Why We Need To Pay What Games Are Worth

I've had this one on my "to-promote" list for a while now, and I finally found room for it. For those of you who didn't see it, I'm talking about the article Why We Need To Pay What Games Are Worth, Not What We Think They Should Cost by Christopher Helton. If you haven't read it, then I encourage you to click the link, and give it a read through.

Go ahead. I'll wait.

Finished? Good, because this article brings up some things that we, as gamers, need to talk about. And not just talk, but understand so we can continue to play our games responsibly, and understand where our money is really going.

RPGs Aren't Expensive (Once You Know What You're Buying)

People who've been into RPGs since Dungeons and Dragons burst on the scene in the 70s remember the days when you could buy a core book, and probably a module or two, for $20 or less. Even those of us who got into them before the turn of the last century remember being able to swoop in and snatch a gaming book or campaign for $30 or so, if they were on sale, or the owner of our friendly local gaming store owed us a favor. Today, though? When a base book can cost $60 or more, and supplements can cost just as much, why are RPG fans paying so much? What are publishers doing with all this dosh?

Yes... all $4 and change.

What most fans don't know is just how much money it costs to put together a rule book. For example, most big RPG companies (or even mid-list ones) don't have a staff of writers doing all the work. Those individuals often head the projects, come up with the ideas, and write the core sections (new classes, concepts, rules, etc.) but the rest of the content is done by freelancers. Those keyboard mercs, like yours truly, tend to get paid .02 per word on a project (sometimes less, sometimes more, but never that much more). While that isn't much for the publisher to pay, it's still a cost. A cost that has to be added to art, editors, formatting, printing, shipping, marketing, and, of course, the cost of saving up for the next project. And paying the regular staff, let's not forget that.

All told, an RPG company gets to keep about one-quarter of the retail price of its materials. Which means it has to sell a ton of copies just to keep its ink in the black.

It's A Fun Job, But It's Still A Job

Even after it's been explained how little many RPG writers, designers, and artists make, lots of fans fall back on the old, "you're working your dream job, just enjoy it," argument. After all, they have to slave away at a job they hate for a wage that sucks, so why should someone who likes their job make more money doing something that has to be more fun?

Because everyone should be paid a living wage.

Especially you, so you can buy our books when you get paid.

If you're plugged in to the RPG gaming communities online, then you know how hard it is for the creators of some of your favorite projects to pay for things like medical care, or to recover from personal disasters. That's because, even if they're well-known and successful, they simply don't have the scratch to get back up when something like that hits. Hence why it seems there's a new Go Fund Me campaign every other week to help an RPG creator who wound up in the hospital, got in a car wreck, or is dealing with some other form of ill fortune.

So, whether the views in this post, and in Why We Need To Pay What Games Are Worth, Not What We Think They Should Cost, changed your mind or not, think about them the next time you're looking at the price for an RPG supplement.

Because you get what you pay for.

As always, thanks for stopping in to check out this week's Moon Pope Monday update. Also, if you'd like to do your part to help a game creator you're a fan of, then why not stop by The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page to help keep Improved Initiative going strong? All it takes is $1 a month, and you get some sweet swag just for becoming a new supporter! Lastly, if you haven't done so already, why not follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter?

A Forum For Finding RPG Job Postings

For those of you who don't know, in addition to running Improved Initiative and doing freelance RPG design, I'm also an author. When I put on my fiction-writing hat (which is a green beret bearing a Celtic wolf, for those who are curious), I bill myself as the Literary Mercenary (hence the name of my author blog). And, as I said in one of my earliest blog posts over there, if you're good at something you should never do it for free.

That's why, this week, I'd like to let all my fellow RPG enthusiasts out there know there's a forum where companies post jobs, and it's a place where gamers just like you can become the game designers of tomorrow.

Time to start stacking GP, you know what I'm saying?

Where Is This Forum?

It's over at Paizo's homepage, since you ask. To prevent you from digging through the archive, and asking around until you learn the secret code word, here's a link to the forum in question. It may take you a bit of perusing to find a job that fits your skills, and you might not find a project the first time through, but that's no reason to despair. After all, new projects are coming up all the time.

For a primer on how to handle yourself before you dive into the shark tank, check out my previous post How To Get A Job Designing RPGs.

If you found this post useful, and you want to be sure you don't miss any future updates, then follow me on Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter. If you'd like to toss some coins in the coffers to keep the updates coming, then go to my Patreon page and become a patron today!

Crit Confirm is The Place For Gamers Looking For a New Podcast

Finding places that bring together community, information, and fun isn't always easy when it comes to the tabletop gaming community. Forums like Reddit are great for finding a lot of gamers in one place, but it's easy to get lost in the shuffle. Facebook groups are another good place to go, but sometimes you have to join five or six groups before you find the ones that are right for you. YouTube channels run by long-time gamers are beautiful for those of us who want to be entertained with amusing shenanigans, or to find just the right combination of abilities for that ideal character build, but they're not all that great for interaction.

Crit Confirm brings you the best of all worlds, and it does it without costing you a single penny.

They don't have silly goats though, so here's one on the house.

I've talked about Crit Confirm before, but the site has gone through something of a phoenix molting since then. The group began with a podcast centered in Indianapolis (Gen Con country has made for some fun casts in the past), and it's since grown and re-organized into a one-stop shop for gamers, movie lovers, and comic book fans.

The site contains articles on a variety of topics, ranging from movie and game reviews to roleplaying and DMing tips. The podcast comes in a few distinct flavors, one of which is D20 Debut where individuals on the show talk about how to best build famous characters, or even real world celebrities like Bruce Lee. There are also gaming videos on their YouTube channel (which is admittedly a bit heavy on the Minecraft), and the main site boasts a forum where gamers of all kinds can meet, greet, and start "spirited discussions" about the things they love best.

This sounds an awful lot like a sales pitch...

In the interest of full disclosure the last time I wrote about Crit Confirm was just to help boost the signal for a group of gamers who are doing their best to provide great content. Since that previous writing though I have become a contributor for the site which has published articles of mine like Tips and Tricks For Making Memorable Towns and the divisive The Sliding Scale of Technology and Magic where I discuss why people lose their damn minds over classes like the gunslinger.

So some of the site's content does bear my name, but if you're a regular Improved Initiative reader then that should just give you an extra push to go check out Crit Confirm for yourself!


Thanks as always for stopping in at Improved Initiative, and if you'd like to support me and my blog then go to The Literary Mercenary's Patreon page and become a patron today! If you want to make sure you don't miss any of my updates then stalk my social media pages on Facebook and Tumblr while you're at it!