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Old 11-23-2018, 01:12 PM   #11
DerfmeisterP
 
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Default Re: What would Pyramid Volume 4 look like?

Rolling kickstarter-esque approach with final issues content based voting with your filthy lucre?

What gets published is what people want enough that it'll break even (at least). With a long enough hang-time on it, even the less popular content could get published when enough support is gathered.....
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Old 11-26-2018, 07:20 AM   #12
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Default Re: What would Pyramid Volume 4 look like?

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Originally Posted by DerfmeisterP View Post

Rolling kickstarter-esque approach with final issues content based voting with your filthy lucre?

What gets published is what people want enough that it'll break even (at least). With a long enough hang-time on it, even the less popular content could get published when enough support is gathered.....
The problem with such an approach is that although those of us paid to develop games are to some extent hacks, that's mostly to a lesser extent. Writer inspiration decides the majority of what's written for RPGs, because the money just isn't good enough to set aside personal preferences for pay. Even a Kickstarter that's fantastically successful by games-industry standards pays too poorly to encourage good writing about a topic no available writer finds interesting. I don't see crowdfunding changing the fact that games writing is author-driven – not publisher-driven (I'd estimate that our "wish lists" account for fewer than 20% of what we publish) and not customer-driven (people demanding something and waving money won't make it so, because writing is creative work, not manufacturing).
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Old 11-26-2018, 08:33 AM   #13
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Default Re: What would Pyramid Volume 4 look like?

As one of many (though not very prolific) authors I concur with Kromm.
There are many issues where I never submitted anything because I could not come up with an idea. Had I been working on salary or otherwise obligated I could have come up with something. But it very likely would not have been as interesting as the times inspiration struck me. Far better to set an issue aside and wait to see someone else's inspired efforts.
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Old 11-26-2018, 08:42 AM   #14
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Default Re: What would Pyramid Volume 4 look like?

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Had I been working on salary or otherwise obligated I could have come up with something. But it very likely would not have been as interesting as the times inspiration struck me.
This is left unsaid too often in discussions of "Why doesn't [GAMING COMPANY] do [PROJECT] in [SPECIFIED MANNER]?" People seem to understand economic reasons, if only grudgingly at times, but not artistic ones. I've said it before: People I know of the same age as me with the same education and the same number of years of seniority at their posts earn two to three times what I'm paid . . . and I know I'm paid fairly well for the games business. Most of the attraction is working on what I find interesting; the salary simply isn't high enough to work on things I don't find interesting. For freelancers, the pay is even lower and the major and often only motivation is to have fun exercising their creative muscles.
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Old 11-26-2018, 09:20 AM   #15
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Default Re: What would Pyramid Volume 4 look like?

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This is left unsaid too often in discussions of "Why doesn't [GAMING COMPANY] do [PROJECT] in [SPECIFIED MANNER]?" People seem to understand economic reasons,
As an example of this, I've posted the Gaming Ballistic financial details a few years running. Here was my take-home pay since inception:

2016: Lost about five grand ($5,000)
2017: Lost about twenty grand ($20,000)
2018: Thus far, on the way to the end of the year, I'm guessing $10,000 profit including both Dragon Heresy and Hall of Judgment.

In terms of win/loss:

Dungeon Grappling, my first book, was a clear win. It continues to sell, if slowly, and broke even on the Kickstarter. I've had to order mild POD reprints. I can't go into distribution on this one because POD cost is VERY high, and for a $15 book, it needs to be about $2.25 per book just to be self-sustaining.

Lost Hall of Tyr, my second Kickstarter, wound up losing $1,000. Mostly that was a calculated risk: I invested $1,000 extra in a piece of amazing art from an artist with a very large following, with the expectation that 50 of his folks would come by and pledge, which would make up the risk, or more, which would be a return. That did not happen.

Dragon Heresy, my third KS and vanity project. Probably cost me $35-40K all in, and I've made maybe half of that back. I do have something like 1,300 copies in my inventory, however, at both the warehouse and my home. At the expected distribution take for the book, if they all sell via distribution, I will bring Dragon Heresy to break-even. If they sell through Amazon, direct-to-retail, or through my store, it will be profitable. But that's likely years unless something happens to up the visibility of the core book.

Hall of Judgment, my fourth project, was a smashing success. It cost relatively little to make, but roughly half (about $6.5K!) were printing and shipping costs, with shipping from overseas being the lion's share. Total revenue is on the order of $19-20K so far. So my return on this one has been good, but mostly goes "rearward" to pay for investment in Dragon Heresy. Looking *forward* rather than backwards, the GURPS/Dungeon Fantasy RPG community has been good to me and I intend to return the favor with more product.

But you can see that other than my basic love for making games, I'd be utterly unable to do it at all save for a solid day job.
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Old 12-01-2018, 02:57 AM   #16
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Default Re: What would Pyramid Volume 4 look like?

Bring it out as an electronic quarterly funded by an annual Kickstarter. Simple and I'd bet my GURPS collection there would be enough interest to get it funded. Reducing the volume to quarterly will hopefully solve some of the "lack of inspiration" problems.
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Old 12-29-2018, 09:11 PM   #17
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Default Re: What would Pyramid Volume 4 look like?

Would some form of a moderated Patreon "-'zine" style site be feasible? The moderator could edit the work and so on, articles could be sorted by category, and each article would have a cost for access of a monthly cost for a whole category or the entire archive.
Authors would be paid a front end fee and a residual based on number of accesses.
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Old 12-29-2018, 10:27 PM   #18
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Default Re: What would Pyramid Volume 4 look like?

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Would some form of a moderated Patreon "-'zine" style site be feasible? The moderator could edit the work and so on, articles could be sorted by category, and each article would have a cost for access of a monthly cost for a whole category or the entire archive.
Authors would be paid a front end fee and a residual based on number of accesses.
Minus a couple of potential but minor bells and whistles, I think you just reinvented second edition Pyramid, which, history shows, ended up not being feasible.
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Old 01-04-2019, 05:08 PM   #19
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Default Re: What would Pyramid Volume 4 look like?

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Originally Posted by Hyrneson View Post
Would some form of a moderated Patreon "-'zine" style site be feasible? The moderator could edit the work and so on, articles could be sorted by category, and each article would have a cost for access of a monthly cost for a whole category or the entire archive.
Authors would be paid a front end fee and a residual based on number of accesses.
As said this is basically how the second iteration of Pyramid worked. It does, however, give me an idea. A site anyone can contribute articles to. SJG has a moderator for quality and to prevent plagiarism or other inappropriate content. Content is free for anyone to read. SJG sells add space to make money. Contributors aren't payed but when they sign up to contribute they set up a tip jar that goes to their Paypal or bank account. Readers can tip authors of articles they like voluntarily If SJG can't make enough to cover costs from add revenue they could take a percentage of tips too.
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Old 01-04-2019, 08:40 PM   #20
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Default Re: What would Pyramid Volume 4 look like?

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Originally Posted by rkbrown419 View Post
As said this is basically how the second iteration of Pyramid worked. It does, however, give me an idea. A site anyone can contribute articles to. SJG has a moderator for quality and to prevent plagiarism or other inappropriate content. Content is free for anyone to read. SJG sells add space to make money. Contributors aren't payed but when they sign up to contribute they set up a tip jar that goes to their Paypal or bank account. Readers can tip authors of articles they like voluntarily If SJG can't make enough to cover costs from add revenue they could take a percentage of tips too.
I dont know about it, I suspect too much internal costs from having to edit and monitor it. On the other hand several bloggers already put up their own content free of charge so at least some might be willing to jump on it.
Also it might work as an effective test bed for new authors and content.
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My GURPS publications GURPS Powers: Totem and Nature Spirits; GURPS Template Toolkit 4: Spirits; Pyramid articles. Buying them lets us know you want more!
My GURPS fan contribution and blog:
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My List of GURPS You Tube videos (plus a few other useful items)
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