For some reason I read «crowd funding» in @InfinityzeN's message, rather than sourcing actual material from the crowd.
Funding by the crowd, as through for example Kickstarter, is what I did mean when I said 'crowd sourcing'.
The Ars Magica kickstarter had almost no traction. Maybe things have changed the past few years, and a new book would probably be less expensive to produce than a video game, but I feel that a failure to crowdsource would make new official material more unlikely.
The Black Chicken Video Game from 2012?
I can imagine why Ars Magica as a video game did not sell: not because it used kickstarter, but because of insufficient overlap between Ars Magica players and video gamers.
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You're probably right, and upon looking at the kickstarter, it made more money than I remember. Perhaps enough if only a Deidne book was going to be produced (I don't know the cost for making such books however).
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Quite so.
IIRC, the proposed Diedne book then made more waves than the rest of the kickstarter combined.
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Books are far less expensive to produce than (good) video games, and are also far less likely to suck.
Failure of a kickstarter for an Ars Magica video game says very little about how successful a kickstarter for an Ars Magica book would be.
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If you actually use the kickstarter site I would suggest publishing something- a notice or email, whatever, to let people know their options. I do not regularly check kickstarter, and am sure I am not alone in this.
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what are you talking about?
That KS punched well over it's weight-class for Ars Magica
1500 backers? $92K in a KS in 2012?
That project had people who always wanted to play Ars but couldn't for lack of a table meeting up with the people who saw the chance at a Diedne sourcebook and had a table and all of those people were pushing to make that project happen.
I can get a book funded at about 10% of that total, and I'd like to think there are 150 Ars Magica fans out there still looking for new material
-Ben.
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I can get into the math of running an RPG book KS, because I've been a part of quite a few at this point, but it usually falls in around $8-9Kish, but printing shifts that, art shifts that, distribution and advertising shifts that, layout/editing/writer compensation all shifts that a bit. It's not crazy, but it adds up.
Basically, if you've got an audience that wants the book-- like the Ars Magica community, and you can reliably put the material together and get it to them, you can hit print for around those numbers. With what's available from Sub Rosa (plus new material)...well... there's that.
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My point was that if you can get the funding through other means, such as the renamed subscription that is not actually a subscription, it would be a better option since you you do not have to pay KS their cut.
You could always run a kickstarter style pre-order, especially for PDF versions on the Atlas site, with perhaps a second tier for those who would want to preorder physical books.
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DELTA GREEN is an obvious example of a niche game with a dedicated fanbase using Kickstarter to fund an ongoing pipeline of material (and what a pipeline). But they definitely had the pipeline lined up first (then added a second one when they got extra stuff).
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Delta Green is one of my fav RPGs. Depending on the age range, I wouldn't exactly call it niche. People from the X-Files generation especially tend to like it.
A Kickstarter for a new Ars Magica book? I'd be all over that, especially if it was the Diedne book, or updated versions of the pre-5th ed. tribunal books.
Of course, there is an excellent resource out there with various takes on House Diedne, known as Sub Rosa issue 13 
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Kickstarter might also be a way to reach more people - even if some of the money goes to kickstarter itself.
I'd hazard a guess that a mix of kickstarter campaigns and self-hosted funding might be optimal if a pre-order model is attempted.
Potential buyers might even be collected from kickstarter campaigns and informed of self-hosted campaigns?
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I think there's a lot of useful lessons in how Arc Dream and the Delta Green team have adjusted to this model; I have to agree that I think they're doing it right.
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KS is great for a few reasons--
- it handles the money collection element.
- It shares your project on a public space that others can share
- It gives a direct communication line
- It provides a "proof of delivery" space owned by a 3rd party
Now there's room to quibble on some of those points ("X is not great because..."), but for the most part, KS gives this stage to offer up proof of concept, proof of competence, and build momentum. Once you've got people excited at that level, the projects can work there on a fairly consistent schedule. Kobold Press (another place I've done some writing) is an excellent example of this on KS.
We'll see how things go...
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The thing is for an established company like Atlas, the only one of these which is (IMO) a real benefit is the expanded ad space, since atlas would be selling their own merchandise and already does so, including handling payments.
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The expanded access to a space where people might have your project recommended to them via search options, recommendation lists, or friends backing the project all have great value.
The Atlas site primarily has people using it who already know and like Atlas and Ars.
KS draws in people who don't yet know they like Atlas and Ars, but probably will, and shows them other projects that have successfully delivered. All of that helps build the fanbase and expose the game to more people. They might be able to do all those other things, but it might be more beneficial for someone else to manage/run/maintain them and give Atlas a bigger presence.
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