Is TAS dead?

phavoc

Emperor Mongoose
Looking in the forum and it's been nearly six months since anything has been posted by contributors.

Did it burn out or just fade away? Are there still people interested in TAS to publish through it??
 
Thanks, Andrew. Very cool! Have any of you posted anything in the TAS format? This looks great. I think I'll reformat my adventures and sourcebook material with their InDesign tools and post them on DriveThru. Seems preferable to posting them on the forum.
 
I published one adventure via TAS. Unfortunately without the ability to advertise it, it was my lowest selling Traveller product.

I will not be writing any more under TAS.
 
Rikki Tikki Traveller said:
I published one adventure via TAS. Unfortunately without the ability to advertise it, it was my lowest selling Traveller product.

I will not be writing any more under TAS.

You advertised only your other products?
 
ShawnDriscoll said:
Rikki Tikki Traveller said:
I published one adventure via TAS. Unfortunately without the ability to advertise it, it was my lowest selling Traveller product.

I will not be writing any more under TAS.

You advertised only your other products?

No, Shawn.

On DTRPG, publishers get "publisher points" that can be used to purchase ads on the website. Those ads are fairly effective.

However, publishers with TAS products cannot advertise TAS products with those points. So, in effect, you are prevented from putting out those kinds of ads for those products on the OBS sites.

Hope that helps.
 
I will admit, it is considerably harder, but it can still be done, relying much more on social media and your own network of fans still works. The thing DriveThruRPG doesn't realize is that by removing my ability to advertise on their website, they trained me in how to advertise elsewhere. So when I started my own webstore, I just turned that publicity generating machine towards my own site instead of theirs. Which sets me up for the future when I want to have my own non-TAS Traveller setting. I'll be able to do pre-orders right through my own site, reducing DriveThruRPG influence on what I do.
 
I would have thought that TAS forum would have been used to advertise TAS products from the various small publishers.
 
dmccoy1693 said:
I will admit, it is considerably harder, but it can still be done, relying much more on social media and your own network of fans still works. The thing DriveThruRPG doesn't realize is that by removing my ability to advertise on their website, they trained me in how to advertise elsewhere. So when I started my own webstore, I just turned that publicity generating machine towards my own site instead of theirs. Which sets me up for the future when I want to have my own non-TAS Traveller setting. I'll be able to do pre-orders right through my own site, reducing DriveThruRPG influence on what I do.

I never click on ads on OBS. I only go there to buy what I already know what I'm looking for. Usually through links posted here to drivethru. I expect to see RPG products mentioned on writers' YouTube channels. I don't do Kickstarter. Most of what I buy at drivethru is stuff I've seen reviewed on YouTube.
 
ShawnDriscoll said:
I never click on ads on OBS. I only go there to buy what I already know what I'm looking for. Usually through links posted here to drivethru. I expect to see RPG products mentioned on writers' YouTube channels. I don't do Kickstarter. Most of what I buy at drivethru is stuff I've seen reviewed on YouTube.
It's not just an ad on DriveThruRPG. It's also emails sent direct to past/potential customers--which I consider to be more valuable than ads--and the deal of the day and a few other things. Even then, the ads are important even if you don't click on them. It helps to keep awareness of the company and their products in people's minds. But as your buying habits show, they have their limits.
 
phavoc said:
I would have thought that TAS forum would have been used to advertise TAS products from the various small publishers.
Why go to a different, read separate, forum when my potential customers are right here? They shouldn't go to me; I should go to them.

Not to mention that a separate forum only reinforces the notion that what I produce is less valid for a Traveller game than what Mongoose produces. It's the whole "compatible publishers suck" idea that I'm leaving Pathfinder because of.
 
On a related note, what tools did each of you use to produce your TAS materials? Did you use the InDesign template that was provided? Or just imitate the look and use different tools?
 
dmccoy1693 said:
It's not just an ad on DriveThruRPG. It's also emails sent direct to past/potential customers--which I consider to be more valuable than ads--and the deal of the day and a few other things. Even then, the ads are important even if you don't click on them. It helps to keep awareness of the company and their products in people's minds. But as your buying habits show, they have their limits.

I also buy when I'm emailed. I forgot about that part of OBS.
 
paltrysum said:
On a related note, what tools did each of you use to produce your TAS materials? Did you use the InDesign template that was provided? Or just imitate the look and use different tools?

I use InDesign for layout, Photoshop to modify artwork (or I just hire an artist when I want it to actually look good), and Google Docs for the words part. I use some of the artwork in the MGT pack, but mostly I use it as a sample to show an artist how I want a ship or an alien to look. I tried copying the style in the MGT2e core book, but I was not happy with what I came up with. So finally I made my own style.
 
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