thread: 2012-03-21 : Monster Mania Con: barriers to interest
On 2012-03-23, Frank T wrote:
Here?s a story. In Germany, we still have got real pulp fiction, historically called Groschenroman (dime novel). It comes in weekly issues of stitch bound booklets of some 60 pages (small print, two columns) which sell at EUR 1.50 anywhere you can buy magazines and newspapers. They are self-contained novels but often part of a series. A large part is romance but there is also space opera (Perry Rhodan), crime (Jerry Cotton), Western (Lassiter), horror (John Sinclair) and post-apocalypse (Maddrax).
The guy in charge of Maddrax happened to be an enthusiastic role-player. So he got someone to make a little Maddrax RPG. When Maddrax started a new cycle in 2007, there was a special issue, priced at EUR 3.00, which included a second booklet with the RPG. I do not know the print run but it must have been tens of thousands. To repeat: tens of thousands of copies, sold to people who are already fans of the source material, at EUR 1.50! And they had to buy it if they did not want to miss the start of the new cycle! Also, in three of the following issues there were brief scenarios for the RPG included. The role-playing community was very excited about it, as can be seen from Settembrini?s blog post.
Nothing was ever heard of it again.
