The Future of the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game?

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by lachimba

I give my standard disclaimer about not giving SJ Games advice. That said I remember being "tut tutted"when I suggested that the next step after DFRPG was in fact more DFRPG.

It's common knowledge that the best next product is [insert pet interest here].

[GM Joe]

Originally Posted by Anthony

It's common knowledge that the best next product is [insert pet interest here].

Fool! Clearly [my even more esoteric pet interest] is more popular. All the people in my [esoteric pet interest] group agree.

[adm]

Originally Posted by GM Joe

Fool! Clearly [my even more esoteric pet interest] is more popular. All the people in my [esoteric pet interest] group agree.

No we don't. :)

[philreed]

Originally Posted by lachimba

Im happy to hear that there will be more support for DFRPG.

Heading off the rumors: There is potential for support. We'll have to see if there's enough demand to justify a new book as well as a reprint.

[lachimba]

Originally Posted by philreed

Heading off the rumors: There is potential for support. We'll have to see if there's enough demand to justify a new book as well as a reprint.

There already was more support - in the form of "Hall of Judgment". That was a far more sensible followup than just moving on to something else.

[lachimba]

In fact I found the thread where IMHO people got carried away about the 'next' box set

http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=151497

[Kromm]

Originally Posted by lachimba

In fact I found the thread where IMHO people got carried away about the 'next' box set

http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=151497

The fact that people there couldn't agree ("Action," "After the End," "Monster Hunters," "my idea of space opera," "no, mine," "no, mine," "horror," "pulp," "superheroes," "cyberpunk," "steampunk," "this one specific license," . . .) illustrates a serious obstacle for SJ Games: Any big, expensive project based on GURPS is a risk because the system covers most genres and many styles of play, and can be adapted to almost any setting – the customer base is fragmented. We don't have everybody but That Guy saying, "We need this one thing. Take our money!"; we have people pulling in all directions. Consequently, it's best to stick with the RPG hobby's most popular genre (hack 'n' slash fantasy) for the moment, and worry about whether we have enough interest to support even that.

This isn't even addressing the fact that the people "voting" in that thread are GURPS fans. Sales to GURPS fans are likely to be weak, as those people already own most of the source material a boxed set would be based on, and would be lukewarm on paying for the same material twice, however pretty the box. We really need the input of fans of other RPGs thinking about trying a new system, and even non-gamers thinking about breaking into RPGs. They're more likely to buy what we create, because they don't already own all the content. Moreover, bringing them onside grows our customer base, which is a huge economic incentive to publish what they want.

[Tom H.]

Originally Posted by Kromm

. . . the customer base is fragmented.

In theory, you would have a much larger customer base drawing from all the various genres that excite people and give them the benefit of a unified system supported by a single company.

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Originally Posted by Tom H.

In theory, you would have a much larger customer base drawing from all the various genres that excite people and give them the benefit of a unified system supported by a single company.

Though, alternatively, you might alienate the vast majority of the customer base and attract only those few who like the union of all of those elements rather than those who would prefer to keep their peanut butter and their chocolate separate, as it were.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Tom H.

In theory, you would have a much larger customer base drawing from all the various genres that excite people and give them the benefit of a unified system supported by a single company.

The problem with generic systems is "Oh, as GM I need to do a lot of work to make this generic system usable with what I want to play", whereas a prefab genre product is pick up and play. Also, reality is that no other RPGs have come close to the success of D&D (counting Pathfinder as a flavor of D&D), so it's quite possible dungeon fantasy does actually represent the majority of the market.