Summary

F1337 Command™ is building a web-portal to serve the players and dungeon masters who play Dungeons & Dragons 4e. The site will provide products for sale that are created by independent designers. This article outlines the processes of the Product Development Program..

“Our goal is to bring products to market that are created by independent designers and design companies. In supporting the independent product designers we believe the industry will be better served. “

Dave Kester - Founder

Corporate Background

Here we’ll help with understanding how this program fits into the overall the F1337 Command™ corporate vision.

Corporate Vision:

We will support the paper based RPG gaming community by providing great free content*, excellent products, and great customer service.

*Some content is only available to site members. Site membership is free.

Product Development Program Goals

To ensure the success of F1337 Command™ goals in 2010 we are creating this program to help product designers bring their products to market.

2010 Product Development Goals

In order to measure our success we’ve set the following goals** for this program:

1. Foster relationships with independent game designers of D&D 4e products***.
2. Create the necessary delivery capabilities to get the products to the customers. For example:
   1. Just in time printing
   2. PDF download capabilities
3. Market the products online, at trade shows, at local retailers
4. Pursue distribution with gaming product distributors
5. Offer a solid line of products to customers
6. Establish a reliable product release schedule

**Normally goals should include a measurement quantity for success. However, F1337 Command™ core values set quality over quantity so we aren’t setting any quantity goals for this program this year.

***We will pursue additional game systems in the 2010 if reliable product designers interested in those systems present products that will help establish the needed offering. Currently the product designers in this program are focusing on D&D 4e.

Program Highlights

1. All of the product developers are independent
2. The products intellectual property rights remain with the product developers and the marketing, sales, and manufacturing of the products are done by their permission
3. The program pays product designers based on a royalty for each product sold.

Product Acceptance Criteria

1. The product development program will set and support high standards for the product quality
2. All products offered for sale on the site are approved by the corporate staff based on their evaluation.
3. Any reviews conducted of the product during an evaluation period will remain strictly confidential and any reviewers will be held to non-disclosure agreements.

Royalty Program

Every product designer with products actively offered on the site or via retail and wholesale operations will be payed a royalty for all sales.

How is the Royalty Calculated?

The royalty program is based on gross profit****. The royalty value for a given product will be determined at the time contracts are signed. For products with multiple designers where royalties will be distributed to multiple legal entities the contracts will specify the distribution and the decision making process related to the item.

****Gross Profit = Revenue − Cost of Goods Sold

What's the Catch

There are some limitations that the program will impose and strictly enforce. All of these are meant to keep the community healthy, protect intellectual property rights, and facilitate a practical program.

Contributor Program Rules of the Road

• Products which are derived from other products will have a strict review for copyright infringement
• Product designers who submit multiple products that do not meet the quality standards may be asked to not submit products in the future
• Product designers who’s submissions infringe on copyrights may be asked not to submit products in the future
  Product designs are expected to be your work
• Product designers get paid when the product sells not when they create the design
• Products are treated equally under the program, no favorites
• The product development program is not a public program, you must be selected
• Products to be sold by F1337 Command™ need to be substantially unique and not already available elsewhere on the internet
• Product submission must be relevant to D&D 4e or other approved game system play

Kinds of Products

Product Catagories

Maps

Well this refers to any category of cartography including: encounter maps, world maps, map tiles, etc..

Game Aids

A product designed to be used during game play that does not include rules, definitions, or content.

Books

A large category Books include any product that comes in a book form. Some examples:

• Game Systems
• Campaign Settings
• Game Expansions or additions including:
  • Races
  • Classes
  • Equipment
  • Magic items
  • Other game rules or definitions
• Fictions, including novels and graphic novels
• Modules/Adventures

Pamphlets

Pretty much the same as books only smaller. This would include any product that would not include a book binding or be designed to be small in size.

Miniatures

Currently we aren’t looking for miniature designs as the tooling and other manufacturing costs exceed our 2010 operating budget but we are interested in such projects provided our 2010 financial goals are met we will be looking to expand in this area as time permits.

Other

Pretty much anything you can think of that doesn’t fit into the above category including software, etc. If you have some ideas we are ready to hear them.

To get involved in the Product Development Program contact F1337 Command™ Site Director Dave Kester at dave@f1337command.com.

Corporate Mission:

Create a RPG portal to provide content and products to players and game masters of paper based role playing games.

2010 Corporate Objective:

Develop a D&D 4e web-portal that provides free content and purchasable products made by independent contributors and designers.

2010 Corporate Goals:

1. Launch a web-portal to give users free content and purchasable products for playing and running D&D 4e.
2. Collaborate with D&D 4e product designers to offer products for players and dungeon masters of D&D 4e.
3. Create a collaboration team with bloggers, writers, and artists to generate free content for the portal.