Realm Works Content Market - Pricing Details & More

[Silveras]

Publisher sign-on is a big deal for Realm Works, as it shows a measure of Publisher confidence in the platform. I have said before that Realm Works is a new publishing medium.. an evolution away from hard-copy and toward all-digital "living document" delivery. That's a "brave new world" for everyone, and there will be some bumps along the road. Maybe Paizo's model will become the standard.. and maybe it won't; at least they're giving it a try.

WotC would also be a big-name boost for Realm Works (and HeroLab). As a larger company, their legal team may be very reluctant to trust a new platform, a new medium, until someone else is the "test case". Given the struggles within WotC over open content, and their pricing of partner-delivered digital content, that could also be slowing the approvals of a license.

Smaller publishers may offer smaller products. "Widget" type products (small encounters, small numbers of NPCs, art packs, and the like) may be viable, or they may not. The task of loading and managing access may make a minimum price necessary, and market forced may lead to a minimum content size to go with that price.

One thing I will be curious to see is how Wayfinder is handled. It is a free fanzine created under Paizo's Community Usage Policy, available in PDF through Paizo's website. Print copies are usually available in limited quantities, especially around convention time. Whether this will make a transition to become a series of free Realm Works realms or not will be interesting.

[Greebo]

Originally Posted by Merion

While I personally agree wholeheartily and am one of the RW users who absolutely prefer small drop-ins to large modules, we shouldn't forget that forums are usually populated by a vocal minority. So we're like a focus feedback group, but we can only guess what their business numbers and surveys are telling LWD.

But yeah, a well populated market with lots of smaller content to choose from whenever you need a place or encounter will certainly look better and generate more revenue in the long run than one with just a handful of big modules.

Same here. I understand and respect that LWD makes its decisions based on profit expectations.

But I use RW to manage and develope my homebrew worlds. I have no need for nor interest in D&D moduls. But smaller, adaptable and system neutral content could be quite useful for me. So, I am vocal about that, but might belong to a minority.

[Dhrakken]

I was so excited about this... but, I own every hardcopy Paizo book... most of which I purchased from my local game store... this policy is disgusting and has made me seriously reconsider my support of both Paizo and Realm Works.

[Billy277]

I have to say, I think it's hugely unfair to penalize people who buy hard copies of Paizo's books over the PDFs. Is there any way for us who still prefer hard copies to download the Realm Works content? Like, I can send Paizo camera pics of me holding the books...But seriously, if that remains a hard requirement I seriously doubt I'll buy any licensed content.

[AEIOU]

The only way to change it is to vote with your wallet. If LWD doesn't sell material because of a poor implementation, they will renegotiate it or they will find other publishers that are less demanding.

Putting goods on sale is a good indication that the pricing scheme is not working so let's see how quickly this happens and how often.

[MNBlockHead]

Originally Posted by Dhrakken

I was so excited about this... but, I own every hardcopy Paizo book... most of which I purchased from my local game store... this policy is disgusting and has made me seriously reconsider my support of both Paizo and Realm Works.

How is LWD development to blame? It's Paizo's stupid policy.

[Dhrakken]

Originally Posted by MNBlockHead

How is LWD development to blame? It's Paizo's stupid policy.

Well if I don't support Paizo's policy by repurchasing all my hardcover material into PDF's then LWD won't get my support through content market purchases now will they?

Edit: Also, if I won't be purchasing anything from the content market then I won't be supporting LWD by purchasing the RW cloud subscription either and will likely just simply not use the tool. I just don't have time to enter everything from scratch into RW and I've been delaying starting the second part of my campaign for the content market. It's just so disappointing that this (it if was known before which seems likely) wasn't communicated earlier. I was really really looking forward to using this tool... I even built a tv gaming table with the mindset to use RW and a VTT together for my sessions... I guess all is not loss as I can still use the table for the VTT.

Sorry for the rant, I'm just so incredibly disappointed.

[Toblakai]

Originally Posted by MNBlockHead

How is LWD development to blame? It's Paizo's stupid policy.

How would you change this? What would be a good policy? There was a suggestion that Paizo give a PDF copy for free with a hard copy. They could do this for future purchases, but what about the millions(?) of books already sold?

So I see the following two options, taking Dragon's Demand as an example:

Option 1:
PDF: 17.99 (with credit for already owned PDF)
RW: 9.99

Option 2:
RW: 26.99 (no PDF required or given)

Which is better for the consumer?

[MNBlockHead]

@Pollution

Thanks for bringing some reason to the knee-jerk sticker-shock reactions.

I don't like how Paizo requires folks to buy a PDF to buy other digital content. I think it is a dumb policy. But it isn't really about the cost for me.

When folks were complaining about the cost of 5e material in Fantasy Grounds, I didn't understand their anger. It gives you a version of the game that it is VTT ready. Putting that all into FG would require a huge amount of time. Would I like a discount if I already own the book, sure, but they are different products.

And you know what, despite all the internet-rage, the FG material seems to be selling well. I expect, and hope, that the same will be true for RW. Despite the frothing at the mouth over cost by some now, the value of having the material in RW will make it worth the spend for many.

Besides, the answer to the cost issue is competition. Get more systems into RW. Get more independent content. I've spent more money on third-party material through DriveThru RPG at $1 here and $10 there than I have spent on WoTC.

What seems to make folks the most angry is the expense of their favorite system. If you feel WoTC or Paizo are bilking you, go elsewhere. There are mountains of material you can acquire for dirt cheap or even free that will provide lifetimes of gaming goodness. It is only a matter of time that the dirt cheap and free material will be in RW.

Don't blame RW for Paizo's pricing, send your complaint's to Paizo. And if you really are offended by the cost, don't spend it. These are games, not medicine. There are more important things in life to direct your rage at and to lobby for.

I spend "too much" for the WoTC books because I like them. They are quality books that I enjoy, and considering the 1000s of hours of enjoyment they provide me for reading, game prep, and at the table, they are a not a bad investment. I would gladly spend the cost of the books to have them in RW as well, especially the APs, because it would be great to run them in RW and i have no interest in inputting all that stuff myself.

If I couldn't afford it, I would play something else.

[MNBlockHead]

Originally Posted by Dhrakken

Well if I don't support Paizo's policy by repurchasing all my hardcover material into PDF's then LWD won't get my support through content market purchases now will they?

Sure. But the way your worded it, it sounds like a condemnation of LWD.

I guess we may just be coming from different places. I didn't buy RW to get and run published material. The content market is just a "plus" for me.

I bought RW to build my home brew campaign world. I doubt I'll buy any Paizo material anyway.

I'm more interested in game-neutral, fantasy-themed content that I can use in my campaign.

Since I'm looking to eventually run a couple of the official 5e APs, it would be nice if I could buy those from the CM to put in RW, but if they are not available or if I find them too expensive, I'll just run the game from the books. That won't mean that I no longer "support" LWD.