Busy time for me, Christmas is on the way and it's something of a big deal for my family. A lot to do that takes time away from my blog. Insult to injury, the latest expansion for Lord of the Rings Online shipped and that means we need to stay 'current' and that eats a bit of time.
So I'll be returning to my series on Hit Points soon.
In the meantime, some passing comments…
HERO 6th edition has shipped. As readers of this blog know, I'm not rushing out to buy it. With this change of editions, there's no longer a currently published game system of note (i.e. that you're likely to find on mainstream store shelf) that I use or support. Rather sad.
The largest change that I saw was to Killing Attacks, where one now gets to apply their non-resistant defense against the stun of the attack. I see this basically as a further move towards D&D style hit points, a style that the official HERO line has pushed since the days of Fantasy HERO- but now the option to build characters in a different style has been removed from the rules.
Or rather that seems to be the case. Does anyone know if the official rules include an option to use the old Killing Attack methods?
In more general terms, it seems the major gaming companies have all decided to revise (i.e. redesign) their game lines. New WoD, Shadowrun, D&D, HERO, Salvage Worlds, etc all represent this trend. Vast changes in core systems producing significantly different styles of play.
I suppose GURPS (a system I never liked) is the only standout of note. Or maybe it isn't, I didn't follow their latest edition changes.
It's difficult to say what the future holds, but such wholesale directional change indicates the beginning death throes of a hobby. A feeling by the companies that the old game styles no longer work, and that they have to risk everything on radical new editions.
Or maybe it's driven by the ego of the current owners. From my examples only Salvage Worlds and GURPs haven't changed either owners or management teams. HERO would seem to be an exception, except Long is on record as saying this edition was the first that allowed him to make the changes he wanted.
Whatever the case, I now see in the online world what I've seen only once before except for a few off-line groups: old edition hold outs. The last time I this, it was with FUZION. And that failed completely resulting in flameouts for the owning companies.
Will that history repeat as history often does?
Time will tell.
For now, my money is on the RPG hobby mirroring that of the comic books: A decline in sales and importance in their original offering by an order of magnitude.
With this, a transfer of their concepts to a new media. Yes, computer games will be the future for rpgs much like movies have become the future for comics.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Comments on the State of the 'Market'
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12 comments:
This seems a bit more morose than your usual ranting... we need to find you a new game to get excited about.
I do agree with your last statement, I've been saying it all along but most tabletop rpg advocates around here usually start plugging their ears and humming when I say stuff like that.
Helmsman: for my part, I disagree with your previously stated comments about computers replacing rpgs due to it including the idea that they are better way of playing certain styles of rpgs.
They aren't. They are a related, but quite different hobby. Much like movies are related, but very different from comics.
That however doesn't mean that they won't increasingly overshadow (they already do) PnP rpgs, and that rpg sales and players won't continue to drop.
But as that goes, those people will be moving to a very different experience.
Don't get me wrong, I've never claimed rpg-style computer games are the same experience as tabletop rpgs. I've said before that the internet as a medium already allows us to play tabletop rpgs online in exactly the format they're played around a table, and I believe that there will slowly be more and more tools developed to make this a more seamless experience to the point where software will be able to enhance the tabletop rpg experience.
As for computer games I believe that we'll see more of the Dragon Age-style co-marketing and White Wolf/CCP IP sharing that will help the rpg IP's be a sustainable business model. Not a bad thing in my opinion. It means that Tabletop rpgs will continue to be produced and great game designers will actually be able to get rich from what they create.
As for the internet allowing one to play in the 'same format', I'm going to call BS. I've tried it, and it was in comparsion a horrid format even with video and all the bells.
I think we're still very far away from meaningful table-top 'enhancement', or if even we'll ever get there.
Maybe when we get virtual reality rooms (which would be used to make yet another completely different gaming experience instead of enhancing an older one) we might get something that is the equal of face-to-face at the same table.
By that time, I expect PnP RPGs to be a relic of a lost era.
Don't you see? That's my point. They're not going to die! The creation of RPG intellectual property STILL HAS VALUE in the same way creating comics still have value.
If there is still value to these creations then people will still create them, and if fans still exist to buy them then there will still be a fan base no matter how small and fringe. This means that old-school tabletop gaming will still be supported on both ends for a long time to come (a minimum of 50 years).
Computerized play will continue to evolve and people will continue to play that way just as others like yourself will disdain that type of medium for a more traditional approach. Neither is wrong or harmful to the hobby. Even the endless debates over which way is "better" are a good thing because it means that both mediums will continue to strive for perfection, which will likely just result in more and more diversity on how it's possible to play and that's good as well.
IME it doesn't work that way.
Again, using the comics as examples. What are the most popular and best recieved comic movies?
The ones closest to the original concepts.
Which ones are hated and flops?
Those that don't use the original concepts.
Anything good from the rpg has already be done, and will translate fine. All that new stuff coming out now- straight road to failure.
Ah! See but commercial viability and artistic integrity have never been the same thing though they do go hand-in-hand.
X-Men - adapted from comics, hugely successful, not overly loved by the purists.
Spider Man - adapted from the comics, character is consistent in visuals only, no wit at all in the movie. Was the highest grossing non-sequel ever up to that point.
Sin City & 300 - These two movies are the only examples that validate your assessment. Noted as the movies that opened up hollywood to the adult graphic novel world. The creator was involved in every faucet of their development from day one and they are extremely true to the storylines.
Iron Man - Reasonably true to story, didn't take it's self seriously grossed huge.
BATMAN BEGINS & DARK KNIGHT - These guys were delivering the exact tone of the comics, though the stories were adaptations of them. They were massive successes in every way.
Watchmen - Besides the ending this movie was as true a rendition to film as it could be. Widely considered a flop despite the hype. I do think they maintained the artistic integrity of the concepts and story, but it wasn't that big a success.
So there we've examined a handful of comic/movie adaptations which show that your assessment of true to comic movies are good and deviated from comic movies are flops opinion to be correct only some of the time, certainly not enough to be as definitive a statement as you attest.
As for video-game rpg crossover that assessment too is flawed. Bioware has built it's self from 2 doctors wanting to make video games to arguably the 2nd most recognized brand associated with RPG video games behind Blizzard by adapting D&D to computer over and over again.
White Wolf used it's IP's in 3 successful video game crossovers, all three of which made significant earnings for the company over and above their P&P rpg lines. Games workshop has enjoyed immense revenues from Dawn of War, and even though Warhammer Fantasy Online still hasn't been able to break WoW's stranglehold on the MMO market, it was still a profitable venture despite the massive relization costs.
Shadowrun was also a successful adaptation.
Failures exist too... Rifts made a game for the Engage that I doubt anyone remembers and I'm sure there are dozens of attempts that never saw store shelves. But my point remains that video games can and are adapted from Tabletop RPG IP's and do become successes. Just because World of Warcraft wasn't a tabletop game before it was an MMO, does not mean that all TT adaptations are doomed to mediocrity.
I disagree with your views here as to which movies were successful, X-Men for example did have good (if rapidly dropping box office after each relese) but are poor performers compared to more pure examples such as Spiderman which had the hard and soul of the original if with minor changes in insignificant details (this ended with the release of the third movie).
That you disagree on that last point only highlights the differences between us- leaving nothing for us to agree on or anything further to talk about with respect to this subject.
So you honestly believe that tabletop role-playing has, can and will not ever contribute(d) to a viable video game product?
I believe that table top has already provided everything of use that it can to the video/computer game market.
Well let's hope for both hobby's sakes that you're wrong.
Tabletop role-playing games and comic books are now viable only as both a farm league for developing new talent and as a hot-house for developing new intellectual property for CRPG and feature film outfits to exploit. (Or, on occasion, novel publishers.) That much is now as solid a reality as need oxygen to breathe.
In other words, they're now nothing more than farm-raised turkeys. This is not a good thing for either hobby's business or culture, and the exodus of people from these hobbies to the "big league" conquerors is both telling and noticeable.
The solution is to stop catering to the sensibilities of those far larger media and instead focus very tightly on the specific strengths of TRPGs and comics as a medium. (The latter have a far, far harder time of that task; as it is, comics are ready-made to be storyboards for films.) Following up on that is to make the cultural shift necessary to bring in a new crowd of people that want to take part in such a thing- and not skip it for the larger, more popular, more acceptable and more convenient bigger medium. I think that this is viable as a goal, but not as things currently are; we do have, however, the tools at hand to make that happen.
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