Suppressed Transmissions Kickstarter?

[Jürgen Hubert]

Given the runaway successof the Ogre Kickstarter, would Steve Jackson Games consider another Kickstarter - for the Suppressed Transmissions?

There are numerous fans of the Suppressed Transmissions bemoaning that they haven't collected them all, and who would love to see the rest of the columns in either digital or printed format. I know that SJG is hesitant to invest in a project that might not pay off... but with Kickstarter, this problem could be avoided!

Depending on the funding goals reached, such a re-release could feature different options. At the lowest level I'd start with another 37 column collection formatted in the same simple style as Pyramid Magazine. At higher levels, you could commission more original art... or get Kenneth Hite to write some more footnotes. Or both.

I am sure more possibilities for bonus features are out there. What do you think?

[slocum]

I think ST is one of the best things SJGames has every made. Ken is a genius, and his work needs wider distribution. One ST article has more amazing ideas in it than any other collection of words anywhere.

[robkelk]

It's my understanding that SJGames doesn't like to take money without having a product to provide in exchange, either immediately or in short order.

On the other tentacle, most of the "heavy work" - the writing - is already done for a Suppressed Transmissions project, so (assuming an editor can be assigned or contracted) the product could be delivered in relatively short order...

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Originally Posted by Jürgen Hubert

I know that SJG is hesitant to invest in a project that might not pay off... but with Kickstarter, this problem could be avoided!

On one hand, in the narrowest analysis, all they'd really need is whatever it costs to assemble a book for e23 plus administrative overhead to oversee the Kickstarter itself, which is surely far less than they'd need to finance the production of a physical game.

On the other hand, the opportunity cost would seem pretty vast. The lackluster sales of the existing Suppressed Transmission volumes have been insufficient to justify the preparation of a third volume, and unlike Ogre (and the next SJ Games Kickstarter, Car Wars), ST has never had a broad following, so I don't see a large audience of eager, underserved ST fans. Even if the Kickstarter were successful (which, to be fair, seems at least a plausible possibility given the relatively small sum involved), I don't see a reason to believe that the resulting collection would see sales significantly beyond those of the underperforming ones already out there. So if instead they could spend the time and effort on more Munchkin or Cthulhu Dice or GURPS (for comparison, my most recent GURPS book, released in August, has already outsold the existing ST books), which would appear rather more profitable...well, why wouldn't they?

[philreed]

Not currently planned and we do not have time to tackle something like this in 2013.