AGC News July 1st 2010 (29:26)

With Mark and Mags. Outlaw Press off Amazon. Catalyst gets an extension. Sandstorm Productions rises. Origins 2010 winners (and our mostly missed calls). A little discussion of the Origins Awards process. Dixit takes Spiel de Jahres! DOJ Inc. acqures majority holding in Indie Press Revolution! The return of Villains and Vigilantes! Silver Line Edition of Lord of the Rings? A new release of Ticket To Ride: Nordic Countries! Judge Dredd Minis Game playtest (and a free Traveller campaign)! Pete's Box -- A gaming end table? Tons of board game adaptations coming to the iPhone/iPad! Trask's GenCon Dealer's Directory. Z-Man Games celebrating ten years! We have new forums!


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Show links
Outlaw Press RPG.Net Thread
Creamtrumpet's RPG.net post
Amazon Listing for Outlaw Press
Catalyst Game Labs Secures Licensce Extenion For Shadowrun and Battletech (Catalyst Game Labs)
Sandstorm Productions
Dixit (Board Game Geek)
Monkey House Games (Villains and Vigilantes)
Villains and Vigilantes (RPGNow)
Killer Party (Cocktail Games)
Lord of the Rings (Fantasy Flight Games)
Ticket To Ride Nordic coming back (Days of Wonder)
Judge Dredd Minatures Game Playtest (Mongoose Publishing)
Secrets of the Ancients (Mongoose Publishing)
Pete's Box (Prevideo Productions)
LivingDice GenCon Exhibiton Listing (LivingDice)
Z-Man Games
Gamer's Haven Podcast
Gamer's Haven/AGC Forum

RPG Buffet 10 (Year of D&D Part 5: AD&D First Edition Oriental Adventures) (11:49)

Guest GM Tony runs the group in an Oriental Adventures session in first edition AD&D!

Kae's Stir Fry Recipe.

Kae's allergic to soy sauce, due to its fermented state, and to onion products, so this recipe is geared to fit her needs. It's really quite good, but you can add in soy and onion as you see fit.

INGREDIENTS:
2 Tbsp cornstarch
1 small package stew beef (1 lb or less), slices into small pieces
1 8 oz can stir fry vegetables
6 oz apple juice (here you can substitute 3 oz soy sauce and 3 oz apple juice mixed together)
1/8 to 1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 to 1/4 tsp black pepper
dash cayenne pepper (or to taste)

DIRECTIONS
In skillet, cook meat until mostly done. Add stir fry veggies. Cook on medium heat until completely warm.

Mix cornstarch, seasonings, & apple juice (or soy/juice combo) and add to skillet. Cook over high heat, stirring constantly, until milky appearance becomes shiny.

Serve over rice. Great as a side dish, or as the main meal.


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Show links
Advanced Dungeons and Dragons (Wikipedia)
Oriental Adventures (Wikipedia)


Promos
Hotel Pacifica LARP
Yog Radio

AGC 132 June 22nd 2010 (A Murder of Gaming Fiction) (1:02:29)

With Mark Kinney, Carol, Mags, and P.G. Holyfield. How last episode happened. Thunder to stop the rambling. Murder at Avedon Hill. The ongoing Outlaw Press situation. A talk with P.G. Holyfield about his novel, Murder at Avedon Hill, its gaming roots, and a little about gaming fiction. Gaming fiction: threat or menace? Well, no, there are highlights, but plenty of pitfalls as well. What's good, or should be? Fiction about gaming.


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Show links
HyperiCon
Daniel Falck's Blog Post on Outlaw Press
Outlaw Press Art Comparison PDF
Geek Related Outlaw Press posting
The Other Side Outlaw Press posting
Outlaw Press Tunnels and Trolls information (Geek Related)
RPG.net Outlaw Press Thread
TinEye Reverse Image Search
P.G. Holyfield (Murder at Avedon Hill)
Dead Robots Society Podcast
Zombie State: Diplomacy of the Dead (Zombie State Games)
Fantasy Grounds


Promos
Ninja vs Pirates
International Detective Dragons From Outer Space

AGC Feedback June 19th 2010 (28:50)

Recorded June 15th, 2010, with Mark, Carol, and Mags. The Quilt City OGREs chime in about QAGS Super Zeroes. A letter from Ireland. The forum question. Fringeworthy notes. Randomness in gaming. More Doctor Who talk. Talismania Revised! Masterplan! The usefulness of the Dresden Files RPG to model other urban fantasy settings. Dungeons and Dragons versions. Microlite20. Modular game screens and one-sheet notes.


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Show links
Hex Games (QAGS)
Fringeworthy (Tri Tac Games)
Fringeworthy Podcast
The Curse of Fatal Death - Part 1
The Curse of Fatal Death - Part 2
The Doctor Visits England 2010
Talisman Island
Masterplan
Dresden Files RPG (Evil Hat)
RPG Buffet: A Year of Dungeons and Dragons
Microlite20


Promos
Podictionary

AGC News June 17th 2010 (25:10)

With Mark, Carol, and Mags. Palladium's lawsuit against Trion Worlds over Rift: Planes of Telara (and ongoing progress). Catalyst and Topps signing a new licensing deal any time now. D&D Encounters makes CNN coverage. WizKids and CBS bringing us TrekClix? Spiel de Jahres nominees. 2010 UK Games Expo recognition. An aside about the World Cup (and the vuvuzela). Dresden Files RPG release date moving forward? Mayfair Games seeking GenCon volunteers. Happy Birthday Robot! A reminder of the Hellas: Princes of the Universe Kickstart. Days of Wonder wants to give away an iPad to the winner of their 20 millionth online game. Catan app beta opening. Carcassonne makes it to the iPod Touch. Michael Tresca's The Evolution of Fantasy Role-Playing Games up for pre-order. Monsterpocalypse moving to the big screen?


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Show links
Palladium Books v. Trion Worlds Rifts Trademark Dispute–The Court Ruled… (LivingDice)
Trion Worlds v. Palladium Books Trademark Counter-Suit (LivingDice)
Catalyst Game Labs License Extension Imminent
D&D Encounters (Wizards of the Coast)
Dungeons & Dragons tries to lure back players (CNN.com)
WizKids/CBS Star Trek game press release
UK Games Expo Awards
Mayfair Games
Happy Birthday Robot! (Kickstarter)
Hellas: Princes of the Universe (Kickstarter)
Days of Wonder iPad Contest Rules
Catan App Beta Application
Carcassonne (iTunes)
The Evolution of Fantasy Role-Playing Games (Amazon.com)
Monsterpocalypse (Privateer Press)

Mags-The-Axe School of GMing 1 (Organizing Your Notes) (43:28)

With Mags, Carol, and Mark. How to organize your notes. Bare minimum requirements. Bookmarking. What you might not need. Useful tools. Sheets and cards and campaign planners, oh my! Paper or plastic (or electrons, rather)? Why the players may want to keep notes as well.


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Show links
Poehlein/McLimore's Adventure Outline
Poehlein/McLimore's Creature Record
Mutants and Masterminds Beginners Guide (Green Ronin Publishing)
Savage Worlds Combat Survival Guide (Pinnacle Entertainment Group)
Harnmaster Combat Tables (Columbia Games)
Unknown Armies Crib Sheets
PocketMod
GURPS Gamemaster Control Sheet (look under the category "Downloadable Forms, Record Sheets, Etc.")
Spycraft 2.0 Control Screen (Crafty Games/DriveThruRPG)
D&D 3.5 Reference Sheets
Initiative Cards (The Game Mechanics/RPGNow)
Mutants and Masterminds 2nd Edition Campaign Planner (Ronin Arts)
OneNote (Microsoft)
Google Docs
Tomboy
The Keep (NBOS Software)
iPhone Use Example 1 (Twitpic)
iPhone Use Example 2 (Twitpic)
RPG-Campaign.com
Ten Foot Wiki (Unclebear.com)


Promos
Into The Dark

Free RPG Day Interview

The following is an email interview from Chris Heim of All Games Considered with Aldo Ghiozzi of Impressions Advertising and Marketing, founder and lead organizer of Free RPG Day.

---

Chris: First off, thank you for the opportunity for myself and other gamers to find out a bit more about Free RPG Day and everything that's involved.

Chris: I guess the first thing that stands out to me is that Free RPG Day was created and sponsored through an advertising company. Can you tell us a little bit about Impressions Advertising & Marketing?

Aldo: Though the word "advertising" is in our company name, we first started as a general marketing agency for any type of company, but after 1 year it turned 99% into a sales, shipping and marketing company for game publishers. Most people just refer to us as "Impressions". Our hook for game publishers is to be very heavy marketing-focused. Most game companies make a game and hope for the best; we try to create program and promotions to get the word out to the distributors and retailers. In the end though, I always have to give Joseph Goodman from Goodman Games the most credit for FRD. I always enjoy telling the story when we sat down for lunch at an Indian restaurant and he said, "I want to start Free Adventure Module Day." I very quickly said, "That is a horrible name...why don't we just call it Free RPG Day?" Ta dah!

Chris: Certainly the idea of this event had been thought of long before it happened. What were the key factors in actually turning that idea into a reality and how long ago was that?

Aldo: The first Free RPG Day was 2007. And right after Joseph and I had the conversation above, I figured to just offer it to our clients...thus, Troll Lord Games joined in and then I thought to call other people I knew in the industry. RPGs are always a tough sales market so many companies who heard from me thought, "Wow, someone is doing something to help the RPG industry...yay."

Chris: Exactly how does the event work? Do stores simply contact you and receive free materials?

Aldo: Well, unfortunately, someone has to pay the shipping bill! The first thing is to get the publishers to commit to "X" amount of giveaways. That "X" translates into "Y" per kit (a box of the freebies). From there, we charge enough to the retailer to cover shipping, the custom boxes, some marketing (like this year we did a poster) and the extra labor hired for collating the freebies. This year the kit was $60 and contained nearly 90 freebies. And yes, all the store has to do is sign up on the site and pay the $60...which, hopefully they use the freebies and the event day as a way to generate extra revenues.

Chris: What are the numbers on Free RPG Day? How many companies and stores are involved? And how much product has been sent out to local game stores?

Aldo: We are just shy of 400 stores involved worldwide. We sold out of the 500 kits promised and made another 50 kits with leftovers for stores that still wanted to participate. This year we have 13 companies donating freebies and are giving away over 46,000 pieces for 2010 alone.

Chris: Is it possible for an individual to buy into the event if they don't have a local game store promoting it?

Aldo: Unfortunately, no. The key element to the event is that it is only for brick-and-mortar game retailers. Why? Because they are the backbone of the hobby. So many gamers buy discounted items on the internet (which is just fine; I do too), but I wanted the brick-and-mortar retailers to have something to...honestly...get gamers off their butts and into their FLGS. These stores are the ones that display all the product for folks to thumb through, have a place to hang out and become a central place to get involved with people with like interests.

Chris: On the subject of the companies themselves, are there any game publishers that you wish were participating that haven't for one reason or another?

Aldo: Obviously, I want everyone involved, but since the publishers are the ones spending the money to make these giveaways, we can wish for so many folks to be involved, but financially or time-wise it may not work for them. I don't want to call any out into the spotlight, but I do encourage the consumer to tell your favorite game publisher that you would demo or play their game on FRD if they did participate.

Chris: Have there been any surprise entries for Free RPG Day throughout the years?

Aldo: Surprise? Not sure how to define that. I definitely want to give a shout-out to Paizo as every year they spend the money on a full four color throughout giveaway and that is always a draw for consumers. For 2010, I would say a surprise participant and giveaway would be Alderac. This is their first year participating. They committed to a quickstart and adventure for their upcoming L5R 4th Edition RPG coming out this month, and not only did they put a great piece together, but it ended up being four color throughout AND they ended up sending us double what they promised. Very cool of them.

Chris: I've been told that smaller game publishers don't have the funds and supplies to contribute to Free RPG Day. Is there anything being worked out in order to have them able to contribute in the future?

Aldo: Last year we added a level called "Store Demo Copy" where it would be one giveaway in each kit. As you can see from the numbers above, that would be about 600 copies. I know that the dollars to print only 600 copies are small, but we still did not get many committing to this level. A couple of people suggested several small press publishers get together to share the cost of a giveaway...that did not turn out for one reason or another. I don't know why...I'm open to ideas, but I think that the store demo copy level is the lowest we can go.

Chris: Have you received any feedback from the game stores or game companies or even gamers?

Aldo: After 4 years? Oh yeah. Lots of feedback. Too much to list. I can tell you that the biggest complaint is from consumers saying they don't have a local retailer participating and the only response I have to them is the truth...it is not up to us, it is up to your local retailer as they are the ones needing to spend the $60.

Chris: Is there anything you or others can do to prevent stores from taking advantage of the event by charging or requiring a purchase in order to qualify for the free materials?

Aldo: On year one I wanted to make rules, but unfortunately, every store, region and country is different so to have something uniform would turn off too many retailers. I encourage the consumer to let us know if a store is charging for the giveaways or requiring a purchase because then I just call the store and 99% of the time they say, "OK, sure, we will give it away." I did have one store in year 2 that would not back down and told me they were charging $5 a piece because it cost them the money to participate and bring the kit into their country. I can't remember the store, but I'm guessing either a) they are not participating anymore, or b) they are not charging anymore. Maybe I am just weird, but it boggles my mind that stores want to charge for the giveaways. I'm told that it is used to control who they give it away to in case they get people only ever visiting their store for the freebies. I understand that, but on the flipside, if you use the material to encourage folks to play and/or run events in-store, you'll make your tiny $60 back in sales in no time.

Chris: And finally, what can people do to spread the word about Free RPG Day and get their local game stores to promote it?

Aldo: Well, we can only do so much. We do have a list of over 2,200 hobby game retailers worldwide, but stores opt-out of our mailing list all the time, so unless a consumer walks in to remind them, we do what we can. We have the site. We have the Facebook page (which has been great for helping things this year!). We go to our annual retailer trade show. We go to distributor open houses. I think we do pretty good for a little operation. Could it be better? Sure, but the RPG market is small and there is a cap on what the market will bear...and I think we're pretty close to that cap.

Chris: Thank you Aldo for a very informative look into not only Free RPG Day but also some of the marketing involved.

RPG Buffet 9 (Year of D&D Part 4: D&D Early Editions Overview) (30:26)

With Mags and Steve of the RPG Buffet. Mags and Steve discuss the various editions of Dungeons and Dragons published over the years.


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AGC 131 June 8th 2010 (HyperiCon and Free RPG Day) (35:12)

With Mark Kinney and Chris Heim. Ventures at HyperiCon! Chris played Savage Worlds, was only there for Saturday, and Tabletop Armory is cool. The UStream show, and thanks to the Fringeworthy podcast for promoting it! The return of Gaming For Cheap Bastards, as Chris talks about Free RPG Day and the products on offer. Mark brings up a couple of other free things (including Talislanta and Septimus). A little last minute musing on Mark's HyperiCon panels. Future convention talk. Sean Patrick Fannon to be gaming guest at Con on the Cob! Some talk about cons and events we're not going to.


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2010 RPG Podcast Listener Survey


Show links
HyperiCon
Tabletop Armory
Fringeworthy Podcast
Free RPG Day (June 19th 2010)
Free RPG Day on Facebook
Harn (Wikipedia)
Talislanta
Septimus (RPGNow)
Geek Media Expo
MTAC
Con on the Cob
Play On Con
Con Nooga


Promos
The Great Debate
Nerdbound

AGC Review 5 (Out of the Box: Backseat Drawing and Word On The Street) (13:39)

With Mark Kinney, Carol, and Mags. Mark gives an overview of Out of the Box Publishing's Backseat Drawing, then a full review of the Origins Award-nominated Word On The Street. (The web site linked below notes that the divider card referred to in the review was accidentally left out of the initial printing. I also can't explain how we all managed to put a second R in "funeral," aside from recording this late in the evening.)


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Show links
Backseat Drawing (Out of the Box)
Word On The Street (Out of the Box)


Promos
Geek Acres