2023: The Bundle year in review

By Bundle of Holding founder and operator Allen Varney

Since I launched the Bundle of Holding in February 2013 I’ve made many basic mistakes, enough to fill a Rolemaster critical-miss table from 01 (Embarrassing Burp Makes Everyone Laugh) up to a metaphorical 54 or so (Big Toe Amputation), and I don’t rule out future bungles right up to 99 (Self-Decapitation). But in 2023 I also started making advanced mistakes of a rarefied nature you only see in a third or fourth rules expansion or even a homebrew. In preparing the Shadowrun Third Edition Megabundle that ended last week, I included three errant Second Edition supplements simply because I saw them listed on the SR3E DriveThruRPG page, even though – here, this is the sophisticated part – even though I’d already presented these selfsame 2E titles in the November 2022 Shadowrun 1E-2E Megabundle. Huzzah! That is no rookie blunder. That pratfall can only befall one befuddled by presenting 4,433 RPG ebooks from hundreds of publishers in 796 offers across 11 years. So, y’know – respect!

Stay the course

Missteps aside, the real story remains “nothing much changed.” The Bundle of Holding ticks along, now up a bit, now down a bit, aloof from world events. Well, mostly: In early 2023 Wizards of the Coast rolled several fumbles in the 75-80 (Shoot Foot) range, first in January when the company tried to retract the Open Game License, then again in April when a Hasbro executive sent Pinkerton agents to a fan’s house to seize his property. The Bundle responded with successful Non-OGL Fantasy, Alternatives to D&D, and Solidarity offers that brought many great RPGs to disaffected gamers.

This year sales fell 7% from 2022, partly because there were 112 offers (85 new, 27 revivals) versus last year’s 115. (2021: 78 offers; 2020: 72; 2019: 75; 2018: 69; 2017: 67; 2016: 69; 2015: 53; 2014: 62.) And 2023 had fewer standout successes. The Bundle of Holding isn’t hit-driven like chain bookstores and movie theaters and comic book shops, where one successful title makes all the difference. But each year, this site’s dozen or so bestselling bundles mean a lot. Here’s the number of offers by year, 2016-2022 (final figures for 2023 aren’t in), that together accounted for one third of that year’s total revenue:

• 2022: 11 offers out of 115 (9.5%) earned 1/3 of the revenue
• 2021: 13 offers out of 78 (17%)
• 2020: 10 offers out of 72 (14%)
• 2019: 14 offers out of 75 (19%)
• 2018: 12 offers out of 69 (17%)
• 2017: 12 offers out of 67 (18%)
• 2016: 12 offers out of 69 (17%)

This is conventional power-law stuff, not good or bad in itself. One could argue, “The site only needs two dozen offers a year to get by” or “Focus on the big offers.” But the schedule isn’t about just “getting by.” It’s also about showing gamers lots of good RPGs. Even if I do sometimes get befuddled.

This year, after one customer suggested the price of Bundle offers has been rising, I calculated the average offer price by year:

• 2023: US$21.64
• 2022: $22.49
• 2021: $26.18*
• 2020: $24.59
• 2019: $24.38
• 2018: $25.04
• 2017: $25.00
• 2016: $22.77
• 2015: $21.18
• 2014: $19.66
• 2013: $15.49

* The high average for 2021 is due to five large offers of Hero Games titles. Omitting those five, the remaining 73 offers in 2021 had an average price of $25.04.

That said, the December slate of offers in progress includes pricier tickets. The total retail values of these offers are higher than usual for the Bundle of Holding, but in terms of percentages off retail price, even these offers still hold to the site’s standard.

2023 highlights

Popular Bundle of Holding offers in 2023 (not just the top dozen) included Advanced Adventures Mega (Jan); Worlds of 2d20 (Feb); GURPS 4E Combat Action and GURPS 4E Supers, Heroic Maps Future, and Clement Sector 3E (March); More Mörk Borg and Tiny Dungeon Mega (April); FASA Traveller and Iron Kingdoms Requiem (May); Lex Arcana and The Dark Eye Mega (June); Worldographer and Root: The Roleplaying Game (July); the fourth (!) revival of Shadow of the Demon Lord, along with the revived companion Demon Lord Legacies (Aug); the year’s single biggest offer, Delta Green RPG Mega (Sept); DCC Funnels (Oct); Shadowrun 3E Mega (Nov); and most of the December lineups, including Traveller Mercenaries, Numenera Horizons, Dungeon Fantasy Powered by GURPS, and Dragonbane and Year Zero.

This year’s first-time Bundle contributors included Acheron Games (Lex Arcana), Araukana Media (Nibiru), The Arcane Library, Deep7 Press (Airship Daedalus), Dork Storm Press (Dork Tower), Dungeon Age Adventures, Handiwork Games (Beowulf 5E), Inkwell Ideas (Worldographer), Larcenous Designs (GameMaster’s Apprentice Decks), Metis Creative (Historica Arcanum), Northern Realms (Grim Noir), Parable Press (SHIVER), Planet 13 (Everywhen), Purple Sorcerer Games, Sentinel Hill Press (The Arkham Gazette), SoulMuppet Publishing (Best Left Buried), Steamforged Games (Steamforged Epic Encounters), The Tabletop Engineer (Delver Lost Tomes), and others. They joined returning publishers Arc Dream, Catalyst, Chthonstone, Evil Hat, Expeditious Retreat, Fire Ruby, Free League, Gallant Knight, Gauntlet, Goodman, Green Ronin, Hero, Kenzer, Kobold, Lampblack & Brimstone, Magpie, Modiphius, Mongoose, Monte Cook, North Wind, Onyx Path, Palladium, Pelgrane, Privateer, Runehammer, Sine Nomine, Sly Flourish, Son of Oak, Steve Jackson, Ulisses Spiele, and Zozer Games, among many others. As always, I thank all these publishers for their continuing support, and I apologize that I can no longer hold all their lineups in my head.

Format minutiae

Introduced in 2022, the site’s Megabundle format continued strong this year, with big offers of Advanced Adventures, The Dark Eye, Delta Green, Shadowrun 3E, and Tiny Dungeon. A couple of Megas drew criticism for pulling in many titles from smaller precursor offers; previous customers had to buy the same books again to get the newly added titles. This objection is fair. But the comprehensive scope of a Mega, such as Delta Green, would require two older revivals alongside a new companion – for example, both the June 2018 Delta Green RPG Bundle and also its October 2019 companion, DG Operations. That’s not practical, and it confuses newcomers.

I don’t say these Megabundles are the end-all solution, but they serve the purpose right now. Next year will bring six or seven more Megas.

Late 2022 and 2023 saw new offers that consist mostly or entirely of titles drawn from the site’s hundreds of past lineups: Lampblack & Brimstone (March), Arc Dream Mythos (May), Hydra Cooperative (July), Sine Nomine Corebooks (Nov), Kobold Guides (Dec), and four Year Zero titles in Dragonbane and Year Zero. The books in each of these compilations originally appeared, scattershot, across multiple anthology offers that can’t be practically revived. Compilations bring back these titles for customers who may have missed the original runs. Some of these compilations have proven more popular than the original anthologies. Expect several more in 2024.

On the other hand, this year I ditched the short-lived Quick Deals format, where small offers with one-week runs lived on their own tab at the top of the sales page. Customers said they never noticed the Quick tab. Oh well.

Charities

Ten percent of the revenue (after payment gateway fees) from most Bundle of Holding offers goes to a recognized charity. In 2023 the Bundle’s lifetime cumulative total charity donations hit US$1.3 million. Some of this year’s individual contributors chose to support institutions important to them, such as the Yorkshire Air Ambulance, the Brain Aneurysm Foundation, the Wildlife Conservation Society, RollVsEvil, and the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank. But as in the last three years, most of this year’s donations went to Direct Relief, which sends protective gear and critical care medications to health workers, with emergency deliveries to medical facilities across the US and to regional response agencies across the world.

The Pinkerton-free Solidarity Bundle in April 2023 supported Corporate Accountability, which stops transnational corporations from devastating democracy, trampling human rights, and destroying our planet.

This holiday season the Bundle once again supported the Diana Jones Award Emerging Designer Program. Each year, the Diana Jones Award for Excellence in Gaming, a 501(c)3 nonprofit, amplifies the voices of up-and-coming game designers by featuring them during an expenses-paid visit to Gen Con. The global Emerging Designer Program focuses on creators from marginalized communities.

The year ahead

112 offers was a lot. For one hectic afternoon last week you might have seen ten simultaneous offers, a record for the site. (As I write, nine are still running.) All this year, I never got more than a week ahead on the schedule. In last year’s 2022 in review post I braaaagged about already having a full-year 2023 schedule of 115 offers, hahaha! Gah. Of those imaginary offers, 47 didn’t happen in 2023. The Bundle of Holding schedule is writ on water.

Still, nothing daunted, fingers crossed, knock wood, I have an imaginary 2024 schedule of, it looks like, 114 offers. The spreadsheet says 76 of these are new, 40 are revivals, and wait that doesn’t add up. Gah!

This spring, even that phantasmal schedule may vanish. Here in the Pocket Dimension, the Bundle of Holding HQ in Ithaca, upstate New York, taxes have soared and life has become unaffordable. To repair our finances, my wife, Beth Fischi, and I are moving back to the city where I grew up, Reno, Nevada. By summer we should be ready to launch a Kickstarter campaign (which we’d originally planned last spring, gah) for our new D&D 5E supplement, Manse Magnificent. So in spring and summer you may see slowdowns in the Bundle launch schedule. But I’m sticking around, and I hope you will too. Thanks as always for your support.

Laura Dean (1977-2023)

Hail and farewell to Bundle of Holding co-creator Laura Hinton Dean, who died June 28, 2023 in Houston, Texas after a years-long battle with colon cancer. She was 45 years old. Laura wrote the code for the original Bundle of Holding platform and built it out in its turbulent early years, constructing the aircraft in mid-flight. Bundle customers can thank Laura for her unwavering commitment to the site’s usability and to enhancing the user experience. The Bundle of Holding wouldn’t exist without her conscientious work, and I’ll remember her with fond gratitude.

(Previous year-in-review posts: 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014)