Cults of RuneQuest Marketing Strategy

[Soccercalle]

Why is influencers like Noura Ibrahim given the printed Cults Book while people who have been waiting for things since before she was born can't even purchase the pdf:s?

[g33k]

19 hours ago, Soccercalle said:

Why is influencers like Noura Ibrahim given the printed Cults Book while people who have been waiting for things since before she was born can't even purchase the pdf:s?

... is this a serious question? 
Because honestly, there are some pretty obvious answers ...

[Jason Farrell]

2 hours ago, g33k said:

... is this a serious question? 
Because honestly, there are some pretty obvious answers ...

I'd like to hear it myself.

Because if your "obvious answer" is that them talking about the book is going to help sell it, my question is: to whom?  Nobody can buy it.  Does marketing work that way?  Hear about something now, buy it 3-4 months later?  It doesn't.  Now, if the .pdf could be purchased, or if the book could be preordered, that would make sense.  But it can't.

Edited April 12, 2023 by Jason Farrell

[Soccercalle]

5 hours ago, g33k said:

... is this a serious question? 
Because honestly, there are some pretty obvious answers ...

I absolutely get the marketing arguments if you release it to influencers a couple of days, maybe a week, before you release it to the public. But who will buy the books in August just because Ibrahim sent a tweet four months before that?

I dont think marketing means that much for the Cults book. Their target audience is mostly people who already own the core rules. People who have bought the Starter Set will probably buy the core rules before they buy the cults book. Marketing is extremely important for things like the Starter Set. But not for the cults book. And Chaosium have the mail addresses to most people who have bought other Runequest products. You dont need influencers to reach them. 

That is also why I dont get why Chaosium dont let us buy pdf:s with coupons for the Cults Book. You can do that if you buy products that definitely needs marketing (and where a coordinated could have its merits) such as the BRP Book and Rivers of London. But I dont think a pdf-first policy for the Cults book would affect the sale.

But IF the pdf:s were available for sale this week, when the tweet by Abraham would have made some sense.

Edited April 12, 2023 by Soccercalle

[Brian Duguid]

Do RuneQuest people live in complete isolation from the rest of the world? I'm with @g33k here. Seriously?

I've just watched a trailer for a film I won't be able to watch until seven months time. I've been watching one of the Jonstown Compendium authors sharing preview text and art for his next book for what feels like 12 months ahead of its release (and I saw a physical preview copy of that five months ago - wait, am I an influencer now?)

It's called "hype". It's about raising anticipation, about getting people excited, in the hope that excitement will prove infectious. And marketing the Cults books to the non-core audience is not about selling the Cults books to them, at least, that's surely not the sole point: it's about building brand awareness, about getting people aware that there's something exciting going on over here. That takes time. Yes, they may buy the Starter Set first. But it may be the marketing of the Cults books, with all their amazing art and content, that makes people aware this is a product line which is alive and kicking and filled with cool things. You build to a big bang and you make as much of it as you can. You want actual physical books that people can open and hold in their hands and tell their friends how impressed they were. You don't dribble out a few PDFs for the people who will buy it anyway, whenever it lands, only to have that wider audience tell you at Gencon "what's the fuss? You were selling this as PDF four months ago - it's old news".

[Soccercalle]

9 minutes ago, Brian Duguid said:

Do RuneQuest people live in complete isolation from the rest of the world? I'm with @g33k here. Seriously?

I've just watched a trailer for a film I won't be able to watch until seven months time. I've been watching one of the Jonstown Compendium authors sharing preview text and art for his next book for what feels like 12 months ahead of its release (and I saw a physical preview copy of that five months ago - wait, am I an influencer now?)

It's called "hype". It's about raising anticipation, about getting people excited, in the hope that excitement will prove infectious. And marketing the Cults books to the non-core audience is not about selling the Cults books to them, at least, that's surely not the sole point: it's about building brand awareness, about getting people aware that there's something exciting going on over here. That takes time. Yes, they may buy the Starter Set first. But it may be the marketing of the Cults books, with all their amazing art and content, that makes people aware this is a product line which is alive and kicking and filled with cool things. You build to a big bang and you make as much of it as you can. You want actual physical books that people can open and hold in their hands and tell their friends how impressed they were. You don't dribble out a few PDFs for the people who will buy it anyway, whenever it lands, only to have that wider audience tell you at Gencon "what's the fuss? You were selling this as PDF four months ago - it's old news".

I think you have very good arguments regarding brand awareness. But I also think that you cant take the people "who will buy it anyway" for granted. I cant get why it is a good sales strategy to release the BRP Book and Rivers of London books as pfd:s first but a bad strategy to do it for the Cults Book. The sales arguments for a coordinated release date is much stronger for new product lines (and for things like the Starter Set).

[Brian Duguid]

10 minutes ago, Soccercalle said:

I cant get why it is a good sales strategy to release the BRP Book and Rivers of London books as pfd:s first but a bad strategy to do it for the Cults Book.

I have some sympathy on this point. I think the marketing people will tell us that a release has more impact if all the publicity coordinates to a single milestone. Sharing the same publicity twice probably has lower impact the second time around. I suspect the Cults strategy is better than the RoL or BRP strategies.

I expect the BRP one was largely about being the first ORC-licensed product on the market. That was probably worth more in terms of potential attention than waiting months for the print version and watching several others scoop first-mover advantage. It's in a different marketing game, where first move was probably seen as more important than anything else. RQG is not in that game.

I'm only guessing, but I imagine that Rivers of London was put out in PDF so they could hit the big London convention, Dragonmeet, in early December last year: that's where I saw it and heard all about it, and the UK market may be seen as more important given the nature of the product. Just guessing, to be honest.

Edited April 12, 2023 by Brian Duguid

[g33k]

n.b. regarding the "single push" vs "PDF-1st + coupon-for-hardcopy" marketing strategies:  please note that Chaosium has tried this both ways.

They have data in-hand, and are making a solid evidence-based decision.  I cannot fault them for this.

I am relatively confident that they wouldn't be frustrating their fans over a random whim.  They have good reasons (even if they don't always feel it necessary to fully-explain those reasons) for broadly moving away from the "PDF-1st" strategy, and for making exceptions (when & if they do so).

Personally, I am *MOSTLY* a PDF-1st kinda guy.  Although I mostly-prefer hardcopy, I'm not averse to the advantages of the PDF format (and I love the quicker access!); usually, I buy both.

It is my intention -- given Chaosium's new emphasis on the "single push" marketing strategy -- to largely buy the Cults books (and most Chaosium new-releases) via one of the FLGS' in the Brick&Mortar program (previously, I tended to buy new releases direct (for that early PDF) and back-catalogue from the FLGS (to support the local store)); Chaosium is no longer incentivizing me to buy direct from them.

I presume they have already figured this sort of decision into their calculations... but if enough of us buy this way, it may make them revisit the decision.

[g33k]

7 hours ago, Brian Duguid said:

... I expect the BRP one was largely about being the first ORC-licensed product on the market. That was probably worth more in terms of potential attention than waiting months for the print version and watching several others scoop first-mover advantage. It's in a different marketing game, where first move was probably seen as more important than anything else ...

I'm sure the "first mover advantage" wasn't lost upon Chaosium.
But I think the real issue is that the public (specifically, the buying public aka "customers;" but only as a subset of "the public") have a terribly-short memory.

WotC's "OGLpocalypse" is in the rear-view mirror, and fading fast as an "issue" that most gamers care about.  Many of the "we are dropping D&D" crowd are quietly not dropping D&D any more.  If they want to get *ANY* of the "disaffected WotC" crowd, they need to be moving as fast as humanly possible, or faster.

[Bill the barbarian]

8 hours ago, Brian Duguid said:

Do RuneQuest people live in complete isolation from the rest of the world? I'm with @g33k here. Seriously?

 

They must, marketing always leads reality in the sense of time and seasons... Most summer fashion shows appear the season (or more) before.

[Jason Farrell]

6 hours ago, Bill the barbarian said:

Most summer fashion shows appear the season (or more) before.

Yeah, they do.  Because the people buying those clothes aren't the people who are going to wear them, they're the buyers for clothing retailers who have to figure out what they're going buy and store and ship to their stores ahead of time. 

Those clothing stores, however, don't advertise such that people can somehow be inspired to wait 3 months to come in and actually buy the clothes. 

Edited April 12, 2023 by Jason Farrell

[Shiningbrow]

On 4/13/2023 at 12:34 AM, g33k said:

I am relatively confident that they wouldn't be frustrating their fans over a random whim.

I'm not.

I've seen Chaosium do/say  things that are not in the loyal fans' best interests. I would even go so far as to call it disdain. (this is one reason why the HQ rules are still at the 40+ years of waiting - whilst also completely ignoring the Mongoose versions. For some, the long-term fans' real needs were completely ignored for the last X years).

Their focus has been on trying to get new (more) fans (well, their money!), rather than appealing to those of us who have hung on for those decades.

And, for this reason, while RQ will always be my favourite TTRPG, I won't call Chaosium my favourite publisher.

[soltakss]

On 4/15/2023 at 8:16 AM, Shiningbrow said:

I've seen Chaosium do/say  things that are not in the loyal fans' best interests. I would even go so far as to call it disdain.

Personally, I wouldn't say that. The people at Chaosium are gamers and RuneQuest fans. When I have spoken to them at conventions they haven't shown one iota of disdain, in fact quite the opposite.

On 4/15/2023 at 8:16 AM, Shiningbrow said:

(this is one reason why the HQ rules are still at the 40+ years of waiting - whilst also completely ignoring the Mongoose versions. For some, the long-term fans' real needs were completely ignored for the last X years).

HeroQuesting was largely ignored in RQ2/3, except for some sample HeroQuests. The Mongoose rules had usable HeroQuesting rules, but I doubt if the new HeroQuesting Rules would refer to them, due to the current views on those rules.

I don't think the lack of HeroQuesting rules was because Chaosium were ignoring what long-term fans wanted. In fact, until relatively recently there was not a measure of how much HeroQuesting rules were wanted. Maybe sales of Arcane Lore and Secrets of HeroQuesting showed that there was a market for HeroQuesting, I don't know. But, Chaosium had bigger fish to fry, with Gods and Goddesses of Glorantha, the GameMaster's Guide, and other setting-specific material. Don't forget that things like the Red Book of Magic and Glorantha Bestiary took time to write and Jeff could only concentrate on one thing at a time.

On 4/15/2023 at 8:16 AM, Shiningbrow said:

Their focus has been on trying to get new (more) fans (well, their money!), rather than appealing to those of us who have hung on for those decades.

I don't think that is the case at all, to be honest. I wait patiently for things to come out and I buy them when they do. If they don't come out quickly enough, then I write things myself, as I have always done.

[Wheel Shield]

On 4/15/2023 at 1:16 AM, Shiningbrow said:

I'm not.

I've seen Chaosium do/say  things that are not in the loyal fans' best interests. I would even go so far as to call it disdain. (this is one reason why the HQ rules are still at the 40+ years of waiting - whilst also completely ignoring the Mongoose versions. For some, the long-term fans' real needs were completely ignored for the last X years).

Their focus has been on trying to get new (more) fans (well, their money!), rather than appealing to those of us who have hung on for those decades.

And, for this reason, while RQ will always be my favourite TTRPG, I won't call Chaosium my favourite publisher.

I am not going to chastise you. I think your frustration is understandable. I do want to share a perspective, and it's one I arrived at from reading this thread... so it's new to me, but maybe it will be helpful.

Chaosium has not always been the same company. It's kinda like Arkat. There has been more than one Chaosium, and over the years these "Chaosiums" have had different priorities, licenses, fiscal and administrative leadership as well as creative leadership.

I guess you could call this the Rick Meint's Chaosium. Although there are at last three other major stakeholders, and I don't know the Call of Cthulhu folks very well, so I don't mean to leave anybody out.

• Not to be confused with the Pre-2015 Chaosium (I kid when I write the Gbjai Chaosium).
• Not to be confused with the Chaosium that licensed Runequest to Avalon Hill (I joke when I say the Nysalor Chaosium).
• Not to be confused with the Runequest that saw Greg fall in love with Pendragon.
• Not to be confused with the 2nd Edition Runequest that was beloved AND planned on releasing HQ rules.

I could drag Issaries Inc and Hero Wars, Heroquest, Heroquest Glorantha, Mongoose into the metaphor but I think you get my point.

We've been disappointed for decades, and the last few years probably don't feel like they have come fast enough. But when we shake our fist at Chaosium today, it's not the same company that caused us to be disappointed. Yet these guys bought all of the baggage when they rescued this company. They haven't shirked it or held us in contempt, it's just getting to where we are now is not the function of an instant. It's been the function of about seven years. Seven years coming back from the edge of no tomorrow.

This year I really believe we're getting at least 4 new meaty books and who knows? Maybe some more. But I believe at least four. They've committed to at least four, and committed very publicly. This will be a good year and next year will be better yet. Starting in July.

I can't put them on trial for 33 years of other people's decisions. July is coming buddy.  🙂

(All this post is my understanding and perception. I don't mean to speak for Chaosium and what I wrote was in good faith and inclined towards being positive)

[Rob Darvall]

3 hours ago, Wheel Shield said:

This year I really believe we're getting at least 4 new meaty books and who knows? Maybe some more. But I believe at least four. They've committed to at least four, and committed very publicly. This will be a good year and next year will be better yet. Starting in July.

This, and:

In a way we're getting a re-release of the game. Given the nature of the setting the gods and cults are not just bolt on tat to make it look good or to be spell banks for PCs. This stuff has been 50 years in the making, and is integral to the vision of the world. And as svenson's Elmal work shows, we're not done yet. I say we because much, if not most, of this work is done by fans. Often fans who've put their money where their mouths are in the most literal way, as is implied in Wheel Shield's post.

[Shiningbrow]

@soltakss I'm not going to really rebut you (too much), but I will comment. After all, you are entitled to your opinion a much as I am (and everyone else).

15 hours ago, soltakss said:

Personally, I wouldn't say that. The people at Chaosium are gamers and RuneQuest fans. When I have spoken to them at conventions they haven't shown one iota of disdain, in fact quite the opposite.

Some of the responses to posts made on this forum over the years makes me beg to differ! But, that's not face to face at conventions...

 

15 hours ago, soltakss said:

he Mongoose rules had usable HeroQuesting rules, but I doubt if the new HeroQuesting Rules would refer to them, due to the current views on those rules.

I think it's less about the rules, and more about the publisher... but we already know about that. While it's not my main point, I do need to keep repeating myself that Mongoose that the license for only a very short while, and put out TWO books with HQ rules in them! Including many pages of sample HQs for a number of cults.

15 hours ago, soltakss said:

In fact, until relatively recently there was not a measure of how much HeroQuesting rules were wanted.

I totally, completely disagree with this point!!! Any long-term fan of RQ has known that this has been wanted for decades. The question should be - how much do new players to RQ want them? (which therefore relates to my other section on who Chaosium are focussing on.

 

15 hours ago, soltakss said:

and Jeff could only concentrate on one thing at a time.

And therein lies the problem... having only ONE writer! RBoM was already largely written decades ago (there aren't that many new spells - although converting to RQG would take time, plus additional). the GaGoG (especially the main cults coming in the first few books*) were basically written decades ago) and so I'm flummoxed as to why ONLY ONE person is allowed to work on them, to the exclusion of all else and all others.

 

(Let's revisit after it's released. Yes, I'll buy it too... but I'm not expecting a whole lot of new stuff!)

 

 

And that's where I'll leave it.

I know you'll probably disagree with me on this (as will a good many others). But, I also expect there are a few out there who will like this post... The question then becomes - does this, and the feeling that at least some fans have, make a dent in the Chaosium consciousness? Not necessarily to agree, but to understand.

[Shiningbrow]

14 hours ago, Wheel Shield said:

I am not going to chastise you. I think your frustration is understandable. I do want to share a perspective, and it's one I arrived at from reading this thread... so it's new to me, but maybe it will be helpful.

Chaosium has not always been the same company. It's kinda like Arkat. There has been more than one Chaosium, and over the years these "Chaosiums" have had different priorities, licenses, fiscal and administrative leadership as well as creative leadership.

I guess you could call this the Rick Meint's Chaosium. Although there are at last three other major stakeholders, and I don't know the Call of Cthulhu folks very well, so I don't mean to leave anybody out.

• Not to be confused with the Pre-2015 Chaosium (I kid when I write the Gbjai Chaosium).
• Not to be confused with the Chaosium that licensed Runequest to Avalon Hill (I joke when I say the Nysalor Chaosium).
• Not to be confused with the Runequest that saw Greg fall in love with Pendragon.
• Not to be confused with the 2nd Edition Runequest that was beloved AND planned on releasing HQ rules.

I could drag Issaries Inc and Hero Wars, Heroquest, Heroquest Glorantha, Mongoose into the metaphor but I think you get my point.

We've been disappointed for decades, and the last few years probably don't feel like they have come fast enough. But when we shake our fist at Chaosium today, it's not the same company that caused us to be disappointed. Yet these guys bought all of the baggage when they rescued this company. They haven't shirked it or held us in contempt, it's just getting to where we are now is not the function of an instant. It's been the function of about seven years. Seven years coming back from the edge of no tomorrow.

This year I really believe we're getting at least 4 new meaty books and who knows? Maybe some more. But I believe at least four. They've committed to at least four, and committed very publicly. This will be a good year and next year will be better yet. Starting in July.

I can't put them on trial for 33 years of other people's decisions. July is coming buddy.  🙂

(All this post is my understanding and perception. I don't mean to speak for Chaosium and what I wrote was in good faith and inclined towards being positive)

Oh yes, I'm aware.

And yes, they bought that baggage. And along with it was the knowledge of what happened with those editions, and what fans were wanting... dare I say, 'needing'?

"I can't put them on trial for 33 years of other people's decisions."

No, I can't either. But I can put them on trial for the last 7. And I have and am.

[Erol of Backford]

On 4/16/2023 at 1:18 PM, Wheel Shield said:

(All this post is my understanding and perception. I don't mean to speak for Chaosium and what I wrote was in good faith and inclined towards being positive)

I am also delighted (positive) that we are having a Gloranthian Renaissance (positive) and can't wait for the following, some more than others which have had less material published on them, let's get the cult books out (market any way you might think of) so the juicy stuff may follow:

• The Dragon Pass Campaign - sort of like Pendragon Boy King
• Heroquesting Sourcebook
• Upland Marsh (manuscript complete, art commissioning and editing underway)
• Holy Country (which might just be called Masters of Luck and Death)
• Grazelands sourcebook
• Heortland & Hendrikland sourcebook
• The Dragons Eye - details
• Temple of the Sun (sourcebook for Sun Dome County in Dragon Pass)
• Culbrea book - by some of the Beer With Teeth crew
• Esrolia (expanded version of Nochet) book
• Kralorela sourcebook

Inquiry minds want to know more!

[Jason Farrell]

4 hours ago, Erol of Backford said:

I am also delighted (positive) that we are having a Gloranthian Renaissance (positive)...

More like we can see it if we squint.  As we sit here, unless we were one of the 50 odd people in Ann Arbor recently or a social media influencer, we still haven't gotten a new book since late 2021.

I'm still not thrilled that the cults books ended up being on a 2+ year release window.  There's been no concrete word of any of the other books in development (like the Sartar book or Gamemaster book).  Have to assume at this point that they're 2025 or later releases.  Not a renaissance, in my opinion.  I hope the cults books are great and do very well. 

[Brian Duguid]

No doubt people will whine and quibble, but yes, we are clearly having a Gloranthan Renaissance. Since the end of 2021 we've seen published (in no particular order and apologies for omissions):

• The Seven-Tailed Wolf
• New Pavis: City on the Edge of Forever
• Old Pavis: The City That Time Forgot
• Pirates of the East Isles
• Duckpac: 3 volumes
• The Lifethief
• Temple of Twins
• To Hunt a God
• Crimson King
• Hero Wars in the East Isles: 2 volumes
• Holiday Dorastor: 3 volumes
• The Six Paths
• The Children of Hykim
• Edge of Empire
• Adventurers from the Lunar Provinces

and bucketloads more great RQ/Glorantha material.

"But I'm talking about Chaosium". "But that's non-canonical". "But I need my cults (even though I'm a grognard with them in umpteen formats already)".

The world has shifted. We are not constrained by the bottleneck of just one author, or one graphic design team, or whatever. Our Gloranthas are Varying more rapidly than ever.

I'm as keen to see the new Chaosium output as anyone. And I think a coherent and active product line is vital to attract new players. But as someone familiar with the existing product line plus quite a bit of the JC material, I'm really not finding that I'm short of things to do in my actual RuneQuest game, or that I'm waiting for any Chaosium book to do what I want to do.

[Rick Meints]

On 4/16/2023 at 2:18 PM, Wheel Shield said:

I guess you could call this the Rick Meint's Chaosium.

While I am extremely flattered for you saying that, I refer to the Chaosium of today as "Chaosium." Happy to elaborate on that.

Chaosium has existed, as previously stated, with a wide spectrum of owners, managers and staff since 1975. If someone says "Chaosium isn't publishing enough RQ" I view that as a comment on what we are currently doing. If someone says "Chaosium didn't publish enough RQ back in the 80s" I view that as a historical reflection on past performance. While you might find it odd for me to do, I often find myself apologizing for past Chaosium behavior without hesitation, even if it happened decades before I joined the company let alone had any say in its actions. That's my philosophy of what a "company" is. When I talk about Chaosium from any era I find myself more and more just saying "we", as opposed to "they". 

ps: As the head of Nostalgia at Chaosium I sometimes refer to the company as "The Chaosium", but that's a different story...

[Wheel Shield]

58 minutes ago, Rick Meints said:

While I am extremely flattered for you saying that, I refer to the Chaosium of today as "Chaosium." Happy to elaborate on that.

Chaosium has existed, as previously stated, with a wide spectrum of owners, managers and staff since 1975. If someone says "Chaosium isn't publishing enough RQ" I view that as a comment on what we are currently doing. If someone says "Chaosium didn't publish enough RQ back in the 80s" I view that as a historical reflection on past performance. While you might find it odd for me to do, I often find myself apologizing for past Chaosium behavior without hesitation, even if it happened decades before I joined the company let alone had any say in its actions. That's my philosophy of what a "company" is. When I talk about Chaosium from any era I find myself more and more just saying "we", as opposed to "they". 

ps: As the head of Nostalgia at Chaosium I sometimes refer to the company as "The Chaosium", but that's a different story...

I appreciate all of this and it’s a fine example of good leadership. 
 

But, respectfully, when I read statements like “we’ve been waiting for 40 years and Chaosium is still screwing up” (paraphrased), I’m not going to accept that at face value. I know better. Or, I at the very least, I know it’s not that simple. I’m happy to flatter you but that’s not flattery, it simply is not your fault. You can apologize for everything and I think that’s very upstanding, but…. <<shrug>>

 

I think I get it. I have depicted the situation, and by extension I have depicted you in a light that you’re not comfortable with. You don’t want it to be contagious, repeated, and/or you don’t want to be seen as sharing this perspective. It’s not a good look for you to be seen agreeing with the notion that you AND OTHERS saved the company. I sorta expected you or Jeff to push back on this post. Or Scotty to shut it down (hold my beer on getting back on topic). The thing is I got reasons for defending and supporting you and your whole team, and it’s not based on fanboy logic or emotion.

Is this article not true? Because the last line thanks Chaosium for being forthcoming and it quotes (not paraphrases) you prolifically. In mid-2015 this company had 10,000 in the checking account and would have likely gone bankrupt. Did The Nerdist make this up? Did you not say these things? Again, is this not true?

Cthulhu Company Kickstarted Itself To DEATH Then This Happened - The Nerdist 

Even if we don’t dwell on it too much, I think you merit a couple years of grace taking over a struggling company.

I’ll lighten up here. You and your team are entitled to your modesty. Note I am referring to “team” more more often. Agreed, you have never done these good things alone.

But let’s not stop at 2015. To get this back on topic. Before this thread gets locked/killed.

Let’s look at Shiningbrow’s last direct reply to me. I was going to drop this discussion but I’ve been inspired to add to it. Thanks Rick! (Wink)
“No, I can't either. But I can put them on trial for the last 7. And I have and am.”

When do we start this “clock” when Chaosium allegedly didn’t make RQ a priority?

• The company changes leadership in crisis in 2015. At this point there is no in-house rule set for RuneQuest, other than old reprints. There is a Glorantha system, but not RuneQuest.
• In 2017, Eleven Lights is published for Heroquest Glorantha. We don’t even have a contemporary, in-print version of Runequest for a modern contemporary audience. We still have HQ! (I mean published, not in development)
• In 2018, we have a modern in-print Rulebook, to be followed by a Bestiary, and GM Pack
• Since then, we have had a Starter Set, Red Book of Magic, Adventure Books.
• I can’t pin this down, but I imagine Jeff spent some time with Greg to pass the custodianship of Glorantha. Cause I’m guessing Greg could be like Tolkien, with a whole lot of notes and evolving ideas. That’s a big inheritance to absorb before the man sadly passed away.
  
  If we’re judging Chaosium’s productivity on Runequest, can we not start at 2018? It’s early in 2023 and we got four important books coming out. It’s unfair to suggest they’re not doing their best and doing a pretty good job.
  
  To Rick, the aggressive tone in this post was meant to be tongue-in-cheek. Humility is awesome, but I’m going to think well of you and your confederates if I want to. Sorry.

[Jeff]

2 minutes ago, Wheel Shield said:

I appreciate all of this and it’s a fine example of good leadership. 
 

But, respectfully, when I read statements like “we’ve been waiting for 40 years and Chaosium is still screwing up” (paraphrased), I’m not going to accept that at face value. I know better. Or, I at the very least, I know it’s not that simple. I’m happy to flatter you but that’s not flattery, it simply is not your fault. You can apologize for everything and I think that’s very upstanding, but…. <<shrug>>

 

I think I get it. I have depicted the situation, and by extension I have depicted you in a light that you’re not comfortable with. You don’t want it to be contagious, repeated, and/or you don’t want to be seen as sharing this perspective. It’s not a good look for you to be seen agreeing with the notion that you AND OTHERS saved the company. I sorta expected you or Jeff to push back on this post. Or Scotty to shut it down (hold my beer on getting back on topic). The thing is I got reasons for defending and supporting you and your whole team, and it’s not based on fanboy logic or emotion.

Is this article not true? Because the last line thanks Chaosium for being forthcoming and it quotes (not paraphrases) you prolifically. In mid-2015 this company had 10,000 in the checking account and would have likely gone bankrupt. Did The Nerdist make this up? Did you not say these things? Again, is this not true?

Cthulhu Company Kickstarted Itself To DEATH Then This Happened - The Nerdist 

Even if we don’t dwell on it too much, I think you merit a couple years of grace taking over a struggling company.

I’ll lighten up here. You and your team are entitled to your modesty. Note I am referring to “team” more more often. Agreed, you have never done these good things alone.

But let’s not stop at 2015. To get this back on topic. Before this thread gets locked/killed.

Let’s look at Shiningbrow’s last direct reply to me. I was going to drop this discussion but I’ve been inspired to add to it. Thanks Rick! (Wink)
“No, I can't either. But I can put them on trial for the last 7. And I have and am.”

When do we start this “clock” when Chaosium allegedly didn’t make RQ a priority?

• The company changes leadership in crisis in 2015. At this point there is no in-house rule set for RuneQuest, other than old reprints. There is a Glorantha system, but not RuneQuest.
• In 2017, Eleven Lights is published for Heroquest Glorantha. We don’t even have a contemporary, in-print version of Runequest for a modern contemporary audience. We still have HQ! (I mean published, not in development)
• In 2018, we have a modern in-print Rulebook, to be followed by a Bestiary, and GM Pack
• Since then, we have had a Starter Set, Red Book of Magic, Adventure Books.
• I can’t pin this down, but I imagine Jeff spent some time with Greg to pass the custodianship of Glorantha. Cause I’m guessing Greg could be like Tolkien, with a whole lot of notes and evolving ideas. That’s a big inheritance to absorb before the man sadly passed away.
  
  If we’re judging Chaosium’s productivity on Runequest, can we not start at 2018? It’s early in 2023 and we got four important books coming out. It’s unfair to suggest they’re not doing their best and doing a pretty good job.
  
  To Rick, the aggressive tone in this post was meant to be tongue-in-cheek. Humility is awesome, but I’m going to think well of you and your confederates if I want to. Sorry.

Starting from scratch in 2018, we have published Glorantha Sourcebook (2018), RuneQuest (2018), Bestiary (2018), GM Adventures Pack (2018), Smoking Ruins (2019), Pegasus Plateau (2020), Red Book of Magic (2020), Starter Set (2021), and Weapons and Equipment (2022). We now have the Prosopaedia (2023), Lightbringers (2023), Earth Goddesses (2023), and Mythology (2023). That comes out to a little over two RQ books a year on average, despite having our printing and logistics system completely disrupted in 2020-2021. I expect it to ramp up to around four+ a year, now that we have the pipeline properly fed.

Shiningbrow is welcome to hold me "for trial" for whatever he thinks I should have done. But to keep to the lawyerly metaphor, I am inclined to move for dismissal for failure to state a claim.

[Revilo Divad Of Dyoll]

3 hours ago, Rick Meints said:

As the head of Nostalgia

That is just a great job title.

[AndreJarosch]

1 hour ago, Jeff said:

Starting from scratch in 2018, we have published Glorantha Sourcebook (2018), RuneQuest (2018), Bestiary (2018), GM Adventures Pack (2018), Smoking Ruins (2019), Pegasus Plateau (2020), Red Book of Magic (2020), Starter Set (2021), and Weapons and Equipment (2022). We now have the Prosopaedia (2023), Lightbringers (2023), Earth Goddesses (2023), and Mythology (2023). That comes out to a little over two RQ books a year on average, despite having our printing and logistics system completely disrupted in 2020-2021. I expect it to ramp up to around four+ a year, now that we have the pipeline properly fed.

Shiningbrow is welcome to hold me "for trial" for whatever he thinks I should have done. But to keep to the lawyerly metaphor, I am inclined to move for dismissal for failure to state a claim.

And 4(+) books a year is GREAT. Enough to keep the game on the table running and more than enough to keep the game alive, but also not so much to have still have left money in the pocket for other hobbys (or buying Pendragon, Cthulhu, River of London, Lord of the Middle-Sea etc. books). The future looks bright for RuneQuest, and it is time for us long time fans to acknowlege that, and let Chaosium do their marketing things (even if we don´t agree with all of them) to get NEW players on board, too.