To get a Name...

[cognis]

So the first playtests of the new game went well; people were happy, potentials were discussed, things were good. It seems I have a good multigenre game in the works.

But as I have found over the last three years of being an independent business man, that's nothing; anyone with a bit of brain and a lot of time can put together a decent game (I'd like to think mine is more than decent, but...). What matters is not having a game, but having a name, being something that is recognized and makes people talk rather than disappearing into the Great RPG Abyss.

How does one get a Name in RPG publishing? The D20 wave is all about tagging along with WotC's age-old name, D&D. Licenses are bought and sold all the time, many making for crappy games with good Names; this sells, it seems! (would Star Wars RPG have survived even a year without the Name? It's a good solid game in a fascinating universe, and yet I doubt it). I have tried to make a list of methods, but most are just the obvious:

- Free First Edition games, primarily PDFs.
- Advertising on RPG and RPG-related sites.
- Convention games.
- Focusing common RPG debates around the game and making 'example solutions' based on it.
- Albino gorillas screaming it from roof tops.

The game is simply called Next Level RPG. Like so many other RPGs, the name says very little on its own (the name is not even confusing enough to attract attention, like GURPS). So what methods exist to make people recognize a Name? How do we, the independent RPG publishers, 'brand' ourselves, considering the very limited budgets most of us have?

[guildofblades]

>>- Free First Edition games, primarily PDFs.
- Advertising on RPG and RPG-related sites.
- Convention games.
- Focusing common RPG debates around the game and making 'example solutions' based on it.
- Albino gorillas screaming it from roof tops.<<

Well, let's see. I don't think I have anything that will get you more attention than Albino gorillas screaming from roof tops but....here are a few more marketing angles you could try.

1) Get yourself a website and get a banner rotation script working on it. Get your banners signed up to the RPG Host banner exchange and other targeted exchanges. The more total activity you generate on your site, the more banner inventory you will have to trade and hence the more you'll get out of this free resource.

2) Use banner ads (ideally free though your exchange) to compliment your branding. But you might also consider a few very low cost purchases as well to help hieghen your profile a bit. For instance, the RPG Host network does sell 50k banners impressions for just $5. Not very effective for click thrus and sales, but remember, this is ust to get the name out there where it can be seen.

3) Discussion forums on your site. Encourage all of your fans to get signed up to them and participate.

4) Press Releases. Use them mercilessly. Product releases, new site updates, special promotions, freebies, reviews, etc.

5) Reviews. Some people have used this to great effect (though for myself, I have always found the effort and expense to not be justified, at least for my own product lines).

6) Interviews. Generate enough attention for yourself, either about the game itself, or if you really grab peoples attention in a unique way with your marketing (like, in using those albino gorillas), you may generate a tad of notoriety. This could get some magazines or news related sites interested in interviewing you.

7) Free downloads. There are a LOT of ways to offer free downloads on the Internet. The "Introductory Edition PDF" of our Worlds of Heroes & Tyrants RPG has been downloaded more than a million times since about Feb 02.

8) Distribution and wholesale catalogs. If you sell your game through distributors, the catalogs those distributors use to solicit your products can be a form of free exposure as well. Such as Game Trade by Alliance, Previews by Diamond Comics, etc.

9) Sponsor Events. There are two ways to approach this. One is you can sponsor someone else's event, though this usually means a monetary commitment. Though perhaps sometimes a sponsorship can be done with prize support (aka, product). Or you can host some kind of event yourself (promotional give away, contest, etc).

10) Sell PDFs. If not of the core game itself, then of at least some kinds of support materials. One thing I have noticed since selling some PDFs myself is that the major PDF retailers tend to get pretty good search rankings on search engines, particularly RPGNow. One time (which I still do not understand), the RPGNow page for the PDF of a product ranked higher than the actual product listing of the print version on the Guild's own website. lol.

There are others as well, but its morning still and I don't want to think that hard. :). I'm sure plenty of other people here will chime in to cover all the basics anyway.

Ryan S. Johnson
Guild of Blades Publishing Group
http://www.guildofblades.com

[TonyLB]

And you can always sell yourself as an individual... go places, post useful stuff, stand up for the opinions that you've embodied in the game strongly but not rudely, help people with questions, etc.

It's what I (at least) would like to be doing anyway.  The fact that my little Capes-sig is at the bottom, and people might conceivably click through just reminds me to do a better and more prolific job of it.

My anecdotal experience is that using your own game as an example (except where it's already the topic of discussion) doesn't give any tangible benefit and may well reduce your overall impact.  The benefit of personal name recognition is that you can get massive, repeated exposure in tiny little increments.  After reading a couple ten-thousands of your words and opinions, people get a sense of you as a part of their community.  Setting yourself apart ("I've got this game!") only hinders that.  Eventually, when they feel a connection to you, a single mention of your game (or just its presence in your sig) will be enough to get a serious look.