On The Business Of Tabletop RPGs: Towards A Hobbyist-Friend Model

The more perceptive readers will notice that the consequence of my previous two posts, if put into practice, will result in a business model that isn't what tabletop RPG publishers are known to practice. This model, known as "the supplement treadmill", seeks to turn hobbyists into consumers and get them to do what we meme about.

This is very explicit with Official D&D and its Designated Alternative, who rest their business models on selling playable content modules--Adventure Paths, Campaign Modules, etc.--and keeping players as well as users from doing anything but consuming Officially Sanctioned Products. This is implicit, to varying degrees, with other publishers- past and present.

The reason for this business model arising isn't due to obvious malevolence. It is due to a lot of unthinking assumptions, structural incentives, and--sadly--the feedback of early players who likewise acted on unthinking assumptions. It stuck because it has very visible short-term success. It becomes a trap when the product library for a given game exceeds the tolerance of normal people, which is actually much smaller than is often claimed, as they feel overwhelmed by the apparent buy-in price in terms of money and time.

Yes, that's a perception issue, and perception matters when selling product as any competent salesman will tell you. This leads to the consistent pattern of Edition Launch->Supplement Saturation->Edition Change->Repeat.

This model cannot sustain a proper hobby in the long term, and it has not. The transition of the biggest companies into being Brand/IP hothouses, with the original product kept as a legacy business for the purpose of maintaining the brand identity regardless of quality, became apparent in the 1980s when TSR branched out its brands into novel publishing.

In short, pursuing this model did far more damage than we realized at the time, such that when the SJW rot seized D&D in full come 2000 and manifested fully with 5e, it was already a moribund and decaying environment. Again, as author Brian Niemeier observed some time ago, SJW Convergence occurs when an institution (literal or otherwise) is a corpse on its feet and thus cannot resist infestation and subversion as a healthy one readily does.

Compare now the Old School Renaissance. The better publishers not only take advantage of changes in the distrubtion and publication of information to reduce costs, streamline processes, and cut away bloat--the fat wherein SJW rot first takes hold--but also greatly shorten these product libraries per product line. It is not at all intimidating to buy into Swords & Wizardry, Lion & Dragon, or playing older D&D editions as they were meant to be played.

In short, the OSR has iterated its way towards a hobbyist-friendly business model. It is not perfect yet, but it is getting there, and by eschewing the short-term rapaciousness and gluttony for profit in favor of cultivation and nurturing of long-term hobbyist practices and socialization therefor. This is planting trees whose shade the planters will never enjoy, and as it is far easier to erect and sustain as a sideline business pursuit alongside a full time job in a mainstream business than the consumerist Pop Cult model has ever been, and the benefits will be enjoyed by we hobbyists long after the Cult fronts collapse and their adherants go elsewhere.

The price of this successfull alternative is the promulgation of hobbyist skills, acumen, and best practices. We're seeing this emerge now, and have been for some time, but now is the time to identify it and systemize it, and that will be addressed tomorrow.