...I can't help but feel that RM is one for the 'grown ups'. This mix of dedication, elitism and old-school-geek-intellect leads many (most?) RM GMs to create their own campaign worlds (and modules). I haven't played or run a pre-written module since my group played Shadow World back in the early 90's, but in that time I have written scores, maybe hundreds of adventures and 3 campaign settings.
Yes. This.
Modules are a hard topic. They were good at first (at the start of the industry), especially for D&D, but eventually they lost much of the attraction for both the gamers and the companies. You'll often hear people 'in the know' say that modules are considered a pretty iffy product in terms of viability (read: profitability). I suspect the RPG gamer crowd started to outgrow them, even putting aside that TSR started putting out pretty sub-par stuff towards the end (which partially facilitated WotC buying them out).
Also consider (as A.R. states) that RM gamers are typically rather experienced and, as a result, tend to create their own settings or possibly use highly modified existing ones.
So, are modules a good idea? Well, imo, yes and no. No in terms of the veterans. Put out source books that give you the tools to use their concepts in your own setting or fairly generic modules that can be very easily dropped into just about any setting. Yes in terms of new gamers. My assumption would that a setting for RM would be put in place around or shortly after a RM Lite. Once a 'lite' version of RM is put out (assuming it's actually 'lite' enough) and, hopefully, new customers start being drawn in then I can see true modules (not just source material) doing better.
All just my opinions though.
Books very useful in RM for fleshing out worlds/cultures/etc are Martial Arts Companion, Channeling Companion, Castle and Ruins, Game Master Law and Treasure Companion.
This is exactly the stuff I want in terms of RM expansion materials. Now, to be honest even though I think they are good books, I'm kinda beyond the Martial Arts and Channeling Companions, because I'm designing my own stuff that do what they did, but this is the kind of material that I believe a LOT of the RM crowd need.
Obviously, and rule set will provide additional structure, but those are particularly good. Guilds, commerce, religions, new professions, schools, forms of govt, even adventures are inspired within them.
Exactly. Give them some fairly generic tools and let them implement it when and how they like in their games.
Adventure modules are not as profitable. Only GM's tend to buy them for starters. Path Finder uses a sponsor system that helps them a lot. With the money up front, paying a writer is simple and a one time deal. Any sales that follow will be print on demand all all profit (ideally).
Print on demand is a double edged sword in my opinion. It removes a lot of the risk from the companies, but it also removes the product from the shelves, which I feel is still a very valuable aspect of marketing. As we move forward online will become more and more the primary source, but right now I feel any game that wants to be more than a side hobby of it's creators, needs to be more visible - i.e. on the shelf.
I wish that some agreement could be worked out between the stores and the companies using print on demand or primarily online efforts and the brick and mortar stores to allow the stores to buy even just a single copy of each book at cost (no profit but no loss for the RPG company), then when one of those books sell the store moves to paying what they normally would in order to stock the product... meaning the RPG company now gets to start making a profit when the store RE-stocks the book.
