C7 @ Dragonmeet: Talk about future of game lines

[Borri]

C7 wrote on Facebook, that they'll talk about the future of their game lines tomorrow morning at Dragonmeet. Will anybody from the forums be there and is willing to give us a brief summary about the future plans of TOR?

[DarkTraveller]

While I'm sure someone from C7 will probably recap during next week's news, I would love it if someone was there to recap today

[stormwalker]

TBH there wasn't a whole lot of TOR information shared Dom did take the time to reassure us TOR fans that the OGL AIME wouldn't supplant it and that TOR was the primary ME focus for the company (though I think he mentioned an AIME Loremasters Guide being released next year).

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...

Wish I had more I could share!

[Borri]

Thank you, Stormwalker!

So we know about a Bree supplement.
Adventuring in the Old Forrest and deep in the Barrow-Downs will be fun for sure.
The Prancing Pony as a Sanctuary would be nice.
Question is, will they cover The Shire together with Bree in one supplement?

Then we still have that Rohan adventure module as an upcoming release and I guess there will be a book with adventures in Breeland.

And: Moria!

[Otaku-sempai]

Question is, will they cover The Shire together with Bree in one supplement?

My guess is that both The Shire and Bree might be covered in a booklet similar to Lake-town and the Journeys & Maps book. However, I also see the possibility of including a revised Loremaster's Screen.

[Hermes Serpent]

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.

[Brandiwise]

I was at Dragonmeet yesterday. I was playing Bluejay's game in the morning so didn't get to the announcement itself though I asked about it later.

The AIME LM Guide PDF *might* be out by the end of the year but it's probably more like the end of January now.
I asked about more information from Western Eriador (Bree / Fornost / Annuminas etc) and was told that Bree is definitely in the pipeline. Eriador is my main interest to be honest.

As I'm also planning a campaign for AIME I asked about conversions / dual statting for TOR/AIME. I was told that supplements will continue to focus on TOR and they won't be dual statting but that C7 are looking into / considering providing some form of conversion, most likely through a download. I told them that I for one wouldn't buy books twice when 90-95%% of the information was the same (i.e. the background etc.) but that it would be useful for stats to be converted. They will also look to convert existing products as well. For me that sounds fine though I wonder how 'pure AIME' players might feel and if they think they are being slightly short-changed (Would C7 provide two different sourcebooks - that seems like an expensive option)? Given the interest in AIME and the likely interest I would still suggest C7 look at dual statting as a way to introduce more LMs to their core product of TOR.

[Rich H]

Given the interest in AIME and the likely interest I would still suggest C7 look at dual statting as a way to introduce more LMs to their core product of TOR.

Dual-stats is wasted page count for everyone, apart from those that like both systems; I'd drop the game in a heartbeat if they went that way. As TOR is their primary line then its better to provide supporting AiMe stats through pdf conversion guides to the regional supplementsm that already exist and that they bring out for TOR. However I do think doing AiMe print versions of TOR's adventure anthologies is worth doing as those may need to be presented and balanced differently due to the inherent differences in the systems.

[Brandiwise]

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.

[Rich H]

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

Seriously?

Yes, seriously. I dislike D&D, although I still have a soft spot for B/X but not to the point of actually wanting to play it. Add to that my extreme dislike of dual-statted books, which is really greater than the dislike of D&D, and you'd get the 'perfect' storm for me; I'd be done with any further purchases.

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.

The TOR books already exist, so it would make far more marketing sense to release supporting conversion pdfs for these (assuming the license allows it) than to spend time going through the design and production of AiMe versions of them. Many AiMe players/GMs have already bought some (even all) of these TOR books as sales have increased on them since the players' guide came out so the market has already demonstrated it's okay with purchasing TOR products; the other way around has not been tested at all, therefore "good marketing sense" would be to go with that rather than some other route which may or may not be accepted.

Perhaps an option would be to add D&D mechanics to the printed version as an appendices that is detachable. That way they would be perhaps a little easier to add to any redesign and reprints of any existing supplements and also could be ignored (or even ripped out and burned, ceremoniously of course and as part of some dark ritual) by those not interested in them.