Matt Colville and Strongholds & Streaming

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Charlie D said:
Does this kickstarter signal any kind of change for RPGs? Why did it make so much so quickly?
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Before the KS started, Colville had 175,000 subscribers to his Youtube channel. The KS ended up with 28,000 backers.

99% of massively successful Kickstarters all have the same origin story: Their creator had a very large fanbase and then they offered something for sale on KS that resonated with that fanbase. That generates enough success that it gets people buzzing about how successful it is, which draws in even more people.

And does streaming D&D make more money than writing books for D&D?! Because that is something to really think about.
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Yes and no. If you can churn out weekly content with any degree of quality, you can probably make a nice little income (or side income) through long-tail sales within a year or two. Doing that on Youtube is both (a) more difficult and (b) less likely to guarantee a small income. But if your videos can break through to a point where you can actually make significant income from them, the ceiling is much higher for how much you can actually make.
 
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Making money on Youtube is such a long shot that I wouldn't recommend it as a first step before releasing an RPG. It's almost like deciding to become a successful actor as a stepping stone to getting your novel published.

Also, welcome to the Pub, Justin!
 
Baulderstone said:
Making money on Youtube is such a long shot that I wouldn't recommend it as a first step before releasing an RPG. It's almost like deciding to become a successful actor as a stepping stone to getting your novel published.

Also, welcome to the Pub, Justin!
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But what about becoming a successful actor so you can pursue your rock star dreams, that always works, right?
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Baulderstone said:
Making money on Youtube is such a long shot that I wouldn't recommend it as a first step before releasing an RPG. It's almost like deciding to become a successful actor as a stepping stone to getting your novel published.
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I agree with it if you put it that way. But if you'd generally like to be in the role-playing industry and community, I'd definitely recommend developing your social media presence, and youtube can be a big part of that. That sort of thing can have a very synergistic effect these days, and not just within this hobby.
 
Edgewise said:
I agree with it if you put it that way. But if you'd generally like to be in the role-playing industry and community, I'd definitely recommend developing your social media presence, and youtube can be a big part of that. That sort of thing can have a very synergistic effect these days, and not just within this hobby.
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I agree with that. Having a Youtube channel, social media presence, blog etc. is a good idea. I regularly podcast myself, and show up on Youtube from time to time. I'm even starting a blog.

I was just glibly commenting on the idea of trying to build a massive Youtube presence with the goal of releasing a massive first kickstarter.

Which, now I think about it, I don't think anyone really suggested in the first place, so my comment may be irrelevant.
 
I think Matt's right about the hobby being at the table but the community being online, especially in video; I know a surprisingly large number of people who are huge fans of these streaming shows, play Munchkin, watch Community, know all the RPG tropes, but have never played an actual RPG. Ever. As much as I don't understand it either, there seems to be a big segment of the fan community that likes watching other people play rather than doing it themselves.

I do sometimes wonder if it's not that people's expectations of what gaming is like so often differ from having to play at the table with neckbeards, catpissmen and murderhobos, and the shows allow them to indulge that unserved expectation.
 
daniel_ream said:
I think Matt's right about the hobby being at the table but the community being online, especially in video; I know a surprisingly large number of people who are huge fans of these streaming shows, play Munchkin, watch Community, know all the RPG tropes, but have never played an actual RPG. Ever. As much as I don't understand it either, there seems to be a big segment of the fan community that likes watching other people play rather than doing it themselves.

I do sometimes wonder if it's not that people's expectations of what gaming is like so often differ from having to play at the table with neckbeards, catpissmen and murderhobos, and the shows allow them to indulge that unserved expectation.
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I worked gaming retail for years and neckbeards and catpissmen are a very real thing, but they really aren't so common that they average person looking into playing an RPG is likely to encounter them enough to be driven out by them. People are more likely to be picking up a game on Amazon now than at a game store, so running a catpissman is even less likely.

In my experience, the bigger obstacle is simply learning a game, prepping a game and gathering a group of interested people together. It's an obstacle even for experience gamers, let alone people doing it for the first time.
 
Baulderstone said:
I worked gaming retail for years and neckbeards and catpissmen are a very real thing, but they really aren't so common that they average person looking into playing an RPG is likely to encounter them enough to be driven out by them.
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Certainly my experience running a Meetup is that a substantial minority of players (15-20%?) are slightly odd - this is true of both sexes - but very very few are actively unpleasant to game with. Most are very nice people.

I do think though it's perfectly possible that some people may derive more pleasure from watching than doing (the porn industry is built on this fact...) - just like some people prefer watching videogame playthroughs to playing games.
 
S'mon said:
Certainly my experience running a Meetup is that a substantial minority of players (15-20%?) are slightly odd - this is true of both sexes - but very very few are actively unpleasant to game with. Most are very nice people.

I do think though it's perfectly possible that some people may derive more pleasure from watching than doing (the porn industry is built on this fact...) - just like some people prefer watching videogame playthroughs to playing games.
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I agree. I remember a notable number of customers that simply liked to buy and read RPGs but never played them. The same kind of people would likely enjoy watching them as well.
 
Anyone have the PDF for this? (PDF is out now right? the hardcover is still yet to be released) and if so what do you think of it?

Is it just story-gaming in-between session nonsense or is it more crunchy, older-schoolish Birthrighty demense management goodness???
 
I have the PDF. It has crunch but its also very user friendly, in line with the rest of the D&D5e ruleset. So, somewhere between the two extremes you mention I guess.
 
Gwarh said:
Anyone have the PDF for this? (PDF is out now right? the hardcover is still yet to be released) and if so what do you think of it?

Is it just story-gaming in-between session nonsense or is it more crunchy, older-schoolish Birthrighty demense management goodness???
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I'd kill for a proper BirthRight 5E updating. I know we won't get it because WoTC doesn't want to let all of the twenty something's learn how shitty the Forgotten Realms are. Grumble.
 
Apparition said:
All I know is that this thread makes me feel old. One million dollars to stream videos of people playing tabletop games... :trigger:
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Critical Role has been a phenomenal success - I wouldn't be surprised to see it starting a genre of such things.
 
Apparition said:
All I know is that this thread makes me feel old. One million dollars to stream videos of people playing tabletop games... :trigger:
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Hasn't reality TV taught you that people are basically voyeurs?
 
Matt's bread and butter has been GM advice video on YT not really game streaming.
 
Voros said:
Matt's bread and butter has been GM advice video on YT not really game streaming.
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He streams games on YouTube too, doesn't he? How do we know which one is his bread and butter? He doesn't make his money from ad revenue. And most of his videos get similar amounts of views.
 
Jetstream said:
He streams games on YouTube too, doesn't he? How do we know which one is his bread and butter? He doesn't make his money from ad revenue. And most of his videos get similar amounts of views.
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His channel started as GM advice and reviews. He only started streaming years into the channel. He wouldn't have much of a following for the live game stream without having developed his audience with years of those YT advice videos.
 
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