"Top 5 Reasons Relics Didn't Catch On?" Topic

Tor Gaming recently announced they are closing. Their flagship product was Relics, an original fantasy game.

Why do you think Relics failed to succeed in the marketplace?

Maybe the fact I've NEVER heard of it before has something to do with it. Not me personally as such mind you, but even though I'm a historical guy I still at least hear about Fantasy games.

Never heard of it.

What they said

Never stocked any of the TOR product since I do not carry items supporting RPG games.

Never heard of it and don't care.

Never heard of it or them.

Yea, its marketing – lack thereof.

Same as above. Never heard of them.

Dan

Relics? Hmmm…Relics…let's see…hmmm. Nope! Never heard of it until now. Maybe if people had heard of it earlier, it would have caught on. Too bad…

Never heard of it.

Never heard of it or of them.

Mike Bunkermeister Creek
bunkermeister.blogspot.com

I liked their evil Redcoat puppets, and loved their medieval hobbit-crows. None of their other factions did a thing for me (I actually despised the sadomasochist gnomes), so I never bothered with the world, or the rules.

I use my Britanan and Ridend for small-scale skirmish gaming. As they noted in their statement, it IS an extremely crowded market, and even if I liked the product line as a whole, it is very unlikely I would have ever invested in it in any sizable fashion. I've got way too much else on my workbench. I doubt I'm alone in that.

I really loved the Britanan and I thought some of the others were really cool, but I couldn't get into another games system.
My plate is already full and the thought of trying to talk other gamers into another game system…

Small company in a small market. They attended a number of shows in the UK, so probably better known over here than in the US.

Never heard of it. But note in any event I'm a hard sell for something which is inherently single-sourced like that. It's a substantial investment to try out, and a virtual guarantee that if I want more of anything in five or ten years, they'll be gone. A few SF or fantasy figures I can use with existing systems, sure. N new and proprietary game? No thanks.

Who? Maybe if they advised on TMP I would have heard of them.

Top 5? I think we have the one answer.

"I didn't know he existed until he didn't ."
—HBO's Caesar

What Robert said, especially single-sourced gaming ideas. One trick ponies have a hard time catching on especially if they are in a unique scale or feature figures that can't multitask over different settings.

Dunno if I could come up with five, but I'll give it a go.

1) you have to use the miniatures they make for the game they make.

2) they're not priced to break the bank, but they aren't cheap either, especially factoring trans Atlantic shipping.

3) They are whimsical, which can be fun, but you either jump in with both feet in this period or you won't have a great time.

4) Lack of online support. Prior to this post I might have heard of Tor Gaming, but that doesn't mean I really knew what they sold.

5) No diversity. There really isn't a product B, so why go back?

Some of their figures would have been suitable for a project of mine. I'm in the UK and I never heard of them previously. Even if I had done, they're a bit expensive. And now OOP.

I think:
1) Their miniatures were too expensive for a small company
2) They overlooked the necessity of marketing
3) The miniatures aren't Warhammer/aos look alikes so they largely rely on adoption of their game.

I have no idea how good or bad the game is but that could be another factor.

Their miniatures were too expensive for a small company

I'd think being a small company, there is greater justification to charge more for your minis. And I didn't feel that their prices were out of line with similar offerings from other companies.

The miniatures aren't Warhammer/aos look alikes so they largely rely on adoption of their game.

Many companies try and steer clear of being "not-Warhammer". Relics could certainly boast that. Besides, the cheaper WH wannabes became their own crowded market. Not that that matters much anymore.

Even if I had a great idea for a multi-faction minis line, and had magic elves to sculpt and cast my beautiful miniatures, I would still be VERY skeptical of the idea of marketing it as it's own ruleset/gaming system.

The market is SO saturated. And cost aside, no one is modelling and painting them for me. That, for me, is the choke point. I have (to my mind) a fairly limited game budget, and I paint quite often. But if I never bought another mini for the rest of my life, I would still never get through Lead Mountain. At this point, buying into another minis line is not just throwing money away, it is piling on a certain Sisyphus-like feeling to my hobby that I am trying to put an end to.

Like most of the above, I never heard about it until it was announced that Tor was shutting it's doors.