I can see where some might get the idea that making corrections can increase sales of a book rife with errors (or OGL errors). When I first came onboard with Sovereign Press, the Sovereign Stone game was full of errors (serious errors that could affect game play) and they were a big reason it wasn't selling well. However there were other, more pressing matters than the errors. The look and feel of a hardcover somehow translates into "good book" to the buying public. The original SS book was a perfect bound paper back. People didn't like the color of the print inside the book. It was a game system that had to fight an up hill battle against other, more popular, game systems (2e and 3e). Going back and correcting the errors and printing a new hardcover took an immense amount of time and effort. I was proud of the job we did, and we did see a jump in sales, but Sovereign Stone was the only game system we were working on or concerned with at the time. So it made sense for us to make the corrections and move ahead. We didn't have nearly the amount of SKUs that Chaosium has now or had then. For Chaosium to revisit a product that they are probably hoping will simply sell down on the off chance that the public gives a hoot about OGC and might boost sales seems to be a risk not worth taking. Better to move on with the products that are working and doing well.
I obtained a copy of the LoM product when it first came out. (I also have the Italian version--I'm a sucker for Elric stuff.) And while I was disappointed in its look and design, the book still had neat stuff in it. In fact, when we were revamping our world for a switch to d20, we drew some inspiration from it (as we did Relics and Rituals). Our sales for Sovereign Stone rocketed when we made the switch to d20. It had nothing to do with the OGL or OGC, since the purchasing public, at the time (and I believe still) had very little knowledge of it, nor did they really care. What the public does care about is a good looking book that appears to have useful bits for its games. It also cares that the game system itself is something it is already using and not something that it's going to have to learn anew. I'll admit, that while I have done work for different companies after leaving Sovereign Press, I almost exclusively purchase Necromancer Games publications. This isn't to stroke Clark's ego, but I find that Necromancer is leading the pack out there right now. Their books look good. Their content is good. When a Necromancer product sits on the shelf, it has much more presence than its competitors. Am I missing out on some other really great OGC in other books? Probably. Does it really matter to me as a DM? No. Really, to my mind, OGC doesn't register with the majority of consumers. It's the usefulness of the book, or its look, or some other quality of the product that catches their eye and says to them "This is a purchase I want to make." The notion that the average consumer is going to pick up a book and say "Well, if I were going to write a d20 book, how much OGC would I be able to use from this book?" is simply not a reality that I can easily envision. Tim Kidwell _______________________________________________ Ogf-l mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.opengamingfoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/ogf-l
