GAMA debriefing

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

I spent most of this week at the GAMA Trade Show, an annual event held at Las Vegas. For those of you who don't know, the people who attend are mainly retailers, and the people who display their wares and generally try to publicize themselves are the manufacturers. Distributors are kind of a funny mix, because they can be (and are) voting GAMA members, but they are also customers too. Think of it like a con, but instead of gamers, you have retailers, and instead of play (although some does go on), you have negotiations and promotion.

If you have any questions about GAMA or what it's for or what it does, or even want to know the basics, like "what's a distributor," feel free to ask. Check out their website if you want here.

My purpose in being there was very different from last year. Last year, I had promotional folders, cover art, and a general lick & a promise that my game would be printed soon. Armed as well with my own self, I did my best. The big deal last year relied on the aid of my agent at the time, Liz Fulda of the Sphinx Group, who introduced me to Woody Eblom of the Tundra Sales Organization. From there, I was freed from the need to solicit distributor orders myself, and I think we can all agree that if I'd had to do that, the entire print run of Sorcerer would be sitting in my living room today.

Last year, any and all retailers were willing to take a peek at my folders or hear my pitch. They were similarly all disinclined to do much besides nod and smile; retailers have heard more enthusiastic "best game ever" speeches than you or I can conceive. My goal was to be physically present so that Liz, and later Woody, could point me out to distributors.

This year was different. Sorcerer was in lots of stores, and Adept Press is in the black (just did my biz taxes; that's worth a whole thread in itself). I was part of the Tundra booth with several other folks. Lots of other publishers know me now, and my name had apparently percolated out there enough to bring new people over saying, "So, about this publishing thing, I heard you were the guy to talk to ..." I'd brought a scary pamphlet for the retailers. I knew my goal: turn them on to the idea of reordering a game just because, shock, someone had bought it.

Frankly, I was not enthusiastic. I recognize the difficult obstacles facing retailers, but I wasn't sympathetic. I also hadn't been impressed with years of hearing about how "You have to have a setting" and "You have to have a line of supplements." Woody pushed me, said I had to be there. All right, I know enough to know who gives good advice, so I went. I also decided to make a real effort to listen and understand the problems of others, and to offer good suggestions about solving them, instead of being a cranky indie fringe loudmouth.

Holy shit. Things were very, very different this year. Part of it had to do with me and Adept Press (that can be discussed on the Sorcerer forum), but part of it had to do with the industry itself. Mark my words - a very noticeable shift has occurred. (How does he know that, based on a two-year comparison? Because he has been interacting with retailers regarding publishing for a lot longer than that.) All of the following points apply not to each and every retailer out there, but certainly to a noticeable fraction of the ones I met at GAMA, and most especially to some of the better and/or bigger ones, not just the fringe.

1) Retailers are realizing, some of them, that overly-heavy supplement-driven lines do not work. They are finally saying, "Diversify." D20 played its role in this attitude-shift in two opposed ways: (a) bringing up an awareness of small companies, and (b) recognizing that single-line titles, e.g. D20 itself, cannot be relied upon.

2) They are no longer vilifying direct on-line sales, but instead expressing interest in promotion on manufacturer websites.

3) Everyone is nervous about distribution. The collapse of two major distributors late last year has scared everybody, the presence of only one national distributor scares them more (with reason), and they are looking for some reassurance from publishers who are not going to evaporate just because a distributor does - ie, they like companies who make money for themselves.

4) All are feeling space constraint pinches, partly due to massive line proliferation from the likes of White Wolf and AEG, partly due to the mondo-elephant buttload of D20 titles. Interestingly, instead of cutting out small lines to make way for this, they are eyeing these "walls of purple" or "walls of brown" and remembering the "wall of orange" (Pinnacle) a little while ago, and the "wall of green" before that (AD&D). Hmm, they say. Is this working?

5) The powerful trio of the Sphinx Group, Tundra Sales Organization, and Wizards Attick (which I'm glad to say seems to have weathered some tough times well) makes small press a lot more viable. These guys act very much as a promotional guarantee, to different degrees and in different ways, and the retailers trust smaller books more than they once did.

No single one of the above issues could do what I heard in one glorious moment of conversation. But all of them together have generated notions that I never expected to hear coming from retailers. I shall provide one quote:

"Hey, what about an indie-game rack, like they have in video stores or bookstores?"

And that quote wasn't coming from me.

Best,
Ron

[Jared A. Sorensen]

"Hey, what about an indie-game rack, like they have in video stores or bookstores?"

Great Googly Moogly!

An indie game rack...imagine. Just imagine...

Sounds like a very interesting time, Ron. Did you share Tundra's booth or did you once again get the booth next to (or inside) the janitor's closet?

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Jared,

I was with several other folks at the Tundra booth, which was set up as a row of three tables against the wall, with us in front of them.

This is as good a time as any to mention some of the nifty stuff I saw at GAMA, including some also with Tundra and some not.

Driftwood Publishing - a fellow named Jacob Norwood and friends, with their game The Riddle of Steel. I was very, very impressed with many aspects of these guys' presentation, and the game has a strong heroic premise. [The book exists; you can get it at their site now.]

Dark Nebulae - I met Eugene Zee and Mark Mazella, two really good guys. They're beginning with a D20 magic-item supplement called Materia Magica, which at first I figured I'd just be polite about, but it turned out to be quite interesting after all. [The book is being printed for Origins; their stuff is here.]

Misguided Games - Lewis Pollak is realizing his dream of seeing Children of the Sun get to print. It's been a real haul and I'm glad to see it. Amazing art. Check out the site here.

XIG - oh my God. Glamrock saves the world. This game is my pick for "must play," drool, "must, must play." I'd heard of it, but hadn't had the chance really to check it out until now. See the glitter here. (Oh, and one of the authors is the guy who wrote Fairy Meat!)

Khepera Publishing - Jerry Grayson has taken his game The Godsend Agenda into print, and I didn't get as much chance to check it out as I'd wanted. The website's here.

And probably a couple of others that I'm totally failing to recall but will feel guilty about it later.

Best,
Ron

[Jason L Blair]

RE: Starchildren

I've been waiting for this badboy since I first heard about it. Did you get a peek at the system at all?

[Jerry D. Grayson]

The con was great but very exhausting (I slept all of Friday). Ron, I tried to get a hold of you Thursday but found that you were already gone.

I have very good feelings about the industry with all the small guys stepping up and letting their voices be heard. I'm completely "amped" up about the tons of great product that's out there and will be out soon from small publishers. Thanks for the support and I hope to be a familiar face around here.

[Ron Edwards]

Hey, welcome, Jerry! Good to see you here.

I also wanted to say to everyone, if you're wondering what this thread is about, please speak up. After all, not a single game is actually sold at this show, and it might seem kind of strange to travel and promote and all that, for no sales. I've even heard a publisher or two state that the GAMA show is "useless," and I was (as I said) reluctant to go at all, both last year and this year.

Jerry, if you've got the time or interest, let people know what the effort of being there was like, and generally what the whole point was.

Best,
Ron

[GMSkarka]

It was a great show for us at Adamant, too....which is odd, since we didn't have a booth this year (no point, no product to show!).

We made the announcement that SKULL & BONES will be published by Green Ronin, which went over very well....although I got really tired of hearing people ask me: "so, if Green Ronin is publishing S&B, does that mean you guys are going out of business?"  Grrr.

Had a great dinner Tuesday night with Ron...we talked about the three-tier system, and his new essay (which I can't wait to see posted here, so I can read it at leisure).  After getting up at 4:30 am that morning to fly out to Vegas  (over 6 hours in the air, thanks to a 150-mph headwind), I'm afraid that I wasn't at my best...by the end of the dinner, my head was swimming and I felt like I had been through a graduate-level business theory course.   Definitely an experience that I am eager to repeat when I'm more rested!  :)

It was a blast hanging out with Jerry Grayson of Khepera at the cocktail party at the GAMA suite Wednesday night.   I *still* think we should go ahead and do that Blaxploitation D20 book.  He's a baaaaad muthaf-hushyomouth!

Lots of new indie folks all over the place, in fact....and the retailers seemed genuinely interested in diversifying, which can only be a good thing.

Peter Adkison announced that he's purchased GenCon from WotC/Hasbro, bringing his score so far to 2 industry institutions that he's single-handedly saved.  Scuttlebutt has it that he was/is also negotiating to purchase the D&D brand as well....we shall see.  Personally, I think it's eventually gonna happen.  Regardless, having the industry's largest show not being held hostage by the 800-pound gorilla is a huge relief.

Bad stuff:

- Crap service at the Orleans' new sushi place.  T.S. Luikart and I had dinner with the folks from Green Ronin and retailer Jim Crocker, and we were served our food staggered out over an hour and a half...and half of what Pramas ordered he was told they were out of, almost 45 minutes after ordering...after some of us had already gotten our food!

- Missing Ron before he headed out.  Never did get a chance to scam a copy of Sorcerer & Sword... :)

- New small-press companies wasting my time.  I had a couple of scheduled meetings with folks wanting to talk about my consultancy services for new publishers (mentioned in this forum, among other places).  In each case, we talked for close to an hour about their plans and what I can do for them, only to have them finish up with "well, we're really not ready to get started yet, but when we are, we'll definitely be contacting you."     I mean, come on....you knew that you weren't launching yet BEFORE the meeting started...and yet you still insisted on taking up an hour of my time at a show where time is short?   Grrrrr.......

- Didn't hit at the casino this year.  Ah well.

GMS

[Jerry D. Grayson]

The con was a blast and I had very little trouble showing up since I live in Vegas. If I forgot or needed something I just went home and got it. I really enjoyed seeing all  the small companies there. I think most of the inovative ideas coming out now and in the near future will be from these companies.

The con also gave me a shot in the arm. I was feeling kinda nervous about how my game would be recieved but eveyone seemed to like it (or so they said). All in all the seminars were great and I think the con gave me the kind of exposure and (hopefully) retail push that I need.

As a side note, The Blaxploitation D20 book would be great, prestige classes like "MAC DADDY" and feats like "Trash talka' Dity Walka'" would be a cool. I have a supers group that I have been working on called the Brothers for my game with characters like the speedster called "10Speed", the mentalist called "Silky Smooth".

[Misguided Games]

Cool!  It only took me like a dozen tried to remember my login name.

The show was great.  Only got to see Gareth and Ron briefly, but got to chat with TS for a few minutes, which I enjoyed.  Jerry, a real pleasure to meet you.

Ron is dead on about the diversification bit.  I think a lot of people are scared.  I saw it at the show, and I'm seeing it on the GIF.  Retailers are looking for new things to try.  They may be cautious, but they are keeping their eyes open.  They are sick of the short discounts from the big guys.  The vast majority of retailers Dan and I talked to were thrilled that Children of the Sun ISN'T d20.

BTW, the new forums look really snazzy.  Thanks Clinton.

[JasonSch]

No single one of the above issues could do what I heard in one glorious moment of conversation. But all of them together have generated notions that I never expected to hear coming from retailers. I shall provide one quote: "Hey, what about an indie-game rack, like they have in video stores or bookstores?"

Having spent enough time lurking for my satisfaction, I'll happily step up and claim authorship of that quote.