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OGL's effect on RQ sales


Mark Mohrfield

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Very, very unlikely.

Complaining and actually making a major change in behavior are two very different things.  In the world of comics, I've seen similar levels of outrage directed at Marvel and/or DC for everything from price increases to editorial direction, and very rarely do those fans ultimately stop reading the same books they've always read.  They don't stop reading Marvel/DC and start buying a bunch of Image or IDW books.

Most D&D players will remain D&D players.  There will be some who are angry enough to look elsewhere, but it will be a minority.  And many of those people will more likely gravitate to something different yet familar, like Pathfinder.

But will it result in some increased interest in Runequest and other role-playing systems?  Almost certainly!  And that's great.

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54 minutes ago, Mark Mohrfield said:

Given the general response to Wizards of the Coast's new OGL, is possible that RQ could regain its ancient status as the second most popular frpg? First place being too much to hope for, IMO.

Edit: I should have mentioned that I include Pathfinder being part of D&D.

It's possible, the spider knows!

... remember, with a TARDIS, one is never late for breakfast!

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I don't think so.

The fact of the matter is that the market has been indoctrinated towards d20 /class-based systems. That's not good or bad, it's just a recognition of fact. RQ has always been second fiddle to EGG's monster but OTOH that can be seen as a good thing. Look at what popularity and market forces did to the Forgotten Realms... every time DnD had a new edition, the world got nuked to fit the new narrative. Glorantha has had no such dilution of the creator's vision. Greg's creation has been augmented, been changed slightly, but nothing like Ed Greenwood's milieu has been through.

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I have been hearing rumblings of up to $30/month subscription services with "content drops" trying to turn D&D into a highly monetized asset, not unlike we have seen from the AAA gaming industry in recent years. If these things come to pass I can see a large volume of people at least shopping around out of protest, if not being completely unwilling or unable to access their "Live Service TTRPG" model. I am frankly horrified and disgusted that WotC/HASBRO are bringing the worst parts of modern AAA gaming's unhealthy aspects into the TTRPG space. 

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Looking at MOB's post, am I interpreting it right that all three items combined saw 167 sales during the period of the sale? I hoped it would've been more than that. I will selfishly crow that one sale of the RQ Starter Set is due to me showing my hardcopy to a young co-worker (in his 20's). He was really excited by what he saw and is going to try to sell his gaming group on playing RQ at least some of the time. (I really think it's important for the long-term health of RQ as a game that more younger folks get seduced by Glorantha - Gen Xers like myself are only a few decades from either the grave or the nursing home.)

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41 minutes ago, Beoferret said:

Looking at MOB's post, am I interpreting it right that all three items combined saw 167 sales during the period of the sale? I hoped it would've been more than that.

It means that of all the products on Drivethrurpg only 167 of them have made Adamantine level.

Edit: Here is a breakdown of Drivethrurpg’s metal icons

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/metal.php

Edited by Mark Mohrfield
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On 1/16/2023 at 2:13 PM, Mark Mohrfield said:

Given the general response to Wizards of the Coast's new OGL, is possible that RQ could regain its ancient status as the second most popular frpg? First place being too much to hope for, IMO.

Edit: I should have mentioned that I include Pathfinder being part of D&D.

Note that Paizo (Pathfinder) is one of the lead participants in the OGL-alternative "ORC" license (Chaosium's there, too).

So it's unlikely RQ will surge past them on just this ...

Edited by g33k

C'es ne pas un .sig

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On 1/16/2023 at 11:13 PM, Mark Mohrfield said:

Given the general response to Wizards of the Coast's new OGL, is possible that RQ could regain its ancient status as the second most popular frpg? First place being too much to hope for, IMO.

Edit: I should have mentioned that I include Pathfinder being part of D&D.

I think that having RQ as n. 2 as in the early '80s is highly unlikely. That would mean to dislodge Pathfinder. But I do hope it will become more popular, especially with the younger generation. That would be entirely deserved. I'm doing my part by running the game for new and younger players.

One thing that Chaosium should do, in my opinion, is to provide VTT support. Having good VTT tools can help a lot nowadays. I think that Roll 20 support would be especially important, more than the more premium platforms such as Fantasy Grounds or Foundry.

 

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4 hours ago, Mark Mohrfield said:

Re all the replies pointing out Pathfinder; as per my edit I regard Pathfinder as being part of D&D for purposes of this discussion. The question is whether or not RQ can regain 2nd place relative to D&D +clones, not D&D alone. Sorry for the confusion.

Then, it has only to beat Call of Cthulhu...  For what is worth, the latest ORR Group report from late 2021 put CoC at 9% of Roll20 games - over and above Pathfinder ! - and RuneQuest at 0.04%.  As a references, all Warhammer related rpgs together are about 1% of the games.

It's all to be taken with a grain of salt, and we do not have actual sales data. Chaosium has, of course.  But I would not be surprised if the CoC7 corebook had sold 10 times or more the sales of the RQ core.

    

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