Slashdot Mirror
Emmett Plant Talks About the Paper-Based RPG Game Business (Video)
Emmett has a good rep as a video game music composer, and he's worked on a number of Star Trek-related projects, including the recently-released audio book, How to Speak Klingon: Essential Phrases for the Intergalactic Traveler. Emmett freely admits that he has no experience with RPG games. The closest he's come was running a major D&D meetup some years back. But he has experience and contacts developed from many years working online not only within the Star Trek community but (years ago) on Slashdot and as editor for Linux.com. And, he says, when he was a teenager he ran comic book stores. So is Emmett suited to run an RPG company? Possibly. He's actively looking for games to publish. Sales aren't going to start for six months or so, so there is no website for Arrakeen Tactical quite yet. Until there is one, you can contact Emmett about his game venture by emailing angelaATclockworkjetpack.com.
'nuff said
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
The article opens with a line explaining why we should ignore whatever this guy says in the video, as he has no useful experience.
He is not. I see no mention of any business experience. Working in a comic book store clerk as a teen doesn't count. In running an RPG company, the emphasis is on "running" and "company". Just like every alcoholic dreams of owning a bar, every gamer and comic book nerd dreams of opening their own game or comic store. Just about every one is disastrously unqualified. If you've never worked in a responsible position on the business side of the game industry you have no idea what you're getting in to.
I read the summary three times in disbelief that it is actually on the front page. Every so often something pops on on Slashdot's front page that doesn't belong, sometimes it really bad. This. takes. the. cake.
It reads like a quickly drafted, brief email where one associate is casually bouncing something off another, or even a scam email. We are not here to do market research for someone that can't do it themselves. Is this a personal favor for someone, Roblimo? Please don't abuse Slashdot like this in the future.
You all can mod me down all you want. This is bullshit.
Brought to you by Carl's Junior.
I run a profitable media production company called Clockwork Jetpack, and I've been on the business side of video games for more than the past decade. I understand your point-of-view completely, and I agree that working in a market is a hell of a lot different than *playing* in a market. For instance, working in video games makes it almost impossible for me to enjoy video games.
I've done a lot of research in the market, and if I'd had a solid hour to talk about the industry (instead of about ten minutes in my backyard) I would have done so! We're planning to distribute via Drive-Thru RPG, and one of our authors (David Flor) is chomping at the bit to get something moving on a 13th Age adventure right now, because he's excited about that platform.
Tim Lord expressed an interest in talking about it, and I agreed to do it specifically *because* we don't have any games out at the moment -- Otherwise it would have been a goddamn commercial, and I wouldn't want to subject anyone to a hailstorm of 'former Slashdot and Linux.com guy wants you to buy his shit! Do it now!'
There are a lot of different systems that deserve attention beyond the d20 D&D stuff -- Hell, I'd love to go back and revisit d20 Modern at some point. I have an idea for a game that doesn't use any existing system, but we'll see how that goes. Ideas for games are a far cry from 'product.'
I like RPGs, and I've played a lot of them. Ultimately, I try to hire people smarter than I am. This means that part of my job is hiring those people, but another part of my job is keeping them interested and excited about doing stuff. If they feel like they're wasting their time, they're going to haul ass and work somewhere else.
Starting this company was a really weird way to connect a lot of them together. They like new things, they like games, they share an interest. They enjoy open-ended problems. We bounced the idea around, and here we are.
Guy with NO EXPERIENCE in a field decides to run a company in that field.
Said field has been on the commercial denouement (at the very least) for 20+ years, with only a slight bump in the otherwise-downward curve for the last few years as small publishers are able to get into the market (I'm looking at Paizo, fr'instance).
I can see this ending in nothing but tears.
Why didn't he just start up a buggy whip company while he's at it?
-Styopa
Most companies in the RPG space are very poorly run, and many are hamstrung by preconceptions, their knowledge of how you "have to" do things. Being free from those bad ideas is probably a good head start.
The other, solitary thing I know about this guy is that he can get free advertising on slashdot without even a hint of an interesting story. That's worth something.
Let's not stir that bag of worms...
As long as there are Amish, there will be a market for buggy-whips. And as long as there are people who like to get together with their friends instead of hunching in front of a computer, there will be a market for paper RPGs.
I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
Look at Evil Hat. Fred Hicks is the most open I've seen of the RPG publishers. You see hard sales numbers quarter to quarter. Discussions on what makes a kickstarter work. Shipping costs. All sorts of useful stuff. Steve Jackson Games yearly reports are good too, but they are more summarized. SJG at this point is basically the Munchkin company with everything else as a sideline, so their information will be less relevant.
But this is a good time to be an RPG publisher, print runs and poor management crippled a lot of companies. One of those problems has been eliminated, and the other is easier due to the way the market has shifted.
Good luck.
"Sometimes it's hard to tell the dancer from the dance." --Corwin Of Amber in CoC