Packaging and Presentation
pells:
Here's my take on the subject (being worth what's it's worth) :
I don't think the model of two separate products works fine ; neither product is good enough. Most (if not all) "novels" written to be adapted into "adventures" are not very good (to say the least ; just take at look at the DragonLance serie, for instance). As for "typical modules/adventures", well, I don't think they serve their purposes well.
So, instead of coming with two "disfunctional" products, I would suggest to come with only one that might serve the two purposes (novel and adventures).
This means that this "new" product wouldn't be a novel and neither an adventure. This should be something that anyone can pick up and read and that a DM can use to play.
But how do you acheive this ? I don't know.
I guess many "avenues" are possible there. But, just my opinion, the model of novel/modules hasn't been "revisited" in a while and I don't see any breakthru coming short ...
That said, I'm trying it (with a lot of delay in releasing the product) by using a kind of storyboard. And note that storyboards aren't sold today, but use in many context (movie, comics ...). I've shown my "novel" to some non players and they think it is quite readable ; and players can use them (at least, I do).
Well, I guess I bring you with more questions than answers, but I truly believe this is the way to do it.
MatrixGamer:
From a purely packaging perspective - 2 books shrunk wrapped is weaker than 1 book (with two parts). Leaving aside the extra cost of two books versus one (you're paying for binding twice) and that people like to see inside the books they buy before handing over cash - the two books would inevitably be separated. If they then did not totally stand on their own the long term impact of the game is ruined. I'm thinking like a used book seller here. I'd rather have a single book on my self than half of a set - selling singles is HARD.
Combining a book and game doesn't sound like a bad idea - I think interweaving the two together could be very exciting a quite innovative (and hard to do). I'm not certain I'd buy it but I suck as a consumer. I'm at the "I want to get rid of this junk" stage of life rather than the "Cool! Neat stuff! I want it." stage. This kind of product could be sold in either a game or a book store and then have a second life in the used book market. Or course that begs the question of getting into those markets.
A lot of Forge game designers don't aim for that. They sell direct to interested parties. This means the item will have a second life in the used book market someday but not for a long while. The buyers are going to have to get to my stage of llife first.
The real question by my way of thinking is "Is this a project that excites you? And if it is then what else would you be doing if you weren't working on this?"
I'm making boardgames now which involves a lot of cutting cardboard, pasting and shellacing. Over the weekend the thought hit me that if I do this it will not feel like a wasted life to me. Productive and pretty is worthy and if I wasn't doing this I'd probably be watching TV...
Chris Engle
Hamster Press
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