The Whispering Vault

[philreed]

As many of you probably already know, Christopher Shy and I recently purchased this property. I've always been a fan of the game and I'm excited about the chance to create a new edition.

But there's no time right now.

So what I'm doing for now is releasing all of the old supplements as PDF (and plan to do POD soon). So far it's been an interesting experiment.

What's this about? I'm noticing that sales are going to people who buy my D20 PDFs. I'm also getting a lot of e-mail from people who have bought all of my available D20 PDFs and want to buy Vault as soon as the main rules are available . . . some have even bought the currently available Vault PDFs on my promise that the main rules will be released.

I find it interesting that my D20 PDFs are driving sales of a cult classic game like Vault. Others here may want to consider creating a high-quality D20 PDF as a gateway drug to their more indie PDFs and products.

[Tim C Koppang]

I don't know why this post went un-replied to for these past couple days, but I think, "D20 PDF as a gateway drug," is about the funniest thing I've heard in a while.  :-)

[Mike Holmes]

Makes sense to me. Anything that gets lots of people to your site will be good for sales, I'd think. And D20 has the largest market. So it seems like simple math.

Hmmm....

Mike

[Ron Edwards]

Back from GAMA!

Where, it so happens, I got a chance to chat with Phil Reed - who, by the way, pound/pound, is one of the most important RPG publishing consultants around. We don't always agree, but I always listen carefully.

This time? The lesson is just based on one example, but I think it's a weighty, significant example - that D20 sales/marketing might operate completely differently from what everyone has anticipated, much to the benefit of those of us who'd like to see our own systems in use.

Eugene Zee, co-owner of Dark Nebulae Publishing, who is also at GAMA, probably has plenty to say about this as well - when he gets back, I hope he chimes in.

Best,
Ron

P.S. Quick clarification: using the D20 system isn't "non-indie" in Forge terms. In case anyone was going to resurrect that one again ...

[philreed]

Back from GAMA!

Where, it so happens, I got a chance to chat with Phil Reed - who, by the way, pound/pound, is one of the most important RPG publishing consultants around. We don't always agree, but I always listen carefully.

Thanks for the compliment. It was fun chatting with you at the show. I wish I had known you were leaving early.