There's an old saying: if you want to make a million in RPGs, start with 2 million.

Venger chose create his own niche within a niche. That's awesome, but niches will always have less appeal and thus less customers.

I know guys in metal cover bands. That's already a niche audience and when your tribute band is a based on a lesser known band from decades ago, then your audience is now micro.

And that's okay. Not everything in life has to be about making money. Sometimes it's cool to create something just because YOU want to do it.

But combine selling micro-niche products with a global recession that's only going to get much worse? Then you will be lucky to make be'er money.

That said, Venger's The Islands of Purple-Haunted Putrescence is my favorite setting I've found in the last two decades. If you're looking for badass gonzo with minimal sleaze, this is your book.

https://www.amazon.com/Islands-Purple-Haunted-Putrescence-Venger-Satanis/dp/1500121592/ref=sr_1_11?

If I have any advice for Venger, it's to expand FAR beyond RPGs because his Cha'alt, Alpha Blue and other IPs have audiences unknown in other forms - comic books, novels, etc.

I truly believe his energies would be FAR better spent creating for a MUCH larger audience than dice chuckers. 

The exact same people who would NEVER have weird sex at their game table would be 100% fine buying and reading Venger novels. Why? It's private, not pubic, I mean public.

Quote from: Spinachcat on September 01, 2024, 02:16:31 AM[...]
If I have any advice for Venger, it's to expand FAR beyond RPGs because his Cha'alt, Alpha Blue and other IPs have audiences unknown in other forms - comic books, novels, etc.

I truly believe his energies would be FAR better spent creating for a MUCH larger audience than dice chuckers. 

The exact same people who would NEVER have weird sex at their game table would be 100% fine buying and reading Venger novels. Why? It's private, not pubic, I mean public.

Totally agree. In fact, just being an overseeing editorial seal of approval for slash fiction in his world would be a way more profitable side business in published erotica. Granted it'd require reading a lot of kinky boots smut, which I am sure would get exhausting, and could garner a delightfully bizarre sub-culture of its own like Gor. But nothing ventured, nothing gained!

PS: A Chuck Tingle guest author project would be such a "get" for his world. Chuck Tingle already has his own RPG, so it'd be exciting if he could branch out into other indie smutty vistas. But it'd depend upon Chuck's doctorial Tae Kwon Do responsibilities.

This makes me happy.  I'm glad you're sticking with it Venger!  And zero regrets on ordering the 3 Cha'alt hardcovers.  Looking forward to getting them!

As a French, in Europe, TTRPG enthusiast, I lament the fact that a family man had to have a very serious and painful talk with his wife, acknowledging that his RPG business venture, are not enough for sustaining his whole family (I am working under the impression that Venger has 5 kids, which makes him a cool and eccentric dad, but a true daddy, nevertheless). The business which I have done with Venger, on Kickstarter, was done seriously and professionally, which is a serious feat, in itself, and like many people from a French liberal background, I see no problem in adding some smut to a RPG game, when it is aimed at adults, not kids (teenagers have to get money and/or approval from theirs parents/legal guardians, so it is an other conundrum, by itself ...).
WotC/Hasbro D&D is, currently, so annoying and trite, that I, somehow, wish they contact him for some D&D 6 erotica book, because the white woke guilt in the new PHB is so dense, that I, actually, think of it as a « satanic » book and it is quite something from someone who greatly enjoys Baudelair's Les Fleurs du Mal (the Flowers of Evil).
I am just hoping that Venger will find a nice « civilian » job to feed his angry spawns (sorry, not sorry) and that his products will remain in sell.
Shine on, you crazy diamond !!!

Quote from: Brigman on September 02, 2024, 12:13:27 PMThis makes me happy.  I'm glad you're sticking with it Venger!  And zero regrets on ordering the 3 Cha'alt hardcovers.  Looking forward to getting them!

Can't help but feel this was a publicity stunt so that he could get more backers for "final" kickstarter.

I don't fault him writing the stuff he wants to play.  If you want to play games that look like the games he creates, feel free.  But as people said he is a niche inside a niche.

*Edited to remove harsher comments*

Quote from: GhostNinja on September 02, 2024, 12:50:45 PMCan't help but feel this was a publicity stunt so that he could get more backers for "final" kickstarter.

I don't fault him writing the stuff he wants to play.  If you want to play games that look like the games he creates, feel free.  But as people said he is a niche inside a niche.

*Edited to remove harsher comments*

OR

Just maybe

It's what he said.  The outpouring of support from fans and friends caused him to change his mind. 

Quote from: VengerSatanis on August 30, 2024, 05:28:36 PMMeanwhile, "Daddy's home!"

Since we're juggling grenades here, what are the odds of getting a Shadowdark-compatible "Everything You Wanted to Know About Tentacles (but Were Afraid to Ask)" in time for VengerCon IV?

Venger, never say die! Rock on, my brother!

Well if you were to embrace SD and make some stuff for it, I suppose it has the advantage of being vague enough for you to add sexy curvy flesh to. Take this for example; it could be fire damage, holy damage, just gas pain, or a burst of quad-tentacled flopping dildo trout could fly out and deal blunt or flop damage...of course you would need to determine how long the dildo trout persist for and whether or not the halfing can use one as a club or fire it from a crossbow, but thats what you are called to do I reckon. Don't bite the bones, donate flesh as it were.

And the potential for making books that flesh out the magic are lucrative indeed; just a single tome that answers all the questions that this innovative and terse lighting bolt spell conjures has got to be worth, what, at least tree fiddy?

Yes sir, I'm a dapper Dan man.

Quote from: VengerSatanis on August 30, 2024, 05:28:36 PMWhile I understand and appreciate Blackstone's rush to clear my name, the fact is that I have cultivated that look, vibe, aesthetic, etc.  It's better to be known for something than not known at all.  And I happen to like the Satanic smut peddler edgelord reputation, just like when I was 17.  Is it all an act, is it real?  I'll let the individual decide for himself.

Meanwhile, "Daddy's home!"

Soul searching over.  Venger's back in, hoss.  I will find a way...
https://vengersatanis.blogspot.com/2024/08/do-you-believe-in-unlikelihoods.html

Welcome back to the party Hoss! Make sure you get your JR Ewing cowboy hat ready for round seventeen!

GorgeWorld, the furry inflation fetish RPG, is currently the 28th best selling title on #DriveThruRPG. On release it was number one. It is not behind an adult filter.

The audience for niche fetishes is there. Venger's failure is a skill issue.

Quote from: Anon Adderlan on September 03, 2024, 11:13:24 PMGorgeWorld, the furry inflation fetish RPG, is currently the 28th best selling title on #DriveThruRPG. On release it was number one. It is not behind an adult filter.

The audience for niche fetishes is there. Venger's failure is a skill issue.

Venger's just not perverted enough for Modern Audiences.

Quote from: S'mon on September 04, 2024, 05:52:57 AM

Quote from: Anon Adderlan on September 03, 2024, 11:13:24 PMGorgeWorld, the furry inflation fetish RPG, is currently the 28th best selling title on #DriveThruRPG. On release it was number one. It is not behind an adult filter.

The audience for niche fetishes is there. Venger's failure is a skill issue.

Venger's just not perverted enough for Modern Audiences.

There's probably something in that. I don't know if y'all are familiar with the concept of "safe horny", but basically it's the idea that certain fetishes and/or sexual tastes get over-represented in pop culture because they're acceptable to left-wing politics and therefore safe to express publicly. Venger's "Bottle Blonde Bimbos from Space" and/or "Booty Call of Cthulhu" aesthetics are among the more unsafe kinds of horny you could go for in that context.

I'm not sure furry inflationism is necessarily "safe horny", though I've noticed that furries tend to get a sidelong dose of social grace, apparently because a high percentage of them are gay. The success of that product is probably more down to the fact that sometimes getting a high percentage of a small market works better than getting a low percentage of a large one.

Quote from: ForgottenF on September 04, 2024, 09:21:45 AMI'm not sure furry inflationism is necessarily "safe horny", though I've noticed that furries tend to get a sidelong dose of social grace, apparently because a high percentage of them are gay.

Gay and/or Trans. Can't criticise 'The Lucanii Drift' for Furry Smut now that Paul Kidd is Pauli Kidd.

Quote from: S'mon on September 04, 2024, 09:44:33 AM

Quote from: ForgottenF on September 04, 2024, 09:21:45 AMI'm not sure furry inflationism is necessarily "safe horny", though I've noticed that furries tend to get a sidelong dose of social grace, apparently because a high percentage of them are gay.

Gay and/or Trans. Can't criticise 'The Lucanii Drift' for Furry Smut now that Paul Kidd is Pauli Kidd.

Or maybe because there's no "smut" in it? There's one joke about someone losing their virginity to a mimic. One (partially obscured) thong. And some aliens/furries with big (fully clothed) racks. It's PG-13 at the most. I can't stand furries, but if this counts as "smut" to you, you must be a Mormon or something.