Doing It Different, doing it right…
Its funny isn’t it… choosing to be different? From a business perspective, you could consider it near suicide.
Staying close to the popular thing gives the broadest exposure and as such gets the most eyes on what you’re doing and so we have to ask ourselves “why are some businesses are choosing to stray from the established path and try something different?”
I think the first thing that comes to mind, when I ponder this question, is progress. Let me explain.
Warhammer 40K will always be characterised by Space Marines - everything else orbits around them, but when you boil it down, 40K is a game designed to sell Space Marines. This is why despite Age of Sigmar receiving universally better reviews as a play experience and having a SUPER dedicated fanbase, we see sales and new player uptake significantly lower. Simply put, Age of Sigmar doesn’t have Space Marines (though it does try to).
Now I appreciate that that may seem a little reductive, but if you’re thinking that, I urge you to find another unique selling point for 40K. Sigmar and 40K have essentially the same mechanical base (albeit they approach the gameplay loop slightly differently). They have mostly parallel factions (although why 40K doesn’t have Space Rats will always be a question that keeps me up at night). They have a similar style to their presentation and lore. As much as many of us wish it weren’t so… the thing that separates 40K most clearly… is Space Marines!
Similarly we could look at D&D and draw some similar conclusions. D&D back in the 90’s had a sprawling range of worlds. Each fully fleshed out and ready for you to set adventures in. There was the typical high fantasy of Forgotten Realms… but there was also Mystara, the OG high fantasy setting of the 1st edition.
Beyond this there was Ravenloft, (Gothic Horror), Spelljammer - adventurers travelling through space in magical boats, Planescape - which was all about dimensional travel, and Dark Sun… which had a kinda middle-eastern feel. These are just the ones I remember… there were probably more.
However as D&D developed over time and grew in popularity, all of this condensed down in to The Forgotten Realms. The video games, the expansion products and the entire forward facing image of D&D is essentially TFR now. Why is this?
Well… forgive me if I sound a little cynical, but I think it’s probably because TFR is the most recognisable, expectation-meeting high fantasy setting. It is the Space Marines of TTRPGs. And so D&D as a hobby, has become a beautifully packaged machine, to sell their equivalent of Space Marines.
Now lets circle back to that initial question I posited, and the answer I gave. Why do people choose to be different? I say it’s for the sake of progress, but I think it goes deeper and we need to unpack.
A Heretic Trooper, from Trench Crusade.
You all know this by now… I’m an Indie Cindy at heart. Most of my favourite TTRPGs and Tabletop Miniatures Games are made by small companies, with passionate but tiny teams behind them. I used to love to think that this was an expression of my contrarian nature, as someone who loves to challenge the establishment… but honestly? As I’ve grown older and become more deeply involved in the industry, I understand how far from the truth this is.
The real answer is honestly way more simple… genre. The marketable genre is Fantasy. 40K is Space Fantasy, Sigmar and Forgotten Realms are High Fantasy. I tend to enjoy Cyberpunk, Gothic Horror or Grim, Dark, Gritty but fairly realistic or believable settings.
And quickly, as a side note - 40K is not Grimdark, and hasn’t been since the 90’s. The lore is, mostly, but the presentation is entirely Fantasy and this is clearly evidenced in every piece of artwork you see. I will not entertain the fantasy that it’s not Fantasy with any further discussion! (:P)
But yes… the answer is Genre. My favourite games include (but are not limited to); Cyberpunk 2020, Infinity, Trench Crusade, Mork Borg and Cy Borg (and by extension Forbidden Psalm and Kill Sample Process). There’s a pretty clear thread connecting all of them, so as much as I’d like to raise a fist and yell “fuck the system”, I have to accept that my REAL stance is that I’d rather like to sit down with the system, ask it how it feels and whether or not it might consider ya know… changing a little, so the rest of us can have a seat at the table.
The grim (and somewhat dark) reality is that the things I love most, also aren’t currently the things that sell… or are they?
Because well, we all know how well Trench Crusade is doing… hell, I wrote a whole article about it. But also… something I’m reminded of every time I go to UKGE is that.. well the industry is changing.
Just two years ago, at Expo, the D&D and Warhammer presence was HUGE…yet those parts of the expo were also some of the quietest parts of the whole floor. The Warhammer stand was literally demoing 10th edition, something that should have drawn huge excitement… but no-one really seemed to care (a fact that on reflection actually makes me super sad for the enthusiastic staff members that gave up their weekend to work that stand).
Last year and this year? The show has grown MASSIVELY, with 200 more vendors added this year, and attendance figures that are getting seriously insane. Around 45K unique visitors across the weekend this year… and the vast majority of them (as evidenced by the fact GW don’t even exhibit at the show any more, and D&D remains a tiny draw) wanted something different. And yes, 45K isn’t a huge portion of the market… but it IS a huge portion when you divide out the people who don’t travel to events, or aren’t in the UK (or both).
Perhaps one of the companies at the show that most brought this home to me was Soul muppet Publishing. I had the pleasure of meeting them at the Thursday Night Show Preview and spent a little time with them on the Saturday too. I honestly can’t believe I’m this deep in to this blog before even bringing them up… but this is a subject I’m passionate about, so establishing ground was important.
A Spread from Gangs of Titan City
So… who are SoulMuppet, what do they do, and why should you care?
Well… they’re a small team of folks making RPGs and supplements. The reason you should care is because EVERY SINGLE THING THEY DO is just so fucking cool, and different and made with real passion.
Their (as far as I can tell) Flagship game is Orbital Blues. This is essentially Firefly the RPG. Okay no, it’s not as derivative as that… but that’s the easiest way to communicate it. It’s a Space Western, about the struggles of getting by in a lonely galaxy, run by the mega rich. Firefly is literally my favourite TV show… of course I love this.
Next is Paint the Town Red, which from my feeling it out, seems to be a kinda love letter to Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles (oh look, one of my favourite book series… see the pattern emerging?). You play as an undead member of high society, feasting your way through parties with the elite. SO FUN.
Third is Inevitable… I think the easiest way I can convey this is spaghetti western meets Mork Borg (oh, what’s that… another one of my faves?)… it’s definitely fantasy, but under the cloud of world-ending doom, that gives it that grit and despair that really tickles my pickle.
Finally, their newest game, Mad as Hell. So erm… imagine if Capitalism caused demons to burst into reality? Okay that’s already sick as fuck, just as a jumping off point. But in the game, you get to play a radical, anti-capitalist demonhunter! I mean that’s literally who I wish I actually was in actual reality!
So yeah… one company, four games (they actually have a ton more exciting games to check out) and ALL OF THEM are exactly the kinda stuff I adore. I think you can see why they left an impression on me, right?
A Page from Mad as Hell
The thing that really stood out to me about their work though, was the sheer effort and quality in the artwork. In the RPG space, far more so than in Wargaming (I think) the illustrations used in sourcebooks are so important for connecting people to the world in which the games take place. Unlike in Wargaming, there is no miniatures line to place those aesthetic cues in to the hands of players. Once you close that book, the world only exists in your head, and SoulMuppet have mastered the art of…well…art.
Each of their books has a totally unique way of delivering its world in to your eyeballs, down your fleshy stalks and into that static-riddled fatball you call a brain. From the retrofuturist Betamax and Polaroid imagery in Orbital Blues to what literally look like a child’s glimpses of hell, rendered in high definition crayon, for Mad as Hell, they know exactly what they’re trying to get across and exactly how to do it.
A spread from Orbital Blues
At the time of writing this, my delves into the various worlds of theirs that I took away with me from Expo are still somewhat superficial. Yet, even from this most cursory of glances, each feels lived in, fully realised and yet open enough for me to have a take and let them breathe in a way that suits me. There is true mastery of their craft at work here and honestly… I don’t think this would possible, if they chose to make “Just another fantasy game”.
There was a time (and to a lesser degree still is) where eating from the same table as the Hasbros, the GWs et al was the only way to fill your belly, and don’t get me wrong… if those things are your jam, that’s a GREAT thing… you’ll struggle far less than I will, to find people to play with, and you’ll always have a wealth of content to enjoy. But it’s so reassuring, as a small, independent creator in this industry, so see so many shining examples of people being brave enough to go their own way.
Why is it reassuring? Because change is good. Progress is being made. Creative people are having more ideas, showing them to more people, and they’re being received well. This doesn’t just benefit the Indie Cindies like me, it benefits everyone, because you better believe the execs in those big companies will pay attention when ideas gain traction.
At the end of the day, having more choice takes nothing away from the popular choice. Warhammer and D&D both have SO MUCH to offer those for whom they are the perfect outlets. It’s just also nice to know there’s something else out there, if you crave it. Amongst all those shining examples, few shine as bright as SoulMuppet, so if you’ve read this deep and are dying to get your cake shovels on something a little bit off the beaten path… go give them a look.
Look, here’s a link so you don’t even have to touch your keyboard. Aren’t I a lovely man?
Go play, experience joy, and love what you do as much as SoulMuppet do.
Peace.
