Re: [DL] Looking for Gamers (in all the wrong places)

[Chris Nelson <chris2@pre-press.com>]

John Goff wrote:

> It seems to me that one person in a group tends to buy most of the books for
> an RPG (not just Deadlands); in the case of my group--which has been running
> for 4 years--it's me <g>. This plays into a lot of things both business and
> creatively for me, so I'd like as much input as you folks would care to
> give.

Our Rifts GM owns every book Palladium ever put out, ever.  Which is odd
'cause we only play Rifts (yes, there's some people who still play that
game.  They live in New Orleans).

Now, he's not the only person to GM Rifts in our group.  So his books
always get borrowed.

The same goes for Deadlands.  Our group circulated our adventure through
three different GMs, but only one guy bought all the books.

> How many players purchase _only_ the book appropriate to their particular
> character?

This is a popular trend, but as we found out in H&H, it's a good move to
buy all the Character Expansions on the grounds that they will affect
everyone else.

> How many Marshals _don't_ want the players reading the Posse sections in
> each book?

Actually, one of the oddest things I've ever done was stand over my
Posse's shoulders while they flipped through the Posse-only sections of
The Great Maze.

> I doubt we'll change the format, but I'm wondering about the space devoted
> to the Posse section in these works. If only the Marshal is buying/reading
> them, we'd best be serving you guys by reducing the size of the Posse
> sections in these books and _increasing_ the Marshal section.

Here's my opinion on the split:

Yes it works.  But if only because it avoids the problems with other
sourcebooks (Unknown Armies and In Nomine are good examples) where you
just /can't/ open a book up as a Player and not run into a spoiler.  The
Posse/Marshal section has always been a great feature of the PEG line.

So when a new book comes out, it's easier to decide on who should buy
it.  The GM and the Players will have something to read.
-- 
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                      Chris Nelson <cnelsonweb@hotmail.com>
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