Usual Suspects Furious at Polish Game's Success

RPGPundit · May 06, 2024, 12:21:00 AM

Baptism of Fire has been a HUGE success. But of course people who hate me are desperately trying to find excuses to put it down...
#dnd #ttrpg #osr

brettmb · May 06, 2024, 12:27:20 AM

Aren't they always?

yosemitemike · May 06, 2024, 05:37:09 AM

I have discovered that there are two D&D-related tabletop rpgs called Baptism of Fire available on DTRPG and that the two games are not at all similar to each other. Anyway, the Polish one has already sold more copies than a large majority of products on DTRPG will sell in their entire lifespans. I am also reminded of the dismal fact that something like 70% of all products on DTRPG will not reach 51 copies sold and only 201 out of over 100,000 products have sold 501 copies or more.

Eric Diaz · May 06, 2024, 09:30:28 AM

Quote from: yosemitemike on May 06, 2024, 05:37:09 AMI am also reminded of the dismal fact that something like 70% of all products on DTRPG will not reach 51 copies sold and only 201 out of over 100,000 products have sold 501 copies or more.

Small correction:

- Only 201 out of over 100,000 products have sold 5000 copies or more.

- About 63% of products havent sold more than 50 copies.

https://amazing-tales.net/2019/01/27/drivethru-rpg-metal-tiers/

But I'm not sure these numbers are current; I notice my book Dark Fantasy Basic has reached platinum (after many years...) but is not included.

https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/229046/dark-fantasy-basic-player-s-guide
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/metal.php

yosemitemike · May 06, 2024, 11:04:06 AM

Missed a 0 there. Still, it's a depressing number. According to their website, it's around 60% now which is an improvement but still a bit depressing. 51 copies sold is a pretty low bar. That's not even considering that products only have to be priced at $0.20 to count towards a metal tier so you could essentially buy yourself copper tier for around $10 (and then increase the price) if you wanted to game the system

Quote from: Eric Diaz on May 06, 2024, 09:30:28 AMhttps://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/229046/dark-fantasy-basic-player-s-guide

Hey. there's a bundle. I'm a sucker for a bundle.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/306824/dark-fantasy-everything-bundle

Brad · May 06, 2024, 11:16:15 AM

Quote from: yosemitemike on May 06, 2024, 05:37:09 AMI am also reminded of the dismal fact that something like 70% of all products on DTRPG will not reach 51 copies sold and only 201 out of over 100,000 products have sold 501 copies or more.

That's because most of that stuff is garbage. There is almost zero effort required to publish electronic stuff, so a lot of people with grandiose ideas and little talent crank out nonsense. This has always been true in RPGs, and hobbies in general, but at least in the past you had to have some actual balls and spend some money to get your 500 copies of "FU Gygax: Improved D&D Rules" printed up. Now you can just have AI generate 90% of the text and images, slap on some woke horseshit inclusivity preface, and be done with it.

Eric Diaz · May 06, 2024, 11:33:28 AM

Sturgeon's law applies to DTRPG, certainly...

And AI could make things 10 times worse, just because it is so fast (but it could improve RPGs if people use it well).

Also some people just do it for fun or because they don't understand the demand for RPGs (which is quite limited and specific).

OTOH there is some very good stuff in there too.

Sometimes better than WotC... which is all we can require from average RPGs, really, since this is the most popular.

Back when I played 5e, I remember having to buy DM's vault stuff to make their campaigns work better.

BTW, congrats to Pundit for the success!

Eric Diaz · May 06, 2024, 11:36:30 AM

Quote from: yosemitemike on May 06, 2024, 11:04:06 AMMissed a 0 there. Still, it's a depressing number. According to their website, it's around 60% now which is an improvement but still a bit depressing. 51 copies sold is a pretty low bar. That's not even considering that products only have to be priced at $0.20 to count towards a metal tier so you could essentially buy yourself copper tier for around $10 (and then increase the price) if you wanted to game the system

Quote from: Eric Diaz on May 06, 2024, 09:30:28 AMhttps://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/229046/dark-fantasy-basic-player-s-guide

Hey. there's a bundle. I'm a sucker for a bundle.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/306824/dark-fantasy-everything-bundle

You are right about that... The system could be gamed - and I think some people might actually do something like that to always stay on top.

I try to get a similar result with e-mails, sales, etc., but only works for a few days after release.

Thanks for mentioning the bundle!

Venka · May 06, 2024, 02:29:54 PM

Man I found the reddit thread, some of those guys are so high on haterade it is unbelievable.

RPGPundit · May 07, 2024, 09:19:44 PM

Quote from: yosemitemike on May 06, 2024, 05:37:09 AMI have discovered that there are two D&D-related tabletop rpgs called Baptism of Fire available on DTRPG and that the two games are not at all similar to each other. Anyway, the Polish one has already sold more copies than a large majority of products on DTRPG will sell in their entire lifespans. I am also reminded of the dismal fact that something like 70% of all products on DTRPG will not reach 51 copies sold and only 201 out of over 100,000 products have sold 501 copies or more.

Yes. I recently realized that I have probably got more bestsellers overall than almost any other designer, just by the virtue of the large number of products I've made and their popularity.

RPGPundit · May 07, 2024, 09:21:04 PM

Quote from: yosemitemike on May 06, 2024, 11:04:06 AMMissed a 0 there. Still, it's a depressing number. According to their website, it's around 60% now which is an improvement but still a bit depressing. 51 copies sold is a pretty low bar. That's not even considering that products only have to be priced at $0.20 to count towards a metal tier so you could essentially buy yourself copper tier for around $10 (and then increase the price) if you wanted to game the system

Quote from: Eric Diaz on May 06, 2024, 09:30:28 AMhttps://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/229046/dark-fantasy-basic-player-s-guide

Hey. there's a bundle. I'm a sucker for a bundle.
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/306824/dark-fantasy-everything-bundle

I don't know how "depressing" it is, it's just par for the course with publishing. Look at Amazon, see how many books they have, and then realize just how many books barely sold anything. In almost every category.

RPGPundit · May 07, 2024, 09:23:20 PM

Quote from: Venka on May 06, 2024, 02:29:54 PMMan I found the reddit thread, some of those guys are so high on haterade it is unbelievable.

Yeah, it's pretty pathetic.

VengerSatanis · May 10, 2024, 10:39:29 AM

Quote from: yosemitemike on May 06, 2024, 05:37:09 AMI have discovered that there are two D&D-related tabletop rpgs called Baptism of Fire available on DTRPG and that the two games are not at all similar to each other. Anyway, the Polish one has already sold more copies than a large majority of products on DTRPG will sell in their entire lifespans. I am also reminded of the dismal fact that something like 70% of all products on DTRPG will not reach 51 copies sold and only 201 out of over 100,000 products have sold 501 copies or more.

Should have called it Blood Reich like I suggested...

Dracones · May 10, 2024, 05:25:52 PM

Quote from: RPGPundit on May 07, 2024, 09:21:04 PMI don't know how "depressing" it is, it's just par for the course with publishing. Look at Amazon, see how many books they have, and then realize just how many books barely sold anything. In almost every category.

Yeah, and the alternative before this was having a few publishers who decided what deserved to be published or not. I much prefer the new "anyone can publish for next to nothing" model where the public gets to decide what's trash or not. Maybe 90% of the books out there fail hard, but we decide that, not a small group of "experts".

Man at Arms · May 10, 2024, 05:35:21 PM

Quote from: yosemitemike on May 06, 2024, 05:37:09 AMI have discovered that there are two D&D-related tabletop rpgs called Baptism of Fire available on DTRPG and that the two games are not at all similar to each other. Anyway, the Polish one has already sold more copies than a large majority of products on DTRPG will sell in their entire lifespans. I am also reminded of the dismal fact that something like 70% of all products on DTRPG will not reach 51 copies sold and only 201 out of over 100,000 products have sold 501 copies or more.

Wow. That's very telling.