FLGS sales?
 

Are Melee and Wizard available for local game shops to order? Every time I ask mine they can’t find any listing with their local distributor (Alliance.) Shipping from W23 costs a substantial chunk of the actual price.

Re: FLGS sales?
 

Good question. We have three local gaming shops and NONE have heard of TFT.

Re: FLGS sales?
 

Tell them it is an awesome game by the same people who publish Munchkin. Surely they’ve heard of that!

Re: FLGS sales?
 

They have all heard of Steve Jackson but never heard of TFT. They look for it via their various distributors and can't find it. Seems to be the case at all the gaming shops. Don't expect any more effort on their part than that.

I tell them that it's the awesome precursor game system of GURPS which they do know about but still don't carry it either. They are all pretty much indoctrinated into D&D

Re: FLGS sales?
 

Oh they’ve heard of and carry Munchkin and other SJG stuff. They just can’t find anything TFT when they try to order it for me from Alliance. I want to submit my FLGS and not have to pay $9 to have a $15 game shipped. :(

Re: FLGS sales?
 

Please define the acronym FLGS.

Re: FLGS sales?
 

Friendly Local Game Store

Re: FLGS sales?
 

Thanks. I have seen so many acronyms that the same ones van have multiple meanings.

Re: FLGS sales?
 

One way to bring attention to TFT at your FLGS:


Offer to run demo games. Bring in Melee. Run a few sparring sessions. Add Wizard stuff.

Re: FLGS sales?
 

My "FLGS" is friendly enough, except that they refuse to stock ANY rpgs except for 5e and if you ask for a special order they act like it is a major inconvenience, they are also currently running a GoFundMe to stay afloat. I have tried for years to run other games and they have no problem, yet they will not promote them, only card games and 5e. So I can sit there in a cramped room with my group and PAY to sit there and play or go somewhere roomier for free.

Re: FLGS sales?
 

I'm hoping to do that.

Re: FLGS sales?
 

But the shop can’t get the games from the distributor (Alliance.) I don’t want to pay $40-$50 for $30 of games to introduce it to people who can’t even buy it at the shop we’re playing it in.

Into the labyrinth expects you to already have Melee and Wizard, and while nice, the Legacy Edition is $119 solution to the problem of buying a $15 game.

Re: FLGS sales?
 

You don't need Melee or Wizard if you have ITL. All the rules in those two are in ITL.

Re: FLGS sales?
 

If your FLGS is less than F toward getting TFT products, just get them elsewhere, like direct from Warehouse 23. Your pals can pick up Melee for FREE there.

Re: FLGS sales?
 

Are they? They need to update its description then…

“This book covers roleplaying, character creation and experience, and advanced magic and combat rules for players who already have Melee and Wizard.”

Re: FLGS sales?
 

The quote is not incorrect, but it neglects mentioning that the advanced combat and magic sections include the basic combat and magic rules in Melee and Wizard.

Re: FLGS sales?
 

I agree.

There may be a disconnect when the new Legacy ITL (TFT) was written. It seems the the original Melee and Wizard games have remained mostly unchanged from the Classic TFT days. One thing that I do like about Legacy ITL is that it combined the Classic Advanced Melee, Advanced Wizard, and ITL into one book. However, it seems that a few things can go a little unsettled/unclear when such a transformation occurs.

Re: FLGS sales?
 

SJGames needs to change that quote on the back cover of ITL.

The old ITL's cover had a lot more about how Melee & Wizard were needed. It this this was an attempt to summarize that. But since the new "Legacy ITL" includes all of Advanced Melee and Advanced Wizard (thus everything in Melee and Wizard and then some), this statement is not needed.

If you just buy the current ITL (what others here refer to as Legacy ITL) you will have all the rules to play. There are some nice additional products to get (adventures, megahex maps, map tiles, counters, etc) but ITL is the core & only necessary piece.

Re: FLGS sales?
 

I own a bookstore and have had Melee and Wizards in the store since 2020. I've sold several of sets. I even sold an ITL.

As I recall, Wherehouse 23 originally sold me the sets at wholesale prices, but that was so long ago.

I currently buy the single sets off of Wherehouse 23 site and sell it at the price listed on the box. I take a loss, but get the game out there.

It actually takes a bit of promotion to get someone interested. This is known as handselling, but you need the right customer to pitch to.

Stefan has a good suggestion.

If you are in a Promote TFT frame of mind, buy a Melee box from W23, then invite friends/gamers and run a TFT game at the store and give away the Melee box as a prize. If you run enough exciting games, get the players to buy a set from the store (which might mean the store has to order them.)

Go to a game convention and at the open gaming tables lay out the game and put up a sign that says

Melee, Wizards and The Fantasy Trip played here.
Old School Dungeon Crawling is back!

and ask those who walked by if they remember player or hearing this old game.

Re: FLGS sales?
 

Indeed, watching TFT being played, or even better jumping in on a first pickup game, has to be the way to sell this in person. The game play is so much more tactile and immersive and fun than basically any other table top fantasy game of its sort. I find it deeply weird when I run into modern D&D player who haven't heard of it - like, what are you doing with your life?

Re: FLGS sales?
 

I concur. Actually getting someone to sit down and play TFT is usually the selling point. That's where it clicks for most. I had never played D&D before when I played Classic TFT so, I wasn't tainted. I played some D&D later, had some fun with it but wasn't impressed with the combat resolution at all. They would just line their tokens up in their formation on the table but didn't actually use a combat map. They just stated what they were doing and rolled WEIRD dice. The adventures were good. We later converted D&D adventures into TFT when TFT went out of production.

Back in the 80's, D&D players and DMs seemed to do as much as they could to badmouth TFT. Since it did provide more detailed combat resolution, they called it a "Simple hack and maul game." without even trying to notice that it was a whole role playing game system. Back in the early 80's, I think that they actually felt threatened by how quickly people who actually played TFT would gravitate to it. One of the things that they hated most about it was that you could take on non-human characters other than Elves, Dwarves, and Halflings.