I’m a very instinctive type of guy, and lately my gut feeling has told me that some 3rd party publishers of 4e adventures have left the boat (or are thinking about doing it). For instance, I learned yesterday that Joseph Goodman of Goodman Games has been musing online about adding Pathfinder support to his DCC line.
I also have a good feeling why the 3rd party module market has dropped (I’m excluding Wolfgang Baur’s Open Design 4e projects because they are patron financed):
- WotC corners the market for ‘generic’ adventures that fit in the official worlds with D&Di and dead tree adventures.
- Some publishers create adventure models incompatible with 4e’s design philosophy (the DCC is a likely candidate, worked great in 3.x, not so much in 4e).
- The financial crisis has hit this ‘non-essential’ part of the industry hard.
Again, my gut feeling tells me that there’s a nook that can be exploited for adventures written under the auspices of the Game System License. Adventures written based on a different philosophy than previous projects (learning from them). Adventurers that break the mold in more than one ways.
I smell a business opportunity!
As it so happens, for D&D 4e, writing adventures is what I want to do most. Now that I’ve sunk my teeth in a 5000 word adventure, I’d love to tackle a 32 pager. But I also want to be paid an amount a money for it that corresponds to my skills and experience (irrespective of the capacity of this market to pay).
Choices need to be made.
As a freelance adventure writer that leaves very few possibilities:
- Write for WotC
- Pros: Highest pay rates, highest name recognition, owns the trademark
- Cons: High barrier to entry, slow/opaque submission screening process, getting paid can be a challenge
- Write for Open Design/Kobold Quarterly
- Pros: Decent pay rates (for RPGs), excellent reputation, highly professional, rapid responses
- Cons: KQ takes no adventures, Open Design does but requires familiarity and experience in their patron system
- Write for Goodman Games
- Pros: Very approachable staff and owner, established brands, highly recognizable name
- Cons: Low rates, low product flexibility, editing issues
- Write for an untried/developing imprint (ex: Expy games, Nevermet Press)
- Pros: High product flexibility, easy to pitch to, very low risk
- Cons: Uncertain pay rate (often profit sharing), unproven track record and leadership
- Start your own imprint
- Pros: Full liberty, very instructive experience ( be it in success or failure)
- Cons: Very high risk, difficult quality vs Cost decisions, Wide skill set needed ($$$), uncertain sales level.
Part of ‘The Plan” for me is to hit all of those over the next year… and this may include the last one (likely in partnership with other like-minded souls) if we conclude that the RPG market is a viable use of the growing writing talent around us.
In part 2, I’ll do a high-level review of current 4e adventure and share elements that I’d like to see more of in D&D 4e adventure, maybe elements I could cover.
In the mean time, let me know about your own experience with 4e published adventures, publication plans, imprints you like/own/plan to open.
Hi Philip, I’m already in the process of creating a game supplement. So is my friend actually. We should be ready in Feb/Mar.
The plan is to continue adding more products that (hopefully) players want. You already have a following here. If the other publisher options don’t work out, you can try asking your own readers.
.-= Vincent´s last blog ..Why I created Math Wizard =-.
One thing you have missed, it adventure are made to be sold to 1 person and played by 6 other people. It is harded to sell adventures, because the market to sell them is also smaller. If you are going to do it more indepentant, you might have to copy Paizo’s Adventure Path model (part module/part sourcebook).
@Vincent: As an established blogger, I have what the Blog marketers call ‘the 1%ers’ which means that I can count on 1% of my readership to buy stuff I write before I go into marketing and such.
@LPJ: Excellent point. Paizo’s Adventure Path is a great ‘tech’ development of that last decade in terms of 3rd party adventures (heck they became 1st part adventures)… and you are right, it appeals to the rest of the table. Thanks!
Phil – as you would expect – NMP is an open door. Just let us know when you are interested. I’m looking forward to the year ahead for you whether it’s here or over at CH!
.-= jonathan´s last blog ..Are Your Characters All The Same? =-.
I think part of the reason 3rd party stuff has kind of fallen by the wayside in support of 4E is that 4E is so DIY-friendly! The system itself encourages creating your own adventures/monsters/etc.
That said, I still think there is room for 3rd party 4E product, I just think it needs to be innovative and stand out from the crowd, which I don’t think you’d have any problem with judging by your very cool Overmind session descriptions!
After enjoying your Overmind session reports, I’m very much looking forward to seeing you put something out. Good luck!
I’m not sure if you were thinking about this in one of your other lines (maybe self-imprint), but there is the hostage/ransom model.
The folks over at the Guild Companion, http://www.guildcompanion.com/, have been doing this for ICE based stuff for a while. Haven’t really looked around much to see how it was going, but they got a couple of projects done this way.
Basically, you tell your readers (and anyone else who will listen), that you have a project that you want to work on. Folks basically “preorder,” so you have a set amount of money to work on the project and get it done. Then the folks who ransomed the project get their copies and sales open up to the rest of the world.
Just a thought.
So many, many things to consider regarding this topic.
Consider what you have going for you:
A Name.
That helps get interest in your products, as you modestly call the 1%’s — but it is a big start.
I am fortunate enough to be working 2 4e products currently. 1 by a well-respected publisher of 4e material (still 3pp), and the other one trying to get off the ground. Both of these products are Monster Manual type entries — in my mind these entries are the only other type that can sell in the 4e 3pp market aside from quality adventures. People like monsters. But I got accepted to write these things because I’d done some (very little to be honest) visible work with KQ and because I’ve bombarded people with queries.
My comment is getting a bit rambling — but to your topic – I think that 4e support must be DM focused to sell. The utility and ease of the character builder has destroyed much of the player-focused material. Adventures, campaigns, DM toolkits, and monster manuals fit this concept easily enough (it would make sense to publish a monster manual and also offer a zip file of the XML so that players can port them into the monster builder . . .)
I’d think your name and writing skill would help you get some opportunities with third party publishers out there, and perhaps WotC — and I lost my train of thought . . . damn.
@Johnathan: Rest assured that I watch NMP very carefully, your novel approach to publishing has me very fascinated. Can’t wait to see where it will go. Also, It seems we’ll be buddies in a certain quarterly publication very soon :).
@al: You are so right, I find 4e to be the most DIY friendly versions of D&D since the 1974 edition of the game.
And you got a glimpse of what I want to achieve… create 4e adventures that are out there, yet easy to use and hack. More later!
@Dean: 2 years ago, I wanted to go for the Patron system… like Wolfgang does. In fact, I may ask him to ‘apprentice’ in one of his gig to learn the model more. The ransom model is also interesting.
@TLR: Don’t worry about the rambling, I got what you meant.
I do have a name and I would be crazy not to use it. I agree that DM focused products are more likely to sell. I think adventures are the most D&D Insider independent elements of 4e (although you can totally enter 3pp Monsters in the Adventure Tool now) and are likely to be viable.
So many possibilities.
There is an interesting thread on Enworld at the moment which might be of interest. Basically looking at what people are looking for in 3PP for 4e.
.-= Phaezen´s last blog ..LFR Weekend in The Realms =-.
Very nice. Given what’s been said already about the “DIY” nature of 4E, I think the best tactic to take here is almost like one on gears. You get one gear rolling, and that engages preexisting gears in the system, which gets events turning in new and unexpected ways.
For a 4E adventure, I think it would be cool if it could engage the material in new ways, to mini-reinvent the game in some ways. I think it’s also a good idea to include a good amount of fluff, too. The mechanics are pretty well-balanced, and mechanical uniqueness is not something you need to strive for. What you’re really going to be able to sell is the content.
Also, I’d recommend zeroing in on the “modular” aspect that’s possible in 4E. It’s very flexible and customizable, and it would be great to include suggestions to the DM as to how you need to change this encounter or that encounter if you want to make it easier, harder, or give it a certain feel. It would also be interesting to explore the idea of “triggers”, things in interactive storytelling which greatly modify events. Like, if the party does A, then encounter B will have conditions 1 and 2, but not 3. (Although that can get complicated after a while)
.-= Andy´s last blog .. =-.
@Andy – This is basically what Nevermet Press attempted with The Desire. Basically, from a crowd sourcing point of view, develop core content that is then “spun off” by the crowd – collected, edited, and then reshaped into a collection of “gears” – content that can be taken or dropped – but that can serve to spark the DM’s creative juices. Our logo is… funny enough.. a gear. Go figure…
(@Phil – not trying to pimp NMP stuff here; I just thought the comment was relavant to Andy’s comment).
.-= jonathan´s last blog ..Are Your Characters All The Same? =-.
@Jonathan: No worries man. I only unleash the css injection worm after 3 plugs in a given day. 🙂 This was a post about 3rd parties after all. 🙂
I hope you do this, what about a ransom model?
But one thing that has discouraged me from working on 4e is lack of third-party support for DDI – in particular the character builder. Personally, I don’t much care about buying class and feat books, no matter how good, because everyone at my table is totally in love with the CB. If I could buy 3rd party stuff and get an import file for CB, I’d be all over them. Without that, forget it.
Really curious to see how this plays out for you Phil. A friend of mine is in the process of opening an NMP-like portal and has asked me to blog and create product for it. It looks like a good opportunity. If I could establish even a fraction of the brand value that you’ve developed as the “Chatty DM”, I’d feel it was a roaring success (which may speak to my aspirations.) At any rate, best of luck, and keep us posted how things develop.
I’d echo the other comments that speak to the modularity of current 4e content. As a DM, I find myself pulling encounters and descriptions from DDI-sourced PDFs, the Compendium, archived issues of the Dragon, and anything available on the ‘net in general. Much of my current prep-time is spent in front of the computer. That said, it’s the bits that grab my attention that I use, so I think there is a market for well-realized encounters and component-type fluff that gamers can use in their own way.
You’d be surprised how many Open Design adventures have already been published. And there’s several more coming. So to say we’re “not interested in adventures” is just wildly inaccurate.
Oh, and check your email.
I think that OneBadEgg commented on their reasons for closing up shop here: http://www.onebadegg.com/egg/. One of their points was that they felt that WotC was providing such good support to its customers (via DDI, CB etc.) that WotC effectively closed the door on many of the types of products that were big 3pp hits back in the d20 days.
As someone who published a character class at RPGNow.com (Fantasy Class: Martialist), I can tell you that the sales weren’t that good. Obviously, I was hampered by name recognition and other issues, BUT I received emails from possible customers who told me that they weren’t interested in a class not supported by CB.
My point is (@Phil – not to plug my stuff) that I agree with the sentiment that DM focused products would probably sell better in the 4E market.
Phil,
Why not try to self-publish? you have a lot of friends online who’d be willing to help you along the way, it’d be a leaning experience, and since you’re one of the biggest gaming blogs out there and people love what you write, I’m thinking a ransom model would even work. 3rd-party 4e modules opportunities seem to be drying up. Perhaps it’s time to make your own. Dozens of folks online have managed to self-publish, and I know that “Chatty Games” would be at the top of RPGNow or Lulu in short order. 🙂
.-= Zachary´s last blog ..Rolemaster Tales =-.
@Wolfgang: You know, I was solely thinking of KQ when I wrote this and didn’t think that you took ‘freelancers’ for Patron-adventures. Your email enlightened me (and I will respond tonight).
Allow me to edit my post anon.
@Nick: Yes, I think DM focused products, exploiting some ‘features’ of DDi’s Adventure Tool (like loading monsters in their format) is where opportunity lies.
@Zachary: It’s part of my plan. All 4 outlets are part of my plan. But I won’t rush into anything. Not anymore. 4e will still be there in 2011. 🙂 Plus I have this interesting email by my former nemesis to check 🙂
Chatty,
Given your recent posts it seems like you goal is to be a full time writer. Given that I would say your primary focus should be “Start your own Imprint”. You should look at mixing in other freelancing gigs and maintaing your web presence.
WotC job? Sure it pays well and is the dominant player in the RPG world but no one surives there long. Every year it seems like they’re cutting people and turning over the development staff. Even if you got a job there today I wouldn’t expect you to be there in 10 years. That has nothing to do with you and everything to do with WotC’s hiring and firing practices. Plus you couldn’t do any freelance work and your Chatty DM presense would wither and die (most likely).
Frankly, you’ve already accomplished one of the key steps to creating your own imprint – capturing the interest and attention of a group of gamer enthusiasts. You could announce tomorrow that you were publishing an adventure and you’d probably get a lot gamers willing to give it a serious look and, if they liked what they saw, pay for it.
If I were making my imprint my model would be the Paizo of 4E. WotC great at the classes and crunchy bits of 4E. They suck at adventures. The crunchy bits are good sometimes but the often forget to make a compelling story. Their stories and backgrounds just aren’t as compelling as what Paizo does. Their skill challenges are horrible because they don’t want to devote the page space to do them better or make them more interesting.
Good luck with whatever you try to do. I was even thinking about checking with you and seeing if I could write an adventure based on on your “Gears of Ruin” setting but it sounds like you might be developing that yourself. Can’t wait to hear what your plans are!
You also talked about doing an adventure designed for young kids. That’s something I’d seriously think about doing on your own, if I were you.
On an unrelated note, I love reading about your Nico free-form roleplaying encounters. Those are awesome.
@BraG: I’ll gently chide you and say you read the piece a bit diagonally. Nowhere in my plan does working for WotC figure. Freelancing for them YES! But moving to Seattle when I own a house in Montreal, have 2 French-speaking grade school kids and a Speech Language Pathologist wife that can’t practice in the States… some serious thinking about it would be needed.
(Unless they have a ‘work from home’ thing coming)
It no longer is a question of if I’ll start an imprint anymore. It’s a question of ‘when’. This winter will be 100% focused on my building teaching seminars (This is what feeds my kids) and over Spring I hope to work on some of those adventure I pitched before X-mas.
I currently have projects with WotC, Kobold Quarterly and Expy games I sent feelers to Goodman Games to write a DCC. All this to build myself a solid 2010 writing pipeline.
As for you writing a Gears of Ruin Scenario…. tell me more. Are you on Wave? I could share my ‘pre-setting’ ramblings.
A couple of points, one general to 4e and one specific to your situation.
It can be very limiting writing 3rd party products for 3.5 or 4e as you can only use what is in the SRD. As this covers PHB / DMG / MM one & two it is not to bad at the moment. But with a high rate of new books being produced, you are very quickly limited to only a small fraction of the “official” material.
Any business looking to enter the market, has to consider that it will always be disadvantaged by this. Of course, this drawback is on top of the all the others a small company has (e.g not a known brand, lack of resources etc etc). So it is not surprising that some companies are reluctant to support 4e in the long-run.
On a personal note, I would avoid doing your own imprint / self-publishing unless you want to be a graphic designer, artist, publicist and general business man on top of being a writer.
If you want to write, be a writer and let others deal with the all the other stuff. It is more limiting and frustrating if someone edits the f*ck out of your carefully crafted prose but you get to focus on writing.
Any small publisher would be happy to have a prominent blogger working for them. It is a ton a free publicity and you should be able to cut a better than average deal because of it.
Chris.
P.s. On the general point, I think all RPG writers and publishers should push the boundaries with thought provoking material. Following the Christian backlash of the eighties, RPG products have tended to be very safe and contain nothing that would not upset the right-wing mother of a 13 year boy in the deep-south. Until we as an industry stop playing safe, we cannot mature and explore RPGs as an art form worthy of serious consideration.
.-= Chris Tregenza´s last blog ..The Wizard’s Sleeve and the Nazi Salute =-.
Your points are very astute (as always) Chris, especially the One-man band approach you talk about. The GSL is constraining but not that much if all monsters bear unique names (and the Magic the Gathering model of naming stuff is achingly easy to use)… but I’ll have an actual lawyer look at this before I go all Nerdsuit and open a company while clueless
In my very high level way of looking at things (as I always do initially), an imprint would be a shared risk/multi talent enterprise… collaboration is where it will be.
What I didn’t think about though is that I could use my current status as a blogger and freelancer to negociate better writing rates with small publishers. This can be a win/win. Interesting point you got there.
And I agree 100% about ‘write outside of self-imposed limits” When I was informed that WotC wasn’t likely to go for steampunk adventures, my first reflex was to kill my current campaign and start a Clockwork one to then write adventures in the setting 🙂