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Pitching Your RPGs

PostPosted: Fri Jun 23, 2017 4:46 am
by Onix
Pitching an RPG is synonymous with selling it. I stink at selling anything. Cavemen would swear off fire if I was the salesman. I've read about selling things and tried to implement tips, but it doesn't come naturally for me. So understand that I'm working through this from my own highly dysfunctional abilities.

One of the big pieces of advice that you get for selling is to solve a problem that the customer has. It occurred to me that I'm always working to solve problems in design but I never write down the specific problems I'm trying to solve. That's a big oops since those are the points that I should be talking about when trying to pitch a game.

I'm not just talking about mechanics either. Story elements are often there to solve problems, so they should be factored in.

It would be ineffective to just pepper everyone with the problems you're solving. I see this approach used frequently and I admit to trying it in the past. What a salesman does is figure out what the customer needs and then draws out the points of the product that would help with that.

Maybe I should be writing down my specific design decisions and what they do. When I try to pitch a game, I attempt to figure out what problem a player is trying to solve and figure out which design decisions help with that problem.

Another approach would be to design according to the problems that people say they want solved rather than the problems I want to solve. That sounds boring though.

Re: Pitching Your RPGs

PostPosted: Mon Jun 26, 2017 3:41 am
by Rob Lang
I know how you feel. I find that getting people excited with hobby things is different to normal commerce.

If I want to buy a car, I'm filling in the need to travel safely, comfortably, with air con and a radio. I might have some other needs but I'm not really doing this for fun, I'm doing this because I am filling a need.

When buying stuff for a hobby, there's less of a need to fill. I am happier to take a risk. Sure, I will waste some money that might be spent elsewhere but that is the nature of a hobby. So you're not really selling to fill a need beyond "having fun". "Hey, this will be fun!". That's a lot easier to fill than something more specific.

I think creation is a lot easier when you're creating for fun rather than creating to fill a need.

As for mechanics, I do think there is a need-filling exercise. You have that balance between being easy to use and yet still giving the players a mechanism to twist to their benefit. Finding that combo of spells or picking up a +1 BROADSWORD only means something when there are mechanics that matter.

I would keep designing to things you want solved and the audience will be out there, no matter how niche.

Re: Pitching Your RPGs

PostPosted: Mon Jun 26, 2017 4:30 am
by Onix
Pitching a game is a bit of a different animal than a car, yes, but there are still needs that you're trying to meet.

I look at "having fun" as a need (or a want more accurately) and that people have problems that I as a game designer I'm trying to solve. Ok, I have problems with having fun that I'm trying to solve. A story element bugs me, a mechanic bugs me or a system just doesn't handle something that I want. I try to make a game that does the things I want it to do.

The hardest thing to pitch is when your game solves a problem the reader doesn't know they need a solution for. It's usually something brand new to them. For example, combo moves in Icar. They were put into the game for a reason, even if it was to evoke a feeling in the game. If you identify why they do what they do, people who want that are more likely to read and maybe even play.