Hallo,
About the core book and marketing concept, sadly, that train left the station several years ago. I wasn't on it. Davis wasn't either. This whole discussion starts with the CKG . . .
I'll repeat what many of you probably already know. TLG did not solicit the CKG. It was really only a design concept and one that was half baked at best, kind of a how to book in its earliest conception. As Davis and Mac were the authors of the PH and MT, I was going to be the author of the CKG. That was in its earliest conception. Way back in 05 Diamond called me wanting to put some information in the catalog about up coming releases. We were still struggling with a number of past projects and I hadn't anything concrete on the schedule, I told them this but they kept pestering me. So I gave them the CKG and a few other titles with the full disclosure that these had no titles, ISBNs, prices, etc. They confirmed it would just go in a catalog but not into solicitation.
They promptly put it in solicitation and we started getting orders on it, killing its chances in the book trade.
So the CKG rapidly became part of the C&C package. But when we look at the word core, it gets worse.
I travel to trade shows in Ft. Wayne, Madison (on occasion) and Las Vegas and talk to retailers at regional cons. Its part of my job to pitch the line into what I call the channel. I have talked to people until I'm blue in the face about C&C, happily so, but I invariably get the question, "when is the game master book coming out?" Some reference the Diamond solicitation, it being on amazon, etc etc. I explain that you don't need this book (this was before OG&M), there are only two books, etc etc etc etc. They stare at me like I'm an interested third party and then say something like "yeah, but when is the game master book coming out?"
Lets set that discussion aside for a moment and have another one. There was misrepresentation by me or misinterpretation by gamers way back in 04. In those days we argued that there was only going to be one book needed. One core book. Of course we fully intended to do an Monster book, and had the nascent idea of a CKG type book and wanted a deity book (we were trying to pry Legendary Pantheons from the LA system, but Gary resisted us with a heavy stick and sharp wit haha), and other various and sundries. But the concept was that everything you needed to play was in the one book. I can't remember now how I formulated it or said it but in my tiny one cell brain I was going to put some monsters in the PH, but just enough to get by. This concept was abandoned after a 32 second conversation with Davis, Mac and Peter about length and layout. So the idea of a one book system slowly morphed into a two book system.
Or did it? Is the M&T a core book? Not really. Not when you get down to the nuts and bolts of it. I don't need it. I use it, by default now. But some of us remember the long year between the PH and MT releases. What did you do? I used the AD&D Monster Manual, converting the monsters in seconds.
So the question we beg to answer is, what makes a core book?
Hard to say. What do you need, at the games' core to play? The answer is easy, the Players Handbook. That's the answer. You only need the PH. But truthfully, you need monsters to play and treasures. So the MT too...I guess.
We've all settled on the 2 books being the core books. But what about a black libram, that has spells in it and monsters? Is it s a splat book? How do I market that? Are these optional spells? Or are these spells as valid as any other spell you might cast in the game. What about the monsters in libram? Are they optional? Does the word even apply? What does it even mean? When the M&T of Aihrde comes out are those monsters and treasure optional to the core of the game?
Mechanics are the answers of course. There is a perception here that by using the word "core" book TLG is some how damning the C&C community into those optional rules in Gods and Monsters. That we are creating a landscape in which to play C&C properly then you have to use the CKG and the OG&M.
Well that's not really my intention (and this is all me folks, I did not consult Davis about this at all).
My intention was to create a marketing picture for retailers and distributors that there is a solid group of core support products for the game. Its not just two 20 dollar books (remember if a retailer sells a copy of the PH he only makes about 4 dollars), but a solid group of books that they can purchase and sell and that possess a profit margin. Because here is the crux of the matter, its the same question about the MT being core but from a marketing concept. You don't really NEED the M&T to play, and you don't really NEED core books to sell. But if you want play enhanced and made easier then you should have the MT and if you want to sell more then you want core books. Most retailers don't have the grasp of the game, and because of its low profit margin, they don't have the inclination nor time to come to an understanding about the finer points of what you need and don't need. And if they look over the sheet they can use their limited budget to invest in a couple of books and make 8 dollars or they can buy some magic cards. Well, if you do the math you'll see where that leaves C&C.
Its a hard sell, made harder by the price point. We are basically trying to convince distributors to push and retailers to carry a product that is going up against Dungeon & Dragons and has a price point 1/3 the size. This means more work for us and them and less money for the work. The end game is of course in volume . . . but that's another story. But in listening to the retailer mentioned above who just repeats the question "when is the game master's book coming out" we can hear a great deal. He doesn't care about the finer points of the debate, he has a rent check to make and I have 51 seconds (average time a publisher has with a retailer at GTS) to convince him to carry these books. The horizontal growth of a market is wonderful, but is greatly enhanced by some vertical weight. There comes the core of his question about when the game master's guide is coming out. And the question is parroted about Gods & Monsters. This is the vertical weight he is looking for to drive his profit margin up and pay his rent.
I really conceptualize the Crusade as a castle in progress. We are all (you and I) building a gaming world of walls and towers, bastions and battlements and all that it comes with. The Castle has many towers, but the four key towers are the PH, MT, CKG and OG&M. Why? Because their format and layout is so much larger than the rest.
Are they core books? No. Do we need to use the word core in our marketing copy? I doubt it, because as mentioned above, the retailer doesn't care. Much as I mentioned above these books will probably carry themselves, no matter my copy (though we will probably loose some sales at the retail level from store owners not concerned with RPGs who just don't know the difference or care to learn, they will just by the books needed to play).
So where does this long rambling discourse leave us? I don't know that either, other than I was supposed to be editing Chapter 8 of the CKG and I'm not hahaha.
But it does seem that many here think I, and TLG by default, are being disingenuous with use of the word "core" on OG&M. As you probably have already determined and to be completely honest, I really don't understand the debate on a consumer level. When I played AD&D I never used the DMG as I thought it had too many rules in it. I used pieces of all the books though, but never thought in terms of core books. I never played 2nd ed, or 3rd ed, or 3.5, gurps, role master, warhammer or any other games so my points of reference are way far off base what yours are. I honestly don't remember a time when my game had anything but saddle stitch modules and hard cover books. Hence my more modern connection between the four C&C hard cover books as core books and everything else as just books.
The debate probably has something to do with these *#@&^#@ cell phones. Of that I'm pretty sure. Apparently something happened between the years 1985 and 2005. I'm not really certain what has happened, but I guess I got to call breakdaddy and ask him!
But humor and goofing aside we will drop the use of the word core as Mark and I determined this morning, when in doubt, follow the ethical road. And if folks have walked away from my ad copy with the idea that we are being disingenuous then I have to take that to heart. As I've always said, its not what you say that is important, its what they hear.
So, now I'll have to rethink my terminology a little bit and get it fixed. AND THEN I'LL WORK ON THE CKG!!!!
Steve
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Castle and Crusade Society
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