I'm not entirely sure about ashcans myself, so I look forward to being convinced one way or another.

I like the idea of the ashcan giving the buyer a discount, and I really like the idea of providing a discount when people offer feedback and playtest reports.

I think ashcans can, potentially, be a great way of promoting interest and gaining feedback. However, I think the buyer needs to be made fully aware of what exactly it is they are buying. They need to know this isn't a complete, final game.

However, I'm planning on doing something similar with Revolutionaries or Everlasting Empire if neither are ready in time for Gen Con Indy this year.

Cheers
Malcolm

Contested Ground Studios

Paul Czege is doing an Ashcan Collective at GenCon this year.

I would heartily recommend contacting Paul (paul at halfmeme.com) about your Umlaut ashcan.

(And as an aside you can see Paul's MLWM sales on his website http://www.halfmeme.com/)

The text from The Forge about GenCon 07 says:
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3. As many of you know, Paul Czege is organizing his "Hobby of Equals" or "Ashcan Front" activity, as expressed in:
One
Two
Three
I think it's one of the best ideas I've ever seen for GenCon; some of the established publishers who can count on steady sales from IPR or elsewhere at GenCon might do best to embrace their punky roots and have maximum fun participating here instead.
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All, of course, pointing at the excellent Story Games site.

I particularly like Paul's post in the Ashcans thread. He shows some examples of what ashcans could be: they're cheaply produced, but it's pretty clear they're not just printouts in a cardboard cover.

Graham

Gregor,

I read those posts at Story Games, that's where the idea came from.

The "Punk" aesthetic is the thing that I'm embracing here: No this isn't a finished game, does it look like it's a proper game? Nope, it looks like I ran it off on my laser printer and then bound it using a comb binder and some combs I bought at Staples.

As long as people know what they're getting, then I don't see a problem. Charging for the ashcan makes it seem worth something and in my experience people will value something they pay for (even if it's really cheap) way more than something they don't. I could just point people to the PDF, but they're probably more likely to read or run it if they have a hardcopy (even a crappy looking one).

I'm thinking £3, which is just slightly more than a beer.

I see this largely as an experiment and I'll let everyone know how it goes.

Rich,

Would it be possible to PayPal you some cash and have one of the ashcans of Umlaut posted up to me? I'm quite keen to get my hands on one for some playtesting style action.

Cheers
Malcolm

Contested Ground Studios

Malcolm,

Email me at rich at totl dot net and I'll hook you up. I'm going to send a copy to Joe anyway.

That goes for anyone else who wants to play the game!

Rich

I'm getting mine tomorrow :-)