Hi Graham

I definitely think you are a member here and could sell Darker on a stand if you wanted to buy in.

I think you are in the same position as Judd Karlman with his Dictionary of Mu and its relationship to Sorcerer.

So I guess I would be comfortable with you selling Darker, while letting other retailers sell The Roach.

Now, if the other retailers don't have The Roach, or there are no other retailers at the con, then I would perfectly happy with you having The Roach for sale too.

(As an aside I feel that Jon Hodgson could sell George's Children on the stand if he so wished too.)

That's an interesting question Graham, and one that will probably crop up from my pov at some point in the near future too.

Whilst I don't have anything against the Roach (i've never played it, but it reads great!), the reasoning behind not selling indie games other than our own is that Angus is normally there selling them, so we just point them in his direction. That way we don't compete - he doesn't sell our games but points customers at us, and we point customers at him. And, if like at Games Expo, people just assume we're one stall and seemlessly browse from A|State to SLA.

But if Angus isn't at a con, then you could definitely sell both the Roach and Darker.

Or, to put it another way - what Gregor said.

This is a good discussion to have, as at some point I might want to bring some of my stuff for Truth & Justice.

It's definitely a different sales proposition though. In most cases you'd only appeal to full-fledged converts of the base game - though it's possible the supplement might be so cool as to generate a sale of both (from what I hear of Mu it might be an example).

I think self-contained products are going to be an easier sell at a con. (Certainly an easier demo.)

Tim Gray
Silver Branch Games
www.silverbranch.co.uk

Another good point is that at Games Expo we were able to sell our games on to retailers. So it is not just Angus, but all our retailers, that we have a good relationship with.

A key point is that it is in their interest to buy the parent game as well as our supplements to sell. If we make good supplements for The Roach I think it will drive sales of the Roach in the UK. Same for Truth and Justice. That benefits the retailers too.

I think the case where we would sell the parent game is when you get someone wanting the supplement and they have no way of readily getting hold of the parent game. So in effect they can buy the supplement but can't play it -- which sucks.

Tim, I view you as a member here too and would be delighted to have your T&J stuff on the booth if you so wished. I think they are quality books.

That solution seems fair, by the way: sell the add-on on the stall; direct people to Leisure Games (or wherever) to buy the original; if Leisure Games (and everyone else) aren't there, have a few copies on the stall.

Thanks, Tim, interesting thoughts.

Graham

I concur.

Just realised that an elegant solution when it is on the booth is to not sell them The Roach without Darker. Perhaps a "Darker" price and a "bundle" price? Same for T&J.

It just occurred to me that some people might have the cheek to buy the parent game from you but not the supplement!

Oh...yeah...good point.

By the way, I should point out that I'm not really thinking of Darker. (Jason's publishing that quite happily and, although I could take my text and publish it myself, it'd be rather unsporting).

I'm thinking of Another Thing I'm Writing, which is a setting for Another Game. The tentative title is Rise Of The Machines.

Thanks very much for the advice/feedback/stuff.

Graham