Sorcerer's Soul in Lynnwood, Washington!

[Zak Arntson]

I saw (and bought) Sorcerer's Soul here in Lynnwood, Washinton. A store called Fantastic Games & Toys. I've been going there since um, 1980-something, and it's had the same owner the entire time.

He wasn't carrying any other Sorcerer products, so I urged him to get the main game and told him that Sorcerer & Sword is all about the pulp fantasy. He's a big fan of the Howard Conan books, AND he wrote down Adept Press on his list of things to stock. Yay!!

I've only skimmed Sorcerer's Soul, so I can't give any good remarks on it. I'm excited to read some of these detective novels, though. I can't remember when I last read detective fiction, so I'm going to hit the used bookstores soon!

[AndyGuest]

I picked up Sorcerer's Soul last week at my local store here in Aberdeen, Scotland, so it's getting about a bit ! No sign of Sorcerer & Sword, though I coulda missed it.

Andy..

[Valamir]

It and all three supplements were on the shelf of the largest gamestore in Rockville MD (northern DC suburbs)...somewhat dwarfed by the neighboring display of all things GURPS, but it was there.

[Thor Olavsrud]

The Compleat Strategist here in NYC has about 6 copies of Sorcerer and 3 copies of Sorcerer & Sword stocked. Haven't seen The Sorcerer's Soul yet.

[Ron Edwards]

Good news all around!! Thanks, everyone.

If you're feeling especially activist, let the retailer know how wonderful he or she is for carrying the game.

Best,
Ron

[Mytholder]

It showed up at Leprecon in Dublin over the weekend. I nearly bought it. I would have bought it if I hadn't ordered both SSoul and SSword over the net. Curse the postal service.

[Christopher Kubasik]

Ron --

Here in LA I couldn't find SSoul or S&S.

I bought Sorcerer at a WotC (they had two copies on the shelf) but a week later when I asked about the other books, they were stumped.  (I was on the phone, they were swamped, and couldn't really follow up.)

And then! at Aero Hobbies, which is one of those wonderful stores which looks like a teenage gamers bed room, with the stock just lying around everywhere, and all you need do is say to the owner, "Say, do you have a copy of that obscure Manchurian Steam Splatterpunk game that came out in '83", and he'll say, "Well, let's see," rummage... rumage... "here it is...  and a few of the source books."

He didn't have the books!  Hadn't heard of them.  Flipped through his catalogue and said his distributors didn't carry them.

Is this possible?

Now, I don't know enough at all about how this works, and since I could order it online, I didn'tto press the point.

But are there key words I should say to help spread the Good Word?

Christopher

[Noble]

Christopher and others in the Los Angeles area:

I've seen Sorcerer and the two supplements at:
Games of Westwood right next to UCLA (The owner Steve is one of the nicest game store managers I've ever dealt with)
Last Grenadier, both stores on opposite sides of the valley.

Its news to me that it was at the WotC store; very cool to see it at the more mainstream game shops.

- Ian

[Robert Leal]

Unless they have more in the back, I was in Compleat Strategist in NYC this week, and they had two copies of Sorcerer and one of Sorcerer & Sword left on the shelves.  

And by the time I left the store, they had one copy of Sorcerer.

Heh. :-)

[Ron Edwards]

Hi folks,

Thanks, everybody!

I probably should address some aspects of talking to retailers about games - many of you probably know a lot about this, but it's always good to go over it ...

1) Retailers exist in an evil zone in which they've paid big bucks for tons of stuff on their shelves, and in which they've also paid big bucks for a wad of stuff currently en route from distributors. Moving what they've already paid for is and must be their first priority. It's very, very hard for a retailer to say, "Yes, you, one customer, I shall now bust my ass to locate this one game, which I have only heard about from you."

We can talk about how it's "their job" (and as customers it certainly seems so), but it's more fair to consider their job to be, "staying in business." To them, that's a matter of getting nearer to the black Right Now, and they are never able to escape from that particular Now.

2) Everyone knows that release dates are a bunch of fooey. Adept Press has made its release dates mainly by specifying a month, not a specific day or week, and frankly I was lucky on at least one occasion. And not one of my books came out when I wanted it to, but rather in the last moment or so that it was conceivably decent (which is where the luck came in).

Thus to a retailer, a customer who says, "The publisher says it's out," is justifiably going to react with one of those insider-sighs. These guys have heard everything you can imagine from publishers: Champions 5th edition, Nobilis 2nd edition, etc, etc. And from small press? Jesus - one shipment eight months late and then not a peep about that promised line of supplements, and the damn game makes the retailer an even $2 per copy anyway.

3) All three books of mine are housed in distributor warehouses even as we speak, in addition to the reliable secondary level of Tundra (my warehouser/agent). The retailers know that this could be the case. They know that distributor catalogues and actual inventory are not a perfect match (in either direction). However, pound for pound, it's going to be really hard to conceive that this small press game, at this time, happens to be (a) such a mismatch and (b) worth the effort to call and order anyway, long-term.

[By the way, both Sorcerer and the first supplement are in the up-to-date catalogue, which doesn't necessarily mean the one the retailer is using. However, Soul is a bit behind in promotion and therefore probably won't be in a distributor catalogue for a while.]

4) Retailers by and large dislike the internet. The main problem is the widespread misconception that internet and store sales are necessarily enemies; how that plays out in the larger culture remains to be seen. More specifically to role-playing games, the retailers know full well that they cannot operate as "game knowledge gods" but mainly as distributor outlets; no other option is really logistically possible. Thus the game might exist physically, it might conceivably and somehow be available for sale, but if it ain't in that catalogue, if it ain't front and center in the absolutely classsic retailer-distributor process with a full paper trail, then it might as well be vapor.

How does this relate to the internet? It means that if a customer says, "But it's available on-line," you are doubly prejudicing the retailer against the game as well as against yourself. Firstly, they see that as direct blackmail or even petulance: "You don't have it? Fine! I'll buy it over here." [And don't forget that most retailers equate internet sales with MSRP discounting, which Adept Press does not do.] Secondly, the point about the "industry identity" of the game applies in full - fundamentally, they don't care about it if it's not in the chain (or rather, not obviously in the chain).

So, in conclusion, practice some judicious dialogue with retailers. I strongly suggest asking them to call the distributor, or (if you're feeling especially spunky) asking who the distributor is and then telling me. I also suggest pitching the game to them as something that not only you will buy, but lots of people you know will too (and if this isn't true, don't lie). Finally, I strongly suggest encouraging them to re-order, not just to order and sell that one copy. Finally, I don't suggest emphasizing Sorcerer's internet presence in terms of sales, but rather in terms of support and active user base.

All comments welcome!

Best,
Ron

P.S. edited to fix a crucial typo

[jburneko]

Ron --
And then! at Aero Hobbies, which is one of those wonderful stores which looks like a teenage gamers bed room, with the stock just lying around everywhere, and all you need do is say to the owner, "Say, do you have a copy of that obscure Manchurian Steam Splatterpunk game that came out in '83", and he'll say, "Well, let's see," rummage... rumage... "here it is...  and a few of the source books."

He didn't have the books!  Hadn't heard of them.  Flipped through his catalogue and said his distributors didn't carry them.
Christopher

I'm replying to this publicly because I think it might be of general interest concerning some 'retailer' situations.  They DO have copies of Sorcerer & Sword  and Sorcerer's Soul over a AERO Hobbies.  I know, because I decided to forfeit my potential discount for owning the .pdf of Soul and went ahead and bought it on impulse the last time I was there.  

Here's how I found it.  First, I rummaged through all those boxes that are piled up by the 'new releases' section and I stumbled across a copy of & Sword.  I figured, 'Well, Hell, if they've got & Sword, they might have Soul.'  Rumage, Rumage, Rumage, and Rumage Somemore and sure enough I found a copy and bought it.  The funny thing was in all that rummaging I didn't come a across a copy of the Core book.  It makes me wonder if someone bought it, I didn't find it or if it was never there to begin with.  I swear that guy just has a standing order to, 'send me one of everything new.' with his distributer.  Now granted, I don't know if those came in before or after you asked about them.

Jesse

[Christopher Kubasik]

Jesse,

This was about three weeks ago.  They might have been there, but the owner, who I like an awful lot, might have not remembered.  (As you note, they take a bit of work to find them.)

I always assumed the guy carried his entire inventory in  his head.  He always seems to -- the way he digs up treasures at the merest mention.

That's why I was so surprised when he said he hadn't heard of them.

Again, this was over the phone, it might have been busy.  And, again, he said he found no mention of Sorcerer in the catalogue -- so, I'm going to chalk it up to miscommunication on my part.

Thanks,

Christopher