Art of the Genre: How Paizo Continues on Where Others Have Failed, a Review of Skull & Shackles Base Set
One of the longest tenured game designers in RPG history has to be Steve Winter, as he started with TSR in the early 1980s and continued on with the company until roughly December 2012, when he was finally ‘let go’ by Wizards of the Coast. If those 30 years translate to anything, I would think it is an in-depth knowledge of the business of RPGs.
Once Winter was on his own, he posted an incredibly candid blog article concerning how ‘broken’ a business model any company building around an RPG actually is. To sum it up, he basically indicated that after the three core books (Player’s Handbook, DMG, and Monster Manual), all other products are A: unnecessary to the system as a whole, and B: that continued supplements ‘break’ any game’s mechanic system eventually and require a ‘reset’ to both correct the system and also increase company profits which will have flagged since the initial release.
That said, it is easy to see why once powerful companies like TSR, FASA, Game Designers Workshop, and White Wolf eventually collapsed under the weight of an impossible business model. It also helps us understand why self-replenishing profit systems like miniatures and cards actually do work as a business model in the hobby sector. Look no further than Games Workshop to understand this, and later Wizards of the Coast with their Magic the Gathering bonanza, and finally Privateer Press with Warmachine & Hordes, that directly mimic Warhammer.
