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Thread: BR Cancellation
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10-07-1998, 08:28 PM #11Gary V. FossGuest
BR Cancellation
Spyderz wrote:
> Interesting that you should mention this...I was recently talking with
> someone at TSR concerning something similar to this...I suggested to them
> that they release things in a fashion similar to what Hero Games has started
> doing...and that is as a .PDF file. Which is somewhat more likely than as
> an RTF format...because PDF is not easy or convenient to change...which an
> RTF is...and he told me they'd look into it...don't know if that makes it
> likely at all...but the nice thing with doing it as PDF files...you can
> format the file exactly as you want it...including color
> backgrounds...pictures...whatever..but the problem with doing it that
> way...while significantly reducing their costs to market...it also will
> reduce the number of units they will sell...because when someone buys a
> copy...all they have to do...is print a copy for themselves...and another
> for any of their friends who wants one...which of course may or may not be
> legal...but I wouldn't say that it is very ethical...but I guarantee that it
> will happen...on the other hand that might get the game to spread enough
> that more people would play and buy the other products for the game...I'd
> guess that was the purpose FASA had when they released the main book for
> Earthdawn as a file and gave it away free...
> CIAO
Actually, what I think they should do is keep things like the BR boxed set and
Campaign expansions hard and release things like the sourcebooks and adventure
modules soft. That way, they could force people to buy the actual setting and
not have to worry about people giving copies of it to their buddies any more
than they already have to worry about people with access to a color copier. The
sourcebooks will INEVITABLY sell less. I mean, in my little group we own
collectively about fifteen sourcebooks, but none of us buy one that another
person already has. It's just too expensive to do that. Several individuals
own copies of the boxed set, though, as well as the campaign expansion stuff.
Another issue: Why even box the stuff? I throw those boxes out right after I
open the damn things. I don't need another flipping box, man. Just shrink wrap
the stuff together and ship it out like that with maybe a cardstock cover sheet
on top. Save the $1.80 in material costs and the extra fifty cents in shipping
costs (not to mention the lost space on bookstore shelves that could be used to
sell additional products) and lower the freaking price a buck or two.
Gary
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10-07-1998, 09:03 PM #12PDeMars@aol.coGuest
BR Cancellation
In a message dated 10/7/98 12:40:24 PM Central Daylight Time, xanadu@pdq.net
writes:
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10-07-1998, 09:08 PM #13PDeMars@aol.coGuest
BR Cancellation
In a message dated 10/7/98 1:10:31 PM Central Daylight Time,
GeeMan@linkline.com writes:
>
Better yet a CD release of the books. I think the Core Rules CD is a great
product, hundreds of dollars in books on 1 CD
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10-07-1998, 09:19 PM #14mmacgregor@STATESTREET.CGuest
BR Cancellation
Am I the only one out here who feels that price is not an issue? The
minute I see a new BR product hit the shelves, I don't care if it is 5
bucks or 50-i'm buying it.
Matt
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10-07-1998, 09:48 PM #15The OlesensGuest
BR Cancellation
> Just shrink wrap
> the stuff together and ship it out like that with maybe a cardstock cover sheet
> on top. Save the $1.80 in material costs and the extra fifty cents in shipping
> costs (not to mention the lost space on bookstore shelves that could be used to
> sell additional products) and lower the freaking price a buck or two.
Well the prettty boxes are supposed to make people buy it but for the campaign expansions
I don't see why not. I still use my campaign setting box to keet all the cardsheets and
maps I don't use often. But who needs a pretty box for Cities of the Sun and stuff like
that. Players will buy what they want to expand thier world. The nice box on Havens of
the Great Bay hasn't enticed me into buying it cause I don't need it (but I am searching
for the Rjuvik Highlands and will throw away the box when I get it).
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10-07-1998, 11:29 PM #16
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BR Cancellation
In a message dated 98-10-07 13:07:59 EDT, you write:
>
I was rather unhappy that so many were just dumped on the market at the
same time. With a limited game budget, and even more limited game time, I had
very little chance to figure which ones I wanted, or which ones anyone would
play. I ended up buying as many as I could find, once the setting closed.
Lee.
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10-08-1998, 02:45 AM #17Sweet HomeGuest
BR Cancellation
>I guess its not surprising cause it seems every line was losing money
>except the Realms. But why did they reprint the box set when the first
>went OOP? At the first of the year was when I got into Birthright
Funny you mention it went out of print... If Tsr was stupid enough to
make a box set knowing that if all were sold they would loose money no
wonder why WoTC bought them!!!
Also, if it went OOP then sales must not have been that bad. Well this
is strange, the best campaign world and fantasy setting ending its life
so early in its product life...
Sylvain Tremblay
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10-08-1998, 03:30 AM #18BenandAmyGuest
BR Cancellation
>>I guess its not surprising cause it seems every line was losing money
>>except the Realms. But why did they reprint the box set when the first
>>went OOP? At the first of the year was when I got into Birthright
>
>
>Funny you mention it went out of print... If Tsr was stupid enough to
>make a box set knowing that if all were sold they would loose money no
>wonder why WoTC bought them!!!
>
>Also, if it went OOP then sales must not have been that bad. Well this
>is strange, the best campaign world and fantasy setting ending its life
>so early in its product life...
>
Actually, this product is the reason I started using TSR products. I was
heavily into SWRPG before this, but I never found D&D interesting before.
I pictured a fantasy setting that was more Tolkien--esque--------Those
stories didn't have peasants running around casting cantrips and stuff,
magic was rare. Frodo can't walk into his nearest shopping center and
examine the large stock of Holy Avengers +5, OK? I had seen people playing
in FR, and I thought it sucked. SO, this BR thing comes along, and BAM!!!!
I"m sucked in. Of course, I had to buy a copy of the PHB, DMG, Monstrous
Manual, etc. along with the BR boxed set and sourcebooks. Where are the
marketing strategists now?
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10-08-1998, 11:17 AM #19Brian StonerGuest
BR Cancellation
If I remember right, there was some question about BR's future before WoTC
bought TSR. We all knew it was having trouble financially (as was all of TSR),
and when the buyout was over, we were all anxious to see how they would treat
BR. We knew some lines were on the chopping block and so were overjoyed when
BR was on the '98 catalogue. Then, of course, we were quite bummed to see it
dropped.
I'm still surprised that they dropped such a quality product without giving
it a proper chance. Everyone and their dog knew that BR had "failed" due to
poor marketing, and that the re-release of the line was exactly what it
needed. Frankly, if it had gone as planned and the hardcover had come out in
July, we'd be watching phenomenal sales. We'd be complaining that TSR was
failing its distributers by not providing enough copies.
The key to BR's future success (I hold out hope) will be strong marketing.
The core product must be a hardcover book similar to Domains of Dread and
Star*Drive. Such a book, not wrapped in plastic, will provide prospective
buyers the chance to peruse the product and decide based on what they see
there, rather than a few adds in magazines, etc. Additionally, the accessory
products should be re-released, alongside new products...so that a new one
comes out one month, and an old one the next, etc. At no time should two
products (whether new or old) come out the same month. The boxed format should
also be dropped for the expansions...instead, such products as Cities of the
Sun should come in book form, like the Book of Magecraft, etc. Map posters,
while useful, can be replaced by full page maps in an appendix. Perhaps a
seperate box, "Maps of Cerilia" or somesuch, could be sold separately and
contain full size poster maps. The Player's Secrets books ought to be rebound
into books like the aformentioned Book of Magecraft, instead of sold
seperately. Bound by region, perhaps 3 or 4 such realms per book. Finally,
advertising must center on the unique qualities of Birthright as a role playing
setting. Early marketing proclaiming it as a war gaming setting nearly killed
it. BR is not designed for war gaming..in my opinion it does a poor job of war
gaming. Instead, it should be seen as a politically dynamic world, where the
lives of the little people are in the hands of those with divine blood...where
horrific monsters, twisted by their evil blood, seek to rule or, if they cannot
dominate, destroy everyone. A world that needs heroes.
Galwylin wrote:
> At 07:45 PM 10/7/98 PDT, Sweet Home wrote:
> >
> >Funny you mention it went out of print... If Tsr was stupid enough to
> >make a box set knowing that if all were sold they would loose money no
> >wonder why WoTC bought them!!!
>
> This was after the buyout so I dunno what's up with that.
>
> >Also, if it went OOP then sales must not have been that bad. Well this
> >is strange, the best campaign world and fantasy setting ending its life
> >so early in its product life...
>
> Some weird things to me are:
> 1) Birthright going out of print before the new edition comes out so they
> reprint it
> 2) the Shadowstone novel is handed over to the Realms before the
> publication of the 98 WotC catalog and the cancelling the Birthright line
> 3) Cancelling a product (the hardcover) that was supposed to decrease the
> cost of producing a box and appeal to the adventuring public more.
>
> It makes me wonder if sales were too low and costing them money or the
> profit margin was too small where they weren't making much over the cost of
> production.
>
> This has been a Galwylin® Production
>
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10-08-1998, 07:40 PM #20The OlesensGuest
BR Cancellation
Galwylin wrote:
> At 04:17 AM 10/8/98 -0700, Brian Stoner wrote:
> >
> >Perhaps a
> >seperate box, "Maps of Cerilia" or somesuch, could be sold separately and
> >contain full size poster maps.
>
> They should look into doing that for every setting. I heard countless
> stories of people using their maps so throughly that they need new ones.
> They just don't want to buy the whole box set again to get them. This
> would give TSR a product that appeals to new and old gamers alike.
> Everyone likes maps and eventually everyone needs new ones.
Yeah, my map of Anuire has a hole right in the middle of Rhuobhe and my players joke
saying that the hole is the entrance to those elven/orog tunnels
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