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An interesting post on the patronage system in rpgs.
What do you think of the system? Is anyone currently participating in such a process? Personally, I find it intriguing and have more than once considered signing up with Mr. Baur's Open Design. Spouse has vetoed it at the moment (pointing to my HUGE stack of Paizo products alone) but I believe I'll eventually prevail.
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I've been a Sr Patron for all of the Open Design projects except the first (which I am still very bitter over). I think the model is interesting and sometimes fun. However, when too many people get involved it is too difficult to feel as connected as the smaller-scaled projects.
I've often wished I could commission people (Skeletonkey & Blackdirge come to mind) to do some ideas I have...so I think it would great if more people followed this approach.
except the first (which I am still very bitter over)
Join the club, DF. I discovered Wolf's projects a couple weeks too late to get in on the first one. I've been a part of every one since then, though.
The idea is interesting, but it's definitely not for me. I like to see a finished product for myself and/or see positive reviews before I buy anything. For instance, I wouldn't even buy a Paizo adventure path until all of the modules were published and I could get them all at once (yay for the Shackled City hardcover!).
The idea is interesting, but it's definitely not for me. I like to see a finished product for myself and/or see positive reviews before I buy anything. For instance, I wouldn't even buy a Paizo adventure path until all of the modules were published and I could get them all at once (yay for the Shackled City hardcover!).
On the other hand, you can guide the direction of the project before it's published by participating in the polls and forum discussions. If you sign up at the basic patron levels (I know OD offers one, and so does Rite Publishing), you pay a lower price that reduces the financial risk of disappointment.
That's what I did for the first Open Design - I signed up for the lowest possible level, saw how the project evolved, loved the finished product, and then kept up my membership ever since.
(DISCLOSURE - I'm the regular layout kobold on the OD projects, and have been ever since I got my hands on the elusive Steam & Brass).
On the other hand, you can guide the direction of the project before it's published by participating in the polls and forum discussions. If you sign up at the basic patron levels (I know OD offers one, and so does Rite Publishing), you pay a lower price that reduces the financial risk of disappointment.
Here's my logic: I don't use a lot of RPG products in a given year, so I'm fairly certain that I can find some existing product that will fit my needs. Therefore, it doesn't make sense for me to pay money up front for a product that may not end up fitting my needs in the end.
But that's just me: I'm not a gambler. I'll almost always choose the "sure thing".
What do you think of the system?
Annoying, and even a bit confusing.
"What do you mean I can't get all the older products that previously came out?"
(I'm also not one to "guide" the direction of a product through it's development and early life-cycle... that's what I'm paying others to do. I just want to see a completed product and then I'll decide to buy it if it meets my needs or not. Rinse, repeat.)
I recently became a patron in OD and franckly I've never participated on the forums... I have complete trusth on Wolfgang and so I'm not worried about the outcome, I know its going to be great.
The material alone it worth the money, and if you like to contribute ideas then you get more value out of your investment.
I've been considering signing up for a project, but my finances have not yet allowed me to do so. :(
"What do you mean I can't get all the older products that previously came out?"
The exclusivity aspect has always been controversial. I've always thought "the more, the merrier" when it comes to letting new patrons access old works, since all the heavy creative lifting has already been done prior to publication. They're buying a product, not buying into a project, as it were. Besides, more money to the creators encourages more patronage projects.
On the other hand, exclusivity has a certain cachet to it - my inner Smaug is perfectly happy to treat the OD books like treasures in the hoard - and patrons do generally feel pride in their ownership of the finished work. It's nice to know that the work is always going to be a rarity - and it's a good way to entice patrons to buy in.
As business models go, there's certainly a trade-off between guaranteed, though limited, patron sales, versus potentially unlimited, though vastly uncertain, general public sales.