review: kobold guide to board game design

Metric: Pieces.  Whether of eight, of mind or meeses depends on the game.
DISCLAIMER: Review based on PDF copy provided by Open Design.  Based on read through of book.  Play and design experiences vary according to environment and participants.  No refunds.
Overall: 5 pieces (collected wisdom from diverse perspectives)
From conception through design and development to presentation, the creation of games is discussed. While board games are a primary focus, dice, certain card games and even tabletop RPGs also get a look in.  Gaming is now a multidisciplinary process and the advice here is surprisingly relevant even to non-board game publishers.

Contents: 5 pieces. (sage wisdom from those in the field - and lots of it)
From first steps of conception (using story pacing and metaphor to inform mechanics and inject fun into the play process) as well as considering your co-creators and the game in holistic terms, not merely as a collection of pieces and rules in isolation.  In addition, an excellent piece from Richard Garfield on playing wider than a narrow remit.  Something edition warriors and snook-cocking types will fizz, spit and dissolve under.  And so it goes.

Design is next, through intuitive design, creating a gateway game that keeps them coming back, devising kick-ass mechanics, taming the two-headed mutant dog of luck and strategy and how to introduce the gambling element that keeps people coming back for more.  Editor Mike Selinker gives a whistle-stop tour of the best game mechanics though the entire section is studded with excellent examples of design, it's hard to pick a favourite here.

Development of the original design involves rebalancing, testing and revising the design and the great challenge of playtesting.  The articles here deal with incorporating challenge, looking at inbuilt bias and permutations of play elements, editing rules text into cohesive, coherent English and playtesting to shake out the creaks and groans.  All articles entertain with insights, from Mike Selinker's skewering of rulescreak in Advanced Squad Leader and Afrika Korps to Dave Howell's golden guidelines about keeping games fun.

Prototyping the game offers it's own pitfalls - the greatest games you never played fail here.  Avoiding the 'artwork sneezed over maths puzzle' aspect of games design, making a good pitch to a company and getting your game published.  The article by Steve Jackson is a wonderful point by point warning while Dale Yu offers a revealing view into doing it right. Assuming you got that right, Richard Levy takes you through the art of the pitch and licensing brands while Michelle Nephew gives insight into getting the game finally published.

The authors have a formidable line of credits - Dungeons & Dragons, Magic: The Gathering, Kill Dr. Lucky, Brave New World, Fluxx, Risk 2110AD, Dominion, Pokémon, Munchkin, GURPS and the Furby among others.  Their voices echo with hard-won experience and useful lessons for those willing to learn. You'll even learn why there's an underground lake on the first floor of the House on the Hill and the eldritch horror spawned of find & replace functions that is dawizard (see p.98 for details).

Artwork/Layout: 4 pieces.  (clean, oddly redolent of the ...For Dummies line)
Previous Kobold Guides have appeared mildly scholastic, their look and layout resembling compilations of academic journals.  Here the styling takes a slightly more workmanlike approach.  It's reminiscent of user manuals and ...For Dummies guides.  A special hat tip has to be made for the flowcharts, both the process flowchart on p.35 (crying out for some poster love) and the Jenga flowchart on p.44 which manages to illustrate Jenga's classic appeal and the core concept behind Dread all in one go.

In conclusion, this book lets you in on a number of secrets.  Some will seem obvious in a "D'OH!" way until you realise, hang on... and that is the book's strength.  While cursory examination makes it worthwhile, on re-examination it gains considerably.  Individually, it's strong enough to merit purchase. As a companion to the Kobold Guides to Game Design it offers valuable industry context.  If you're in the business of game design, or would like to be, this book is worthwhile.

for a fistful of d6

On July 4th, the 6d6 RPG hits general circulation.  After 18 months of development, rigorous playtesting and experiments in publishing and production, it's finally here!  I got chance to have a couple of beers with Chris Tregenza and discuss the concepts that led to 6d6 RPG.  The ideas behind this are innovative in combination:

1. Creative Commons: 6d6 RPG is CC-BY-SA.  You can publish (and sell) your own version of 6d6 as long as you acknowledge the original and don't use 6d6 logos.  No standard reference documents or terms of fan use to restrict third-party publishers.  Remixing content, hacks and mashups are welcomed.
2. Fan-driven rules mechanics: Development of mechanics has expanded during playtest and is now hosted on a wiki (DocuWiki for the technically curious).  It's telling playtesters are becoming 6d6 RPG mechanics and setting writers.  Both Breakout! and 6d6 Bots are playtester-developed.
   
3. Living Document:  Buy a 6d6 PDF and you'll always have the latest edition.  New versions can be provided from the site. Compiling errata and annotating against static hardbacks isn't an issue since you can just re-download the PDF. As long as there's a 6d6 RPG, you'll have the latest version.
4. The Writer's Share.  Writers of 6d6 RPG branded-products get a share of the profits (33%) rather than being paid a flat-rate per word.  If you have a vision for a game setting, the 6d6 RPG mechanics provide a distinctive mechanical framework.
5. Subscription-based online tools.  The 6d6 Tools offers full, ongoing access to all 6d6 products and the wiki.  Initially being launched with lifetime memberships, the plan is to offer regular updates to products (see the Living Document item above) and other materials.

Print copies of 6d6 RPG are ring-bound.  This gives them a distinctive look and certain benefits (no spine to break, handouts can be removed without harming a book) compared to other RPG products. Products make a splash when they break the mold (e.g. LOTFP's Vornheim).  The hard covers are durable plastic-bound art board.  The manufacturing process is outlined here with associated costs. Chris is candid why this approach was taken.

I wanted to learn how to make and sell an RPG, which included physically making one.  People have written about the risks, about how role-playing games are a tough market - any market is tough, look at how many businesses fail!  Game store owners have told me 6d6 RPG will stand out on shelves.  This is about doing things a little differently, with unexpected benefits - like not damaging the book to provide player handouts.

Chris discloses his costs, following the example of Fred Hicks.  Costs, especially printing and distribution for the print copies were higher than expected.  In addition, the perception of professionalism matters, especially when it comes to art.  This intrigued me as many publishers use print on demand (POD) to cover those costs.  Why not use print-on-demand services like Lulu?

 Many Lulu-based products look and feel like traditional RPG product which means they're bound within the same constraints.  Also Lulu doesn't do cards, a core part of 6d6 RPG.     

When it comes to PDF products, buyers are spoilt for choice and product quality varies. With Online Tools and Living Document, writers and fans can refine work without bogging down in the concept of errata.  Chris admits he will provide some quality control, particularly over the Core Rules.  Good open source is hard and ultimately the intent is for self-moderating peer review to drive development. 

6d6 RPG products (Ultra-Lite and Mince Pies and Murder) have had good reviews, the Core Rules and Outbreak! are released on the 4th of July after extensive playtesting at UK conventions alongside a western (Shootouts) and fantasy-based system (Magic) as well as adventures.  Chris speaks highly of this process and of conventions in general - his only wish is that more people visited them!  We got to talking about the casual gamer and what role Facebook and social media could have in bringing more people into RPGs.  I asked if there are plans to develop 6d6 RPG apps: 

Not in the short term but if you've got technical skills and are interested, I'd love to hear from you - you may have to be paid in 6d6 products at first!  Some core 6d6 RPG concepts like cards, static and dynamic pools would work well in a web or app-based model.

It was a pleasure talking to Chris and I hope 6d6 RPG goes well.  A lot of ideas he's expressed are things I think will benefit tabletop RPG development and the market.  The cards make resource-pool mechanics tangible and easy to grasp.  Combined with guaranteed minimum competence and situational modifiers it combines utility with the ability to model multiple settings.  A versatile set of easy-to-grasp mechanics with good product support and wide-open development environment. What more could you want?

the noble experiment

Adamant announced the end of their $1.99 (was $1) PDF publishing experiment on Monday.  Gareth offers some analysis to explain the decision.  Ultimately the experiment became unsustainable.  The experiment evolved over three months with the following factors playing a part:

• An initial shift in pricing from $1 to $1.99 after the first day.
• The March GM Day sale where Adamant dropped prices by 25% further for the duration of the sale.
• An increased release schedule meant more things to buy which drove up sales and outlay.

Responses from interested bystanders range from condolences through rants at customers.  With prices at $2 or less each, it's hardly credible to cite stinginess.  Adamant has over 200 items in stock at DriveThruRPG so it's hardly lack of choice.  So what gives?  Having previously mentioned certain events, let's look a little closer.

First impressions count, the jump in price after day one was an inauspicious start.  While it's evident the initial pricing hiccup was due to a miscalculation on small purchase handling, some suspected a gimmick or publicity stunt.  While motives vary, Gareth's opinions and those of his alter-ego GMS have antagonised RPG fans before and it's certainly possible those making such remarks were unfriendly competition.

It's notable Gareth and Adamant has a history of largesse when it comes to sales, launching a $1 sale in December 2010 and contributing to many charity bundles.  The March GM Day sale price drop gave those who missed the December sale a second bite.  Fred Hicks posted a note from DriveThruRPG on January 6th at his Tumblr and it contains a possible explanation for what happened here.

If all publishers trended prices down to $1 for an RPG, then customers will re-anchor their price expectations at that level and $1 RPGs would no longer ignite large sales volumes for any single publisher. Instead $15 RPGs will seem expensive, much like any app over $1.99 is “expensive”.

By normalising prices so that the discount wasn't as large as usual, customers saw it as less of a bargain which may explain why takeup wasn't as dramatic as in previous years.  Adamant now faces a period of readjustment, fortunately given the strength of products like ICONS it may be able to weather the consequences of this.

The increased release schedule was the killer.  Given the work needed to put out any publication it is not surprising that increasing your release schedule means increasing outlay.  During March 2011 but after the GM Day sale three titles were released with only a 35% increase in income compared to the previous year.  That's effectively one per week!  Before the sale, there was greater correlation between increased releases and profit.  After, it suggests that a plateau had been reached.

What interests me (and others) is how this compares with epublishing (arguably niche, maybe less so than RPGs).  There are success stories like J.A. Konrath.  Tobias Bucknell has a year of ebook data with variable pricing and argues for diversification.  Looking further outwards at apps themselves, it's suggested individual users tend to purchase 10 - 12 per month.  That's a lot and given the depth of some RPGs needs a significant learning curve.  Matching that level of takeup is ambitious and saturation appears to be a risk. Perhaps the solution is to produce add-ons to a core product?

I admire Gareth for his vision and having the chutzpah to do this.  Failing to applaud pioneers means nobody visits terra incognita.  I can recommend ICONS as a cracking rules-lite superhero game with plenty of support - if you haven't bought it yet, please do so.  There are other publishers who are following the app pricing experiment including Nevermet Press who priced their PDFs at $2.99.  It appears that the noble experiment continues...

doing it differently and growing pie

We like pie.

I read with interest Mike Mearls' article on the past and the future of Dungeons & Dragons.  There have been a variety of responses appearing in the blogosphere.  Wizards have a chequered history of fan interaction and organised play including mixed messages about fan sites, tiered organised play bias toward larger FLGS and forcing customers to register with their site to make a simple e-mail query.  They have made significant progress with online community and D&D Encounters.  Other industry players offer alternative views, involving active engagement with players and adapting existing assets to new formats.  Yet Wizards have got  a few tricks up their sleeve yet, as we shall see.

Next to Games Workshop's offices in sunny Lenton is Warhammer World.  Statues of Space Marines flank the car park and appear at various points.  The experience is one part theme park, one part game convention and happens every day barring Christmas Day, Easter and New Year's Day.  An indoor courtyard in faux medieval has gaming tables set up.  There is a sizable game store stocked with goods and dioramas of exquisitely painted miniatures. Admission is free.  This as well as store-based promotions, conventions and events in GW stores worldwide.  Compare with the typical convention.

Then of course, there's e-publishing of gaming materials.  Bits & Mortar offer an innovative approach to PDF and print bundles which has seen takeup by industry and FLGS alike. While D&D novels are being e-published, the books used to play aren't.  This is despite the success of publishers like Paizo or Open Design. Online vendors like Lulu offer this service to companies like Green Ronin.  I suspect with the introduction of DDI, there's a shift from paper to electronic format mirroring Adamant's experience of app pricing.  It may explain FLGS concerns over digital initiatives such as Virtual Table Top.  Where are they in this vision of the future?

To address this, Wizards are talking of growing pie for D&D (shades of Alice!) using electronic tools citing experiences with online and console versions of Magic: The Gathering.  Yet those instances were complete games rather than 'optional' add-ins.  A better analogy would be seeing what impact sales experienced after  D&D Tiny Adventures or D&D Online.  Atari announced a Neverwinter MMO project last August yet many at DDXP were surprised, and a recent Eurogamer interview refers to a console-based dungeon crawl called Daggerdale.  These may draw some new blood into the hobby from curious MMO players.

The introduction of theme-related modular board games (e.g. Castle Ravenloft, Wrath of Ashardalon) is redolent of Talisman but using iconic D&D elements.  While entertaining games in their own right, they don't build on the D&D experience any more than Dungeon! did back in the '70s.  It wil give the FLGS something to sell while running running Essentials-driven D&D Encounters, introducing new settings and card-based systems.  While I'm not excited by Fortune Cards or The Despair Deck, it's encouraging that the Wizards Play Network is extending more support to D&D,

Wizards have a lot of data to analyse via the Character Builder and express caution over relentlessly publishing core game books announced at DDXP having learned an endless stream of hardbacks with errata alienates players who use a fraction of what's published.  Mearls' call for unity seems confusing until you realise this data is exclusive to DDI subscribers, a shrinking demographic amid tabletop RPG sales.  By inviting outsiders to the table, this introduces new blood into the community.  It's ironic the new blood includes some of the oldest fans of the game.  It remains to be seen whether the strategy will be successful.

the year the game changed

This Etsy T-shirt is not $1.99

Two things on the same day show intriguing trends for the future.  First the $1.99 for any PDF deal from Adamant Entertainment*.  Icons RPG?  The Imperial Age (True20 steampunk)?  Thrilling Tales (Savage Worlds Pulp)? All the sourcebooks?  Guess the pricing structure...  Citing piracy as a call to re-price, this is presented as a bold experiment.  Given some of the products involved, it's one that may bear some investigation - and maybe some reproduction?  Thanks to Greywulf for the pointer on this.

The 'app-level' pricing of RPGs and supplements feels intuitive.  Given the current paradigm of games and apps for download, it may unlock a barrier to entry that's existed to RPGs for some time and that's the perils of distribution.  Plus there's the opportunity for manufacturers to provide additional functionality baked into the product.  Quality control however takes on a whole new dimension and cross-compatibility with e-readers may be something that designers and developers need to take into account.

Meanwhile, Wizards of the Coast have announced D&D Fortune Cards.  Buy a booster pack and get eight cards (five common, two uncommon and a rare) which sounds familiar.  Then if your DM allows them to be played, you can do so to give your character a brief 'power-up' or in-session advantage.  Intended for use with D&D Encounters these "...feel different from the benefits gained from powers and feats, without adding undue complexity..."

How these will further enhance a mixture already rich with feats, powers (with their cards) and environmental powers remains to be seen.  More rules (and errata, oops updates) to manage.  Dungeon Masters may find they have to plan for the unexpected .  And does the DM grant the same perogative to their NPCs by playing these cards as well?  Is this a scene or a god damned arms race?  Though the card model has worked for Wizards before, previous cards for play in D&D have been less than essential.

The two announcements show clear contrast.  Each takes a different perspective on how the market is and where it's headed.  It'll be interesting to see which one wins out.

*this post updated following a revision to the pricing from $1 to $1.99.  Thanks to Purple Pawn for the tip.

the zaros road crawl

The Zaros Road Crawl is a three pub run from the Zaros Road Taverna to the Minotaur's Horn to the Standing Sphinx.  Yes, the last one is new, a desperate den of villains built on a necropolis haunted by brigands, rogues, undead and witches.  The information on the Taverna and Horn is expanded and tweaked.  All three have price tariffs and plot hooks. Also there are tables for roadside incidents, travelling traders and grave goods.

If you have a couple of hexes of temperate hills with a road leading up to a mountain range, this will help populate the area, provides three ready-made distinctive bases of operations and adventure hooks for you to flesh out as much as you like.  If you've cleaned out a ruined keep recently or are heading into the mountains, this may be a suitable route for you.

You can download the PDF here or from the downloads page. I'm looking at alternate formats though PDF is a standard widely available on computers and e-readers.  This one is on me, The Zaros Road Crawl is Creative Commons Non-Commercial Sharealike.  If you have preferences, feedback or just want to say you've used it, link back or leave a comment.  Have fun with it.

rpg books on lulu you say? buyer beware!

The Underdark Gazette has seen a bunch of Wizards of the Coast books appearing on Lulu. Apart from some 4E books, there's also Lords of Madness miniatures.  Wait, what?  Being naturally cynical, I went to go have a look and corroborate this with Wizards and Ingram Book Group who were also mentioned.  Neither site refers to it.  In addition there are other books appearing.  Books from Mongoose Publishing for example.  Or are they?

Companies like Green Ronin and White Wolf are using Lulu to publish and distribute books. Clearly the examples I've mentioned in the previous paragraph are not doing so.  Doubtless there's going to be another backlash against using established technologies.  If you're a tabletop RPG company and you're not using Lulu, it may be worth checking to see if someone is.

KZ9G7HB476BH

open game table volume 2

DISCLAIMER: See cover for details.

If you ask me for a benefit of blogging, I'd say working on collaborative projects like this.  Open Game Table is an anthology of blog posts voted for and reviewed by peers - a collection of fine RPG blogosphere items.  If you're starting out on blogging about RPGs and want to see how good it can get or feeling your fires burning low, take a look in here.  What you'll find are some stunning insights into how to make games fun, a sentiment echoed by the foreword, written by Justin Achilli.  If you get an opportunity to work on something like this, take it with both hands and run.  Not only do you contribute, you  learn in doing.  Peer reviewing posts makes you apply that scrutiny to your stuff and (hopefully!) makes you a better blogger.  Hats off to Jonathan Jacobs for the heroic work put into making it happen.

The cynical may ask "OK, why would I buy this?  I can just access the blog feeds right?"  Here's the thing - blogs are sometimes more fragile than books.  Posts vanish, authors hang up their shingle and the Wayback Machine isn't perfect.  Having seen blogs on my feed join the blogosphere invisibule (to mangle a Parrot Joke reference), owning a copy means you can come back to stuff even if the worst happens.  And if it doesn't, you're not trawling Google Reader for nuggets - you can just turn the page or if you've got a PDF, use the search facility.  Also, each article has a web address to the article so you can see it (and the comments that follow) before editing. Now that is a web enhancement and shows the craft of the editorial team in action.

The visual feel is reminiscent of Flying Buffalo's classic Grimtooth series, the cover art may appear steampunk but don't be fooled, there is something for everyone in here, from the hoariest grognard to the indie designer to the new arrival looking to expand their horizons. The contributions are diverse stuff, from interviews with Dave Arneson, Robin Laws and Jonathan Roberts through campaign design and play style to encouraging new players and gaming with children.  The section on 4E is a worthy successor to the D&D Players Strategy Guide and has the added bonus of new monsters and an NPC.  Even the humorous articles have elements of how to make a better game sown in them.  In short, buy if you want a lot of good content - and if you're buying in PDF and don't own volume 1, take a look at this bundle.

growing the hobby: play me

This month's RPG Carnival (courtesy of Mad Brew Labs) is about growing the hobby.  One thing Wizards of the Coast have got mostly right is D&D Encounters - where game shops host games to give a taste of what kind of fun 4th edition is.  Some FLGS understand running games help foster a community of customers - if they've got the floorspace - and in some cases they have gone even further and organised events.  Wizards have understood making the play experience easy to get into, it's unusual more companies haven't picked up on this.  Even more curious is that for conventions events can run up to 4+ hours.  This is good for a stable group, bad for encouraging the casual gamer. 

Compare this with D&D Encounters which has a two-hour duration and publicity from it's business sponsor (always a smart move).  That's roughly equivalent to a football (or soccer, depending on geography) match.  The characters are pre-generated, everything is kept simple and encounters are designed to play to character strengths.  While Wizards have used Wednesdays for D&D Encounters, there are fans of 4E who can't make it then.  With at least four other days in the week, there are options for other sessions - heck, even other companies - to get a word in.  Those FLGS working seven day weeks have even more options - and if you've published, then why not support your product?

The second Read An RPG Book In Public is coming soon.  Is there mileage in a Play An RPG in Public beyond YouTube hijinks?  While I'll be participating in the Read, I'll also consider taking it further... So to wind things up, here's a couple of questions for you to comment on - as comment is free!

• What would you need to run a demo game at a local FLGS?
• What incentive do publishers need to produce demo material to compete with D&D Encounters?

summer thoughts - review : kobold guide to game design volume 3

Lots of words have been written on the concepts of game design in the last few years and there's a lot of wisdom to be found using a search engine.  Game design has become one of those multidisciplinary fields that has people reaching to apply their own lenses to make sense of.  This book provides a clearer lens than most, provides a concise overview of the field and touches on design specifics, organising concepts and collaborative working among other things.

Before I proceed further, may I just say... 
Token Disclaimer - This review is based on a PDF provided by Open Design.
Review: 4 kobolds.  The scholarly air gives this book gravitas.  Some conclusions may provoke thought and discussion among your theorist and designer pals who will thank you for this as a present.  Hardcore Open Design fans may recognise some elements.

Now I've got that out the way, let's roll.  Apart from the cover art, there was no internal art.  This gives the book a scholarly feel and it's fitting as the tone of the book speaks from experience - contributors include known faces like Ed Greenwood, Monte Cook, Rob Heinsoo and Colin McComb as well as Wolfgang Baur - all of whom have had hands in classic RPG material. 

Chapter 1 is an overview of the concept of design.  Wolfgang Baur acknowledges the role of diverse designs and notes the impact of story games like Mouse Guard and interesting design decisions around the current system market while pinning the tail on the donkey of good design in tabletop games.  

Chapter 2 takes on designing RPGs for tabletop and computers.  Colin McComb (who gave us Planescape: Torment and the Complete Elven Handbook) takes on the dichotomy of detail and human interaction and leans to the former as the future while hoping both are served well by their designers.

Chapter 3 engages with creative thought, Wolfgang Baur offers a model borrowed from Borrowing Brilliance (David Kord Murray) which itches to be tried on a couple of stalled projects I'm working on.  This chapter is something that will kindle future gaming products and is one of the high points of the book.

Chapter 4 handles the high and low of creation and design, Wolfgang Baur revealing the dark truth that behind every finished manuscript is a lot of hard work.  Punches are not pulled and personal demons are hinted at with the wisdom that execution makes the difference between pipe dreams and product.

Chapter 5 deals with mechanical ruminations but could be applied equally to setting.  Rob Heinsoo, design lead for 4E and the sublime Underdark shows subtle craft in taking design cues from both the classics and the innovations of peer systems like Agon to create your own unique snowflake with teeth.

Chapter 6 takes on combat systems.  Colin McComb demonstrates aplomb in providing a simple percentile system for a modern system that looks naggingly familiar.  This chapter is good for those who love hacking system mechanics and provides a thumbnail sketch for further exploration.

Chapter 7 is about weaving plot.  Ed Greenwood gives a lesson in plotting that draws on the roots of good and evil while showing the value of weaving multiple plots, using deception and finding those hot buttons to push so that players will keep choosing to face the peril.

Chapter 8 takes on location.  Wolfgang Baur exhibits the significance of setting as the spice for the meat and potatoes of adventuring.   Considering what makes a setting distinctive, credible and deserving of attention in concise ways makes this another powerful chapter.

Chapter 9 handles game balance.  Monte Cook explains how system may not be enough to ensure balance, takes on providing face time without having to hobble participation and touches on the wisdom of being a good participant.  It's been said before here (and expanded on) yet it's value hasn't diminished.

Chapter 10 covers the Old School darling of sandbox design and event-driven activities.  Here Wolfgang Baur reveals even the most anarchic sandbox has boundaries, order need not mean oppression and is sometimes necessary for rewarding play, reinforcing the wisdom of Chapter 7.

Chapter 11 handles collaboration.  This is perhaps the most powerful chapter of the book and Wolfgang Baur reveals the human frailties tied to collaborative design with a deft and compassionate hand and some tactics to use if you want to succeed and still be respected in the morning.

Chapter 12 deals with failure and recovery.  Churchill defined success as the ability to move from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm and Wolfgang Baur rounds this off with pragmatic hints on how to deal with the 'oops' moments of your designs and how to honour mistakes, defend decisions and get out the way.

This book is efficient.  While I disagree with some of it's conclusions (subject for another post) it presents it's arguments efficiently and where possible with examples.  I've been critical of game designers bemoaning their lifestyle in the past yet this book avoids that trap even in Chapters 4, 11 and 12 where the temptation was strong. The real virtue of this book to aspiring designers is that it has a healthy dose of reality without falling in the "You're all doomed dreamers!!" pundit trap.  While there's a summertime malaise in effect, this is a shot of design adrenalin.  It won't cure a hopeless case but will give a kick to get you off off the operating table and we will be seeing the ripples caused by this book for some time.

scarcity, prosperity and reward

There are a number of ways to sell and promote games these days.

One approach is based on scarcity, making provision of goods and services to individuals who pay for exclusive access to them.  Purchasing is usually dependent on established prior relationship/investment and is dependent on reputation.  Examples of this include subscription models like Dungeon-A-Day, D&D Insider and World of Warcraft.  You pay for access to use services unavailable to others and you get some tangible benefits for doing so.  Pays your money, takes your choice.  A twist on this is the ransom model where X number of people contribute to paying for the publishing of a book who get the book first.

Another is based on prosperity.  The more people have it, the more play and talk about it. And if it's good enough, then more people play and talk about it and the cycle spreads.  Such viral-based approaches have seen an increasing rise given the presence of the Internet but have been around for some time.  The concept and some permutations are well-documented in  Seth Godin's 'Ideavirus'.

The Grateful Dead were original exponents according to this Atlantic article of the Connect With Fans + Return To Buy model used by bands like Nine Inch Nails, Coldplay and Jonathan Coulton to sell their art to us - a model being replicated in the games industry.  Games like Swords and Wizardry, Mutant Future and Eclipse Phase have freely-available electronic copies and all have grass-roots support. 

A third road is to operate a patron model. This can be combined with crowdsourcing - Open Design are doing wonderful things with books like The Red Eye of Azathoth and Tales of the Old Margreve.  Once the book is published, you can buy it and if you've got in at the ground floor will be given credit where credit is due.  Another exponent of this is Nevermet Press, whose first product The Desire was received by everyone who participated in DriveThruRPG's Haiti donation.

Now imagine if playing the game gave you rewards just for playing.  You could start with intangible award badges (say 'Dragon Fragger') to display on your blog, Facebook page or games console. Then escalate it further - offer discounts on products or even gift vouchers for retailers with the right connections. And how many online retailers are going to sniff at a loyal tribe of potential customers? Which method or combination would you choose, as a designer or more importantly, as a consumer?

(inspired by JoeTheLawyer, James Edward Raggi III and Jesse Schell (via Justin Achilli))

bicentennial, man

Two hundred posts needs some kind of celebration.  I could go retrospective but it's been a learning process and there are recap posts already.  So let's see if this year's plans can survive contact with the blogosphere before reality gets it's licks in.  I understand they call this... prototyping.

1. Publish something.  I've blogged about the tools, the theory and how certain design decisions make products what they are.  Now it's time to accept the Chatty Challenge and do something about it - seeing as inns & taverns are enjoyed most out of the original content, a fleshing out may be in order.   A fully worked up Rose Tower is likely to be the result.
2. Attend a con.  Looking forward to Con-Quest in April.  I haven't attended a con in a very long time and think this would be a good chance to try some different things. 
   
3. Demo a game somewhere.  Now on this I'm torn. Supernatural is the obvious choice for those new to RPGs.  3:16 just because it's rocking my world right now.  I might end up putting a Mutant Future bar-room brawl on here and see what people think - if it works, I'll demo it somewhere.
4. Investigate more indie games.   I'm thinking about picking up Ribbon Drive and wondering if I can find enough Colonial Gothic to run something truly wicked.  I would go and get Mouse Guard but I have to get rid of some old stuff to make room on the shelves first...

Right, that's four things to aim for.  Let's see what happens next.

gaming for all

Have been away seeing the fruits of my labours blossom at a live-roleplaying long weekend that so far has been very well-received indeed. It was been a blast (almost no sleep for three days with stuff to do) so now I'm back to the blog with a vengeance. OK, so you probably didn't even notice I was gone (cunning things, these scheduled posts).

6d6Fireball provoked a discussion about the pricing structure of roleplaying games and posits a provocative question about Dungeons & Dragons. In the background there is a vocal call to return to old-school retro-clone gaming. There is a classic dichotomy about play style as well as edition wars going on. You can find a sound-bite summary on the style issue at Penny Arcade.

I'm currently in the process of setting up my own publishing house (as it seems easier than going through a proxy, plus I've been curious about how you'd actually become a publisher after reading old Dragon editorials). Yes there are overheads - though this is true of any business an quality of output is always something you need to consider.

The traditional publishing model is undergoing a culture shift in an age of ubiquitous, on-demand information; whether you consider it reasonable to publish PDF only copies and let the customer decide what they want to print with your own backup regime or embrace the Book philosophy and need never worry about the cost of electricity at a slightly higher cost.

Newspapers are being replaced with websites and RSS feeds, traditional media packaging and distribution is being much more demand-driven by consumers. There are concerns about loss of value for such assets - after all if you're only being paid pennies per copy rather than turning the denomination of your choice, that's a tough market - good luck with it.

The ultimate game is like snow. It transforms the environment and encourages play yet there isn't much evidence of this kind of behaviour. Digital distribution is something that gaming firms are still having some difficulty with - despite the successes made by people like Nine Inch Nails and Coldplay, you're still looking at a propietary regime and subscription-based services.

Does it have to be this way? Probably not. Can the hobby survive the change? Definitely.