A question about RP game product.

[davywavy]

Chatting to davedevil the other night we started talking about the content of game product - that is, the source and reference books outside of core rulebooks for game systems.
It struck us that the majority of additional product, either downloadable or hard copy - tends to be written adventures. Even sourcebooks seem to have the greater part of their content as adventures set in the new setting rather than researched or created background.

The question is, is this because:
1) People are more likely tyo buy adventures than background material,
2) Adventures are waaaay easier to create than background material and research despite that being what people would prefer, or
3) Something else?

Thoughts?

Comments

[raggedhalo.livejournal.com]

I think your central premise is flawed. That's really not the model Catalyst use for Shadowrun, for example. Really, only GMs and completists are going to buy adventures. What shifts stuff off the shelf is new gear/rules, really. But nevertheless, CGL put out a lot of primarily-fluff books, whether organised by location or topic, which naturally serve as a source of inspiration for homebrew adventures, but probably no more than 50% of their total output is adventures, and that proportion falls sharply if you only consider physical books.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

Interesting; I don't play shadow run, so I've not encountered that. My experience is more d&d/ CoC, where 'the guide to region x' books tend to be light in detail about region x and heavy on adventures. Shadows over Scotland, for example, won the origins award and was 2/3 adventure. Given that what I'm writing is *very* background/ research heavy I'm wondering if I'm doing it wrong for the market.

[(Anonymous)]

From what you said, the other 1/3 of Shadows over Scotland was the SNP Manifesto

H

[chrisvenus]

The only product line I've strongly followed has been exalted which was virtually 100% background/new rules and very little in terms of actual adventures. It was all about the story hooks and I like this model. The Warhammer 40K roleplay stuff seems to be more new rules and background than adventures in the books I've seen too... Are you sure your premuse isn't flawed? :)

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

In your face.

[davywavy.livejournal.com]

They might be; the only game product I tend to buy is CoC and D&D, and that seems very adventure heavy and not so research/original work heavy.

This led to me asking the question.

[(Anonymous)]

It's probably more to do with the heavy initial research investment.
If I can get £1000 for writing a cool sounding completely made-up adventure or £1000 for writing the definitive real world guide to Banksy then the following is going to happen.
There's the distinct possibility that I've made a mistake or missed something minor which will then become the focus of internet driven derision.
The real world is going to change making my work completely obsolete within days of hitting the shelves.

I can put the same amount of work into each of them but gamers are more willing to forgive the occasional missing +2 AC than a £10 short change of a thought provoking wall mural.

J