I’ve recently been thinking about the old Headless Hydra Games products vs the new Headless Hydra Games products. Clearly the newest products are of a much higher standard, writing and layout-wise.
When I started out more than 2 years ago, I just wanted to create a setting of my own, something that I could use for my own games, but also a setting that others might enjoy using. I created Mor Aldenn, the City of Mages. It started out small, just a GM’s and Player’s guide, basically the same information, but with different angles. From the very beginning, I knew that I wanted to eventually create a bigger more complete guide, fully compatible with the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. Now, two years later… I have.
Confession time: The old material is poorly written and lacks editing. I’ll gladly take the blame for that, I may have been a little too eager to get my first product on the market. In my defense, I did ask 6-7 proofreaders to help out make the product better, but in hindsight, I probably should have taken all of their advice. However, the two guidebooks still has a lot of cool ideas and some really great artwork to inspire a GM or player. Also, it was the old material that inspired the new material and some of the original material haven’t been changed.
So here’s the problem: I would like to put the old material behind me and look forward. Call it sort of a 2nd edition of Mor Aldenn. However, there are quite a few people who have bought the old guides, so would it be fair to remove the products from the market altogether? If I do this, it won’t be possible for them to download the products anymore and they would have (sort of) wasted their money.
The (temporary) solution: I’ve just changed the prices of the oldest products (Player’s Guide, GM’s Guide, Gods of Mor Aldenn, Ugly Harpy, A Trail of Poison) so that they are practically free. I’ve also made two of the products free downloads (Wizard’s Path, chapter 1 and 2). So far, the changes have only been made to RPGNow, but will hopefully be made to the Paizo store… soon.
I think these are much more fair prices, for the quality, but what I would really like to do is…
1) Remove them completely. Or…
2) Make them free downloads
What are your thoughts on this?
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Hm, kind of a Catch 22 there. If you keep the old ones cheap, people might heck them out and think they reflect your current quality. (Which they thankfully don't.) If you remove them, however, old customers might feel cheated. What about the following compromise (I don't know whether this one is viable):
Give a 30-day-notice to customers that you'll take down the old pdfs. Offer a discount-coupon depending on the amount of old pdfs they own as compensation for the old files or throw in a free pdf for them.
Might be a bureaucratic nightmare, but would leave them happy... Of course, I don't know whether it's feasible or even possible to do that.
Just my 2 cents. i do think that keeping the old files might damage the reputation you have for the new ones. Starting with Soldragonn Academy you have improved massively and have the old books make customers wary of the campaign setting would be a pity.
I should mention that I don't have a stake in this: First file I bought from you guys was Soldragonn and while I regret purchasing "Trail of Poison" and the player's guide, the other pdfs I bought (Map pack, Moon's Folly, Creature Compendium, Wreck of the Keening Crone) have shown a continuous upwards-trend in overall quality. (With the exception of the Clockworker, who needs to be repaired...)
My 2 cents, of course.
I agree with End. People will probably check out the free ones to see your quality. I think it's best to pull them.
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I agree with End. I would take down the old campaign guides. Just give them notice and then see about offering a discount to get the new version. Also for things like Trail of Poison maybe you can go back when you have time revist and redo it. Update it with your new skills and then offer it cheap as a cheap intro for people to see your work.
The main problem with leaving them especially making them cheap is. Some might buy them and think all of your products are that way and you have gotten steadily better.
I'd pull the free ones myself as well. If it's stuff you're not proud of, then don't start handing it out.
Thanks guys, for your advice.
I think it's a really good idea to give a months notice before pulling the products from the market. I doubt everyone will see the notice, but we'll see how it turns out. The whole discount-thing will probably be hard to follow through on, but I'll try it out or maybe just offer a big discount for everyone instead.
I agree, a bad product doesn't instantly become a better product if made available for free.
Its not that I'm not proud of the old products, merely that I want people to buy the new stuff and not the old. Also, this has nothing to do with bad reviews, I would never pull a product because of a bad review (and honestly, the old products have never received bad reviews, except perhaps one). You are right, DM, I might go back to some of my products sometime and see if there is something to be fixed, but here's a secret... I don't always agree with reviews, good or bad. :)
If I follow your advice, I would probably pull the two guides to Mor Aldenn, the Gods of Mor Aldenn: Ehlora and the Ugly Harpy pdf, mostly because most of the information has been changed in the new setting guide. No reason to confuse people. The two chapters of the Wizard's Path series, I would make available as free downloads.
Thanks again, your advice has proven very helpful!
- Axel