[GenCon 2004] Pamphlets/handouts

[Ron Edwards]

Hey there,

Phil Reed and I have come up with a plan for the booth handouts & paper stuff.

ITEM ONE
A trifold pamphlet that lists all the companies and games at the booth. This will be black-and-white, very basic, with a nice short intro to explain the booth as a whole. The plan is to print 500 and to pass them out like popcorn, stuff them in with purchases, and similar.

ITEM TWO
A 40-page perfect bound book (yes a book!), digest sized, with a color splash page and 3 pages of promotion for each of the nine companies that bought in at $200. The plan is to print 100-150 and to have them at the booth for promo and reference. If someone wants to buy one, it's $5, and if someone purchases over a certain $$ amount, they get one free. At the moment, I'm thinking the $$ threshold will be $50.

The overall cost for printing both items falls within $500. If you'd like to chip in to help out, donations to sorcerer@sorcerer-rpg.com are accepted, but not required. Technically, the $200 buy-ins have already done their share, but I figured any bit of altruism from anyone is welcome.

Phil's doing the design, but he really needs the following:

From all companies: name of company, logo TIFF, and name(s) of games and products that will actually be at the booth. Include one sentence of promotion or catch-phrase.

From $200 buy-ins and primary sponsors: name of company, color logo TIFF if possible (and anything colored you want on your splash page), names of games and products, and 3 digest-size pages of promotional information.

The deadline is FRIDAY, JULY 23. This is the kind of thing that only works well if everyone does it, so let's do it!

Best,
Ron

[Matt Snyder]

Do you have a vision for what "3 pages of promotion" will be? I realize you may be leaving that up to each publisher. But, maybe you (or Phil, or anyone else) has ideas for what you intend to do yourself?

[philreed]

In my mind, this would be most valuable if the four pages were:

Page One -- Color -- Logo and cover for the game and 100-200 words of "sales" text.

Pages Two-Four: 800-1,200 words for use with the game. Something new and neat. Maybe a new variant rule. Some plot ideas. Anything you could actually use in play. A piece of art if you want to include it.

The idea is to make this _more_ than a catalog or sales piece. Make it something they'll drag along to game sessions. And then, as people pass it around at the table, they'll look at not only the stuff for the game they're playing but other stuff as well.

[Matt Snyder]

So, it's 4 pages total?

As for content -- got it. That's very helpful. I agree that actual, useful content is much more appealing.

[philreed]

So, it's 4 pages total?

Yep. 1 color and 3 B&W. It gets much cheaper to print if it's all B&W but I agree with Ron that have a color splash to open each section would look sweet.

As for content -- got it. That's very helpful. I agree that actual, useful content is much more appealing.

It makes it the kind of marketing material that gets used. In this way no matter which of the nine games they're playing everyone has the other games in mind.

[Valamir]

That's a great idea Phil.

Universalis has a good bit of Add on and essay stuff from the website that would be pretty useful.  Anyone with any ideas they'd like to share for what to include with Uni's section can pop down to here

[philreed]

That's a great idea Phil.

Universalis has a good bit of Add on and essay stuff from the website that would be pretty useful.  Anyone with any ideas they'd like to share for what to include with Uni's section can pop down to here

I think original material would make it a more valuable book.

[alchemist]

Phil,

This sounds like a great promotional tool...  In the case of Digital Alchemy, or products are software for use by Gamemasters for their games.  Since variant rules, etc. dont apply in this case perhaps I could create sample maps & scenes created with the software for use in any RPG.

Also, a question about layout... are the '9' providing artwork and text that will be worked up when you create the book? or do we need to create the pages ourselves like laying out an AD?

Thanks

Dan Ridenhour
Digital Alchemy
sales@digital-alchemy.net

[philreed]

Also, a question about layout... are the '9' providing artwork and text that will be worked up when you create the book? or do we need to create the pages ourselves like laying out an AD?

People can, if they wish, layout their own pages. I'd rather do it myself so the product has a united look but I'm not about to force my graphic vision on you guys.

5.5" x 8.5" .625" margins all around. No bleeds.

Tifs are fine. I use Quark 4.0 on Mac.

[Matt Snyder]

Frankly, Phil, I'd rather you didn't let us do our own design! (I know, I know -- I just PM'ed you about doing exactly that!)

It IS more work for you. But, I think having that uniform look from an excellent designer like you will really help the book appear more professional. I realize now that mixing and matching fonts, decorations, etc. would really make the thing seem like an amatuerish thing (amateurish, as in: disorganized yuckiness).

So, I'm all for handing off edit & art materials to you and having the book seem much more professional. Whaddya think ... anyone?

My experience with these projects has been that if you just sorta let people do their thing, the project doesn't work well, if at all. Be a damn tyrant! People WILL get shit done that way, and the end product WILL be better for it.

[philreed]

So, I'm all for handing off edit & art materials to you and having the book seem much more professional. Whaddya think ... anyone?

This is how I'd rather do it. Anyone else have an opinion on this?

[alchemist]

Agreed!  It will have a more consistent / professional look if the layout is done by one person in one style instead of a mis-match of publisher ideas.

The one thing I would like to know, is what DPI you would like any artwork at?  Better to send things to you sized appropriately.

Dan Ridenhour
Digital Alchemy

[philreed]

Specs:

300 dpi
Tiff

Text in .txt, .doc, or .rtf.

Please load the stuff to a web or ftp site and send me a link to download it from.

The largest any image should be is roughly 4.5" x 7.5". Try and keep file sizes at 1 MB or smaller.

[lumpley]

Is there any editorial policy about, y'know, swearing?

-Vincent

[Keith Senkowski]

Hi,

I have a question for those of us that will only be in the basic pamphlet.  What are the size specs you want for the logo (300 dpi H x W?) and where do we send it with our one line of text, company name and product name?  Smack me if this has been covered.

Keith