Transparency Agenda Daily July 26th 2016 - 3PP Business Breakdown: Dreamscarred Press

Transparency agenda daily July 19th 2016 - 3PP Business Breakdown: Pros and Cons

Transparency Agenda Daily May 24th 2016 - Pay rates Round 2

Are Entrepreneurs Born Or Made?

Less than a week until Transparency Agenda January 2016 Special with Gary Ray of Black Diamond

I have noticed only a few of you have signed up for the upcoming Transparency Agenda January 2016 Special with Gary Ray of Black Diamond and there are some who have not signed up to watch it. Let me tell you, if you are a table top game designer and/or publisher and you are NOT going to watch this, then YOU ARE AS A DUMB AS A BRICK and your company is going to fail. Period.

Are you kidding me?!?!?!?? I am getting one of the TOP gaming stores in the USA let alone the world and I am going to go complete BEAST MODE on him asking tough questions and getting to the heart of the retail / publisher issues like:

Why do retailers hate Kickstarter so much?

Or Why do retailers never want to support small publishers in the start, then complain when they can’t get their stuff in the store?

Or even, How much does it suck that Cards Against Humanity doesn’t care about dealing with retailers and shouts them out of making money?

I am sure there are some real tough questions you would like to ask a retailer and get an honest answer, and NOW is the time to ask them. Even though you will be able to see this later on YouTube, not one might ask the question you want to hear. So sign up and make sure you are going to be there. Hope to see you on Saturday!

Transparency Agenda #67: How to get 300% increase in sales by watching...

Transparency Agenda #64: It is Always about the business, all of the time

Transparency Agenda #62: Teaming up to get more done!

Transparency Agenda #56: Paizo vs 3PP Part 2

Transparency Agenda #55: Paizo vs 3PP Part 1

Transparency Agenda #53: Cash, Your Company and Your Future...

Driving Along and Talking about LPJ Design

Dealing with the issues of a Small Press Publisher while driving to work

Planning for the Future with your Business

LPJ Design Business Judo: DC Comics' Second Feature Idea and how LPJ Design used it

On November 16, 2009 I wrote a blog post called DC Comics'Second Feature Idea. So with this basic idea I used it to do something similar with it the NeoExodus product line.  For example we have Enemies of NeoExodus: Folding Circle and connect with that product we have Heroes of NeoExodus: Brelin Swift.  This was my first attempt of doing a Second Chance for LPJ Design.  It was an easy way to make one product into two. Better yet this gave me the opportunity to sell the same products two different ways: as separated products or and joined bundled product.  Each product has its own separate price but if you purchase the bundle, you get them both for the same price as the larger product. So fans of NeoExodus can purchase the bundle and save money. While first timer customers can “test us out” by purchasing the “Second Chance” product first at the lower cost and if they like it they can purchase the larger, more expensive add-on. 

 I am also planning to do something similar to this when we start releasing new products for NeoExodus. One big book with a smaller book attached to it.  While it is not a revolutionary idea, it is proven and one that does work. While DC Comics might have stopped using it due to the rising cost of printing, since I am digital based it really cost me nothing to do, helps lower the production cost on a product and makes LPJ Design more streamlined and profitable. And that is what is best for up long term.  Talk to you later…

LPJ Design Business Judo: Doing the Clockworker right for NeoExodus

 A few weeks ago, we at LPJ Design were also discussing about adding a steampunk influenced class to the NeoExodus setting since the Arman Protectorate with their golems and warmachines seemed having it only logical.  While in the middle of our discussion, Headless Hyrda Games came up with the product the Clockworker.  This was a class they were looking to use in their Mor Aldenn setting to add the genre of steampunk to their setting.  This was perfect for us.  This would give us a chance to see what the Pathfinder fanbase wanted to so, compare some good ideas based on what they did and what worked and what didn’t. Initially it got some 4 and 5 star reviews that got me very interested, but then there were some comments on the Paizoboard that got me little worried about this actual quality of the product.  But then the one name in reviews that I always trust, Thilo Graf, commented on the product giving it a 2 star review. 

Now I have been on the receiving end of Thilo Graf 2 starreview many times (hard but honest and fair reviewing) so that was enough to interest me to purchase the product.  Now while there were issues, I did find enough quality material to see where the designer was going and what they wanted to do.  So based on the work that was done, the reviews and commentary, I decided that we would use the Clockworker as our guide to create our "steampunk" influenced class.  

While I like steampunk as a genre and concept, I never really though it made sense in a magic based setting.  So instead of focusing the “steampunk” quality of it, I wanted to focus on the engineering and scientific methodology of the technology as the magical element.  I was inspired by the Marvel comic series S.H.I.E.L.D. which focuses on the great scientific minds in Earth's history including Galileo Galilei, Leonardo Da Vinci and Nikola Tesla as the basis for the story, in turn as a basis for this new class. And with the quote from Authur C. Clark, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” I knew this would be great for the creation our new base class, the Machinesmith.

Best of all with using the Clockworker’s OGL material as the basis of the Machinesmith class I could avoid a few of the missteps that were discovered during it first draft that Headless Hydra Games release.  Sometimes it’s better to be second.  Talk to you later…