The Future of the Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game?

[JMason]

It might not be a bad idea for SJG to put out a free guide that bridges the gap or prepares DFRPG players for adding in more GURPS. I know there is a Pyramid article that breaks down the GURPS DF line into what is usable, redundant, or needs extra books to use, but a think a more general guide might be nice.

This product should introduce DFRPG players to the wider GURPS and giving advice on how to parse the rules for useful bits,* along with giving a breakdown of useful products and what can be gained from them.


*Something that I think is lacking and a source of many of the complaints I hear about GURPS.

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by JMason

I know there is a Pyramid article that breaks down the GURPS DF line into what is usable, redundant, or needs extra books to use

Actually, that's a (freely accessible) blog post from the community. Unless there's been a pyramid article on the topic since then.

[JMason]

Originally Posted by Bruno

Actually, that's a (freely accessible) blog post from the community. Unless there's been a pyramid article on the topic since then.

Yeah, your right. I don't know why I got it into my head that was a Pyramid article. I blame my lack of coffee.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Bruno

However, this is very much missing the point. This is a fandom. Like all fandoms, there's two ways to sustain one: have a very large self-reinforcing fan base and make a deep cultural impact outside the fandom (which makes recruiting easier), or continue to produce novel material to catch the attention of non-fans, re-attract ex-fans, and keep existing fans engaged.

I agree with this, but it really isn't in context with what that conversation was actually about. That the DFRPG might be unlikely to have a lot of print support isn't, to me, a sensible reason to tell people that liked it not to get it. It doesn't need a seperate print line of supplements to be a good game.

[kmunoz]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

I agree with this, but it really isn't in context with what that conversation was actually about. That the DFRPG might be unlikely to have a lot of print support isn't, to me, a sensible reason to tell people that liked it not to get it. It doesn't need a seperate print line of supplements to be a good game.

It might be a "kids these days..." sort of thing, as it is with computer games. Back when I was a kid (in the 80s), when you bought a computer game, that was it - that was the game. Bugs? Deal with it. Limited playability? Deal with it.

Now, in the 21st century, if a computer game's developer "stops supporting" that game shortly after release, it's considered a failure and people make an effort to dissuade others from buying it. Even if the game is fine; even if it doesn't really need more content.

The latter expectation is not always realistic from an economic standpoint (and leads to larger publishers getting larger, and smaller ones getting smaller), but it's a very consumer-centric perspective. We didn't have that perspective growing up.

Consumers find it perfectly reasonable in the modern era to expect that a recently released complex RPG will have print support going forward, at least for a time. Given that this is the case now, and given that the cat isn't going anywhere close to back in the bag any time soon, I can see how it might be viewed as a lie by omission not to mention a game's support level. Your mileage may vary, of course, but this is the world we live in now.

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

I agree with this, but it really isn't in context with what that conversation was actually about. That the DFRPG might be unlikely to have a lot of print support isn't, to me, a sensible reason to tell people that liked it not to get it. It doesn't need a seperate print line of supplements to be a good game.

The thing is, these people are looking at buying (or have bought) a game in a box, with physical things, in a bricks and mortar store.[1] A line of PDF supplements, for a lot of people, isn't the same thing. This line is becoming thinner, certainly; I'm seeing boardgames with "DLC" extra rules or cards or game pieces or whatnot. The thing is, these tend to be free one page mini supplements. Very "optional", and I'm going to hazard a guess that most of the hard-copy purchasers don't even know they exist if there isn't a flyer advertising them in the box.

How do we tell the people who walked into a game store and bought a box that they can get more books online? The boxed set isn't going to pop up notifications about the new content or email them newsletters. There's a fundamental disconnect caused by the "physical product from a third party" model.

Once we've got their attention, there's a huge hurdle: how do we convince them that the eBooks are just as cool as the physical box set? Because quite frankly, they aren't. And for a lot of people they're not even going to be "the same game".

We continue to have a bit of a problem with already established GURPS players being a bit reluctant about eBooks, and they've had to deal with the largely-electrons reality for much longer. SJG has started rolling back into POD support and I don't doubt that this is a factor.
It's only going to be worse with people who have NEVER bought an eBook supplement because they don't buy these particular products online, even assuming we can find them and tell them the pdfs exist.

[1] The kickstarter backers who got PDFs are already SJG customers, or at least the vast majority are, and will probably keep buying PDFs from SJG.

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Originally Posted by A Ladder

I wonder if Matt Rigsby or the other writers are willing to do an informal Writing for SJGames 101

This is what I think I can usefully say about writing GURPS adventures for SJ Games.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by Turhan's Bey Company

This is what I think I can usefully say about writing GURPS adventures for SJ Games.

You ought to just stick your Informal Writing Advice blog posts in your sig line for ease of reference.


[EDIT]
Or maybe start a thread with those as the first post, and the rest of the thread can be others chiming in with their suggestions. This way there is just one thread to reference in the future...
[/EDIT]

[Anthony]

Why does this thread keep getting bumped with no content? If this is on purpose, stop it -- either the thread is worth getting stickied, or it should be permitted to time out normally.

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Why does this thread keep getting bumped with no content? If this is on purpose, stop it -- either the thread is worth getting stickied, or it should be permitted to time out normally.

Somebody voting on a poll has the same effect as adding a post. New vote = thread goes to the top.