My First Retail Display

Proof of Retail Placement

So a few weeks ago I bit the bullet and asked my FLGS if they'd be interested in selling some of my gaming zines. I went in for a meeting with a bunch of copies printed, and walked out with some cash. Last week I heard that they put the display out, so I went in to take a photo to brag about it.

So here I am, sharing the photo I took of the zines I made in my local game store and bragging about it. I'm reaching out to other local retailers, so we'll see what happens with those inquiries.

"Local Designer T.W.Wombat" has a nice ring to it.

If you're local to Worcester, MA, you can run over to That's Entertainment on Park Ave. to pick up a physical copy of some of my titles. After that, download a PDF from the links below. If I've moved away from Pay What You Will pricing when you get there, email me with what you bought, and I'll send you a code to get the PDF for free.

Huge thanks to Sorana and the That's Entertainment crew for taking a chance on my oddball titles.

Taberna Celeris Is Out Now!

I even printed a few copies.

I've hit the Publish buttons on my Itch store and my RPG Trader store to get Taberna Celeris out into the world. I realized I didn't publish Tabula Mortis to my DriveThru RPG shop, so I'll rectify that oversight this week for both trifold products.

Go grab a copy while it's still Pay What You Will:
Get Taberna Celeris On Itch, and At RPG Trader.

I told y'all it would only be a few days, and here we are.

Yes, this is title number 2 in what I'm calling the Trifold Triptych. It'll be three trifold zines containing random tables for generating things in your TTRPGs. I'm still brainstorming a topic for #3, but stay tuned. I'm hoping to get that one published sometime in September.

Timing Isn't Everything...

Preliminary layout and art.

...but it is most things.

Bolthaven Folio Update

Suffice to say that the Bolthaven Folio Kickstarter will not happen in February. I had enough to go live with, but I'm waiting for Kickstarter to approve me before they can review the project. Part of me is bitterly disappointed. Part of me knows better.

With the delay I take get a better crack at a header. I can continue layout tweaking and figure out how to format the tables that I want to include in the interior pages. I have time to edit the text and get the second draft out to pre-readers for feedback. My daughter can finish the cat samurai artwork - she just has to tweak the katana and do some finish work on the piece.

I'm excited at the prospect of getting something out the door, and I'm thrilled at having another dozen issues worth of ideas. Let's get this one done and shipped, then I can poll the backers and figure out which few ideas to develop next.

Tempus Fugit

It's been a year to the day since my last post here. That's enough silence, and enough waiting for the rest of life to settle down. High time I started writing again, so buckle up.

I could make empty promises that I'll post something at least monthly, and then summer will happen and I'll drop off the face of the earth for a few months. So I won't. I'll just say I'll post when I feel moved to post and go from there.

For those of you still out there and reading along: Thanks for sticking with it. Or for the laziness in not cleaning up your dead blog links. Whichever, the end result is the same.

I've got a few irons in the fire currently...

Link Dump with Nanogames

Time to clean out the browser again. Maybe today I'll get the new work laptop up and running.

Game Business

You'll Get Left Out, and That's Totally Cool by Ryan Macklin hit me at a good time. I needed to hear this, to accept that I can't do it all, to know that other people will get to do cool things instead of me, and to come to grips with it without going mad.

Fitz over at Moebius Adventures gives us a glimpse behind his publishing curtain in Infinity Loop: March 2015.

Daniel Solis shares his most recent quarter of card game sales in Smart Play Games Sales Report - Q1 2015.

Nanogames

What's smaller than a microgame? Nanogames! Here's a working definition of nanogames and a collection of links to various nanogames over at Fine Mess Games.

[Toolbox] On the Business of Tabletop RPGs

It's long past time to close some browser tabs. I've managed to collect a pile of links on the business of RPGs, whether sales numbers, potential printing services, or tips for running your tabletop game business. I've filled the ranks with a few older gems and categorized the whole mess.

Most of the posts are geared toward or about Tabletop RPG publishers, so if you're a freelancer like me you can definitely use those articles as market research.

Please pardon the wall of text - this thing took a while to compile. Enjoy, and feel free to share anything you've read that helps you in your RPG-based business.

(Warning, this post got long. Buckle up.)

On Product Sales
Moebius Adventures publishes their sales numbers fairly religiously, and also ties that together with their blog traffic for a comprehensive view inside a small RPG publishing business. The January 2015 Report talks about the holiday slump and focuses on recovering momentum.

Martin Ralya at Engine Publishing worked up the year-end sales numbers and found they sold over 21,000 units between 2010 and 2014. Releasing one solid product per year over the past 5 years seems to be a solid business plan, but it also requires constant promotion. The industry awards don't hurt either.

Evil Hat Productions compiles and publishes their sales numbers quarterly in terms of units, not dollars. Here are their numbers for Q4 2014.

Lumpley Games gave us a look at 10 years of RPG sales as of 2/28/13. The graphs, analysis of the customer's first purchase, and hard numbers are well worth a look.