I know that since the OGL there has been a robust market of d20-based RPG games in PDF forms on sites like RPGNow.
Does anyone know if the market is still relatively strong, or watched by many gamers? I got some stuff I'd like to throw ona PDF and put out there for publishing, and I was curious.
Chief Technical Officer
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I know that since the OGL there has been a robust market of d20-based RPG games in PDF forms on sites like RPGNow.
Does anyone know if the market is still relatively strong, or watched by many gamers? I got some stuff I'd like to throw ona PDF and put out there for publishing, and I was curious.
We sell PDFs from other companies right here on paizo.com.
The Wizards of the Coast downloads sell really, really well (for obvious reasons).
As for smaller publishers, some sell well, and some don't move at all. Gamers are a savvy lot - it shouldn't be too surprising that the ones that sell well are generally well-designed and well-edited products, while ones that aren't finished to a professional standard just plain don't sell. Owning a copy of Adobe Acrobat is not enough to make you a successful game publisher.
The phrase "I got some stuff I'd like to throw ona PDF" sets off warning bells in my head - I'd advise you not to bother with commercial sales unless you know (or know you are) a good developer, a good editor, and a good designer, and are prepared to spend a lot of time and effort crafting and polishing your products.
-Vic.
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Forgive the lackluster presentation of the idea. More precisely, I have alot of background, and designed mechanics I think are good. Assuming I could playtest, edit, double check and streamline them into a cohesive product of quality, I would like to do it. I don't for a minute assume that the process is easy, or that success for less than stellar material is a sure thing.
I wasn't intending to just kind of throw out my homebrews. These are very specific things I want to do, that I think could be successful if properly designed. Campaign settings based on lesser used cultures, for example.
I needed to know if there was any chance of anyone wanting to see them if I were to go through all the work of doing it. I probably will, but I needed a clearer idea of how the market is, and how much success one should expect should one choose to go that route.
Contributor
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I recommend buying RPGNow's start-up package before you go any further, regardless of how you want to sell your product. It has lots of useful information on what sells and how much, as well as loads of other useful advice. It doesn't pull any punches, because RPGNow want to sell good stuff, not host junk that doesn't sell.
This is in no way intended to recommend RPGNow over Paizo or any other supplier of pdfs.