From: Tim Westlake (stormbull@cix.compulink.co.uk)
Date: Wed 08 Sep 1993 - 20:55:43 EEST
In-Reply-To: <9308250515.AA28722@glorantha.Holland.Sun.COM> having been away recently, I am just catching up with my backlog of RQ Dailys. I could not resist resonding to this from 25 August where Greg Fried writes
> If RQ is to break into new markets, we desperately need a system that
> can allow new players to pick it up and play readily. Only then can >
we convert players of other systems en masse, and make broad inroads
> into uncharted European (and other) markets.
"Uncharted European Market" !!! Humph!
Well, coming from the "uncharted European market" I can shed some light on the reasons behind the low take up of RQ in the UK at least. When RQIII came out, in order to get the Deluxe set (which, lets face it, you would probably need) it was priced at UK 40.00 which was double what was needed for an AD&D startup set (maybe a Players Handbook and a DMG). The bulk of new blood to the role playing environment comes from teenagers, and the heavy cost of RQIII stoped most of its expansion dead. It was only those of us who fell in love with the game during the RQII incarnation that kept on. Even so, the problems encountered with RQIII led to its decline.
The price is now about UK 20.00 so that has now been fixed, however, most of the current games generation have never gone near the game due to the high price/high difficulty image that it recieved in RQIII. The major competitor to a RQLite will be D&D, therefore it must be priced to match this, the major problem will be suppliments and scenarios, for which D&D has an unbelievable quantity. Maybe a method could be devised to convert D&D type stats and scenarios for this use (or leverage the install base, as our marketing types would say), otherwise RQ would be facing a massive up hill struggle to get anywhere near the number of items required. I know this may be a unpopular method and difficult to get good quality scenarios out of but, it will give us an edge on the stuff that is already out there!
Tim
StormBull@cix.compulink.co.uk
Westlake_tim@Tandem.com
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