Fate of Free PDFs

[Mark Johnson]

Disregarding Paladin, would you be adverse to spending $6 for a fully playable 32 page PDF containing merely system and chargen if there were support PDF products (setting, adventures, etc) available for free download?

Mark asks a good question.  I want to ask the other half of it though:

How about getting a free 32 page PDF containing system and chargen, and then pay for support PDF products (setting, adventures)?

I ask because, from a money-making perspective (am I allowed to have some minor commercial questions here?), I'm curious which of the two halves would tend to equate to more revenue, among other non-monetary curiosities.

Both models bear looking at.  There is no reason that under the first model that you couldn't have a mix of free and pay products.  Free products to give added value to the core purchase and pay products to those who want additional depth or options.  It allows a very classically simple package for the core game, creating ease of learning and use.  
Also, customers can get a strong sense of the game by looking at the free material which might induce them to buy the core game.

With the second model different factors apply.  You get the customers in the door with free product.   If they are enthusiastic about the product after playing it they will probably check out the supplements.   This is somewhat how the D20 market works though the motivation is the externalities associated with D&D rather than the fact that the product is free.  

The problem with the second model might be that the customers are perfectly happy with the options available in the original document and don't require any additional input.  If a game is very shared director stance/narration heavy I doubt that additional setting information would be of much use.  

A third model might be the route that Sorcerer, GURPS, and other products go by offering  a free rules-lite versions of the product.

I guess a real question to ask the more established folks here is whether their games generate more revenue from supplements or the core book.  

Good luck,
Mark

[Sidhain]

I buy core books. I buy a lot of core books. I rarely /ever/ buy supplements to games--their are exceptions but they are unusual for me.


But, I can't say absolutly I wouldn't support a free game with purchase supplements /if/ it was good.

[Paganini]

I buy core books. I buy a lot of core books. I rarely /ever/ buy supplements to games--their are exceptions but they are unusual for me.

Thing is, Tim, you're unusual. I'm like you in prefering core rules to suppliments. (Mainly because I prefer to rely on my own creativity rather than the game author's.)

But the gaming masses don't seem to be like this. Major game companies usually won't even look at selling a game unless they can turn it into a game line with at least three suppliments. Suppliments make money. That's how the comapnies support their games.

[Sidhain]

Actually, everyone I've spoken too, talked to says this "Core books make money".

This is the real reason behind D&D 3.5 those books aren't being done because people behind it really wish to support gamers--they are beign done because /they really want to sell you another core book/.

Supplements /don't/ make money. By all acounts of game store owners, game publsihers I've ever spoken too or dealt with.

[Mike Holmes]

Sorry Nathan, to corroborate, supplements do not make money. At best, the theory is that a large line helps to sell core books. The idea being that people looking at D&D will see all the support for the game and decide that must be the game for them. And it works to an extent. It's one of the reasons that D&D is the 400 lb gorrilla in terms of play.

OTOH, since the supplements cost money, this is just yet another reason why TSR went out of business (and GDW, and FASA, and ICE, etc). The increased sales do not keep up with the cost of the line. So as a business model it sucks.

Moral. Sell nothing but core books that sell well on their own. Or things similar to core books like Rifts settings or Sorcerer supplements. New rules.

So if the "Core" were say only ten pages of rules, and the other for pay stuff was all the setting stuff you needed to make it all work, then I think this model would work. But then that's not too different from the "free rules lite" idea, is it?

Mike

[Paganini]

Sorry Nathan, to corroborate, supplements do not make money. At best, the theory is that a large line helps to sell core books.

This is interesting, Mike. I don't have any hard evidence or numbers to back up my statement; I was just passing on what I'd been told by others in the industry. I can't recall exactly who it was that told me, but I recall seeing the statement in at least two separate places: The Guardians of Order mailing list and one of the WotC message boards.

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Nathan,

People say this all the time, like a mantra, for a couple of reasons.

1. They've already sunk money into the supplement-heavy publishing strategy, and are attempting to fuel it by convincing customers that it's working, hence influencing them to buy. Ryan Dancey calls this entire strategy "the treadmill" and derides it as fantasy.

2. The people who really benefit from supplement-heavy publishing, or rather, who have done so most consistently in the past, are the distributors. As long as publishers run the treadmill and as long as retailers are frantically ordering-ahead in order to justify and shore up what they already have on the shelves, the distributor makes out like a bandit. The whole RPG publishing scene from roughly 1987 to 1998 was dominated by this principle.

Best,
Ron

[Mike Holmes]

Ah, right, Nuked Applecart.

Knew I was quoting Ron.

Mike

[Paganini]

Thanks for the info, Ron, Mike!

Ryan Dancey calls this entire strategy "the treadmill" and derides it as fantasy.

Well... he oughta know. ;)

[Gold Rush Games]

We're trying something rather wacky with our Action! System. We're doing both -- selling the core books *and* giving the core book (PDF) away free. We're also releasing both free and pay supplemental material, as well.

  So far it's worked out well. People who want a free "core rules" set have it, and those who want to buy the book can.

  <shrug> I'm going for more coffee now. ;)

[Paul Czege]

We're trying something rather wacky with our Action! System. We're doing both -- selling the core books *and* giving the core book (PDF) away free.

This is the FUDGE business model...or am I missing an important distinction?

Paul

[Adam]

This is the FUDGE business model...or am I missing an important distinction?

Fudge being available for free for several years before being made commercially available would be the main distinction, I believe.