C7 @ Dragonmeet: Talk about future of game lines

[Otaku-sempai]

TBH the costs of producing a screen is way outside the usual costs of a making an rpg book. You only have to look at the scattered remains of promised screens for a number of other lines from both C7 and a lot of other producers to realise that screens are generally a thing for producers at avoid as they never come in under budget and most GM's will not pay what they would cost to produce and put into distribution. I reckon the only way for C7 to make a profitable screen is to only sell it direct with no 40%+ discount for retail and distribution allowing them the same bottom line but at a reduced wholesale price that GM's can stomach.

I'm assuming that was the reason why the original Loremaster's Screen was paired with the Lake-town supplement. This is also why I suggested that a Revised Loremaster's Screen could similarly be paired with a supplement for The Shire and Bree-land. Future printings of Lake-town could be sold by themselves at a reduced cost.

[Glorelendil]

It would be an interesting experiment to go through one of the adventure supplements and figure out what proportion of the content is system-specific. Another system (e.g. AiMe) probably wouldn't have the exact same size, but it would be a good approximation.

I don't plan on playing AiMe, but I would pay for both. Partially in case I do want to play it some day, but more because I'd want to support a model that gives C7 better market & margins and thus in theory means more/better content for everybody.

[Rich H]

I'm assuming that the original Loremaster's Screen was paired with the Lake-town supplement. This is also why I suggested that a Revised Loremaster's Screen could similarly be paired with a supplement for The Shire and Bree-land. Future printings of Lake-town could be sold by themselves at a reduced cost.

This seems like the logical choice. The Shire/Bree even fit a similar 'safe zone' for Eriador that Laketown serves for Wilderland. Appreciate they aren't the same but I could see a supplement for them of around the same size as Laketown and being very similar in approach to the various chapters and what the intent of the book would be.

Also, its a lovely excuse for Jon to paint another landscape scene for the new screen as well; one of the Shire or Bree.

[PaulButler]

In terms of TOR releases he didn't go into any details other than Bree was on the cards, and also something about the "laughter of dragons", of which nothing more was said, alas...

Dom actually mentioned the words "laughter of dragons" did he?
That makes me exceedingly happy.

[Bran]

I'd drop the game in a heartbeat if they went that way.

Seriously? So do you think C7 should publish two products for two lines that are 90% the same, or should they relegate the AIME community (which might end up much larger given the popularity of D&D) and risk upsetting an increasingly important part of their player base? That doesn't sound like good marketing sense to me.

Both Chaosium's Call of Cthulhu and AEG's Legend of the Five Rings did the same thing, dual-statting for the then-current edition of D&D. In the case of Call of Cthulhu, some of those books are only available that contain the d20 rules... even though the d20 CoC line has been dead for a decade. In the end, it becomes wasted space, and you end up paying for content you don't use. While the concept is cool, WOTC has published 5 versions of D&D over 16 years (3rd, 3.5, 4th, 4th edition Essentials, and 5th editions).

Just an observation.

[Borri]

Dom actually mentioned the words "laughter of dragons" did he?
That makes me exceedingly happy.

I need to raise my Riddle skill. Quickly.

[Jussi Marttila]

I don't think a single dual-statted gameline has ever been successful in the long run. Probably far more profitable to keep the game lines separate, which is more profitable since it only (maybe) slightly might offend those who play both TOR and AiME. Which is the smallest segment of the three player groups, probably.