[Dungeons/Dummies] Draft 3 - The Assembled!

I was doing some planning for the upcoming cons when I started thinking about how I might promote my Dungeons/Dummies game. At the rate its going, I can easily have it ready come early spring, when most of the bigger cons are starting up.
What sprung to mind was this: A 1 page print off of the game rules.
The core system is ultra simple, someone at a Con can easily sit down, create characters and have a mini adventure in 30 mins to an hour (my one AP thread was from a session a little under an hour and a half), and the demoers could walk away with a playable 'system'.

The book for this, by estimates, would be about 64 pages and I can get physical copies printed very easily, not to mention I plan on PDF as well. Book would probably sell around $10, leaving me around $7 profit on printing easy. PDF likely for $5~

What I'm wondering/afraid of is, would handing out the core of the system on a 1 page sheet undermine sales at these cons? Or, if used as a promo before the release, would it create players but not buyers (players are still good though)? Has anyone had experiance with something similar?

The book would be more elaborate (and in this case contain complete rules for running the dungeons, Adventurers etc), so a pre-release use might spark additional sales "just to see what its all about".

I think it would depend very much on what new material is in the book. For example, I have been playing and promoting Tony's Capes for a while now, check out all that Actual Play! The rules are simple, he can probably get them on a single sheet (front and back). My current thinking is that he can give this away and still sell tons of copies. Here's why: Click'n'lock. Tony has created a system of character generation in which you take two pieces, on representing a "powers set" and one a "personality", for a character and put them together. I will, quite literally, buy any book he decides to print entirely to get access to more click'n'lock stuff.

Click'n'lock enhances the game to such a massive degree that it is essentially a must own for effective play. Don't get me wrong, you can play the game quite effectively without it, the rules don't by any means require it, but the game is so enhanced by it that it is worth the price of admission right there.

So, if you have something that you feel is that much of an enhancement, give your rules away. People will still pay for your new material, assuming that it is good.

Thomas

Hello,

Thomas is correct, in my experience. The widespread belief that one's system is the most secret, sacred part of a game publication is entirely mistaken.

Think of it as providing test drives, or consider the immense success enjoyed by many CCG publishers through quick-and-dirty demos.

Best,
Ron