As for its future in other media, I can only say I’d love to see that too.

As for its future in other media, I can only say I’d love to see that too.

I know there will be a movie/tv series based on it someday.

I know there will be a movie/tv series based on it someday.

Pinnacle wasn’t part of that pre-Magic boom-bust cycle though. It debuted in 1996, after Magic was already a few years old. We entered a marketplace going through a post-Magic bust, and RPGs were a hard sell then. Whatever success we had came from the fact we didn’t do that same-old thing but, as they like to say in baseball, hit it where they ain’t.

Pinnacle wasn’t part of that pre-Magic boom-bust cycle though. It debuted in 1996, after Magic was already a few years old. We entered a marketplace going through a post-Magic bust, and RPGs were a hard sell then. Whatever success we had came from the fact we didn’t do that same-old thing but, as they like to say in baseball, hit it where they ain’t.

As for the complaint of softness in the Gaming Marketplace. I know that certain figures support that, but from a consumer perspective what I am constantly facing is a market that provides more product on a monthly basis than I can afford, and I am not a typical “poor” gamer. I spend roughly $400 a month on games/gaming related material and there are still products (often indie press things like Spirit of the Century) that I overlook and hunt down later. There is too much walla (as a sound tech might say) and no clear way to determine what is or isn’t worth spending my money on in any given month.

Sure there are websites like BGG, BGN, and About Games (written by a regular contributor to Knucklebones), but game criticism hasn’t become mainstream enough to assist the potential consumer. That was where Mark will be most missed, I think.

There are lots of exciting things happening in gaming today, but they are dividing the marketplace into many parts. Just look at the PDF market, there is a lot of product. Some is good and some is awful, but one thing is certain, it is like the d20 boom without the big corporation to blame for glut.

I was glad that Matt mentioned the pre-Magic period of RPGs because it was a similar marketplace for me. I know that some of what I am going to mention comes after the Magic boom, but the market was overwhelming for me at that time as well. TSR was releasing 5+ products a month (between Mystara, Birthright, and FR I could barely breathe), FASA was on a roll, Pinnacle was in a creative boom, Vampire had just come out, there was a new edition of Champions (with Perez cover and more products than ever before for that system in the pipeline). There is even more I could mention, but suffice to say there was a lot of worthy product with limited market resources.

We have a similar landscape now. Do I buy Steven Long’s bi-weekly addition to Hero? The three Wotc books? A case or two of their Quarterly minis release? Green Ronin’s stuff? Pinnacle? What about AEG? Fantasy Flight’s boardgames are top notch, but not cheap. Games Workshop, tip top as always in quality. Rackham (I never heard of them 6 years ago, now I worship their sculpts)? Uberplay? Asmodee? Mongoose’s Paranoia? Atlas Games? Paizo Press in the market now?!

My gameroom looks like Sid Sackson’s warehouse.

I am overwhelmed.

I don’t know that the mine is collapsing, but if it is it might have something to do with too rapid an expansion. 500 companies and 42,000 products. That is not an underwhelming number.

As for the complaint of softness in the Gaming Marketplace. I know that certain figures support that, but from a consumer perspective what I am constantly facing is a market that provides more product on a monthly basis than I can afford, and I am not a typical “poor” gamer. I spend roughly $400 a month on games/gaming related material and there are still products (often indie press things like Spirit of the Century) that I overlook and hunt down later. There is too much walla (as a sound tech might say) and no clear way to determine what is or isn’t worth spending my money on in any given month.

Sure there are websites like BGG, BGN, and About Games (written by a regular contributor to Knucklebones), but game criticism hasn’t become mainstream enough to assist the potential consumer. That was where Mark will be most missed, I think.

There are lots of exciting things happening in gaming today, but they are dividing the marketplace into many parts. Just look at the PDF market, there is a lot of product. Some is good and some is awful, but one thing is certain, it is like the d20 boom without the big corporation to blame for glut.

I was glad that Matt mentioned the pre-Magic period of RPGs because it was a similar marketplace for me. I know that some of what I am going to mention comes after the Magic boom, but the market was overwhelming for me at that time as well. TSR was releasing 5+ products a month (between Mystara, Birthright, and FR I could barely breathe), FASA was on a roll, Pinnacle was in a creative boom, Vampire had just come out, there was a new edition of Champions (with Perez cover and more products than ever before for that system in the pipeline). There is even more I could mention, but suffice to say there was a lot of worthy product with limited market resources.

We have a similar landscape now. Do I buy Steven Long’s bi-weekly addition to Hero? The three Wotc books? A case or two of their Quarterly minis release? Green Ronin’s stuff? Pinnacle? What about AEG? Fantasy Flight’s boardgames are top notch, but not cheap. Games Workshop, tip top as always in quality. Rackham (I never heard of them 6 years ago, now I worship their sculpts)? Uberplay? Asmodee? Mongoose’s Paranoia? Atlas Games? Paizo Press in the market now?!

My gameroom looks like Sid Sackson’s warehouse.

I am overwhelmed.

I don’t know that the mine is collapsing, but if it is it might have something to do with too rapid an expansion. 500 companies and 42,000 products. That is not an underwhelming number.