I'm working on my game (which will, of course, revolutionize the industry and make everyone who ever plays it wish they had thought of it first and will win every gaming award and make me a bazillionaire) and while hammering out the rules and such, I've also been thinking about production.

I'm actually at a point where what I'm capable of producing on a technical level, will actually influence certain rules.

One thing I'm considering would work best if my game came in to two volumes. One would have all of the rules and the other would be a book of supplemental material, some of which would be intended to be cut out and/or photocopied (character sheets, counters, cards, maps, etc.).

I'd really like for the supplements to be together at time of purchase. I'm a very big believer in games that come with everything you need except pencils and dice. In fact, if this is the route I take... I'm very married to the idea that the books are a single purchase.

I don't want to use a slip-band like Burning Wheel for several reasons (not the least of which is that the cover of the main book will be huge factor of the marketing and there's no way a slip-band would work with it). An elastic band, I'm afraid would curl the books.

Two options that I would be really in to are either a slipcase or a box. The print size of both volumes will be half-letter. I'd be perfectly fine with either option being blank (preferably black) and having labels applied to both the front and back.

So... My questions:

Are there any PODs who will print either format, or can print and affix labels to blanks. If so, what kind of cost is involved in that? I want to keep SRV as low as possible (even though, I mean... really... the game will be so freakin' spectacularly cool and desirable I could probably charge anything I wanted and retire to my own private Island by the age of 40).

In the end, suppose I could go with bagging the game, but all too often I think that really ends up subjecting the game to being looked over by most people.

I should also say that my preference is printer who will assist in getting product to a distributor. The last thing I want to do is to have to order a ton of volumes, package them myself, and then get them to a distributor.

[Just for clarification: the statements about the success of game are, of course, sarcastic. I'd be happy if only a dozen people ever play it (although, of course, I would love for it to be well received).]

Thanks for any help.

Your buddy,
Andy

Hi Andy,

It is very probably that you do some googling you can find a box supplier that will sell blank chipboard boxes or white faced corrugated boxes in a variety of stock sizes. One of which may work for your needs.

Since you are merely looking for front and back labels you could easily print those yourself using 8 1/2" x 11" label stock. You can buy it by the case from local paper distributors and get a decent price. We get ours at $.08 per sheet.

Print your front stock on one half and your back sticker on the other. Cut down the middle.

To get decent quality and affordable printing, I suggest looking into a photo printer with decent print speeds and one that very specifically still allows refillable inks. The cannon I9900 works well for over sized prints (11" x 17"), but that's bigger than you would need.

Of course, pretty much any time you put the product into a box that means you also need to shrink wrap the box. Otherwise consumers will often open the box to see what is itself, then not put the stuff back in or damage the box from too much handling. So a shrink wrapping machine is very much recommended.

Ryan S. Johnson
Guild of Blades Publishing Group
http://www.guildofblades.com
http://www.1483online.com
http://www.thermopylae-online.com