More than just money problems.
Quote from: Joethelawyer;1139556Fuck. For all the other Ref Book backers, looks like if we don't want our $33,338 loan to never get repaid nor yield a Ref Book, we'd better buy some shit from LOTFP. Link below to what Erik is talking about in his Podcast. Read it, especially the end part.
https://lotfp.blogspot.com/2020/07/new-releases-tomorrow-monday-july-13.html
Also, Erik Tenkar's podcast about it here:
https://anchor.fm/tavernchat/episodes/E772---LotFP-is-Over-100k-in-Debt---Doors-May-Close-by-End-of-Summer-egmr32/a-a3grn3
How fucked up is it that you find yourself in the position to have to buy crap from Raggi in order to help ensure he produces the shit you paid for 8 year ago, with no guarantee that your purchase will even get you what you're already owed?
Never ever back up a kickstarter campaign that doesn't have the full game minus art in a pdf ready to be sent to all it's backers from the get go.
Quote from: GeekyBugle;1139764Never ever back up a kickstarter campaign that doesn't have the full game minus art in a pdf ready to be sent to all it's backers from the get go.
Unless...
There are scenarios in which a Kickstarter does not have these things yet, but it is still just fine to back it anyway. Like, for example, when the person doing the Kickstarter has already done several successfully in the past. The recent Wolves of God, for example, was not finished when the Kickstarter began. And prints are now set to be shipped out next month, well ahead of schedule.
Quote from: The Exploited.;1139683Digital is the way forward pdfs first.
Swanky hardback books are expensive to produce and then to post them out costs even more.
Sometimes its the problem of paying post... Twice. This I learned when I was in publishing. So I picked up the print at the printer.
This is an unforeseen problem of using say Drive-thru as a KS fulfillment service. Either you have to take a huge cut from them and fulfill straight to the backers. Or you take less a cut. But have to pay shipping twice.
Quote from: Trinculoisdead;1139804Unless...
There are scenarios in which a Kickstarter does not have these things yet, but it is still just fine to back it anyway. Like, for example, when the person doing the Kickstarter has already done several successfully in the past. The recent Wolves of God, for example, was not finished when the Kickstarter began. And prints are now set to be shipped out next month, well ahead of schedule.
Even so there's a risk in backing it, albeit a much lesser risk.
I suspect Raggi will survive and eventually thrive again. Probably have to bankrupt his company, light a bunch of bridges on fire, and start from scratch again. But that's the nature of being a self-employed business owner. Even the most successful have experienced a few painful stumbles.
Quote from: Simlasa;1139688Zak has talent.
So does RPGPundit. Lion & Dragon is excellent work.
Not as groundbreakingly amazing as Pundy's Gnomemurdered RPG, but still quite excellent. :D
Quote from: GameDaddy;1139694I have actually seen this before
GameDaddy, thank you for that excellent breakdown. It's amazing how a few mismanagement steps can cascade and destroy a successful company, but it's the nature of business.
Quote from: Opaopajr;1139751/hugs, but very metal, masculine hugs :p
Halford hugs!!!
Quote from: GameDaddy;1139694GDW (Game Designers Workshop) that opted to close before going too deeply in debt in order to continue their business operations. This was the original publisher of the Traveller RPG by the way.
Yeah, that had absolutely nothing to do with the lawsuit TSR filed against them over Gygax jumping ship to do Lejendary Journeys in your eyes, did it?
Quote from: Omega;1139823Sometimes its the problem of paying post... Twice. This I learned when I was in publishing. So I picked up the print at the printer.
This is an unforeseen problem of using say Drive-thru as a KS fulfillment service. Either you have to take a huge cut from them and fulfill straight to the backers. Or you take less a cut. But have to pay shipping twice.
That sucks... I know drivethru take a hefty cut. As I sell some of my artwork there.Postage price, here is Ireland is vicious.
Personally, I'd only ever offer 'digital' rewards. I know this would put off a certain % of your potential customers, but I just wouldn't want to deal with the hassle. Also, when you start adding up the prices for hiring people that's going to be very hefty. Luckily, all my stuff would be done by me and my GF who would do the layout/editing/design (she and I are both professionals - so that's a big help).
Quote from: Spinachcat;1139846So does RPGPundit. Lion & Dragon is excellent work.
Re. Zak and talent. I do think he's quite talented. But I just don't like his style all that much. I mean, it's a bit too fantastical for my taste, that's only because I tend to like more grounded stuff. That's one of the reasons I like Pundit's work - it's pretty much inline with my own style of gaming, especially Lion and Dragon (and some of the Pundit's presents low fantasy adventure stuff).
However, I did back that horror game that Zak did. I can't remember the title, demon city? Or ground? Looking forward to seeing his take on horror.
Quote from: Simlasa;1139688Zak has talent.
A talent at pretending to be really edgy and punk, and hope that covers up for products that are half full of useless gimmickry and filler with incoherent setting or structure.
Quote from: S'mon;1139690You're not edgy enough. I bet there's not a single vagina monster on the cover of ANY of your books!
Correct.
Quote from: GameDaddy;1139694I have actually seen this before, Not that part where he teamed up with Zak and ended up in an SJW trainwreck when sexual politics interfered with the growth of his gaming company, but the part where he goes into debt to finance business growth. This last part is pretty much a no-no in any business, and has been historically especially lethal for small to mid-sized gaming companies
True!
Incidentally, I'm 100% debt free, and the product (and line that derived from it) that Raggi passed on bought me a two-bedroom house.
Quote from: Shasarak;1139596I am shocked, shocked I tell you, that Blue Rose is not carrying the company.
Their distributor was put on lock down, so they physically could not deliver books. And then all conventions were cancelled. Blue Rose isn't even one of their "main" product lines. I think they list it around 5th? It's just hard times man. They look like they will make it through though.
Quote from: jeff37923;1139854Yeah, that had absolutely nothing to do with the lawsuit TSR filed against them over Gygax jumping ship to do Lejendary Journeys in your eyes, did it?
Was going to mention that little bit. That lawsuit didnt help TSR either.
Quote from: RPGPundit;1139881True!
Incidentally, I'm 100% debt free, and the product (and line that derived from it) that Raggi passed on bought me a two-bedroom house.
I can't speak for Raggi, obviously, but I doubt he refuses products just because he doesn't think they're good. LotFP has a very specific aesthetic, and yours is quite different.
The guy with the specific aesthetic is broke now, and his reputation in ruins. Maybe he should have broadened his view a bit.
Quote from: Kyle Aaron;1139933The guy with the specific aesthetic is broke now, and his reputation in ruins. Maybe he should have broadened his view a bit.
I think Raggi is a likeable doofus. I don't think his reputation is in ruins outside SJW circles. If you meant Zak, then well, yeah his rep is in tatters. I believe his trust fund is still good, though.
Quote from: Simlasa;1139688Zak has talent.
Zak also tried to drill a hole through his head with Mandy.
Quote from: Snowman0147;1139948Zak also tried to drill a hole through his head with Mandy.
"That would've worked if you hadn't stopped me."
Quote from: thedungeondelver;1139957"That would've worked if you hadn't stopped me."
The perfect response.
Quote from: Brad;1139976The perfect response.
Thank you, I thought it fit nicely :)
Quote from: RPGPundit;1139881True! Incidentally, I'm 100% debt free, and the product (and line that derived from it) that Raggi passed on bought me a two-bedroom house.
One of the advantages of staying 'small' is that you are less likely to take real risks outside of your frame of experience. By taking on stock, Raggi took on a host of responsibilities that were outside of his experience. Larger companies have specialists in those areas that ensure they are run right. But even then, they cannot necessarily foresee all problems.
On the other hand, if you do not have more than one 'iron in the fire' while staying small and if your income passes through some other entities, then the fate of those entities may one day destroy you. In the content licensing market for example, I knew designers that were making almost all of their money through brokerage type resellers. One of those resellers changed their website and suddenly, their sales dropped by 80%. You can see a similar effect for some iOS (or worse, macOS) developers.
In the RPG market, one thing that I wonder about are the long delays on hardcopy via DriveThruRPG. They've basically added +20 (or more) days on fulfillment. That, plus natural concerns about the economy make me wonder if those dependent on it aren't suffering or will suffer quite badly.
Quote from: Lynn;1139980In the RPG market, one thing that I wonder about are the long delays on hardcopy via DriveThruRPG. They've basically added +20 (or more) days on fulfillment. That, plus natural concerns about the economy make me wonder if those dependent on it aren't suffering or will suffer quite badly.
As a reference, I ordered Pundy's Star Adventurer Print/PDF on June 29th. I got a ship notification from DTRPG on July 12th, but it wasn't even dropped off to USPS until July 14th. On top of that, they're illegally using
Bound Printed Matter as the service, which is even slower than Media Mail.
Quote from: kythri;1139989As a reference, I ordered Pundy's Star Adventurer Print/PDF on June 29th. I got a ship notification from DTRPG on July 12th, but it wasn't even dropped off to USPS until July 14th. On top of that, they're illegally using Bound Printed Matter as the service, which is even slower than Media Mail.
06/15/2020 Pending Payment Approval
06/15/2020 Processing Processing from checkout_process.php
06/15/2020 Paid For Your printed items normally take 2 to 5 days to print (or up to 14 working days for full-color books), and will then be shipped to you.
06/15/2020 Sent to printer Print order sent to printer (order PPO.M06151500)
06/15/2020 Confirmed Printer has acknowledged receipt of order.
07/03/2020 Shipped Product The Hero's Companion has shipped.
Tracking Number: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX(it may take up to 24 hours for this tracking number to become valid)
Date Shipped: 2020-07-02
Shipped via: USPS
Status
Pre-Shipment
July 9, 2020
Pre-Shipment Info Sent to USPS, USPS Awaiting Item
Like...wtf
Quote from: Brad;113999106/15/2020 Pending Payment Approval
06/15/2020 Processing Processing from checkout_process.php
06/15/2020 Paid For Your printed items normally take 2 to 5 days to print (or up to 14 working days for full-color books), and will then be shipped to you.
06/15/2020 Sent to printer Print order sent to printer (order PPO.M06151500)
06/15/2020 Confirmed Printer has acknowledged receipt of order.
07/03/2020 Shipped Product The Hero's Companion has shipped.
Tracking Number: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX(it may take up to 24 hours for this tracking number to become valid)
Date Shipped: 2020-07-02
Shipped via: USPS
Status
Pre-Shipment
July 9, 2020
Pre-Shipment Info Sent to USPS, USPS Awaiting Item
Like...wtf
I'm already not a fan of Mr. Raggi's work but this? Now I wouldn't touch his products with a ten foot pole. Perhaps second-hand...but definitely not direct purchase. Sorry, waiting months for books is...ehh...no.
Quote from: GameDaddy;1139694I have actually seen this before, Not that part where he teamed up with Zak and ended up in an SJW trainwreck when sexual politics interfered with the growth of his gaming company, but the part where he goes into debt to finance business growth. This last part is pretty much a no-no in any business, and has been historically especially lethal for small to mid-sized gaming companies.
I don't know much about the history gaming companies specifically as it relates to debt, but going into debt for business growth is pretty-much Business 101. Virtually every company does it, it's just to what multiplier they are leveraged.
Going into debt on a whim without a solid plan is a bad idea. Going into debt simply to maintain business is very risky. But if you need to go into debt to grow faster - that's what banks & investors like to hear. The general rule is that getting debt to survive is a bad sign, but getting debt to expand is a good sign.
I wonder if it wasn't due to COVID-19 then Raggi's model may have been sustainable. I did see him sellings tons of mercy at GenCon the last several years. One can question his going into debt, but it did seem to be working for him. A problem with businesses without strong reserves is that a single significant disruption to their plans can bring the whole business down. I think this happens with many small businesses in that they do alright for a few years, but there's usually some unanticipated event that wrecks them. In Raggi's case it's been a strong downturn in cash flow due to a pandemic. I also question the direction he took his later products, but my personal non-interest doesn't negate that a lot of people did seem to be buying his shock/TPK material.
Quote from: thedungeondelver;1139999Sorry, waiting months for books is...ehh...no.
Yeah what kind of idiot has to wait months for books to be shipped to them.
:(
Quote from: thedungeondelver;1139999I'm already not a fan of Mr. Raggi's work but this? Now I wouldn't touch his products with a ten foot pole. Perhaps second-hand...but definitely not direct purchase. Sorry, waiting months for books is...ehh...no.
At a guess either its POD or they are shipping from overseas? Or worse... Both.
POD services can take a bit. Some wont do a print till X number of orders are in. Some will print off just one and go with it. Verry YMMV. As is the print quality. POD is a hidden minefield of potential problems that can trip you up.
Quote from: wmarshal;1140007I wonder if it wasn't due to COVID-19 then Raggi's model may have been sustainable.
Seems the case. Were it not for all the problems this year they would likely not be in trouble. Maybee not as great sales as the SJW disease spreads. But probably able to at the very least cover the debt.
Though one does have to wonder what they heck Raggi was spending a little over 100$ on?
Quote from: Brad;113999106/15/2020 Pending Payment Approval
06/15/2020 Processing Processing from checkout_process.php
06/15/2020 Paid For Your printed items normally take 2 to 5 days to print (or up to 14 working days for full-color books), and will then be shipped to you.
06/15/2020 Sent to printer Print order sent to printer (order PPO.M06151500)
06/15/2020 Confirmed Printer has acknowledged receipt of order.
07/03/2020 Shipped Product The Hero's Companion has shipped.
Tracking Number: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX(it may take up to 24 hours for this tracking number to become valid)
Date Shipped: 2020-07-02
Shipped via: USPS
Status
Pre-Shipment
July 9, 2020
Pre-Shipment Info Sent to USPS, USPS Awaiting Item
Like...wtf
Mine was entirely processed from payment up to "Confirmed Printer has acknowledged receipt of order" on 6/23/2020, so they are close to their expanded limit. Like some parts of Amazon, I am expecting some of these status updates are BS - but that last one of yours - yeah, its shipped, except when it isn't.
Quote from: jeff37923;1139854Yeah, that had absolutely nothing to do with the lawsuit TSR filed against them over Gygax jumping ship to do Lejendary Journeys in your eyes, did it?
Gygax was forced out of TSR. And the game he did for GDW was Dangerous Journeys. As far as i know, while the lawsuit was pretty ugly, it was ultimately settled with TSR buying the game outright (including inventory) so I'm not sure GDW lost much, if anything, other than time and energy. DJ was kinda a dog of a game.
I think what hurt GDW was the CCG craze that blitzed the industry. They didn't try to get into it, but it probably sucked away a lot of their sales.
Quote from: JeremyR;1140129Gygax was forced out of TSR. And the game he did for GDW was Dangerous Journeys. As far as i know, while the lawsuit was pretty ugly, it was ultimately settled with TSR buying the game outright (including inventory) so I'm not sure GDW lost much, if anything, other than time and energy. DJ was kinda a dog of a game.
I think what hurt GDW was the CCG craze that blitzed the industry. They didn't try to get into it, but it probably sucked away a lot of their sales.
I recently completed my collection with a copy of Epic of Aerth signed by Larry Elmore and honestly...it's a pretty decent game. Seriously. I'm going to try to run it sometime soon, actually.
Quote from: Brad;1139991July 9, 2020
Pre-Shipment Info Sent to USPS, USPS Awaiting Item
A positive note this morning:
Product Silent Legions has shipped.
Tracking Number: 924199999166555830101XXXX (it may take up to 24 hours for this tracking number to become valid)
Date Shipped: 2020-07-15
Shipped via: USPS
So it took almost exactly the 22 or so days extra delay. Assuming this isn't BS like your Pre-Shipment
Looks like LotFP could yet survive:
Raggi's latest video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4PgA97mF0M)
Video is 2 hours but the relevant info is in the first 10 minutes. No solid numbers but he does say if he wanted, he could probably now walk away without huge debts.
Anyway, I think most of you are being way too hard with him. There were 3 things going on simultaneously during these last 2 years:
- creation of an US storefront with dedicated warehouse
- Zak
- Covid
The first one makes complete sense once you hear him say (in the previous video) that 80% of his profits come from sales from his own site. I'm guessing it's due to it being (so far) the only way to get physical books plus not having to give a cut to anyone else as it happens for digital sales on Drivethru.
The shipping costs within EU have become insane in the last 3 years, and I'm guessing for the US even more so. And given the size of the print runs he allocated to EU/US for his latest books, it looks like at least 65/70% of the sales come from the US.
So he had to invest money to setup the US side of his operations. At the same time he got hit by the Zak mess, which stopped him from reprinting 3 of his 4 best sellers (which by his own admission are STILL the best sellers as PDF on Drivethru, which hasn't removed them with the excuse that it would damage the other contributors and so they've "just" banned any future Zak's works).
On top of this, he had to scrap a big incoming product on which Zak was working and was already in an advanced state, and then Covid hits.
That was a triple-whammy, and it's likely he'd not have been in this trouble if not for being hit by multiple catastrophes simultaneously.
Quote from: Luca;1140207Looks like LotFP could yet survive:
Video is 2 hours but the relevant info is in the first 10 minutes. No solid numbers but he does say if he wanted, he could probably now walk away without huge debts.
Anyway, I think most of you are being way too hard with him. There were 3 things going on simultaneously during these last 2 years:
- creation of an US storefront with dedicated warehouse
The first one makes complete sense once you hear him say (in the previous video) that 80% of his profits come from sales from his own site. I'm guessing it's due to it being (so far) the only way to get physical books plus not having to give a cut to anyone else as it happens for digital sales on Drivethru.
The US Storefront is essential. Drivethru and any other PoD delivery service is expensive and cuts deeply into profits. Shipping here in the U.S. is reasonable, but since the U.S. Postal Service dropped out of a sweet postal union shipping price agreement last year, International shipping has become insanely expensive. My average International shipping costs have gone up 400% since last year... Might be able to ship in bulk and avoid that robbery on the high seas. Throw in the new Tariffs, and well...
If you have your own printing service and reasonable shipping you can survive as a RPG publisher. Also happy to hear he has the financial reserves to handle the debt.
Quote from: Lynn;1140203A positive note this morning:
Product Silent Legions has shipped.
Tracking Number: 924199999166555830101XXXX (it may take up to 24 hours for this tracking number to become valid)
Date Shipped: 2020-07-15
Shipped via: USPS
So it took almost exactly the 22 or so days extra delay. Assuming this isn't BS like your Pre-Shipment
Still says pre-shipment...literally one month has passed, no books. That is just stupid.
Quote from: Brad;1140232Still says pre-shipment...literally one month has passed, no books. That is just stupid.
Have you tried calling? That's just crazy.
Quote from: Lynn;1140326Have you tried calling? That's just crazy.
Was gonna contact support today, got side tracked, and look what showed up in the mail...finally.
Quote from: Brad;1140420Was gonna contact support today, got side tracked, and look what showed up in the mail...finally.
It is insanity with shipping right now. I ordered two used novels of Amazon.ca first week of May 2020 and they both arrived last week nor on the same day.
Quote from: sureshot;1140495It is insanity with shipping right now. I ordered two used novels of Amazon.ca first week of May 2020 and they both arrived last week nor on the same day.
if you had ask anyone in 2000 if they thought that doing business on the Internet would be a serious contender in the retail business you would have been laughed off the street. This year though, retail has taken a dire hit, and there is such a jump in online sales that there is a shortage of shipping and transportation companies to fulfill the demand. Now would be a good time to buy a delivery fleet of vehicles and arrange to deliver products purchased online.
Quote from: GameDaddy;1140499if you had ask anyone in 2000 if they thought that doing business on the Internet would be a serious contender in the retail business you would have been laughed off the street. This year though, retail has taken a dire hit, and there is such a jump in online sales that there is a shortage of shipping and transportation companies to fulfill the demand. Now would be a good time to buy a delivery fleet of vehicles and arrange to deliver products purchased online.
Funny thing is at my previous job I had to do follow-up with customers to see how well that delivery and those that delivered them measured up. One specific shipping and transportation companies would always get negative reviews about their drivers. In Winter drivers are supposed to wear special soles to avoid damaging the interior of homes about 80%+ of the time they just ignored the clients wishes and were and/or also rude to them. If it could be proven that it was due to driver negligence we offered compensation and the delivery company had to pay for damages. While also hiring anyone who could drive with zero to negative social skills so again they would be refunded the transportation fee. Many of the people who take these kind of jobs don't realize how physically demanding it can be.
On the other hand their clients also have highly unrealistic expectations on what, when something will be delivered. 30+c, of snow fell overnight you can bitch, moan and complain all you want it's not coming the next day. Scouring the internet for the cheapest, biggest, flat screen perfect you find one good. Hopefully the manufacturer has lots of stock because if not your getting another TV not at the same price. Not to mention it's you as the consumer to make sure the stairs are clean and safe for the delivery people to bring the item to your home. They are NOT going to clean the snow, dirt, debris, etc. No one cares of you walked on the same debris safely they are not going to take any risks delivering the product. As well as to mention if the stairs are small or the areas to bring the item in requires a two man or four man team. As again NO one cares if you think it's safe and if it's not the item is not delivered.
Long story short in my new job I found out that the terrible shipping company went bankrupt due to Covid.
If I owned a FLGS, I'd have a delivery driver. Free shipping over $100 and designate X days of the week for the delivery dude to make his rounds. It would be hard for a brick & mortar FLGS to compete with Amazon, but I think there's avenues of attack to leverage customer loyalty. One tactic would be deep discounts for used products or unsold overstock, but only eligible to "club members", aka your marketing database.
Einstein once said... Don't repeat the same mistake over and over again and expect different results. If your delivery method fails once, it will fail again. Einstein's theories save me a lot of headache, and now you can too.
Quoteif you had ask anyone in 2000 if they thought that doing business on the Internet would be a serious contender in the retail business you would have been laughed off the street.
No, the online dominance of the retail business sphere was predicted well before the turn of the millennium by a lot of people who were carefully watching the development of telecommunications and the rise of broadband. I was at a speaker at a UK telecoms summit in 1998 where the growth of online transactions was predicted with pretty reasonable accuracy: and this was before Amazon even got off the ground. It really shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that internet commerce has developed in the way it has.
Quote from: sureshot;1140495It is insanity with shipping right now. I ordered two used novels of Amazon.ca first week of May 2020 and they both arrived last week nor on the same day.
USPS has terrible service right now. We mailed masks within our same city, literally less than 5 miles away. It took 6 days to arrive.
UPS is better, but not by a lot. They accept next day air packages, don't deliver in time, and claim they are exempted from the next day requirement due to Covid-19. Funny, I am not exempted from paying the higher fee to send it that way!
I haven't had any significant issues with USPS themselves - once they get a parcel, it seems to get to me in a reasonable timeframe - usually.
My bigger issue is with sellers who aren't getting the item to USPS in a timely manner - waiting a week or more after payment to actually take the item to the post office.
USPS has so far been the most reliable shipping service for game books and accessories I have found so far.
Quote from: kythri;1140579I haven't had any significant issues with USPS themselves - once they get a parcel, it seems to get to me in a reasonable timeframe - usually.
My bigger issue is with sellers who aren't getting the item to USPS in a timely manner - waiting a week or more after payment to actually take the item to the post office.
One seller that is a counterexample is Black Blade. I bought the hardcover of OSRIC and it was shipped quickly and arrived in great condition.
Quote from: kythri;1139989As a reference, I ordered Pundy's Star Adventurer Print/PDF on June 29th. I got a ship notification from DTRPG on July 12th, but it wasn't even dropped off to USPS until July 14th. On top of that, they're illegally using Bound Printed Matter as the service, which is even slower than Media Mail.
FWIW, my order showed up today. 22 calendar days, 16 business days.
Eh? If I accommodate all of the pandemic nonsense's impact on everything, I suppose that's not absolutely horrid.
Quote from: kythri;1141085FWIW, my order showed up today. 22 calendar days, 16 business days.
Eh? If I accommodate all of the pandemic nonsense's impact on everything, I suppose that's not absolutely horrid.
That's actually pretty good.
Back before the Oceans drank Atlantis, and the rise of the sons of Aryas, there was an age undreamed of (in RPG and Wargaming....) and uh, we felt lucky if we sent in a check, money order, or bank draft for an order, and it was mailed back to us before 30 days had gone by. Most mail orders were made with the standard disclaimer
"Allow four-to-six weeks for delivery", ...and that was not counting the time it took one to place the order. First class airmail could still take up to seven business days to arrive anywhere in North America.
USPS put out a press release back in April about how yes, your mail is all taking longer to process and get to you. Expect much longer delays (https://faq.usps.com/s/article/USPS-Coronavirus-Updates-Expected-Delivery-Changes).
Can anyone here offer a review of Veins of the Earth? I hadn't heard of it until today, but it looks really good from a brief look at reviews and previews.
This review (https://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/17/17918.phtml) makes it sound superb.
Quote from: kythri;1141085FWIW, my order showed up today. 22 calendar days, 16 business days.
Eh? If I accommodate all of the pandemic nonsense's impact on everything, I suppose that's not absolutely horrid.
I have an order outstanding that I placed on July 10th. As of right now, it still hasn't been printed. That falls into the normal "up to 14 days for color printing". I'll see how long it takes to get the order after it prints.
Quote from: Joethelawyer;1139556Raggi Nearly Broke
What?! Someone was trying to get rich from selling RPG books?
Amazon Prime has spoiled me beyond belief regarding high speed shipping.
Fortunately, Kickstarter keeps me zen by making me wait months (or years) for books.
Quote from: Spinachcat;1141126Amazon Prime has spoiled me beyond belief regarding high speed shipping.
Yeah, it feels crazy I can usually order in the morning & get delivery same day! Why go to the shops (where they're about to force us to put on masks) when I can get it delivered to my door in a few hours?
Although if I want another copy of Basic Fantasy RPG I apparently have to wait 1-2 days (https://smile.amazon.co.uk/Basic-Fantasy-Role-Playing-Game-3rd/dp/1503334945/) for it to get printed and won't get it until 3 days after ordering - a travesty! And it'll cost me an outrageous £4.22 with free shipping! :-O
When ordering RPG's outside of the US, the shipping costs of Amazon are a godsend compared to KS and other options.
Sometimes I'm paying more for the shipping than the books themselves.
Looks like everyone likes Amazon these days (it's hard not to).
Bezos's net worth jumped 13 billion dollars in one day.
Let that sink in a bit.
Quote from: Mistwell;1141110Can anyone here offer a review of Veins of the Earth? I hadn't heard of it until today, but it looks really good from a brief look at reviews and previews.
This review (https://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/17/17918.phtml) makes it sound superb.
Just re-posting this in case it was missed. Would love to hear some feedback about that book?
The stuff about the survival element and light being super important is a very real part of it. I stuck some veins style caverns beneath the sewers of the city and the players went down there for like two sessions and eventually found their way back out. It was sort of extra grim and dangerous and different from what they were after so they never went back down there. it really does a very different thing with the underworld than the typical D&D style underdark. They spent a lot more time exploring the sewer/undercity which was more traditional D&D fare.
I think I recommend it, but it's just quite unique in actual play I can't say for sure everyone will like it. It wasn't what my more traditional minded dungeon exploring players were after.
At the rate things are going all publishers will be broke. A lot of people getting free cheese will no longer have a source of income by August. Technically it will snowball and start affecting every other business. Even the few people who had the luxury to work from home for the last few months will likely be getting a phone call or pink slip by mail it seems. If we don't stick together the hobby could go under before anyone sees it coming.
Quote from: FelixGamingX1;1141314At the rate things are going all publishers will be broke. A lot of people getting free cheese will no longer have a source of income by August. Technically it will snowball and start affecting every other business. Even the few people who had the luxury to work from home for the last few months will likely be getting a phone call or pink slip by mail it seems. If we don't stick together the hobby could go under before anyone sees it coming.
I kinda want to see that. Mind you I only want the industry to die out so that a new industry will raise from the ashes. A industry that refuses to bend the knee for it understands that it only brings death.
Quote from: FelixGamingX1;1141314If we don't stick together the hobby could go under before anyone sees it coming.
That is highly unlikely.
The demand for TTRPGs may go down, but it won't vanish. And frankly, having some publishers die is an advantage to the other publishers competitively.
When the demand bounces back, new publishers will open up, bringing in new ideas.
That's the creative destruction of capitalism at work.
The hobby will be fine using free or dirt cheap materials. When the Bat Plague knocked over our RL campaigns, we immediately started two new ones on Roll20 and Google Hangouts. This was probably the cheapest form of entertainment to a bunch of people with decent Internet access.
If LotFP doesn't survive this...it dies a martyr.
Quote from: FelixGamingX1;1141314At the rate things are going all publishers will be broke. A lot of people getting free cheese will no longer have a source of income by August. Technically it will snowball and start affecting every other business. Even the few people who had the luxury to work from home for the last few months will likely be getting a phone call or pink slip by mail it seems. If we don't stick together the hobby could go under before anyone sees it coming.
Won't happen to me. I have yet to put a penny into my products. Of course, they have no production values, the sales are slow and none of you lot even look at them but the people who have bought one have bought others and I'll make do without the expensive art. I'll confess, I might have put a little money into art this year but the poker rooms around here have been closed and I'm not spending
my money on hobby publications.
Bill, start a thread about your games and experience in game publishing in the Development forum. I had no idea you wrote anything and just saw you wrote Glory Road. I know nobody liked how Zwei-bitchnugget overly pimped his stuff, but the "build it and they will come" plan just isn't a plan.
Quote from: WillInNewHaven;1141898Won't happen to me. I have yet to put a penny into my products.
Same. I wrote a couple of adventures and donated the proceeds to charity. I'll continue to work on a couple of new ones and do the same. /shrug
Quote from: Snowman0147;1141360I kinda want to see that. Mind you I only want the industry to die out so that a new industry will raise from the ashes. A industry that refuses to bend the knee for it understands that it only brings death.
Instead the cultists and suits will ensure that what rises from the ashes is something more easily manipulated and controlled. Breed loyaler stupider cattle and better ways to brainwash any of the outliers if they cant be eliminated.
I think we will, and are, seeing a boom in indie games. But that bubble will likely burst at some point. Either from oversaturation, which is already a problem. Or from the cult gaining control of venues or other means to shut down these pockets of resistance.
Quote from: Spinachcat;1141901Bill, start a thread about your games and experience in game publishing in the Development forum. I had no idea you wrote anything and just saw you wrote Glory Road. I know nobody liked how Zwei-bitchnugget overly pimped his stuff, but the "build it and they will come" plan just isn't a plan.
I did that. Thanks for the suggestion.