More details are forthcoming, but I'll attempt to shed a little candlelight on the subject...
1. The way RW and HL manage and use their data is radically different. It's not apples vs. oranges. It's vegetables vs. minerals. So what we do with the data in the two products has essentially zero overlap whatsoever.
2. In an ideal world, RW and HL complement each other so well that they really should be two halves of a single whole. That's something we're actually working towards, behind the scenes. But it's a huge undertaking, so we're definitely not there yet.
3. Right now, RW and HL are completely separate products, using very different underlying technologies for everything. Consequently, we really can't share anything between them.
4. HL is targeted at both GMs and players. RW is basically just targeted at GMs. That's a critical distinction when it comes to the possibilities of blurring the line between the two products, and it has a profound impact on many of the decisions we have to make regarding the two products.
5. Pricing for both products involves some dramatically different factors that consumers probably won't immediately consider. It's very hard to purchase Hero Lab and have it be a solid substitute for the rulebooks. I know some people do it, but they're really relying on other sources for explaining all the rules (e.g. websites) and relying on HL for enforcing the rules for character creation. HL simply can't explain the rules in a holistic way. This means that HL doesn't directly compete with book sales, so publishers are happy to receive a royalty that allows us to charge a very low price for HL data files. With RW, publishers view the material as a direct competitor for selling the books, and that's quite appropriate. However, this means that publishers rightfully expect to receive a huge royalty, and that will inescapably be reflected in pricing.
6. The #1 factor for us when determining pricing is perceived value for consumers. I'm not going to claim that Hero Lab is cheap. However, I am very comfortable asserting that Hero Lab is an excellent value. Pricing for RW will be assessed the exact same way, except that we'll also have to incorporate the vastly different royalty requirements and potential market size (see below).
7. Beyond perceived value, there are two key factors that we always consider when pricing things. First, there's the matter of how much it actually costs us to put the material into place, since we have to actually make the money back if we expect to pay everybody. As long as we recoup our costs, we can then adjust the price up or down to reflect how much work is involved, which is something we absolutely do with all the HL data packages. Second, there's the question of how many copies we'll actually sell of something. An item we're going to sell to thousands players can be priced very differently from something that will only be sold to hundreds of GMs. That second consideration will loom large with RW, since everything sold through RW is really targeted at GMs instead of players. If there is one GM to every five players out there, then our maximum potential market is only 16% of what it would be if we could include players, which means we're going to make a lot less revenue unless we charge more. Once we start weighing these concerns, the challenge becomes somehow divining the best compromise in between. And since the RW Content Market is brand new, we have no real data to base anything on.
8. The content we develop and sell for RW will typically include all the HL portfolios which can be purchased separately for HL. The key difference will be that purchasing the package for HL also includes unlocked access to all the resources needed by the portfolios, such as monsters, items, feats, etc. The portfolios included in RW will be just the portfolios, so a GM with HL will still have to ensure he has access to all the necessary books within HL. Consequently, there will be huge value in having all the HL portfolios in RW for a GM that owns all the books, but that value will be greatly diminished for the GM that does not. Based on this, and erring on the side of caution, we're ascribing very little monetary value to the fact that the HL portfolios are included within the RW content. So that's going to be a big win for GMs that own all the books in HL.
9. The Paizo license turns everything on its head that consumers are used to. So that complicates everything in still different ways, since everything we do for Pathfinder content will be handled drastically different from all other content. It's a perfectly valid model for handling it all, but it's also something new and different that users will have to adjust to. [Note: This is a subject that requires plenty of explanation, so that's all I'm going to say until we provide the explanation. I'm just flagging this as yet another wrinkle to make things more interesting for us.]
I realize that none of this gives you any concrete answers about anything. However, I think this does offer a sufficient peek behind the curtain to understand many of the variables that we've been wrestling with and the complexities of figuring out a pricing model that consumers will perceive as fair and balanced. As I indicated above, our overriding goal is to provide perceived value, and I sure hope we achieve that. I'm sure you'll all let us know in the very near future!
