Post

Matt Colville?
@mattcolville.bsky.social

There's a kind of RPG product I look at and think "that's cool, I wish MCDM could make a book like that." But we can't because we are an expensive company and that product would never pay for itself. And then I wonder...do those products only exist because everyone working on them has a day job?

Dr. Emily Friedman
@ecfriedman.com

Historically, yes. I think a lot about how the only Actual Play on deposit in the British Library is there because the group were all archeologists and/or heritage workers recording their play for the literal love of the game, & crowdfunded the DVD-ROM & novelization to preserve, not profit.

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Dr. Emily Friedman
@ecfriedman.com

I tend to frame it less as “hobbyist” and more as “leisure time and income to take something seriously/carefully but not market-driven” Which is why I think a lot about how TTRPGs and AP would be different under a meaningful social safety net, or UBI.

Joe Auerbach
@joeauerbach.bsky.social

I know a ton of people who make RPG content exactly this way. Not as a job but as a hobby. Same way I write books. It's not my job and I don't make any money at it. By which I mean people buy them but not enough to cover my costs. And I'm fine with that. But it shouldn't be the backbone

Joe Auerbach
@joeauerbach.bsky.social

Definitely, I think it's healthier for companies like MCDM and black hat to be more of the backbone of the hobby. And smaller companies can grow up around those. And there can also be plenty of hobbyists.