06-23-2015, 04:59 PM | #1 |
Join Date: Jun 2015
|
Local Stores Don't Carry GURPS any more
At the local store where I'm recently started running a 3rd edition Cyberpunk/ Robots/Car Wars campaign I have a group of eager and enthusiastic teenaged players who have whole hardheadedly taken up the game.
As, unfortunately GURPS 3rd edition has been out of print for some time, the only place some one can purchase it is through Warehouse 23. If someone were to inquire at any of the local gaming store or comic book shops about purchasing GURPS or any GURPS material they would be disappointed. What do people think of the idea of SJ Games providing some form of monitory incentive for local gaming stores to promote esales of GURPS from Warehouse 23? Maybe SJ Games could put web kiosks in stores and people can buy GURPS material directly from Warehouse 23 via the kiosk and the local retailer hosting the kiosk could get a percentage. The kiosk could download the books directly onto a USB key for the purchaser or even print it full color using a off the self laser printer. |
06-23-2015, 07:33 PM | #2 | ||
Join Date: Nov 2011
|
Re: Local Stores Don't Carry GURPS any more
Quote:
Quote:
|
||
06-23-2015, 07:49 PM | #3 | |
Aluminated
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: East of the moon, west of the stars, close to buses and shopping
|
Re: Local Stores Don't Carry GURPS any more
Quote:
I believe the current marketing budget is two bucks and a week-old cheese sandwich, and I'm not sure about the two bucks.
__________________
I've been making pointlessly shiny things, and I've got some gaming-related stuff as well as 3d printing designs. Buy my Warehouse 23 stuff, dammit! |
|
06-23-2015, 08:29 PM | #4 | |
Munchkin Line Editor
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Austin, TX
|
Re: Local Stores Don't Carry GURPS any more
Quote:
The marketing budget is pretty healthy, actually, but we have to spend it where we're most likely to see a return. Right now, that's card, dice, and board games. From our research, most gamers today aren't looking for new generic RPGs to try -- either they already have their favorite games that they play, they're looking to play the official licensed RPG for their favorite setting, or they just aren't interesting in roleplaying at all.
__________________
Andrew Hackard, Munchkin Line Editor If you have a question that isn't getting answered, we have a thread for that. Let people like what they like. Don't be a gamer hater. #PlayMunchkin on social media: Twitter || Facebook || Instagram || YouTube Follow us on Kickstarter: Steve Jackson Games and Warehouse 23 |
|
06-27-2015, 12:02 PM | #5 |
I do stuff and things.
Join Date: Aug 2004
|
Re: Local Stores Don't Carry GURPS any more
The size of the RPG section in most game stores supports this.
__________________
Battlegrip.com, my blog about toys. |
06-27-2015, 01:14 PM | #6 |
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Central Europe
|
Re: Local Stores Don't Carry GURPS any more
Eh, in my high-school group I do not think that the majority of the group bought any books in ten years. Once they had what books they needed to play a couple of systems which they enjoyed, why spend the money? Another bought a certain number and pirated a certain number, and another spent most of his resources on miniatures wargames. One of the most popular systems was 1e AD&D with a DMG with the papers coming loose and some creaky PHBs. I bought things by some of the smaller gaming companies fairly often, but I never played most of it.
I do not think that sales of paper books in game stores correlate to what happens around the spare table on Friday and Saturday nights. Sad for people in the RPG industry, but probably one reason why SJG makes more money from card and board games than from books.
__________________
"It is easier to banish a habit of thought than a piece of knowledge." H. Beam Piper This forum got less aggravating when I started using the ignore feature |
11-10-2019, 02:22 PM | #7 |
Join Date: Jun 2015
|
Re: Local Stores Don't Carry GURPS any more
It seems like the entire market for RPGs has changed. When I first started playing GUPRS in the 1980s RPGs where mostly sold in specialized hobby stores. The same stores also carried things like model rockets, trains, and hobby electronics--products that usually had a 12+ label on them. There were learning specialists in the pubic schools that were pushing D&D for "gifted" kids that had trouble socializing (in grade two I got a copy of the Awful Green Things from Outer Space and Starship Traveler from the learning specialist in my school), but for the most part children did not play RPGs.
Now the primary market for RPGs is children--case and point D&D is owned by a toy company. Most of the stores that carry RPGs are toy stores--stores that carry products intended for the under 12 age group, so consequently in order to compete in this market products have to be designed with different level of complexity and shorter game time as a result they no longer have any appeal for the demographic to which they initially held interest. I don't know what the demographic to which table top RPGs initially appealed does now with their free time, but I wish I new as I have been trying unsuccessfully for three years to get a group together to play an ongoing GURPS campaign. Most professionals seem to be over whelmed with domestic responsibility and if you want to play RPGs you are regarded as a "looser" regardless of professional and educational achievement. Maybe to target price point needs to be changed. I payed $1500 to go to a resort in Cuba for a week. I was board out of my mind as there wasn't a lot to do other than watch over weight Europeans sitting around drinking and smoking. I would certainly be willing to pay the same amount of money to go some where and run Harkwood for a week with the right group of players. |
11-10-2019, 04:16 PM | #8 | |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Cowtown, Canada
|
Re: Local Stores Don't Carry GURPS any more
Quote:
__________________
FYI: Laser burns HURT! |
|
11-11-2019, 09:43 AM | #9 | |
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada
|
Re: Local Stores Don't Carry GURPS any more
Quote:
|
|
11-11-2019, 10:16 AM | #10 |
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: near London, UK
|
Re: Local Stores Don't Carry GURPS any more
I may be mistaken, but I seem to remember Kromm saying something along the lines of:
90% of the RPG market is D&D. Of what's left, 90% is other dungeon bashing games (Pathfinder etc.). The remaining 1% is everything else. World of Darkness, Call of Cthulhu… and GURPS. I would also add: the copy of GURPS or Munchkin I buy from the shop is the same as the copy I buy from Warehouse 23 or Amazon. Amazon can get away with exploiting desperate workers; Warehouse 23 probably doesn't need as many employees as an in-person shop shifting that much product would. How can an RPG/boardgame shop survive when it has to charge more for the same thing?
__________________
Podcast: Improvised Radio Theatre - With Dice Gaming stuff here: Tekeli-li! Blog; Webcomic Laager and Limehouse Buy things by me on Warehouse 23 |
|
|