I have a serious question that i will probably post on some forums as well because it interests me.
I was wondering, in a nutshell: If a game very similar to OD&D was published today, how many copies it would sell?
Let us imagine that WOTC decides to publish its fifth edition of the game, and it happens to be something very old -school, up to the point that it has the flavour, the mechanics, the feeling and atmosphere very similar to OD&D but no one is able to state that is is just a rewrite of OD&D rules, because in fact it is not and it retains its distinctive uniqueness. How many copies would such a product sell nowadays?
Honestly, i am asking because it may be that i have scattered in my mind excerpts of a game and -who knows- i might want to put it on paper someday.
3 comments:
Well, I think the question you are asking isn't the question you want. What I mean is, there is a big difference from the sales an independant or samll publisher might expect, and that of the name and marketing clout of Hasbro.
Unless, you mean to sell your game to WOTC which is very unlikely, you would probably fall in the range of 1 - 50 copies a month, I'd guess. Te OS market isn't huge and you would be competing agains well established products. Some oth the games that have been annnounced and look good, seem to die on the vine from lack of customer interest.
I've found that the want to publish is more of a creative need that I do for myself. And if it "sticks" with others, than even better.
With a handful of established clones out there (e.g. Swords & Wizardry and Microlite 74 for OD&D, OSRIC for 1E AD&D, et al.), I'm not sure how much room there might be for another.
HOWEVER!!! That being said, I'm also a sucker for accurately mimicked styling of old-school production (which none of the ones I've mentioned do.) So, I do think there's room for really nice "retro-styled" graphic editions for people seeking the nostalgia for their collections (see: http://cyclopeatron.blogspot.com/2011/09/perfect-retroclone.html )
That's what I tried to do when I published my game earlier this year (based on rules I actually wrote in 1985.) - http://savevsdragon.blogspot.com/2011/10/system-hits-2000-downloads-plus-links.html
I don't think the question is "should you," the question is, "do you want/have to?"
"I don't think the question is "should you," the question is, "do you want/have to?"
i love this advice.thanks
and i did not notice your rpg..now i'll go and download it :)
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