Upfront, I'll say this topic stems out of me starting work on the Cold City Companion, a slim volume of additional stuff for CC.
However, I'd like to open up a discussion on supplements and the role they might play in the small press arena. The Companion is primarily a source of advice and guidance for players and GMs, based firmly on running the game more and gaining feedback both in person and from actual play threads. To my mind, this is a much more valid reason for producing a supplement than the traditional 'supplement treadmill' idea of constant product for a game line.
The companion is anot going to a be a 'must have: Cold City will still be a stand alone game that will function perfectly without it. But, in light of experience, I felt it was a good idea to produce such a volume.
So, how do others feel about supplemental material for small-press games, story games, whatever you want to call them. For publishers, do you see value in this for you and the people who play your games? For players, are such things of interest or do they disolve somehow the essential focus of the games?
Cheers
Malcolm
A lot depends on the game,
Submitted by Tim Gray on Mon, 16/04/2007 - 22:16.
A lot depends on the game, and whether it naturally lends itself to supplements - eg is there useful stuff that wasn't included in the mainbook? My recent Legends Walk - Truth & Justice Edition mythic supers setting book only has 3 pantheons included, so I'm looking at the best way to package up further ones.
If you're publishing primarily in PDF you'll naturally look at this differently, because size of product is pretty much irrelevant - a 2-page add-on is perfectly doable, it's just a question of whether anyone will pay for the content.
Tim Gray
Silver Branch Games
www.silverbranch.co.uk
To me supplements are a good
Submitted by Iain McAllister on Tue, 17/04/2007 - 11:29.
To me supplements are a good thing as long as they don't dilute the core game tonight. A case in point would be 2nd ed deadlands. I love this game and snapped up nearly everything for it but after a while you could see they were just coming up with crazy stuff to justify a supplement.
For small press I think it is the quality over quantity that people are looking for. As long as a supplement is well produced and actually adds to the experience of the game, i think most gamers will happily pay for it. If it is just a cheap cash in, like producing multiple different settings for Cold City for instance in seperate books, then they may be less inclined.
Tim's point about size is pretty good. I have seen some 'supplements' on drivethru that are little more than 4 pages of a a word document.
Cheers
Iain
Lead Developer Mob Justice RPG
Check out my home brew games like 'Reel Adventures'
Thanks for the valuable
Submitted by Malcolm Craig on Wed, 18/04/2007 - 08:49.
Thanks for the valuable comments. I'm entirely in agreement that any supplement must be worthwhile, not just for the end customer but also as a venture for the writer(s). You've got to be enthused about it and feel that it adds value to the game. Using the Cold City Companion as an example, it's going to give a lot of additional material to help people participate in games and create engaing stories. There will also be more historical and pseudo-historical information to provide story, character and conflict ideas.
In another thread, Gregor has talked about his 'Petty Hatreds' supplement for best Friends. a collection of alternative setting and theme ideas. To me, this is a valuable and worthwhile endeavour as well as it serves to enhance and expand the original game.
Cheers
Malcolm
Contested Ground Studios
I think supplements should
Submitted by Graham W on Wed, 18/04/2007 - 12:24.
I think supplements should be as well-tested and well-written as the original. Paranoia XP, for example, annoys me, because the supplements are of varying (and generally poorer) quality than the (excellent) main rulebook.
Graham
I agree wholeheartedly about
Submitted by Andrew Kenrick on Wed, 18/04/2007 - 17:06.
I agree wholeheartedly about supplements. I have no problem with them, so long as they have a point and service a neglected area of the game, be it rules or background or advice.
And to chime in further with the "me toos!" I've been thinking of Dead of Night supplements for a long while now, but rather than derail this thread I've made one of my own.
And whoops, I didn't mean to
Submitted by Andrew Kenrick on Wed, 18/04/2007 - 17:07.
And whoops, I didn't mean to turn the thread towards talking about _my_ ideas ... maybe I should spin the thread off into one of my own :-)
That's a good idea.I was
Submitted by Malcolm Craig on Thu, 19/04/2007 - 09:56.
That's a good idea.I was going to post in this thread about things that I would imagine seeing in a DoN supplement, but a dedicated thread would be good and useful.
Cheers
Malcolm
Contested Ground Studios
As part of my publishing
Submitted by Tim Gray on Wed, 02/05/2007 - 17:36.
As part of my publishing learning curve, it's really coming home to me at the moment that if you're publishing on the PDF sales sites the way to get a good income is to have at least one new release per month to attract attention. People always say it, but it's sinking in now ;)
Now if your publishing model is cranking out 27 Thaumaturgic Tin-openers etc for d20, that's a lot easier to do than if you're producing standalone games - but you can find hooks to hang things on. For instance, for Questers of the Middle Realms I did a series of '10 Bewildering Beasts' PDF mini-sups. I've been regarding them as failures, only worthwhile when collated into a book, but now I'm thinking that their main value might not have been in their own sales but as marketing signposts. I'm currently looking at doing something similar with pantheons for Legends Walk - Truth & Justice.
(Hey Malcolm &co, you might dig out that copy of QMR and wave it at the Spodley people for their edification.)
Tim Gray
Silver Branch Games
www.silverbranch.co.uk