The Future of the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game?

[adm]

Some bad news from the Stakeholders Report;

Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game - We have now sold the majority of what we printed. This should instantly slide the game into the "highlights" category . . . and it would be there if not for being so very late, costing more to produce than is healthy, and requiring so much of our upper management team's time and sleep. As it is, the game will likely be sold out at our primary warehouse before the end of the first quarter and will not be reprinted. The current market doesn't leave room for a game like this to succeed, and it's a great thing that we cut our planned print run by 30% or we would be stuck with copies for years to come.

First, I do truly appreciate that SJGames took the chance on such a beautiful product, and I do understand that they cannot produce it at a loss. This thread is not intended as place to vent about it's unfortunate commercial failure, but what can be done to use the material we have.

Options, as I see them, feel free to add your own;


1) Ignore the market, just make MORE!
Hopeful post that is very unlikely to happen.

2) Move DFRPG to the .pdf with POD option that GURPS in general appears to be moving to.
Best option we are likely to get.

a) Keep as separate line

b) Integrate into the existing DF line, even if it's just a quick short .pdf showing how to add currently released material, and printing all new material in DFRPG style, as opposed to rewriting everything to date. Note that rewriting everything to date will cut new material for a while, with little profit.

c) Release what SJGames already have, and any projects in the pipeline, then end additional production.

3) Sell out what they have, and end further production.
Worst cast scenario, that does not involve bankruptcy.

Assuming that some version of 2) will be done, what can we do to help?

[A Ladder]

My thoughts on the project.

DFRPG - I like that it is concentrated: trap lists, curtailed magic spell list, dedicated equipment lists, magic items, etc. It's nice not to have to homebrew everything.
I like that it comes in book form! Seariously. PDF is fine for doing my own thing, but at the table books trump everything else.

Things I'm "Meh" about: The box set: The cardboard heroes, the maps, the dice. I mean they are super sweet that I got them with the rest of the books...but I wouldn't have bought them if they were stand alone and would have backed the project without those goodies.
The adventures: meh, I make my own all the time. Though that's just me, I wouldn't have gotten into DF so deep if Mirror of the Fire Demon did not exist and am looking forward to Matt Rigsby's new adventure to hit.
That DFRPG is soooo similar to the regular DF line. Getting the class templates and exploits books were kind of a drag, I liked the clarity, but really didn't need it. It's going to make introducing new players easier, but I already good at distilling character creation down with full on gurps anyway.

So my thoughts: Integrate with the DF line, but allow POD for all of DF! I'm really close to thinking about getting Wilderness Adventures printed on Lulu or something.

[Rasputin]

Originally Posted by A Ladder

Things I'm "Meh" about: The box set: The cardboard heroes, the maps, the dice. I mean they are super sweet that I got them with the rest of the books...but I wouldn't have bought them if they were stand alone and would have backed the project without those goodies.

Actually, I'm still intrigued by the Cardboard Heroes. I think that SJG should have a Kickstarter just for those, as they have strong crossover appeal. It could be the classic Cardboard Heroes plus those monsters added to the boxed set.

[sir_pudding]

It's one of very few similar products with mostly reasonably dressed female heroes.

[Kalzazz]

I was thinking some of the outfits are really cute

But now that you've mentioned reasonable I just can't help but wonder how painful the dry cleaning bill is on a brightly colored floor length gown after a dungeon crawl

[Kalzazz]

I'm enjoying zuljita DoA, so I hope DFRPG stragglers on in some form or another into the future

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Kalzazz

I was thinking some of the outfits are really cute

But now that you've mentioned reasonable I just can't help but wonder how painful the dry cleaning bill is on a brightly colored floor length gown after a dungeon crawl

I meant that it has a refreshing lack of mail bikinis, butt-floss, and boob plate.