thread: 2012-03-07 : Simon Rogers: Publisher POV
On 2012-03-09, Simon R wrote:
@David Berg
That's a tough question. I suppose, in theory, yes, in practice, no. It's not because we don't value system, it's just because I wouldn't know how to value system aside from setting.
With GUMSHOE, Robin created the system based on a simple spec from me and invented the setting to go with it. I wanted a tight wordcount. It's probably the best value I've ever got from a ms - the word rate is the same regardless of whether it's system design or setting. Pelgrane Press owns the rights to the GUMSHOE system. It's then rolled into other games.
We also publish games, whole cloth, by designers who provide us with a finished manuscript - setting plus system. They retain all rights, and get 50% of margin. So, in your case, if I liked it, I'd simply suggest that you find another person to take your bland ms and finish it off. It's then no longer my problem to work out what proportion of the credit would go to who. I might approach my existing writers and ask if they wanted to do this as a percentage of net margin, but I wouldn't be the one negotiating the relative percentage. I would want something which both parties thought fair. I suppose I might pay an ongoing percentage for future core books, but I would have to be absolutely blown away personally by the system. It's unlikely - systems need to be adapted for new settings at the very least.
I can't think of any reason why I would pay Robin or Ken who are top-notch game designers in their own right to provide setting material for a third party system, unless, in rather sordid commercial terms, the system designer's name on the front cover would sell sufficient copies to make it worthwhile. They wouldn't do it for a percentage - they are writers who want to be writers paid a known amount for their work.
One thing we do know is that commercially, system without setting does not sell. In fact, we think that system and setting must be intimately entwined for a game to work. So that one page setting would also have to be tremendous.
Next, we are trying to build what Ryan Dancey calls network externalities - the more people play a specific system, the easier it is for them to find other players and the easier it is for them to understand and start playing new games when they are released. A new system, rolled into other games, just gets in the way of that. The GUMSHOE system is now a known quantity, but it was an expensive, long term education program getting to that stage.
Also, the GUMSHOE system is carefully tailored to the setting, but it is the primarily the setting which determines how many copies the book sells.
Finally, this post is me desparately trying to shoehorn something unfamiliar into a Pelgrane jacket. I'd be much likely to say "self-publish" and offer advice how to do it. In most cases, taking even a decent finished ms of a game, illustrating it, laying it out and then selling it is not worth my while, or the creator's, commercially.
