As a general rule I try to avoid public discussions of my business plans (the whole "poker cards" thing), but I will say this... Newness is the reason people go to game stores, and newness is the reason any form of entertainment remains interesting. I would like to have a company that remains willing to try new things, and continues to bring novel, interesting products to life. 4E is a fun opportunity to try some new things.
If you study the way various game companies have built themselves, they often follow a pattern. When the company is young, they cast about to find products that will prove popular. Eventually something catches on, and the company really starts pushing that product. Within a couple years, the company is totally dependent on that product line. Three to five years later, the fans get bored and stop responding so well to new releases on that product line. The core fan base remains while less dedicated fans slowly peel off, and in many examples the company settles into a routine of selling revised editions to a slowly dwindling fan base. The company flounders, unsure of what direction to take, and starts to slowly fade from view, eventually resorting to pushing online sales over brick-and-mortar sales, becoming heavily dependent on discounting, and so on.
Breaking out of this mold requires a couple things.
First, it requires a willingness to continue trying new things even when presented with a predictable moneymaker. As one product life cycle matures, you should have another one entering adolescence.
Second, it requires an understanding of how retail game stores work, on a couple levels. You can't succeed in this industry without having the game stores on your side, and the best way to get game stores on your side is to publish a regular stream of new, interesting products that will draw people into stores. If I know that I don't like Brand X Game Product, I'm not going to visit my local game store to check out the latest release... but if I have no opinion on New Game Line from Goodman Games, I might visit the local store to check it out when I hear it's released.
There is a market for 3.5 products, and always will be. When the time is right, I may offer to continue serving that market. Due to the simple fact that 3.5 will by that point be an unsupported system, publishing products for it will have to be in a manner that doesn't involve trying new things or supporting retail stores. So it can't be a core mission of the business.
All that said, I wish I could give you guys some details on what's in the works for 4E, but aside from noting that Harley, Adrian, Chris, and some of the other guys are hard at work, there is nothing more I can say. In the coming weeks we'll be posting details on some of the products to be released in the interregnum, which will include...
* The tournament edition of DCC #30: Vault of the Dragon Kings. This is a huge boxed set complete with the module, 12 miniatures, a new sequel adventure, and a stack of player and DM packs. It's everything you need to recreate the Gen Con tournament experience at home. It will be produced in limited supply on a preorder basis.
* A new role playing system (not Dungeoneer). This is an all-new RPG system built around an extremely flexible character generation system.
* A systems-neutral book of game master tips and inspiration material, produced by a team of experienced writers and GMs.
* One of Brad McDevitt's devious creations. Most of you know him as an artist on the DCC line and other products. Brad is also a writer and game designer, and he's come up with some fun little RPG's (not to mention having been responsible for some old classics like NightLife).
* And of course the things we've already talked about: some C&C modules, another 1E module, and a couple other things...
Don't worry... it will all make sense in retrospect.
