That flexibility and something I always had regarded as a negative, race as a class, is now something I wish to exploit more.
For that I give you the updated and slightly revised Basic Vampire class.
The Blood is the Life - Basic Vampires
This is actually part of an experiment for me. Well two really.
The first is to see if the Vampire as a class would be something that others would want or play.
If so, there is a whole game I have been playing around with for a while that I think will do nicely.
The second is an experiment on publishing a "Pay What You Want" title.
I have had conversations with other publishers about PWYW and they are unwilling to do it. Claiming that they will never get the money they need to make it worthwhile. I disagree, I think the gaming community at large and the OSR community in particular would rather pay for the materials they want.
If this is successful, and success is a relative term, then expect to see more from me like this.
The Race-as-Class works so well for the Vampire. Afterall if an elf can fight and cast spells, then a vampire can fight and do all the things that make a vampire cool.
Mind you I am not trying to do a Basic knock off of Vampire: The Masquerade here. This is still the same basic-era vampire we have been fighting for 40 years. He just now can start at 1st level and work his way up.
Let me know what you all think.
I don't mind that I tried a PWYW product, but I won't do it again. If you can't pay me a $1, then thats ok with me.
ReplyDeleteTo give you the numbers, my Monster Hunter product has been downloaded 165 times. 13 of those are people who paid and my cut from them is $4.11. I have no resentment toward them, but I'm simply not prepared to do that again at this time.
Personally, I've found "previews" on my blog the most effective marketing for me.
My numbers are a little bit better. Last night they were terrible, but have had a few people come in while I Was sleeping and spend more. So far I have made enough to pay for the art, but nothing extra.
ReplyDeleteI am going to give it another try. A proper experiment requires I make a change in a variable first.
Hmm...I'm not terribly interested in a vampire class, so I didn't pick it up.
ReplyDeleteRE: PWYW
If you have no interest in making money from the product, perhaps it would be better to offer it as a free download from your blog with a "donate" button. That way, at least, there won't be any cut coming from the host site.
Yes. I don't mind hosting it here or on DriveThru. Part of the experiment was also to see what sort of exposure the product would get before I even posted here.
ReplyDeleteI was also very, very curious to see how PWYW works as a selling option. For me, I always choose the suggested or average price then round up. I am thinking now I might be the minority.
Though any "loss" I have incurred (and at this point I am unwilling to call it a loss even) has been more than compensated by the knowledge I have gained.
Just downloaded it. Liked it very much. Did a similar thing a few years ago based on the were classes from Night Howlers.
ReplyDeleteAgain, very good.