Paradox Interactive (the Crusader Kings people, not the Conan/Mutant Chronicles ones) buy the White Wolf properties [Merged x10]

[Jacob]

Re: event books. This kind of psuedo-rules updating seems to be taking off (for Games Workshop at least) in the mini gaming world. I wouldn't be too surprised to see something like it emerge for WoD in another year or two.

[Ephsy]

Right. They only talk about cWoD because that's what the mainstream knows and wants to hear from, so they have to create hype instead of confusing people with 'spin-offs' or 'extended universes'. When they talk about an unified continuity, they're talking about the meta-plot geared cWoD because that's the easiest thing to convert into other media, half the work is already written. nWoD isn't going anywhere, a huge amount of it's appeal is it's modularity.

[Diggs]

A full investigation does not include licensees because PI wasn't allowed to talk to them, or rather the other way around I suppose. WWP likely has general plans. They want books put out faster. Maybe if they support licensees better than CCP that will happen. PI bought a name, so unless they find someone that can do the job for them, nothing will get done. I think their more concrete plans are geared towards video games, television, and movies. In other words, things they know. There might be plenty to worry about, but it is premature. It won't happen any time soon.

[Odd_Canuck]

Paradox didn't know they were getting WW until about a week ago. I doubt they risked their future by secretly developing a full book publishing company prior to actually getting the IP. CCP sort of ran WW into the ground, so Paradox didn't buy much beyond the IP. In order for Paradox to take over production completely, they would have to build a book publishing company from the ground up. Then they would need to decide on a creative direction. Then they would need to write books to sell. That takes time. They could sit on the IP for months (up to a year or two) waiting to make money on a niche book genre or they can use the current licensees to bring in money until WWP figures out what they want to do.

I don't see any major changes happening for anything currently on the work table. I doubt anything announced isn't going to be made. Even in Sweden the primary purpose of a corporation is to make money. The status quo is what is going to make them money for the next 6 months to a year. They seem to be a smart company. I expect they will focus on developing the IP on different media and leave the books to the game companies that are already established.

I think the criticism from Paradox has largely been subtly directed at CCP, which seems pretty fair to me. They did drop the ball pretty severely.

Any major value deal involves a full investigation of the property to be obtained, so PI is either full of idiots (which it shows no indication of) or else they knew full well in advance what they were obtaining and no doubt considered at least in generalities what they were going to do with it.

[branford]

With this interview, I think that I'm near confirmed now about the Event Model of D&D that Wizards of the Coast now use.



I look now for the Event books for the nWoD to come from the new White Wolf!

I don't necessarily agree, and we have no idea at all what will happen with the nWOD or anything else. All we've heard is largely vague corporate PR, likely as plans are far from finalized, and much of the discussion of Martin's game preferences and LARP involvement appear intended to demonstrate his personal connection to the WW properties in contrast to the more distant commercial or absentee nature of CCP management of WW, not as an indication of corporate strategy with the IP. Much of the commentary also appears to mainly concern the classic WOD.

I would additionally note that chronicle books have been released for nWOD in the past, but such projects stopped because they were poor sellers and/or unprofitable.

[wyrdhamster]

With this interview, I think that I'm near confirmed now about the Event Model of D&D that Wizards of the Coast now use.

On the more general level we will roll out a powerful and provocative contemporary storyline, making sure there is a singular World of Darkness story that is easy to get into for neonates but builds on and deepens the universe that elder fans love.

I look now for the Event books for the nWoD to come from the new White Wolf!

[One Vorlon]

What is the worry material?

Probably this line:

I know Martin is a huge Wraith and Promethean fan, but it will be a while before we let him loose on those more obscure game lines.

That makes it sound like Martin (the new head of White Wolf) wants in on writing the books. Which could be an issue, since Onyx Path is already working on the fourth edition of Vampire: the Masquerade. Not to mention the fact that Wraith: the Oblivion (20th Anniversary) is now months overdue (and still being written), or that the Changeling: the Dreaming (20th Anniversary) kickstarter is supposed to kick off this winter/spring . . .

There's no evidence that Paradox plans to cancel any of those (or could, even if they wanted to). Nor would it make sense for them to - a lot of time, money, and sweat have already gone into them, and they wouldn't want to throw that away. And even if they did, they'd be left with no new products for months, while they rewrote everything (plus the ill-will that would generate). So they're not cancelling anything.

But they could muscle their way into those projects. Remember? Martin is a big Wraith fan. And Richard Dansky (currently writing W:tO) hasn't been able to work on it for months. What happens if Martin calls RichT tonight, and says he wants to take over the writing? Richard Dansky isn't really in a position to defend his work, and RichT doesn't have a lot of leverage to turn him down . . . not with new contracts being negotiated (and with Wraith overdue).



Edit: For the record, I have no idea whether Martin is a good writer or not. And him taking over a project (or at least collaborating) might be for the best. If you're looking for something to worry over, though, that's not a bad choice

[Diggs]

I haven't seen anything to worry about in an immediate sense. Realism check time. Paradox didn't know they were getting WW until about a week ago. I doubt they risked their future by secretly developing a full book publishing company prior to actually getting the IP. CCP sort of ran WW into the ground, so Paradox didn't buy much beyond the IP. In order for Paradox to take over production completely, they would have to build a book publishing company from the ground up. Then they would need to decide on a creative direction. Then they would need to write books to sell. That takes time. They could sit on the IP for months (up to a year or two) waiting to make money on a niche book genre or they can use the current licensees to bring in money until WWP figures out what they want to do.

I don't see any major changes happening for anything currently on the work table. I doubt anything announced isn't going to be made. Even in Sweden the primary purpose of a corporation is to make money. The status quo is what is going to make them money for the next 6 months to a year. They seem to be a smart company. I expect they will focus on developing the IP on different media and leave the books to the game companies that are already established.

I think the criticism from Paradox has largely been subtly directed at CCP, which seems pretty fair to me. They did drop the ball pretty severely.

[Leetsepeak]

The talk about linking all those cWoD properties, the "critical eye" and the LARP credentials, presumably.

[Resplendent Fire]

What is the worry material?

[Almarck]

Just got this feed earlier today. If anyone wants more worry material, here it is.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2015/11/09/white-wolf-interview/#more-327115

[adambeyoncelowe]

...Almost nobody was talking about jumping from OBS (the backbone behind DTRPG and its associated sites) to Amazon. Amazon represents a much larger marketplace, but RPGs are generally fairly small niche market products. A front page big seller on DTRPG doesn't get a blip on Amazon, and Amazon doesn't seem to be out to create a RPG focused storefront. I also didn't get the impression that the possible increase in exposure was inherently commensurate with the price schemes Amazon offers compared to OBS.

It's spectacularly easy to publish with Amazon. Many indie publishers have one ISBN for an Amazon edition of a title and another for non-Amazon editions, meaning they can publish the same title through different channels that request some kind of exclusivity for a title. I'm not sure how legit that is (I can't remember their T&Cs, although I have read them, as a publisher myself), but I don't know anyone who's been pulled up by Amazon for having editions simultaneously on-sale through different channels. I think it's fine, so long as the ISBNs are different.

WW should also, given their large back catalogue, be able to negotiate non-exclusive contracts with both DTRPG and Amazon anyway, I'd imagine. They could probably throw in direct distribution through Lightning Source and Lulu too, if they really wanted to be thorough about it, although the number of simultaneous versions of each book would get unwieldy (they'd need a different ISBN for each, although that in itself is a minor cost--it's just more of a problem for confusing customers).

It's worth noting, too, that Amazon won't publish PDFs, only MOBIs. So WW/OPP could even go to a model of print through Amazon and digital through DTRPG (a much better idea, I think). Or they could skip out the middle-man of DTRPG but still keep some freedom from the Amazon KDP model by printing with Lightning Source, who'd make the titles available to Amazon at trade prices anyway. They'd get a much smaller cut (Amazon often take 55-60% of the cover price), but they'd have a wider distribution.

In many ways, my impression of things is that Amazon compares to DTRPG much like Barnes & Noble compares to your LFGS. Having a presence in the FLGS is generally more important, because most of your new customers are either browsing the LFGS shelves, or operating on word of mouth. Very few people are picking up a RPG (save maybe D&D/Pathfinder) at a big retail chain book store because they wandered into that section; and those big retailers aren't invested in promoting such products.

This really depends. I prefer to buy all my RPGs from Amazon and Ebay. Amazon also distributes to The Book Depository and, I think, Books, etc. Indeed, they're buying up lots of the online retailers and resellers on Amazon Marketplace, as well as opening their own bricks and mortar stores. Amazon is a big chunk of the market to be missing out on, unfortunately (and I hate Amazon, BTW). I've so far bought maybe five RPGs from DTRPG. I've bought countless RPGs through Amazon and Ebay over the years.

I think you shouldn't underestimate the impact of Amazon, because plenty of people in the Western world use Amazon regularly, whether they read books or not. Amazon also has very sneaky algorithms that know what you like, so you might just go there to pick up some nappies (diapers for my transatlantic friends) but Amazon will shove in front of you things you're interested in in the suggestions--including RPGs. That means people who aren't aware, for instance, that cWoD is back in print and has been revived, will get recommendations for new WW/OPP titles. I had every book from CTD, WTO and VTM 2e to Rev, but I didn't know cWoD had been revived back in 2011 until this year. If those books had been listed on Amazon, I'd have bought them ages ago. If WW/OPP wants to recapture the audience it once had, as well as introducing a new audience, it needs its products to be on Amazon, otherwise it can't really grow its audience beyond those who know about DTRPG and use it.

Amazon also has the benefit of owning GoodReads and, I think, Shelfari, too. Those review sites and the on-site reviews on the main Amazon website create discussions around books that are more visible than the ones that take place in sheltered corners of the web only frequented by RPG enthusiasts. New gamers will therefore come to the games as they see the reviews and discover a world of RPGs they were previously unaware of (or didn't think they'd like).

[Almarck]

More on topic: I just realized that chances are my parents are going to be watching V:tM, should it get a tv show. It kinda fits in with all of their other interests in shows.

[Rose Bailey]

Please drop the Black Tokyo/ToR tangent.

[nofather]

The product was called Tournament of Rapists, and it was a setting supplement to insert said tournament into your Black Tokyo game, where a bunch of evildoers went around mixing Street Fighter with Rapelay. They certainly should have labelled it as a 'mature' product. But since Black Tokyo itself is based off of hentai focusing on deviance and blood, and has been published on the same site since 2008 without complaint, the reaction was a big surprise.