Of course, now I’m disappointed that I didn’t wait for the sale. [grin]

Of course, now I’m disappointed that I didn’t wait for the sale. [grin]

The whole game market isn’t horribly soft, but the RPG market sure seems to be. Board and card games seem to be up, and collectible games are too. It saddens me, but the rise of indie RPGs takes the edge off that.

However, it seems that we’ll end up with an RPG industry bifurcated into the established top sellers (D&D and maybe a few others) and everything else. There’s little room for a mid-tier RPG company these days, although some companies like Green Ronin are still making a good run at it.

Ramble on, though, Christian. Evangelism for gaming is how we used to sell RPGs. Now most of that effort goes into collectible games, though, which are easier to demo and can be purchased multiple times.

The whole game market isn’t horribly soft, but the RPG market sure seems to be. Board and card games seem to be up, and collectible games are too. It saddens me, but the rise of indie RPGs takes the edge off that.

However, it seems that we’ll end up with an RPG industry bifurcated into the established top sellers (D&D and maybe a few others) and everything else. There’s little room for a mid-tier RPG company these days, although some companies like Green Ronin are still making a good run at it.

Ramble on, though, Christian. Evangelism for gaming is how we used to sell RPGs. Now most of that effort goes into collectible games, though, which are easier to demo and can be purchased multiple times.

The only reason I didn’t rush out and buy Dragonstar was that it was d20 and came out during the d20 rush. I think I calculated out that one month, and this was before the D&D minis craze, there was over $1,000.00 worth of d20 merch alone. I think my last order from Game Trade at my FLGS, was a more reasonable $300.00.

There is a lot of talk about how soft the game market is, and it is, but so much of the momentum is on what is “coming out” and maintaining a constant stream of “support” material that some great stuff is getting overlooked and underused.

Take Fireborn, which I think is one of the most innovative rpgs out there, it came out but because it didn’t have monthly support (ala Wizards D&D line) it falls out of the gaming consciousness and gets kicked to the side.

I know that the current model is support=sales and when sales drop create a new edition, but one can only imagine what Sorry or Chess would be like if such a model was the industry constant. Sure release new games at a constant pace, like ffg has been doing with their board games, but don’t “modify” a game to death or create a norm where if something isn’t being updated monthly it’s dead.

This isn’t to say I blame the game companies for this phenomenon, I blame the “collector” mindset. How many people are actually using the rules in every Wizards rulebook?

We need more of an “evangelical” mindset in gaming. Get more people to support the core of the hobby. I know, I’m rambling.

The only reason I didn’t rush out and buy Dragonstar was that it was d20 and came out during the d20 rush. I think I calculated out that one month, and this was before the D&D minis craze, there was over $1,000.00 worth of d20 merch alone. I think my last order from Game Trade at my FLGS, was a more reasonable $300.00.

There is a lot of talk about how soft the game market is, and it is, but so much of the momentum is on what is “coming out” and maintaining a constant stream of “support” material that some great stuff is getting overlooked and underused.

Take Fireborn, which I think is one of the most innovative rpgs out there, it came out but because it didn’t have monthly support (ala Wizards D&D line) it falls out of the gaming consciousness and gets kicked to the side.

I know that the current model is support=sales and when sales drop create a new edition, but one can only imagine what Sorry or Chess would be like if such a model was the industry constant. Sure release new games at a constant pace, like ffg has been doing with their board games, but don’t “modify” a game to death or create a norm where if something isn’t being updated monthly it’s dead.

This isn’t to say I blame the game companies for this phenomenon, I blame the “collector” mindset. How many people are actually using the rules in every Wizards rulebook?

We need more of an “evangelical” mindset in gaming. Get more people to support the core of the hobby. I know, I’m rambling.